Page 54 of Her Paramedic (Men in Uniforms #3)

T alia’s eyes fluttered open, and she glanced at the clock on the nightstand as the weight over her waist registered.

It was almost ten in the morning. Slowly, she turned to face Slate and found him sleeping.

He’d been at work last night when she arrived.

She felt when he’d gotten into bed with her and wrapped his arm around her when he’d come home.

Even as he slept, Talia felt like he’d been plucked from the page of some model magazine. It had to be a crime for one man to be that fine. She was content to lie there like that until he woke up. Her bladder was not and made that known a couple of minutes later.

She slid out of bed carefully so as not to wake him and went into the en suite, closing the door.

After washing her face and brushing her teeth, she left the bedroom, closed the door behind her, and went into the kitchen.

Talia decided not to make breakfast and instead grabbed some yogurt and strawberries from his fridge.

She’d make them lunch when he woke up in a few hours.

She turned on the television, keeping the volume low, and turned to the game show network. There was some trivia game on, and she settled in to see how well she’d do.

It was a quarter past one when Slate emerged from the bedroom. Talia was lying on the couch. She’d switched from watching game shows to a movie on Lifetime . He joined her on the couch, settling between her legs as he lay his head on her chest.

“Good morning to you, too,” she said. Well aware it was afternoon. She ran her fingers through his hair. “How was last night?”

“People’s stupidity was in full effect. We had three consecutive calls where people injured themselves doing shit they knew they shouldn’t have been doing.

One tried to jump over a car that his friend was driving towards him, he didn’t succeed.

Another tried to sled down a steep hill on his bare stomach, couldn’t stop in time, and skidded across concrete.

Then the last stuck a bottle up her ass because someone dared her to, fell, it broke, and she did not have a good night. ”

Talia winced. They just kept getting worse.

It never surprised her that some people did idiotic things, but it always surprised her by the creativity of said things.

If nothing else, they weren’t basic. None of those things were something she expected anyone to try.

At least, not without a trained stunt coordinator.

“You had an exciting night, and not in a good way.”

“Not at all,” Slate replied, wrapping his arms around her, and Talia ran her free hand up and down his back.

They lay like that for several minutes in silence before she shifted to get up. “I’ll make us lunch.”

He tightened his arms around her. “Five more minutes.”

“You big baby,” she teased with a smile. Slate bit her sternum, pulling a gasp from her.

“Yours. Deal with it,” he responded, and Talia couldn’t help but laugh.

She gave him more than five minutes before she finally got up to make them lunch.

When she returned to the living room thirty minutes later, he was in the same position she’d left him in.

Talia handed him a plate as he sat up and placed hers on the table before retrieving drinks for them and returning to the living room.

The movie she’d been watching previously had gone off, and from the look of the one starting, it was going to be similar.

“What do you want to do today, baby?” Slate asked, breaking the comfortable silence between them.

“We can stay in if you want to.” She knew with the way his shift went, he might not be up for doing anything.

“I want to take you out, but if you want to stay in, we can.”

Talia thought about it. He’d taken her out more throughout their relationship than she had been in any other.

And even though they were dating, and had been for almost nine months, it was never with the expectation that they were having sex afterwards.

That was never the expectation when they stayed in either.

The contrast between the past and present was glaring, and she didn’t know what she’d done in a past life to have this man enter hers, but she wouldn’t question it.

“I haven’t beaten you at pool in a while. You feel like losing tonight?” she smirked.

“I should ask you that question, gorgeous. But we can do that. Dinner, then pool.”

“And a movie in bed,” she added, to round out their evening. Her boyfriend nodded in agreement, and they settled back into comfortable silence.

“T hat sounds disgusting,” Slate stated after Talia finished reading him the list of ingredients on the specials menu they’d been given when they were seated.

She refrained from laughing. The combination was odd, but it apparently worked.

Or maybe it didn’t, and that was why it was one of the specials.

“I’m sure someone will enjoy it,” she replied. Not them, but someone.

She put the insert aside and looked at the main menu.

It didn’t take her long to decide what she wanted before placing the menu back on the table to look around the restaurant.

It was her first time there, and Slate informed her he’d only been once or twice, so she’d wanted to try it.

The decor felt like a mix between modern and eccentric.

Like there had been two separate decorators, with opposing styles.

It was sort of cute, and the atmosphere was friendly.

“What time are you leaving tomorrow?” Slate asked after their server had brought their drinks and taken their orders.

“When you leave for work.”

Talia knew he’d be up all night and then asleep when she woke up. She didn’t want to leave before he got up, and she wanted to spend more than a couple of hours with him once he did. She didn’t have any plans tomorrow evening, so Talia wanted to spend it with him before he went to work.

Slate nodded. “I found the last part I needed for the car. It should be in next week, and once I get it put on, I’ll take you for a ride.”

Talia smiled at him. “I can’t wait.” She knew the part he’d been looking for had something to do with making the car run. The starter or a gear. He’d told her a few weeks ago, but she’d been ovulating and too focused on him getting undressed.

Once their food came, Talia asked him about some of the less hectic calls he’d taken last night. She told him about the deal she was hoping to work out with the owner of the shopping center to knock down the wall between her space and the one beside her so she could expand.

“Are you ready to lose?” Talia asked when they were in the car, headed to a sports bar after dinner.

“You seem so confident, gorgeous.”

“Because I am, but don’t worry. I won’t beat you too badly,” she teased.

He kissed her hand. “We’ll see about that baby.”

? ─ · ─ · ─ · ─ · ─ · ─ · ─ ?

“Y es!” Talia exclaimed after sinking the eight ball.

Slate watched her do her little happy dance and rolled his eyes playfully.

He’d long ago accepted that she could beat him in pool, but he found it cute that she still got so excited about it.

The last game had been a tiebreaker. He placed his stick on the table and stepped behind Talia, wrapping his arms around her waist.

“Don’t worry, baby. I won’t tell anyone I wiped the floor with you,” she teased, leaning against him.

“I wouldn’t go that far, gorgeous,” he replied, kissing her neck.

She put her stick down, turning in his arms. “It was pretty close.”

“If you say so. Are you ready to leave?”

“Yes. Can we stop by the store on the way home? I want to get some ice cream.”

“Sure, baby.”

Slate took her hand, and they exited the building. Once in the car, he headed towards the nearest grocery store. It was after ten, so none of the ice cream parlors were open, and stopping at a gas station ran the risk that they didn’t have her favorite flavor.

Forty-five minutes later, they pulled into his driveway after their stop, ice cream secured. When they stepped into the house, Slate went into the kitchen to make bowls of ice cream while Talia went to the bedroom to choose a movie to watch.

He carried both bowls into the bedroom a few minutes later and found Talia in one of his T-shirts, scrolling through movie options. Slate handed her a bowl, placed the other one on the nightstand and undressed down to his boxers. He turned off the light before joining her.

“What are you in the mood for? Horror or comedy?” Talia asked.

Slate thought about it. “Horror,” he replied.

After another minute of scrolling, she chose a movie and leaned against the headboard, taking a spoonful of her ice cream.

They were halfway through the movie, bowls set aside and Talia leaning back against his chest, where she’d moved after their dessert.

The character was walking silently through the house, ominous music playing softly, and Slate knew the scene was setting up a jump scare, which meant his girlfriend would start talking.

She liked horror movies, but detested the jump scares, and he’d learned that she’d talk when she thought one would happen to keep from being caught by it.

He was proven correct a few seconds later.

“You know Kaydence and Axel made an offer on a house Monday,” she started as she played with his fingers. Slate hummed in acknowledgment to let her know he was listening. “They got a call Friday that their offer was accepted.”

“Killian, Ace, and I will have to step into our free labor moving roles soon, then,” he joked.

“Yeah, you will. But at least it’ll be the last two for a while.”

“Mm, I plan on doing it at least one more time in the near future when you’re ready.”

Her fingers stilled on his, and she turned over her shoulder to look at him. Those honey eyes were filled with curiosity. “Are you saying you want to move in with me?”

“Are you saying you want to drive back and forth forever?” he countered.

The distance between them wasn’t nearly as wide as Killian and Journee’s had been.

It was barely an hour, but even that was too much for him at times.

It was only solidified on the days he got off and she was waiting at his house for him, or on the days he went straight to hers after getting off.

He preferred them over the others. However, he wouldn’t rush her. He only wanted to put it out there.

“No, I don’t, but your job is here.”

“I can be a paramedic anywhere, baby. Your business is there.”

“But you like working with Jonah.”

Sure he did, but they didn’t hang out outside of work unless it was in a group setting, and he was sure that Jonah would work well with whoever he was partnered with after him. “He’ll be fine. He had a partner before me when he was an EMT, and having one after me was always eventually a given.”

“What about your cars? My house doesn’t have a garage for you to work on them in.”

That wasn’t an issue. He could always rent a place or if she was up for it have a work shed built on the side of the house. Slate could have told her that. Instead, he said, “Talia, if you aren’t ready. That’s fine, baby. You can let me know when you are.”

She turned around to fully face him. “It isn’t that. You’d be making a lot of sacrifices, and it feels unfair to expect that of you.”

He took her face in his hands. “Not sacrifices. Compromises.”

And to Slate they were small ones. He’d moved around when he was enlisted, settled in Pueblo because the city had openings at the time, and it was close to his business partner.

It didn’t hold any real sentimental ties for him.

Colorado Springs put him closer to both his business partners, and he hadn’t looked into openings there, but he had no problem waiting until there was one, or going PRN in his current position and making the drive when he felt like it.

“Then we should both compromise,” Talia started. “Why don’t we meet in the middle?”

“In Fountain?” he asked to clarify. The city was twenty to twenty-five minutes from theirs.

It was smaller than Pueblo, not even half the size or population, and much smaller than Colorado Springs.

Slate thought about it and tried to picture them there.

As much as it worked as a compromise, he couldn’t see it.

“If living together is something you want down the line. Would you want to move?”

“If we both found a place we liked. I just don’t want you feeling like a permanent visitor,” she told him honestly.

He understood that. It wasn’t how he would want her to feel, either. “Okay, new compromise. When you’re ready, we can look in Colorado Springs. If you don’t find something you like, we’ll stay in your house.”

“But—”

“In return,” he cut her off because he knew she was going to protest that he was the only one compromising. “You’ll tell me you love me every day.” He gave her a soft kiss.

“What about when we don’t see each other because we’re working opposite shifts?”

Another kiss. “Every day.”

“What about when I’m mad at you?”

Another kiss. “Every day.”

“What about when you’re mad at me?”

“Every.” Kiss. “Single.” Kiss. “Day.”

“Okay. Every day,” she responded, straddling him. “I love you,” she breathed against his lips before kissing him slowly, sweetly. The type of kiss that would have had him falling in love had he not already. The type that would have made him want to give her the world if it wasn’t already his goal.

He’d have to thank his cousin for the invite all those months ago. For forcing him to take the night off when Slate responded, asking for a raincheck. Could they have gotten to where they were if he’d met her some other time? Maybe, but he was glad he would never have to find out.

Slate liked where they were, loved where they were headed, and he wouldn’t change that, change being with her, for anything in the entire world.