Page 104 of Her Paramedic
“Yeah, you will. But at least it’ll be the last two for a while.”
“Mm, I plan on doing it at least one more time in the near future when you’re ready.”
Her fingers stilled on his, and she turned over her shoulder to look at him. Those honey eyes were filled with curiosity. “Are you saying you want to move in with me?”
“Are you saying you want to drive back and forth forever?” he countered.
The distance between them wasn’t nearly as wide as Killian and Journee’s had been. It was barely an hour, but even that was too much for him at times. It was only solidified on the days he got off and she was waiting at his house for him, or on the days he went straight to hers after getting off. He preferred them overthe others. However, he wouldn’t rush her. He only wanted to put it out there.
“No, I don’t, but your job is here.”
“I can be a paramedic anywhere, baby. Your business is there.”
“But you like working with Jonah.”
Sure he did, but they didn’t hang out outside of work unless it was in a group setting, and he was sure that Jonah would work well with whoever he was partnered with after him. “He’ll be fine. He had a partner before me when he was an EMT, and having one after me was always eventually a given.”
“What about your cars? My house doesn’t have a garage for you to work on them in.”
That wasn’t an issue. He could always rent a place or if she was up for it have a work shed built on the side of the house. Slate could have told her that. Instead, he said, “Talia, if you aren’t ready. That’s fine, baby. You can let me know when you are.”
She turned around to fully face him. “It isn’t that. You’d be making a lot of sacrifices, and it feels unfair to expect that of you.”
He took her face in his hands. “Not sacrifices. Compromises.”
And to Slate they were small ones. He’d moved around when he was enlisted, settled in Pueblo because the city had openings at the time, and it was close to his business partner. It didn’t hold any real sentimental ties for him. Colorado Springs put him closer to both his business partners, and he hadn’t looked into openings there, but he had no problem waiting until there was one, or going PRN in his current position and making the drive when he felt like it.
“Then we should both compromise,” Talia started. “Why don’t we meet in the middle?”
“In Fountain?” he asked to clarify. The city was twenty to twenty-five minutes from theirs. It was smaller than Pueblo, not even half the size or population, and much smaller than Colorado Springs. Slate thought about it and tried to picture them there. As much as it worked as a compromise, he couldn’t see it. “If living together is something you want down the line. Would you want to move?”
“If we both found a place we liked. I just don’t want you feeling like a permanent visitor,” she told him honestly.
He understood that. It wasn’t how he would want her to feel, either. “Okay, new compromise. When you’re ready, we can lookinColorado Springs. If you don’t find something you like, we’ll stay in your house.”
“But—”
“In return,” he cut her off because he knew she was going to protest that he was the only one compromising. “You’ll tell me you love me every day.” He gave her a soft kiss.
“What about when we don’t see each other because we’re working opposite shifts?”
Another kiss. “Every day.”
“What about when I’m mad at you?”
Another kiss. “Every day.”
“What about when you’re mad at me?”
“Every.” Kiss. “Single.” Kiss. “Day.”
“Okay. Every day,” she responded, straddling him. “I love you,” she breathed against his lips before kissing him slowly, sweetly. The type of kiss that would have had him falling in love had he not already. The type that would have made him want to give her the world if it wasn’t already his goal.
He’d have to thank his cousin for the invite all those months ago. For forcing him to take the night off when Slate responded, asking for a raincheck. Could they have gotten to where theywere if he’d met her some other time? Maybe, but he was glad he would never have to find out.
Slate liked where they were, loved where they were headed, and he wouldn’t change that, change being with her, for anything in the entire world.
Epilogue
