Page 6 of A Sudden Response

“I do what I can. Do you want to look these two over for us?” Bret asked.

“Sure thing,” Eric said, tightening his hold on the naked man trying to wiggle free. “Just as soon as you take Tiny here off our hands.”

The two officers quickly took over while Eric helped Joe to her feet. She pulled out a small bottle of hand sanitizer and squirted some in Eric’s waiting hand before taking some for herself.

“Hey, isn’t that your third rider puking?” one of the younger cops asked.

Joe and Eric went still before they slowly turned around, and sure enough, there was Greg vomiting all over a dead bush.

Joe sighed heavily as Eric asked on a drawn-out sigh, “Why must you embarrass us? At least aim for the asshole that came at us with a knife!”

CHAPTER 3

“How’s your stomach?”

“It’s fine. It was just something I ate,” Greg said, not quite able to meet Joe’s gaze as he lied his ass off.

“I’m sure that’s what it was,” Eric said, trying not to laugh. The guy puked at all six calls they were sent on. Five hours on the job and the kid still hadn’t said one word to a patient. He’d ended up vomiting every single time they arrived on scene and sat up front for the drive to the hospital, sipping ginger ale while they took the patient inside.

It would suck for Greg, but there was no way in hell that they could sign off on this ride-along. The kid wouldn’t be getting any credit for this. No doubt Greg would bitch, but Eric wasn’t budging. It sucked to have to do more ride-alongs, but it couldn’t be helped. Eric wasn’t about to put a patient’s life on the line for anyone.

“Alright, gentlemen,” Joe said as she looked at Eric, “and I use that term loosely. I’m going to try to get some sleep.”

“I think I should lie down, too,” Greg said, and Eric didn’t miss the look the guy was sending Joe’s ass.

It also hadn’t escaped his notice that Greg had sworn up and down that he wasn’t tired and was going to hang out with the guys until he found out that the three of them were sharing a bunkroom. Once he knew that he’d be sleeping in the same room with Joe, he’d started yawning every fucking time she looked his way.

Joe might think of herself as one of the guys, but she wasn’t. She was an incredibly beautiful woman with killer eyes and a sexy little smile that drove men nuts. It didn’t hurt that she had a killer body, not that she thought she did. It really killed him that she didn’t know just how beautiful she was. If you tried to tell her, she’d laugh her ass off. She was the most down-to-earth woman he’d ever met.

She was also his best friend and it was his job to kick the living shit out of any asshole that tried to hurt her. With that in mind, he followed the asshole drooling after Joe to the back rooms.

“I’m afraid there are only two beds, Greg. You’ll either have to throw some blankets on the floor between the beds or go see if there’s a spot on the couch,” Joe explained with an apologetic smile as she unlaced her black boots.

Greg eyed the small space between the two beds before shifting his gaze to the bunk that Joe was sleeping on and struggled to bite back a smile. It wasn’t fucking happening, Eric decided as he looked from his unmade bed with his old sleeping bag thrown on top of it to Joe’s bed and couldn’t help but smile. Ah, god love her, Joe always put comfort first. There was no sleeping bag for Joe. Not for his Joe. She always made her bed with soft cotton sheets, a down comforter, and an extra firm pillow.

He watched Joe pull off her light blue uniform shirt, leaving her in a very tight white tank top that made it really fucking easy to see the baby pink sports bra she wore underneath. Out of thecorner of his eye, Eric caught Greg licking his lips hungrily as he stared at her chest and as usual, Joe was completely fucking oblivious.

Why did she have to make his job so fucking difficult?

“Greg, you can have my bunk,” Eric said.

“Really?” Greg asked, looking even more excited. No doubt, the man thought that it was his lucky night.

“It’s all yours,” Eric said, shrugging it off.

“Cool. Thanks,” Greg mumbled absently as he quickly took off his boots and tore off his shirt, making sure to flex to show off his slight build.

“Goodnight,” Joe mumbled around a yawn as she climbed into bed while Greg climbed onto the other bed, all while keeping his gaze firmly locked on Joe.

“What happens if we get a call?” Greg asked as he shifted onto his side.

“A really fucking annoying alarm will go off and that phone will ring,” Eric said, gesturing to the white phone on the wall above Joe’s bed.

“If we don’t hear it, will you come wake us up?” Greg asked, still fucking staring at Joe.

“Oh, that won’t be necessary,” Eric said, shaking his head as he pulled off his boots.

“What are you doing?” Greg asked, frowning in confusion as he watched him.

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