Page 30 of Her Paramedic
“Hi,” she responded, as he handed her the beautiful arrangement in a crystal vase. It comprised pink roses, two types of lilies, and other flowers she wasn’t sure about. “These are beautiful, babe. Thank you.” She kissed him before putting the vase on her station. “I thought you were going to see Axel.”
“I am, but I wanted to bring you those and ask you something.”
“What is it?”
“Will you let me take you out tonight?” he asked with a smile.
The same smile he’d given her that morning before he left the bedroom to make breakfast for her as she’d gotten ready for work—a smile Talia was sure should not have had butterflies fluttering in her stomach from how cute it was—how cute the entire situation was. He’d asked her even though he was there to spend time with her, and the chances of her saying no or protesting if he’d told her instead of asking were zero.
“Yes, I’ll let you take me out tonight.”
“Aren’t I lucky?” He kissed her before his lips went to her ear, and he whispered, “I’m even luckier because I swear I can still taste you on my tongue.” Talia let out a soft gasp as he pulled away. Why did he have to say that? Now, she’d never be able to focus. “I’ll see you at your house,” he said when he pulled away. The smile he gave her this time was far from cute. It was telling. He knew exactly what he’d done.
Talia licked her lips. “Okay. You remembered to grab the spare key before you left, right?”
“I did,” he responded before heading for the door, waving at the other women in the salon who were blatantly staring as he left.
“Is that your boyfriend?” Barbara, one of Maya’s regulars, asked as she examined herself in the mirror.
Talia only hesitated briefly. Even though he’d told her he was hers, they hadn’t put a definitive title on it. But hell, what else could he be? So, Talia smiled at her and responded, “He is.”
“If that man was with you last night, I see why you keep zoning out,” Whitney stated.
“Right,” Maya agreed. “Because he’s fine and sweet.” She gestured to the bouquet.
“Where can I find one?” Monique asked, walking up. “Do they sell them on Amazon, or did you get him on a build-a-man site?”
Talia laughed with the other salon ladies before shaking her head at Monique. “Neither. He was just put on my radar.”
“Does he have a brother? A cousin?” Nesha, a braider, asked.
“The second one,” Talia nodded, preparing to burst their bubble. “But he’s dating one of my little sisters.” She smirked.
Talia tuned them out as a few playfully voiced their dismay and turned her attention to her flowers. For the first time, she noticed a card in them. She removed it, flipping it open.
Thank you for the delicious bedtime snack - Slate.
Talia quickly closed it to keep it away from prying eyes as she felt her cheeks warm. She was going to get him.
9
Talia was having a week from hell; things she didn’t even think could go wrong happened. She’d ordered a shipment of color for the salon. They’d come in the correct boxes, but they were a completely different shade when they opened them. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it were a color they used often, but Talia could count on one hand how many times a stylist had used that shade over the last year. If that had been the only order issue, it wouldn’t have been so bad, but forty percent of the items she’d stocked up on were incorrect.
This had never happened before, and after calling the supplier who made the mistake, she discovered they had accidentally placed the shipping label for her order on someone else’s. They did a reorder of the products with express shipping. Add that to one of her braider’s clients trying to fight the stylist because she hadn’t brought enough money to get her hair done, and she informed her halfway through the style, which resulted in only half of it being completed.
“Are you okay, Tal?” Kaydence asked, reaching over and taking the pickle spear off her plate.
Talia glared playfully at her little sister. “Yeah. This week has just been one for the record books.”
She gave her a rundown of what went down that week, and it was only Wednesday. If anything else happened, Talia was sure she’d be able to discover how to reset the week through sheer determination.
“Damn,” Kaydence responded. “That sounds hectic. I’m sure missing Slate doesn’t help,” she teased.
Talia picked up her iced tea and took a drink. It wasn’t like she hadn’t spoken to him, and she had video-called him, but his last few days off had been during the week, and they weren’t consecutive. It had been two weeks since she had last seen him in person. So yeah, she missed him. She hadn’t said anything to anyone about it, but she wasn’t surprised her sister could tell. Instead of answering her, Talia changed the subject.
“Have you and Axel decided what you were going to do about the house situation?”
Kaydence gave her a knowing look and a sly smile, but allowed the subject to change. “We’ve decided to sell both of our houses and buy a new one. It only seemed right to find a new home that we both loved, where we could begin life as husband and wife. We have a meeting scheduled with Nova to give her our wish list and have her put our houses on the market.”
