Page 27 of Her Paramedic
“Make yourself at home. I’m going to finish dinner.”
“You want some help?” Slate asked.
“Help, no. Eye candy, yes,” she smirked.
He chuckled. “I’m sure I can manage that for you.”
They entered the kitchen, and he sat on a bar stool while she added water to a vase and put the flowers in. She washed her hands before going to the stove, and while she’d told him he was to play eye candy, she had him beat in that regard as his eyes roamed over her. He knew, by the way she shifted; she could feel his gaze.
“Are you staring at my ass?” she teasingly asked, a playful lilt in her tone.
“Yes,” he replied. He hadn’t been, at least not when she asked, but he wanted to know how she would respond.
She laughed as she looked over her shoulder at him. “No shame in being caught, huh?”
“Shame implies neither of us liked it, and that I won’t do it again.” He deliberately dropped his gaze to the swell of her ass and licked his lips before locking eyes with her again. “Both of which are untrue.”
“You don’t know if I like it.” She was still teasing him.
“Tell me you don’t,” he challenged.
“I don’t make it a habit to lie,” Talia responded before returning her attention to the stove.
Slate smirked to himself. “What are you cooking, baby?”
“Brown stew chicken. It’s one of my favorite comfort meals in winter. It was also my go-to birthday meal for years during the season.”
Slate could see that. Comfort foods were good at any time, but perfect in the winter.Wait.
“When’s your birthday?”
He’d asked her this before, the last time he’d taken her out, and she’d responded after the next holiday. Before she could elaborate, their server interrupted them, and the subject was changed once they were alone again.
“February twentieth,” she responded.
He’d assumed she meant Memorial Day with what she said because while Valentine’s Day was a holiday, he never usually considered it one unless he was in a relationship, which, in hindsight, meant he should have. Slate would have felt awful if he’d missed her birthday.
“Have you made plans?” he asked as she moved to the rice cooker.
“For the actual day, no. I’m waiting to see what Kaydence wants to do. Our birthdays are two weeks apart, so we usually pick a weekend that works best for both of us and do something with the other ladies.” She paused. “But I don’t have to do that this year.”
He took that to mean she would celebrate it with him if he wanted to, and he did, but he had no intentions of making her change her usual plans. He was fine with a time that didn’t infringe on the typical festivities.
“Sure, baby, but you can do both.”
She shrugged. “I don’t mind switching it up. I’m sure Kaydence will celebrate with Axel, and if we really wanted to, her, Journee, and I could celebrate together, since their birthdays are a little over two weeks apart.”
“There are three birthdays in the group between February and March?”
She turned to look at him. “Four, technically. The twins’ birthdays are January thirty-first and February first, then mine on the twentieth, Kaydence on March third, and Journee on March twenty-first.”
“Wow,” he chuckled.
She smiled at him. “I know. I’m about to petition for the five of us to celebrate together because we go out every couple of weeks during that time. Then, we have downtime until the other three birthdays in August and September. When is yours?”
“July twentieth.”
“I take it the eight of you are spread out pretty good?”
