Page 39 of A Sudden Response

“What’s going on with you two?” Nathan asked, gesturing towards the row of ambulances lined up for the EMS competition. She spotted Eric leaning against the ambulance, shirtless, and talking to an equally shirtless Dave, the EMT that had taken her spot but the sight of Dave didn’t send her heart racing or leave her feeling lost.

After their momentary lapse in sanity, he’d stepped away from her and went to her bedroom to get dressed, leaving her sitting on the table, confused, aching, and furious. Of course,the milkshake Nathan brought for her helped her calm down. It really was too bad they weren’t selling them here because she could really use one right about now.

By the time Eric reappeared, he was dressed and wouldn’t make eye contact with her, for which she’d been immensely grateful. She’d never been more embarrassed in her life than she’d been at that moment. He’d kissed her and what had she done? She’d practically swallowed his tongue and all but demanded that he fuck her against the wall.

She still couldn’t believe it happened and if there was any doubt in her mind, then the way her nipples tightened every time she thought of him was proof enough. It didn’t help that she couldn’t stop thinking about him and what almost happened. It didn’t matter that she’d always been attracted to him because she’d never intended to act on it. He was her best friend and she didn’t want to lose that.

When he’d kissed her, she should have put a stop to it and pulled away, laughing it off like she had when they were fourteen. But had she done that? Oh, no, not her. For some reason, she’d decided that it had been a great day to ruin everything.

Now, they weren’t talking. They’d never gone a day without talking before, but he hadn’t said anything to her in the past three days. Then again, she hadn’t exactly gone out of her way to talk to him either. For the past three days, she’d been screening all her calls and avoiding all his usual haunts. If Nathan and Caitlyn hadn’t showed up and dragged her here, she’d probably still be avoiding him.

“You’re not still mad at him, are you?” Nathan asked, thankfully drawing her attention back to him before Eric saw that she was watching him. The last thing that she needed was for Eric to think that she thought that kiss meant something when it clearly didn’t.

It didn’t mean anything.

She also wasn’t curious about what would have happened if Nathan hadn’t showed up or wondered if it would have been as good as she’d always imagined it would be.

“Everything’s fine,” Joe said, shrugging it off.

“Really? Is that why he won’t even look this way? Or why you haven’t gone over there to kick his ass for getting you kicked out of the competition?” Nathan asked, throwing his arm around her shoulders and gave her a gentle pull until she was walking with him towards the food vendors.

“It’s just a simple misunderstanding,” Joe explained as they stepped in line, hoping he’d let it go. Thankfully, by some miracle, he did.

“I’m starving. What are you buying me?” Nathan asked as he gestured towards the two-man team working the grills.

“Nothing,” Joe said, frowning before she pointed out, “You kidnapped me. That means you feed me.”

“I guess I’m not up to date on my kidnapping etiquette,” Nathan said with a teasing smile.

“Guess not,” Joe said, feeling her lips twitch. “You’ll have to work on that.”

“I guess so.”

“Hey, Joe!”

She looked past Nathan to see Johnny, an EMT from the 505, waving to get her attention. “We need a patient. You interested?”

Was she? Yes, yes, she was. The fact that she’d be helping the competition beat Eric didn’t hurt. She was still pretty pissed about being kicked out of the Muster and after they were both able to pretend that kiss never happened, she fully planned on kicking his ass for screwing her over.

“I’ll take a raincheck on that double-rack of ribs,” Joe said, pulling away from Nathan to go help kick Eric’s ass.

“Wait. When did I promise to buy you a double-rack?” Nathan asked, sounding adorably confused.

“About ten seconds before you promised to buy me a double fudge brownie sundae,” she said, throwing him a wink when he released a gasp of outrage.

“Gold digger!”

“What the hell is she doing?”Dave asked as he gestured behind him.

Eric looked back and had to bite back a curse as he watched Johnny Powers sweep Joe off her feet and place her on his stretcher. His eyes narrowed when the bastard ran his fingers through her hair as he moved it out of her face.

What the hell was she doing?

Was she really that pissed at him that she was willing to help the competition? Or was it something else, Eric wondered. Everyone knew that Johnny wanted her. Although whenever anyone told her that she’d just laugh it off. She thought Johnny was just being friendly. She was so fucking naive sometimes.

“That reminds me. We’re going to need a patient, too. Should I go get my sister?” Dave asked, moving to do just that.

“Nah, I got it covered,” Eric said, tossing the straps back on the stretcher.

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