Page 5 of Eligible Best Friend

I can’t keep my scowl away. Every time there’s some sort of inspection to do with the building, some young, single fireman shows up when Lia is working, and that means I’m always here to witness the show.

Lia wanders to the supply closet to gather the items we used up during the last two medical calls: a seizure and a broken hip. Jimmy flicks his suspenders and meanders next to me. “Looking a bit green there under the collar, Monroe.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Normally, Jimmy and I get along well. Today, he’s a giant pain in the ass. “I’m not sick.”

“I’m not talking about you being ill. I think you’re jealous.” He sings the last word. “If you want to go out with her, you should just ask her. Then me and the guys will start leaving her alone.”

“I’m not interested in dating Lia. Maybe you should think about leaving her alone when you’re on duty.”

“Come on, man. You can’t blame us. It’s not like she goes to the bars or hangs out with the guys after her shift. The only time we get a chance is when we come here to check your fire extinguishers.”

“Did you ever think that she’s making sure she doesn’t give you assholes the wrong impression?”

Jimmy cocked his head, his gaze appraising. “You’re not into her?”

“She’s my partner.” I say it like he should understand the magnitude of that statement, and he should. The people we work with are often more than friends. Partner carries a heavy meaning with it. Lia and I save lives together. I don’t take that lightly.

“Then I hate to tell you, Monroe, but if you’re not going to ask her out, you can’t cockblock every other guy from doing it.”

The hell I can’t. I shake off that thought. I have no business interfering in Lia’s dating life, and I’m absolutely not interested in dating her. Risking my job to get laid is not an option, no matter how beautiful and genuine she is. My mom needs the financial help and I need to prove to Cass that I’m not a total fuckup so I can see my son.

I turn away from Jimmy as he walks out and am greeted by Lia’s ass. She’s bending over outside the back of the rig, stooping to pick up a sixteen-gauge IV needle packet she must have dropped. I yank my gaze down to the packet on the floor before I can notice how nicely her form fills out her pants. The corner of my mouth curves up. When she nears the ground, she kicks out her left leg like a kickstand. It was one of the first things I noticed about her, and it was what cut the tension between us.

Lia’s first impression is regal. The haughty tilt to her nose and her cool demeanor scares many men off, but the reserved way she holds herself is what really makes her stand out. Her tone is firm, but her voice is soft and she always thinks before she acts. My first impression of her is what I’ve heard called “good breeding.” In short, when she was introduced as my new partner, my first thought was that she was too good for me. Then she bent to grab a pen off the floor and kicked a leg out like a giraffe drinking from a flood pool, blowing apart the entitled princess image.

I’m in danger of lifting my gaze to her ass, so instead, I tease her like I’m ten and on the playground again. “Butterfingers.”

She straightens with a chuckle, “As always,” and climbs into the patient compartment.

I crowd in behind her. “Or did you think Jimmy was still around and you wanted to flash him?”

“Oh my God, you did not just go there.”

“Go where?” I ask innocently. “We both know he’s been getting bolder. Was that a door he opened for you the other night?”

“He was just being nice—and it was for both of us as we wheeled that pediatric patient out.”

A three-year-old I made clown faces at to keep her from crying after a seizure while Lia took her vitals. “I told him to back off.”

She stops with a cabinet open and raises a brow. “You did what?”

“He was hitting on you at work. I told him to be professional.”

She thinks about it for a moment and shrugs. “Thanks. I don’t really want to date right now.”

“Got yer back, partner,” I drawl.

By the time we finish stocking, the shift is over. I wait for Lia to grab her things so we can walk out together.

“I’m thinking of asking Cass if I can have Jayden for the weekend.”

“Think she’ll let you this time?”

I wince at the this time. But that’s how it is. I ask. Cass turns me down. For over two years, I’ve had to beg and plead for time with my son. Cass’s family has money and I don’t. She has all the power; she made sure of it, and I can’t fight her.

When I can’t sleep at night, I dream of suing her ass off for custody.

“I have no idea, but if I ask for a weekend, maybe she’ll give me a few hours.” Maybe I can overlap that time with going out to eat with my mom. Cass blames her for my fall from future doctor grace and hardly ever lets Jayden around her.

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