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He shook his head, his smile wide. “That’s a big no.”
I rolled off him, not enjoying the pressure on my full stomach. Once I was on my back, I slid off my uniform pants and tossed them on the floor, stretching out in the bed and pulling him onto my chest to rest. He felt amazing in my arms, and I’d do everything I could to make him happy.
“Are the other guys meeting you here? Do you want me to come in and wait with you?” I was dropping Jordan at the therapist’s office for his first meeting with Dr. Liu.
“The first hour is for just me. Then the guys are meeting me here. I can get a ride with River when we’re done.”
“I’m just going to go to battalion headquarters to update my paperwork.”
“From what to what?”
Should I have run it past him? I hadn’t even thought about it. “I want to add you to my personnel file as my emergency contact. If something happens to me, they’ll call you first. When I started with this station, my captain put himself down as my emergency contact because I didn’t have anyone. And now I have someone. You don’t mind, do you?”
I didn’t expect Jordan to crawl over the console and land in my lap. Fuck, I wish I could drive in that same fashion.
“No! I’m happy to be your emergency contact. Can I update my paperwork to name you? Right now, I have Ripper, but I’d much rather have you,” he whispered. His voice was so full of love, it brought goosebumps to my skin.
“Of course. If I need more information for the forms, can I text you?”
“Please do, Thatcher. I’ll see you in a couple of hours. Love you.”
Jordan kissed me passionately before he crawled over the console and leaned over again, pulling me closer to kiss me, his tongue sweeping over my lips so I opened them to welcome him inside.
Jordan hopped out and went into the medical building. When he was safely inside, I left the hospital complex and drove down the street to the battalion HQ. I’d made an appointment with HR, and I was almost on time.
The receptionist glanced at me and offered a kind smile. “May I help you?”
His tone was flirty, but I had my own gorgeous young man just up the road. I had no room in my life for anyone else, and if fate was kind to me, I never would.
“Oh, Lieutenant Emberly, Ms. Jones will be with you in a few moments. Will you take a seat? Can I get you something to drink? Coffee? Water?”
I smirked. “Thanks, but I’m fine. My boyfriend and I already had our morning coffee.” That cooled his jets.
When a tall Black woman came out from an office behind the reception desk, she took a clipboard from the young man before staring at me. “Lieutenant Emberly, come on back. I’m Jerilyn Benson, Human Resources Director. What can I do for you today?”
She was stunning and taller than me. She was confident, and I could tell she knew her business. I was glad she was the one advising me because I had a lot of questions.
“Good morning, Ms. Benson. I want to update my personnel file to include a new emergency contact.” I held out my badge, and she typed in my information.
“Okay, Lieutenant. Name, address, and relationship of new emergency contact, please.”
“Jordan David Horn.” I gave her my address at the beach, and then said, “He’s my boyfriend. Is that a category?”
She stared at the screen for a moment. “You’re eligible for domestic partner status if you register as domestic partners.”
“What’s that mean?” I felt like an idiot asking about it because I hadn’t even thought of researching the issue before I came to HQ.
“What’s what mean, Lieutenant?”
“Registered domestic partners?”
She smiled. “It means you and your partner can register as domestic partners and share the same rights, protections, benefits, and duties as married spouses.”
The breath left my chest. Was I ready for something similar to marriage? Was Jordan?
“What if it doesn’t work out?”
Ms. Benson smiled. “There’s a process to dissolve the relationship, the same as if there were any other dissolution of a relationship.”
