Page 48 of A Sudden Response

What if he fucked up and hurt her? He’d never cheat on her, but he knew that he would piss her off. With sex involved, that might complicate things and she would no longer come to him when she needed him. He sure as hell didn’t want her confiding in some other guy.

“MVA,” Joe said as she hung the phone back up.

She ripped the piece of paper she wrote the call details off her small notebook and went to stuff it in her pants pocket only to remember that she wasn’t wearing pants. He loved that beautiful blush that crept up her face as she turned to quickly get dressed.

His Joe was shy after sex? He would never have guessed, Eric thought with a chuckle. He had to wonder what else he didn’t know about her. The idea that there was still something new to discover about her intrigued him. Even after twenty years, she was still a mystery to him.

He finished tucking in his shirt and headed for the door, pausing only long enough to grab the paper out of her hand and to give her a quick kiss that seemed to leave her momentarily stunned. She looked so damn cute standing there, adorably confused, but they had a job to do.

“We’ll talk later, okay?”

She looked up at him. “All I care about is that this doesn’t change anything, Eric. I don’t want to lose you.”

He gently cupped her cheek, brushing her swollen lips with his thumb. “You’ll never lose me, Joe. No matter what we decide to do about this, I’ll always be there for you,” Eric promised as brushed his lips against hers one last time before he took her hand in his and gave it a small tug as he headed for the door.

“That’sgotta be some kind of record,” Joe said, fighting back a yawn as Eric pulled the ambulance in behind the small line of ambulances and fire department SUVs waiting to get gas and threw the truck in park.

It had been a very long, weird night and she was more than ready for it to be over. The only thing she wasn’t ready for was the “talk” they needed to have. She knew they had to talk about what happened between them, but she just wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say.

The sex had been incredible and, surprisingly, she didn’t regret it, which was kind of stupid since it could very well be the beginning of the end of their friendship. What were they supposed to do now?

They had sex one time and she didn’t exactly equate that with a declaration of love. She knew he loved her and would never hurt her, at least not on purpose, but this was Eric that she was talking about here. There was no arguing that he was the best friend she’d ever had and she would never hurt him or say anything unkind about him, but she couldn’t lie.

Eric was a lousy boyfriend.

He treated all the women he dated the same, barely gave them the time of day, and barely remembered their names. On more than one occasion, she had to remind him what his date’s name was. It never took much for him to get bored and move on.

She’d rather have Eric as a best friend than a boyfriend any day of the week. The best friend she could have for the rest of her life, but Eric as a boyfriend? He’d be hauling ass in less than a week.

Part of her thought that he’d treat her differently, but that would only make her an idiot. The two of them had been stepping around falling into bed for years and it finally happened. Dwelling on it would only cause her heartache that neither one of them needed. She loved him, couldn’t live without him, but knew that if she had any hopes of keeping him that she had to bite back her feelings and laugh this whole thing off when they had their “talk.”

“Why don’t you head out? I’ve got this,” Eric said, taking her by surprise because not once in twelve years had he ever even suggested putting the truck away on his own.

She opened her mouth to say no but then thought better of it. He obviously didn’t want to have this talk and neither did she. Common sense said that they really shouldn’t put this off, but if he was willing to be a coward about it, then so was she.

“Are you sure?” Joe asked, her hand hovering over the door handle.

“Yeah, go ahead,” Eric said, not bothering to look up from his clipboard.

She climbed out, feeling awkward for the first time since they’d met. When he still didn’t look at her or say anything, she shrugged it off and shut the door.

The next thirty minutes were a blur as she hauled ass to grab her bedding, punch out, and drive home. The entire time she was afraid that he was going to change his mind and wanted to have the talk that she was so not ready to have. By the time she pulled into her driveway, she was a nervous wreck. It didn’t get any better once she walked into her house.

Every few minutes, she’d look up from what she was doing, half-expecting Eric to come sauntering in. When he didn’t show up an hour later, she was relieved and admittedly a little disappointed. She was glad that they weren’t going to have the talk just yet, but she wanted to see him.

She was an idiot, Joe decided as she headed to her room. She quickly got undressed and forced herself to take a long, hot shower when all she wanted to do was wait by the phone like some lovesick teenage girl. This was bad, this was very bad. If she was going to convince Eric that she could get over what happened between them, then she couldn’t go around acting like this.

He was her best friend and that’s all, Joe reminded herself. That much was made clear when she was done with her shower and he still wasn’t there. There was no doubt in her mind that if he wanted to be here, then he’d already be here.

Fine, Joe thought, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge before heading to her room. If that’s what he wanted, then that was more than fine with her. She could pretend that she hadn’t just had the best sex of her life or that she was dying to touch him again. She was a big girl. She could handle a little rejection. She closed the blinds to darken the room and flopped down on the bed more than ready to put this day behind her.

She was going to kick his ass, Joe decided three hours later when she couldn’t fall asleep or get him out of her mind. If he didn’t want anything to do with her, then he could have damn well said so instead of giving her the cold shoulder and treating her like every other woman in his life. She was his best friend and deserved a hell of a lot better than this.

Furious, Joe climbed out of bed and grabbed her keys as she headed for the front door while she thought of all the ways that she was going to make him pay for this bullshit. After she was done with him, he was going to wish-

“Where the hell are you going?” Eric demanded, startling her when she ripped open her front door, but not enough to distract her from her purpose.

“To kick your ass,” she admitted.

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