Page 55 of Her Paramedic (Men in Uniforms #3)

Five months later

S late took a drink from his cup as he watched Talia laugh on the other side of the room at something Aariah said.

Axel and Kaydence had kept their housewarming small.

Outside of their usual group, minus Gram, who was on assignment, there were only eight other people.

A few Axel worked with and a couple that worked for Kaydence, Axel’s mother, and Journee’s grandmother.

While he, Killian, and Ace had helped the couple move the furniture pieces they wanted to keep into the house a couple of months ago, when he’d walked in earlier, it felt like his first time there.

Everything had come together nicely, from the furniture they’d kept to the pieces they’d chosen as a couple, and Slate knew that was Kaydence’s doing. It was the perfect blend of the couple.

The house was spacious, the kitchen worthy of a baker, and the yard big, the way his friend wanted.

His girlfriend had wasted no time in teasing her sister about filling the extra bedrooms with nieces or nephews for her.

Apparently, Talia had started a countdown that it was clear Kaydence was ignoring.

“You can look away from her. She won’t disappear,” Matteo said, joining him. “I swear the three of you are so whipped.”

Slate snorted as he looked to where Killian was whispering something in Journee’s ear as she sat on his lap, eating a slice of cake. Then his attention shifted to where Axel was stealing kisses from his wife off to the side, like he couldn’t wait for their guests to leave.

“You want to go there, because I’ve seen where your eyes have been most of the night,” he started, looking from Matteo to Nova.

“You know she’s helping me find a place.”

“I’m sure she is,” Slate responded.

Matteo had not gotten the captain’s position he’d applied for several months ago, and decided it was time for him to leave that firehouse.

He’d applied for the same position for one of the stations in Castle Rock and was set to start in a few weeks.

He’d hired Nova to help him look for a place when he’d received the offer.

Slate and Talia had done the same earlier that month.

“Have you seen anything you like? Other than her?” Slate asked, taking another drink.

“A few places,” Matteo replied, ignoring his last question. “What about you and Talia?”

Slate shrugged. “We haven’t really started looking, and that’s fine. Unless she finds something she likes more than her current house, then I’m good with us living there.”

He didn’t really care where they stayed as long as they were under the same roof. Well, that and in Colorado Springs. He’d even chosen a few spaces where he could work on his cars if building one wasn’t an option.

“Baby, can I have your keys?” Talia asked when she approached them a few minutes later. “I left their housewarming gift in the car.”

“You want me to go get it, gorgeous?”

“It’s fine, babe. I’ll get it.”

Slate gave her his keys and watched her go until Matteo pulled his attention.

“Whipped,” the other man coughed, and Slate cut his eyes at him before smirking.

“I’m not denying it, but I’m going to give you hell and a half when you’re following behind her like a lost puppy,” he said, inclining his head towards Nova.

“Whatever the three of you have, I don’t plan on catching it,” Matteo replied, and Slate wondered which one of them the other man was trying to convince.

He also wondered if Matteo had realized he’d already caught it, whatever he thought it was in his mind, because Slate had seen the way his friend watched Nova all night.

Hell, he’d seen the way he looked at her all those months ago at the Fourth of July gathering.

He debated telling him it was too late, but chose not to.

Slate would pay money to be there when the realization hit Matteo.

“Sure,” he chose to say, patting the other man on the back before walking off to tell Maximus that his little brother probably had a high school case of puppy love.

When he followed the other man’s eyes to where the twins and Zuri were talking, Slate found that the older Armas brother might have had his own.

The question was: which one would act first?

? ─ · ─ · ─ · ─ · ─ · ─ · ─ ?

T alia moved into Slate’s side, draping her leg over his waist as they lay in bed later that night.

The housewarming had been fun, and Kaydence and Axel had done a great job decorating.

Some things were distinctly Kaydence or Axel, but they’d blended them together and made the space into theirs seamlessly.

It made Talia excited to see what a space she shared with Slate would look like.

They’d hired Nova as their agent and given her a list of things they were looking for.

If they found nothing they liked better than her house, they could look into having a shed built on the side for him to store and work on cars.

There was space there to do so, and she didn’t want him having to go somewhere to do it, when it was a hobby that relaxed him, that he should have been able to do in the comfort of his home.

Talia still thought Slate was compromising more than she was with them only looking in Colorado Springs. He’d assuaged her worries about him moving his life and his career, but she still couldn’t help but feel a little guilty now and then.

He was moving for her. To allow her to continue to grow her business and expand it, since she was currently recruiting to finish her expansion. She was determined to make sure he knew how much she appreciated him, loved him every day. Speaking of which.

“Have I told you I love you today?” she asked as he ran his hand up and down her back.

“I’m never going to say no to hearing it again.”

“Or,” Talia started as she looked at the neon number of the clock on the nightstand. It didn’t take long for the day to roll into the next as midnight greeted them.

“I love you,” she said, kissing his chest.

“I love you, baby,” he responded.

Talia was taking his request seriously. She hadn’t gone a day without telling him she loved him, and she didn’t plan on it.

Telling him went hand in hand with showing him, and she would give as much as he did to her.

In their relationship, where she didn’t have to ask him for anything, because it seemed he always knew what she wanted, what she needed, it made her want to give him even more.

Her efforts were always reciprocated. With him, she never had to settle for less.

After so many relationships where she and her partner had been on different pages, and where she’d jumped headfirst only to crash into the concrete of indecisiveness and different goals, she stopped believing she would find what she was looking for.

But she was glad Zuri chose that particular bar that October night. That she’d met Slate then because it didn’t matter how many times she jumped, he always caught her. He was right there letting her know that he’d give her everything she wanted, everything she’d been searching for.

Talia wasn’t sure what she’d done to deserve the stars aligning that night, putting them in the same vicinity and prompting him to approach her again after she hadn’t contacted him the first time, but she was glad he did.

She was glad that whatever deity was looking out for her pushed her to throw caution to the wind when she’d thought she wanted to go slow, to be his friend.

She would forever think of it as kismet that when she needed to be repaired and cherished, the universe sent her the perfect person to do it. Talia would trust him with every part of her. Her very own paramedic. Hers, and she had no intentions of ever letting him go.