Page 26 of A Sudden Response

So were all the other women that had come and gone out of his brother’s life over the years, but tonight wasn’t the night to bring that up. Tonight, he was exhausted.

“I’m gonna grab a quick shower,” Eric said, grabbing a pair of boxer briefs from Joe’s bureau. He ignored Nathan’s amused expression and went to the bathroom and took a hot shower. It helped relax his muscles, but it did nothing to calm his fucking nerves.

The only thing that helped was seeing Joe safely curled up in bed fast asleep, Eric thought as he walked back into her bedroom a few minutes later. He wasn’t exactly surprised to find Nathan lying on top of Joe’s old sleeping bag on the floor. Although none of them had a problem sleeping in the same bed since it had been a necessity on more than one family vacation when they were kids, none of those experiences had ended well for Nathan.

Odd things just seemed to happen to Nathan when the three of them shared a bed. Most of the time, he ended up falling off the bed, but on more than one occasion, he’d ended up with a few minor injuries like a bump on the head, a knee to the groin, a few broken fingers, and a broken nose. They were accidents no matter what Nathan claimed, but they were still unsettling.

Even that trip last October when they went up to Maine for the weekend and were forced to share a tent hadn’t ended well for Nathan. How the poor bastard ended up being shoved out of the tent and into the rain, Eric still had no fucking idea. Not that he’d cared at the time since he’d been happily snuggled up with Joe in a warm tent.

Stepping over Nathan, Eric carefully crawled into bed with Joe and pulled her into his arms. She immediately relaxed back into his arms and let out a little sigh.

“How long do you think they’ll keep her on light duty?” Nathan whispered.

Eric sighed heavily. “Normally, they’d probably keep her on light duty for a week, but knowing how stubborn she is, she’ll probably manage to get back to work in a few days.”

“I still can’t believe he attacked a cop and went for his gun. You’re both lucky that he didn’t get that gun free,” Nathan pointed out as Eric’s arms tightened around Joe. They had been really fucking lucky, but it had been close, very close. When he spoke to Nathan earlier on the phone, he’d left off the fact that the patient had managed to switch the safety off just seconds before Joe’s little stunt.

Joe’s groan had him loosening his hold and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. He had to figure out a way to get Joe off the truck before something happened.

“Nathan?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you still looking for a secretary?” Eric asked, glad that it was too dark for his brother to see the calculating expression on his face.

Nathan sighed heavily. “Yeah, business is really taking off and I could use a hand in the office to free up some of my time. Why? Do you know someone?”

Eric couldn’t help but smile. This was going to be too fucking easy. He knew how much Nathan’s tech company meant to him. He’d built it from the ground up when he was barely sixteen years old. It was his baby, his pride and joy, and he knew that he was nervous about letting a stranger near it.

This was perfect.

Joe needed a new job and Nathan needed someone he trusted. He mentally congratulated himself on his fast work. This was going to be easier than he thought.

“Joe,” Eric simply said.

“Is she awake?” Nathan asked, sounding confused.

Eric heard the telltale sound of the sleeping bag zipper being pulled down and wasn’t surprised to find Nathan standing next to the bed a moment later, peering down at Joe nervously. The man clearly wanted to make sure Joe was okay and what better way to do that than to give her a job?

This was going to be too fucking easy.

“She’s fine.”

“Oh.”

“I meant that you should hire Joe.”

There was a heavy pause before Nathan snorted his reply. “No fucking way. It’s not happening.”

“What the hell do you mean ‘no way’?” Eric demanded, shifting Joe out of his arms so that he could sit up and properly glare up at his brother.

Nathan simply turned his back on him and returned to the safety of his sleeping bag. “Just what I said. There’s no way in hell that I’m hiring Joe. Besides, she has a job already. A good job, I might add.”

“Why the hell wouldn’t you hire Joe?” Eric demanded, unable to stop himself from feeling insulted on her behalf. “She’s a good worker, never late, and she works her ass off.”

“She’s also stubborn, pushy, and would laugh her ass off the first time I asked her to do something,” Nathan pointed out.

Eric opened his mouth to argue but then closed it, realizing that he was right. Nathan would probably fire Joe’s ass within the first hour. Joe was a great EMT and never argued or copped an attitude with one of their supervisors, but she’d have a hard time taking orders from a pushover like Nathan.

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