The Billionaire's Secret Kink Box Set: Knox: Secret Alpha Billionaire Romance Bundle (Rosesson Brothers Book 1) (44 page)

Smooth, Em, you are a real fruitcake, you know that? If the tables had been turned you would have been doing nothing but working and sleeping too.

But none of that mattered now - she was back to work! She punched in, checked the beat sheet, and headed straight over to ambulance 17.

Jerry wasn't there yet, so she grabbed a clipboard and started the pre-shift check.

She had determined the ambulance was in tip-top shape- all supplies were on hand, all blinkers worked, gas was at full, and there were no blood stains or puke smells- when Jerry finally showed up.

"EM!" he shouted as soon as he saw her. He ran across the bay and picked her up, spinning her around. She laughed down at his shaved-bald head and said "Put me down you dink, before you throw your back out. Nobody wants to see you cry again."

"Hey," he growled. "I didn't cry. I watered my beard."

Emma giggled. "You don't have a beard, silly."

"Seriously, Em, I am so happy to see you. I didn't know you were coming back today. I thought I had another shift with Sam and I've been dragging my feet all morning. I can't stand listening to him all day!" Jerry gushed on and on without taking a breath.

Emma had never had to work with Sam - he usually worked nights but was pulled to days because they had been so short-staffed last month - but she had heard the rumors. Sam was dirty. That's one of the reasons he liked to work nights. He had no problem looking the other way when the lazy or dirty cops, of which Westwood Harbor seemed to have way too many of, pocketed guns or drugs or beat people up instead of helping them. Emma had never seen a cop beat anyone up (
anyone but herself of course
), or take something they shouldn't, but she heard it happened. She also heard that some firefighters and paramedics looked the other way or helped for a piece of the action. Emma couldn't imagine doing this in her wildest dreams, and she hoped she never saw it. She liked her world sweet and rosy.

"Oh man, how many shifts did you have to do with him?"

"All of them! He was my partner the whole time you were gone!"

"Did he, you know, do anything?"

"Nah, he was clean as a whistle with me, of course."

Emma nodded, knowing that Jerry would never put up with it if anyone sworn to uphold the law actually broke it in front of him. She wondered if she would have the courage to blow any whistles if she saw something corrupt happen. Or would she just bury her nose in her work and pretend it didn't happen? She didn't know, but although she hoped with her full heart she was brave and strong, sometimes she suspected the opposite.

"Come on Jer, let's hit the road before I have to do the whole welcome back thing with anybody else."

"Right-O, Captain!" Jerry climbed into the driver's seat and Emma clambered into the passenger. They had been partners for five years, and Jerry always drove for the first five hours with Emma as the lead paramedic, and Emma drove for the second five with Jerry as the lead paramedic. They were both qualified firefighters, too, but they rarely worked the firehouse. Working paramedic was their mutual preference.

They got along as well as she had ever gotten along with anyone in her life. They'd had a few fights, but they always made up swiftly and completely. Which is more than Emma could say for any other man she'd ever known. Whenever she thought about this, she always figured it was because it wasn't a romantic relationship. There were less triggers. Less emotion. Plus, Jerry was a seriously cool guy and he genuinely liked and respected women in general, and her in particular. Which was also more than she could say for any other man she'd ever known.

Jerry backed the ambulance out of the stall and drove up the concrete ramp to the exit. When he hit Front Street he took a right. Emma grabbed the radio and said "Unit 17, 10-8"

"Unit 17, 10-8, 10-4," came the reply. After a beat the dispatcher spoke again. "Unit 17, 10-Whiskey Bravo." 10-Whiskey Bravo was not an official code, but the dispatcher, Wanda it sounded like, was probably saying welcome back. That's the kind of welcome back Emma could handle. One from a distance with no hugging and expressions of condolences.

"10-4 central, thanks."

Jerry pounded the steering wheel. "That fucker Sam, he wanted to trade off who drove first every day. Can you imagine?"

Emma didn't mind Jerry's complaining. She let his words wash over her like a warm breeze. She settled in to her chair and smiled, thrilled to be listening to Jerry and sitting in this chair. She watched people look at them from the sidewalk and waved at any children she saw. The light traffic on the paramedic radio sounded like a serenade to her. This was her place.

When Jerry took a few breaths, she said "Hey, let's get some coffee and chill somewhere. I have something to tell you."

She hadn't told anyone about her vision yet but she wanted to. She could still see it as clear as day in her mind. She felt an urgent feeling every day, like a fish hook in her brain, that she should be doing something about it. Unbelievably, she hadn't met one dark-skinned and dark-haired man since her accident who was tall enough to be the man in the vision. Sometimes she was scared that he had been standing on a stool in the vision, and so she actually had already met or seen him, but she had dismissed him because he didn't seem tall enough. That's why she needed to tell Jerry. His analytical brain would pick this thing apart for her.

Jerry looked at her with his eyebrows raised. She looked back, stoically. His face broke into a wide grin and he shouted, "Yeeeehaw! I am so glad you are back!" He gunned the ambulance, did a u-turn at the next intersection, and headed towards their favorite coffee place.

The Pink Lady was a small building sitting in the parking lot of a warehouse in the industrial area next to the harbor. It was no place for a coffee shop, except for the steady flow of working men through the area, all day long. And no other coffee shop had a chance down here. Three had tried and never had so much as a single customer. If only their owners had had the smarts to actually visit their only competition they would have realized why.

Jerry pulled up to the Pink Lady and smiled at the counter girl at the window. "Hi Heather, can I get my usual today?"

"Sure, and how about Sam?" Heather asked.

"Oh no sister, I don't ride with HIM no more!" Jerry cackled and leaned back so Heather could see.

"Emma's back! One tall espresso and one tall coffee with two creams and two sugars - got it," Heather flipped two cups in the air and sashayed over to the work station. Jerry watched Heather appreciatively while she worked. Heather had bleach-blonde hair down her back where strands of it tucked into her sparkly, skimpy bikini. Fit and tight, she looked like she belonged at CrossFit, instead of working the coffee shop. But she could do both. All the "girls" who worked at the Pink Lady got paid much better than most coffee shop workers. They were being paid for their body and their attitude towards the customers as much as they were for their coffee-making skills. Most men who worked in the area got coffee at least twice a day from the shop, just for the pleasure of talking to these ladies.

Emma watched Jerry ogle Heather and laughed silently to herself.
Men were so silly
. She didn't mind that Jerry liked to come here. The coffee was good, and all the girls were no nonsense - most of them working their way through college. No catty bitches here, which was surprising when you thought about it.

A certain group of "socially-active" moms had fought to get this business shut down last year. A law had even been passed, stating all baristas must wear clothes, or some equally ridiculous thing. But the business still ran and thrived. Emma didn't quite get it. When she had asked Jerry about it he had just laughed at her like he did when he thought she was being naive and said "Kickbacks, baby, kickbacks. The powers-that-be in Westwood Harbor care a lot more about how much money the Pink Ladies have than what they wear." Emma didn't understand it. She knew her city was supposed to be corrupt, but she'd never seen it.
Well, except for the crapola that Norman always seemed to get away with
.

Jerry handed her a coffee, pulling her attention away from her ex-husband and back to the here and now. They parked the ambulance with a view of the bay. The radio stayed silent. The city sat calm and quiet with most of its citizens still snuggled in their beds.

"So what's up Em?" Jerry asked.

Emma sat silent, hands between her knees and her eyes on her boots, feeling shy and a little anxious. She gave herself a good mental shaking.
Come on, Em, you aren't ever living in hiding again, remember? Jerry is your friend and he's not going to make fun of you.

She marshaled her courage and spoke.
"
While I was unconscious, I had a-a vision. I saw something that's going to happen to me. I need to talk to someone about it."

She sneaked a look at Jerry and saw him gazing at her openly. He hadn't even raised an eyebrow. He just waited. Bless him.

She recounted the entire vision and tried to explain the incredible feelings that were attached to it. The peace, the love, the contentment, the relief.

When she was done she took a deep breath and smiled, still looking at her boots.
Wow she did feel better.
It was like telling a deep, dark secret.

"OK," was all he said.

Anger flared in her for a brief second. She stuffed it down and took a deep breath.
No shizo feelings for you today, Em - he isn't being a jerk.

"You probably don't understand why this is such a big deal to me, Jerry, but it is. I can't make you feel what I felt or see what I saw or know why this is important, but I need you to trust me that it is a huge deal."

"But it was just like a dream, right? Do you think it's actually going to happen to you?" Jerry spoke evenly, and Emma knew he was keeping incredulity out of his voice with effort, so as not to hurt her. He knew damn well how sensitive she was after five years of working with her.

She took another deep breath, looked him square in the face, and said, "It is going to happen - I know it. And he will be the man I marry and love forever. My soul mate."

The conviction in her own voice bolstered her confidence. She was doing the right thing, sharing this. It was time to stop being ashamed of who she was, tied up in layers of her own thinking.

"Oh boy, Em, I didn't even know you were interested in getting married again. I thought Norman had ruined you forever." Jerry said, his body leaning toward her and his eyes conveying sympathy.

Emma thought for a moment about what role her hateful ex-husband played in her vision and her future.

"None!" she said loudly, emphatically.

Jerry looked startled. "None?"

"Sorry, Jer. I was thinking out loud. Norman won't be able to scare this one off. It doesn't matter what he tries. This one is for real and he is strong-minded enough to give Norman what-for. He won't believe anything Norman says."

"How do you know that, Em?"

"Because, in the vision I had a full and complete sense of him. It's hard to explain, but I
knew
him. I wasn't just reacting to what he was doing."

Emma saw the confusion in Jerry's eyes and tried a different tactic.

"Jerry, when you think of me, what do you think of?"

Jerry thought for a second. "Well, I think of my friend who always has my back, who is the best damn paramedic I know, who thinks too much and is too hard on herself, who never lets anything go, but is still more fun than anybody else I know."

Emma nodded. "That's how I feel about you too. Except the too hard stuff. And when I see you or think of you, a sense of fully knowing who you are and your relationship to me fills my senses - almost like how I can think of a strawberry and know what it would look like, smell like, taste like, and feel like."

Jerry looked at her thoughtfully and grinned slightly.

Emma grinned back. She knew she had him. "That's how I felt about this guy in the vision. I knew who he was. I knew how he felt about me. I knew how we got along. I had a picture in my mind of who we were together. I know he wouldn't fall for any of Norman's crap."

Jerry played with his coffee cup. "Well, what makes you so sure this is going to actually happen? It could have just been a, I don't know, a dream or something."

Emma had been waiting for this question. This was the important question, because this was what she had never shared in twenty-three years with anyone. She had tried to block it from her memory many times, but it wouldn't go.

The words came easily. "When I was seven-years-old, I went to Winton Elementary. One day at recess I was hanging upside down from the monkey bars by my legs, and Xander Tay ran by and pulled my hair hard. He didn't let go and I fell on my head. I lost consciousness. I was only unconscious for a few minutes, but when I woke up I knew something. I had seen something while I was out."

Emma bit her lip and looked down at her shoes.

"I was surrounded by teachers and the school nurse and principal were there. They had taken all the kids inside and called an ambulance. I told the teachers what I saw. I told them that Mandi Paulson was run over in the street by a blue car in front of the school. I screamed at them to go and get her. They hushed me and said she was fine and she was inside and I needed to lay still and relax. I doubted myself and I did what they said. The ambulance came and the paramedic said I needed to be watched for a concussion but I didn't need to go to the hospital - things were different back then - and so the nurse took me to her office to wait for my foster parents. I was kept home for three days."