Chapter Ten
Greer jumped out of the passenger side of the ambulance with a frown that could have shut down the sun. Luke eyed her as he shoved the last of the supplies into the trauma kit he was stocking and zipped it closed. Coss came out of the driver’s side and called something to Greer that Luke couldn’t make out.
Leave it to that asshole to do or say something to piss his new partner off. This was her second day working with him, and if her expression was an indicator, it was going exactly the way he suspected it would.
He had half a mind to grab Coss by the shirt and demand to know what he’d done, but that would be promotion suicide. It was bad enough his best friend was stuck working with the dick; he was up against Coss for the Director of Operations opening. He didn’t want to give the hiring board any reason to think he wasn’t suited for the job. He figured Coss’s personality would speak for itself and he’d noose himself eventually—unless he could find a reason to hang Luke first.
Like, by spotting them coming out of the laundry room together. Just thinking about it made him uncomfortable. They’d been lucky that Coss hadn’t come looking for her sooner. Greer at arm’s length sexually was the absolute best thing for them both right now. He needed to hold onto his resolve and keep his hands and his dick out of her pants.
He checked the time on his cell phone as he headed the way Greer had gone. It was almost time for them both to be off shift. Maybe he could coax her into a quick supper before he had to head out on an errand for his father.
She was just coming out of the locker room with her bag over her shoulder when he caught up with her. His pulse did double-time as her face came into view. She’d let her braid down, but otherwise, looked as tense as she had earlier
“Hey,” she said flatly, walking like she had somewhere important to be. He moved into her path.
The trademark sparkle in her personality was gone again. He’d never seen her so blah as she’d been since the building collapse, and he didn’t like it. He was the moody one, and she’d always livened him up with her glittery charm. The tables had turned, and he wasn’t sure what to do. The only charm he possessed was the kind that got women into bed, and that was a hundred kinds of bad idea right now, no matter how badly he wanted it.
“Bad call?”
She diverted her path around him and kept walking. “Would have been if the kid had shoved broccoli up his nose instead of a pea.”
He fell into step beside her. “Nice. Reminds me of that Christmas party your mom had when you were, what, twelve? And that kid shoved a grape in each nostril to try and impress you, and one got stuck and he tried to dig it out with a pencil.”
“Until you punched him in the face and the grape popped and fell out.”
“I was just trying to get the point across that I didn’t appreciate him flirting with you.”
She laughed. “Oh, really?”
“Men do terrible things to try and impress women.”
“Says the guy who did a backflip from the roof of his dad’s truck to show off for a girl, and broke his arm when he landed face first on the pavement.”
“Not my best moment. I still have a scar from that. See?” He held out his forearm, but she pushed it away with a playful shove. She’d witnessed that particular act of stupidity and had quietly freaked out while trying to comfort him until his dad came. In the end, he’d gotten a cast, a bruised cheekbone, and a kiss from the girl he was trying to win over. So, not a total loss.
Luke put his arm down, and his hand brushed against hers. She snagged his pinky finger with hers, then slid her fingers across his palm, threading their fingers. The contact warmed him, filled him up with that familiar and welcome sense of calm he usually got from her. She was like his personal sedative. One little touch from her hand could direct whatever fury was going on inside him.
“Come with me tonight,” he blurted. “I’m delivering truck parts for my dad.”
“I can’t.” She pulled her hand away. Smart, considering they were still inside the station. “I’ve got a lot going on right now.”
“You can tell me all about it while I drive. You’ll have twelve hours to fill me in.”
He opened the door for her and they walked out. They both had tomorrow off. It would be the perfect break for both of them.
“Come on. We’ll stop at that donut place you like outside of town.”
“You hate that place.”
He was the only human on the face of the planet who got raging nausea over the smell of a bakery. Damn, he should have played a different card to bribe her.
“Remember that road trip we always said we were going to take, just you and me? We never did, so consider this a mini version.”
Nostalgia was a bittersweet thing. They had fantasized about jumping in his truck and just driving, going anywhere, the way kids dream about doing. In their teen years, she’d become more vocal and daydream-y about it. It didn’t take long to figure out that the more her mother put pressure on her, the more she dreamed about getting away.
Maybe she’d done that, without actually leaving. She’d ditched law for EMS, almost like running away in plain sight.
“Fourteen-year-old us were going to go to the Grand Canyon, remember?” She looked up at the sky. “You were going to eat steak in Texas, and I was going to pet as many horses as I could in Kentucky, and then we were going to walk through the oldest cemeteries in New Orleans.”
“So, you could count angels.”
She gave a small laugh as if she’d forgotten. “Right. Angels.”
Greer used to collect divine symbolism in different types of media—photos, figurines, watercolor. She’d been especially fond of weathered angel statues, with time-roughened edges and patina, the kind you’d find in an old cemetery. She’d made them her muse for a while, churning out oil on canvas depictions of angels and headstones. He used to tease her about her morbid fascination, and she’d throw back some brainy quip about there being art in death, or something like that.
He’d completely forgotten about it until right now—and how he’d promised himself he’d get her to New Orleans one day and give her all the creepy cemeteries she could handle.
There were so many things they didn’t get to share together while she’d been in college, so many parts of her life that he didn’t know. He couldn’t think of a single other person in his life, friend, family member, or otherwise, whose little pieces of life he was sad to have missed.
A sudden sense of urgency went over him, the “what-ifs” going full force in his mind. He shouldn’t want her this much, hoping for things she may not even want, until he knew if the promotion was his. Spending time with her, though, was something they could do no matter what, and he really craved having her close tonight.
“Come with me, Greer. All you have to do is ride along and keep me company.”
“Fine.” She sighed good-naturedly. “Meet me at my house so I can change.”
They agreed on a time, and he went home to shower and change. These runs he helped his dad with sometimes were an easy way to make an extra buck. The delivery company his dad contracted with paid them a competitive rate to pick up vehicle parts and deliver them within a three-state radius. What his parents didn’t know was that Luke was saving every dime from this gig to buy them a Caribbean cruise for their forty-fifth anniversary next summer. It was a luxury they had a hard time affording themselves, yet something his mom had long dreamed of.
It killed his dad not to be able to give his mother more things. He’d always felt like he’d been the one to marry up, never quite deserving of her because he couldn’t give her what he thought she should have. While she wasn’t a materialistic person, she had her bucket list. Didn’t everyone? The point was to have someone to share the bucket list with. His parents had gone through everything together—every hard time, every joy, and every in-between. They still held hands, they still snuck kisses, and his dad always kissed his mom on the top of her head when they hugged.
He wanted that, too, deep down, just never with anyone other than Greer.
He grabbed a couple things from his room, pausing when he eyed his nightstand. Opening the drawer, he considered the condoms stored there. If he left them behind, he’d have a reason not to touch her. They wouldn’t be stopping anywhere that would allow sexy time, anyway, since he’d be driving through the night. But if he did have them, then he didn’t have a reason not to touch her. The devil on his shoulder—no, the crazy strong emotion in his heart—said he needed to touch her. Even if it was simply her hand in his.
Or a kiss.
Or her legs wrapped around him.
With a curse, he folded two condoms into his wallet and left. She was waiting outside her apartment when he pulled up. She slid up into the passenger seat, her long tan legs peeking out beneath the hem of a yellow sundress with a deep V-neck and thin straps over her feminine shoulders, perfect for the stuffy afternoon heat. Her hair was loose, her face glowing like she’d just scrubbed it and left it bare.
He was so fucked.
He leaned across the console and slid a hand behind her head, pulling her toward him. A soft breath escaped her as his lips ground down on hers. She opened her mouth for him, welcoming the sweep of his tongue with a moan. He let the kiss linger a moment before pulling away, both satisfied yet needing so much more.
He grabbed her seat belt, pulled it across her tempting chest, and buckled it.
“Ready?”
“You promised me donuts.”
His stomach churned, and he knew how his dad felt, doing anything for a woman he didn’t deserve, just to make her smile.