Up by Five (17 page)

“Crazy like I’m-so-gonna-make-you-pay-for-embarrassing-me-at-work crazy?” Gabby said, tucking the envelope into her back pocket before any of the other paramedics could see it.

She was so using that. Conner hadn’t seen crazy yet.

“How is a Crock-Pot embarrassing?” Conner asked, filling his coffee cup and turning to face her. “It’s sweet. It’s a meaningful gift.” He sipped. “It’s called
fawning
over someone, I believe.”

“
I’m
supposed to be fawning over
you
, remember?” she asked, crossing her arms.

“I did it first. I win.” He sipped again.

She raised both eyebrows. “You win? This is a contest? Because I can so outfawn you, Dixon.”

“Doubt it. You don’t have the experience I have.”

“Or the connections. I don’t know anyone else who can call someone at five a.m. and have poker-chip cookies by six,” Dooley said, taking one of the cookies and popping it into his mouth.

She narrowed her eyes and studied Conner. Something Mac had said sank in and she felt a slow smile stretch her lips. “Oh, I get it. I’m the new Sara, huh?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Conner said, leaning against the counter in the kitchen area.

He so knew what she meant.

“Sure,” she said, nodding and walking toward him. “I’m leaving in two months, I’m adamant about staying unattached, so I’m safe, right? You can be all romantic and crazy and…”

“Doting,” Conner supplied. “I like the word
doting
.”

She rolled her eyes. “Doting. And now you’ll get even more attention because this is new. This will shake things up. There’s a girl
besides
Sara Gordon getting all your ridiculous gifts.”

“The Crock-Pot is not ridiculous. It’s top of the line. Very practical, actually,” Conner said, “considering it’s how you get all the men in your family to do what you want them to do.”

She stopped in front of him, vaguely aware that the break room was full of some of the loudest and most obnoxious people she knew—and they were all completely silent.

She smiled at Conner. “It won’t work. I know it’s all BS, remember?”

He met her gaze directly and nodded. “I know. I can’t get to you, can I?” He lifted a hand and stroked his thumb over her cheek. “You know me. You know that I keep up the façade of Mr. Romance so that I can stroke my ego and never let anyone know that deep down I’m scared.”

She felt her smile die and she had to take a deep breath. Damn, the guy was good. Those deep-green eyes, that scratchy voice, the blond stubble on his chin that she wanted to feel rasping against her inner thigh…

“I’m scared of letting someone close and then disappointing her,” he went on, his voice lower. “Of not being everything she wants and needs, not being able to
truly
make her happy. So I keep it all on the surface.”

Gabby lifted her hand to his wrist and squeezed. “Conner…”

“Yeah, G?” he said earnestly.

“Really good try.”

He blinked for a moment, then slowly his lips curled into a grin. “Damn.”

“Yeah.” She stepped back and he dropped his hand. “
I’m
doing the fawning.”

“We’ll see.”

“You’re not giving up?”

“Doting on you while you’re trying to one-up me by being all sweet and caring and romantic? That, Gabby girl, is what they call a win-win situation.”

“Why so intent on doting on me?” she asked. “Just to prove you can get to any girl?”

He shrugged and she got caught up in the sincerity in his eyes. “Because you haven’t been doted on enough.”

She frowned. “How do you know that?”

“I’ve worked with you for two years, and I’ve never seen a boyfriend show up around here, never seen a bouquet of roses delivered, never seen you sneak off to take a private phone call,” he said. “And I met some of the main men in your life. They don’t dote.”

Conner had noticed her. Details about her. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. “I don’t like doting.”

“That’s because you’ve never had good doting.”

“Good doting?”

“Yeah, I don’t see your family as being very good doters.”

Gabby was pretty sure they were making up words at this point. “And you’re a good doter?”

“One of the best.”

“Uh-huh.”

“You’ll see.” He seemed incredibly smug. He took his cup and sauntered toward the front of the ER, no doubt to make sure the girls in Admissions knew about the gifts he’d given Gabby.

The guys from the night crew all grabbed cookies and headed for the locker room.

“So you’re sleeping together?”

This came from Ryan as the break room door shut behind Mac.

She swallowed hard and turned. “He doesn’t just dote on the women he sleeps with,” she pointed out. Sara Gordon being the prime example.

“But
you
are sleeping together?” Ryan asked.

“Um…”

“Please tell me you’re sleeping together,” Ryan said. “His flirting with Sara never gave us any hope because she was married, but
you’re
not. This could be awesome.”

Gabby’s eyes got wide. “Us sleeping together would give you
hope
?”

“Yes.”

“That’s a…strange word to use.”

Ryan nodded. “Hope.” He pulled out his cell phone, typing in a quick text.

“How?”

“Conner went with Amanda to do the cake tasting the other day.”

Gabby shook her head. “I don’t know what that means.”

“For the wedding cakes. She needed to go to the bakery and do a tasting to decide which to get. Conner went with her.”

“They picked out a horrible cake?” Gabby asked.

“No. It’s amazing. Perfect even,” Ryan said. He punched in a couple of numbers on his phone and lifted it to his ear.

“And
this
is a bad thing?” She did not know what was going on.

“He got Isabelle a spa day too,” Ryan said. “Shane said she wouldn’t shut up about how great it was and how sweet he was to do it.”

Gabby just raised an eyebrow.

“Hey,” Ryan said into his phone. “Gabby is sleeping with Conner.”

He held the phone away from his ear and Gabby could hear the “fuck yeah!” from the other end.

“Who is that?”

“Cody,” Ryan told her. “Tell Gabby why you need Conner to be involved with someone,” he said to Cody, then held the phone out to her with the speaker function on.

“Nobody said
involved
,” she said to the phone.

“Olivia wanted to see the new chick flick that was out,” Cody said. “I was working so she asked Conner. He went along and bought all the popcorn.”

Nate, who was apparently already at the hospital that morning, strode into the room. “Conner bought Emma the new fancy car seat she wanted for the baby.”

Gabby sighed. These guys were nuts. “So?”

“So I wanted to buy that for her,” Nate said.

“You’re mad that her brother did something nice for her?” Gabby asked.

“He’s stealing our thunder!” Cody declared.

She snorted. “What?”

“Seriously. He doesn’t have to
worry
about the girls anymore, so he is becoming the fun one. The one to buy them stuff and do stuff with them.”

Gabby looked from Ryan to Nate.

“I still don’t get it,” she said. “Shouldn’t you be happy that he’s adjusted so well to you all being with the girls?”

“He’s making us look bad,” Ryan said.

Gabby shook her head. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“No,” Cody said. “He’s right. Conner loves being the big-shot, sweet guy that all the girls are so crazy about. He’s good at it. He can get women wrapped around his finger in two seconds. And now he’s doing it to his sisters.”

“Instead of getting on Isabelle about eating better or lecturing Emma about getting enough sleep at night with the pregnancy, he’s buying them things and having a good time with them,” Nate added.

“You guys are being ridiculous. This is a
good
thing,” Gabby insisted. In fact, she thought it was pretty damned sweet. She was on to him, but that didn’t mean it didn’t kind of work. Seeing what Conner was capable of, even if it wasn’t directed at her, made Gabby a little fonder of him, she could admit.

“See, now
we
have to be the ones to worry about if they’re eating right or exercising. We’re the ones who they might get frustrated with. We’re the ones that they get irritated with when we can’t go to a cake tasting or a movie,” Cody said.

“He’s pampering them and making them happy because that’s all he has to worry about now,” Ryan said.

Gabby shook her head. “Listen to yourselves. He’s being sweet to his
sisters
. He’s getting involved in the things that matter to them—the wedding, the baby, all that stuff. And yes, you’re in relationships. It’s not all sex and roses now.”

She wanted sex and roses from Conner.

The thought hit her out of the blue. The sex thing made sense, of course. But roses? She wasn’t a roses kind of girl.

Roses from Conner though…

Dammit.
Gabby shook her head. He was sucking her in. Like all the other girls. The doting, the sweetness. It was making her want to boost him up on that pedestal. And he’d barely gotten started on
her
. This was all about him doting on other women. His
sisters
, for god’s sake.

But it also made her want all the other stuff too—the making sure she was eating right and listening to her rant when she was upset and…she wanted to go to movies with him.

She frowned. He hadn’t even sent her roses yet. He was getting to her with the
idea
of roses?

Pathetic.

“We’re good with all that stuff,” Cody said from the speakerphone. “That’s not it. We’re all in it for the long haul. And I believe that he’s having a good time doing this stuff for the girls, but…”

“But what?”

“He’s doing it on purpose.”

Gabby chuckled. Of course Conner knew that not only would all of this get him on the girls’ good sides, but it would frustrate the hell out of his buddies. His buddies who had
insisted
on having relationships with Conner’s sisters in spite of Conner being against it.

Oh yeah, he was totally doing it on purpose.

“So you think I’ll be a distraction for Conner so you can all have some over-the-top romantic weekend with your girls?” she asked.

“We need to be rid of him for a lot more than a weekend,” Nate said.

She looked at him. “I don’t know any hit men, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“There’s only one solution,” Cody said.

Ryan and Nate nodded.

This should be good. Gabby crossed her arms.

Ryan took the lead. “We need him to be in a long-term relationship. Not a hookup, not a one-night stand. A relationship. He needs someone to give all of this attention to, someone who will take up his time, someone who he can shower all this sweet bullshit on, who will keep him interested in his own life rather than everyone else’s.”

“And
that’s
why it’s great that you’re sleeping with him,” Cody concluded.

She chuckled, but her stomach twisted. Conner did need those things. He needed someone to give his attention to, someone to give
him
attention. But someone who’d be there long term. He deserved a relationship like all of his sisters and friends were finding. “I think you might be overestimating my importance.”

Nate chuckled. “I don’t think so.”

“No, really—”

“This is perfect. You’re perfect for this,” Cody said.

“But I’m not—”

“Honestly,” Ryan said, “this is awesome.”

Yeah, he’d mentioned that.

Thankfully, it was only twenty minutes later that their first call of the shift came in.

They pulled up next to an old warehouse outside of the Old Market District downtown.

“Thought you said there had been a fall with injuries?” Ryan asked as they bailed out.

Conner nodded, shouldering the big supply bag. “That’s what they said.”

“This is where Eddie and his buddies hang out,” Ryan said.

Eddie was the leader of a small band of homeless guys who were allowed to sleep in the warehouse as long as that’s all they did there. It was a strange relationship the four men had established with the warehouse owner, Henry. They never drank or did drugs in the warehouse, they never brought anyone else to the warehouse and they always cleaned up after themselves, including refolding the blankets and stacking the pillows Henry left for them.

They’d been sleeping in the warehouse—with Henry’s knowledge—for over a year.

Gabby and the crew were the only other people that knew they were there and were allowed in. The guys routinely needed detoxing, stitching up, IV fluids, antibiotics or even just antibacterial soap.

The crew visited the guys about once a month.

Eddie didn’t like Ryan or Conner. He did like Sierra. He loved Gabby.

So when Eddie needed attention, it was always Gabby who took care of it.

“Who called?”

“Eddie.”

Gabby nodded. The other guys didn’t talk much. “Well, let’s go see what we’ve got.”

The warehouse was a typical warehouse. There wasn’t much to climb and fall off of, other than stacks of crates, an old car that didn’t run and some high ceiling beams. But Eddie and the guys didn’t screw around when they were here. For one, the youngest of them was easily fifty and not exactly spry. For another, they appreciated the shelter. They wouldn’t dare risk pissing Henry off.

One of them needing medical attention and being seen in the warehouse was one thing. One of them actually getting hurt
at
the warehouse was something else. Henry wouldn’t like that.

They’d pulled up without lights or sirens at the door where they always met the guys.

Conner and Ryan didn’t get smiles and greetings, but there was no way they’d stay back in the rig and send Gabby and Sierra in alone.

Gabby appreciated that. She was a highly trained paramedic, had excelled at her crisis-situation courses and psych classes and prided herself on being able to de-escalate nearly any situation, but she couldn’t lie—she liked having the guys behind her.