AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I took that as an invitation to sit down and dropped onto the chair across from him. They hadn’t been dating that long, but all the guys already knew that his calls with Jaelyn never ended quickly. After setting the paperwork I was carrying on the edge of his desk, I stretched my legs out and leaned back in my seat.
“It was a good thing I got comfortable,” I chuckled five minutes later when Rand finally hung up.
“When you find the right woman, you won’t be in a rush to get off the phone with her either,” he grumbled.
“If,” I corrected.
His brow wrinkled in confusion. “If?”
“You said when I find the right woman, but that presumes I’m even looking for one. Some of us aren’t in a rush to get pussy whipped like you.”
Rand flashed me a smug grin, looking like the cat that ate the canary. “Don’t knock it until you try it.”
Considering how desperate Rand had seemed when he’d been trying to find out who Jaelyn was, I wasn’t in a rush to follow him down the same path. “The odds of me spotting the woman who’s meant to be mine at a softball game and then having her literally fall into my arms a few days later are slim to none.”
He flashed me a mischievous grin that I didn’t trust. Shifting in my seat, I grabbed my paperwork off the desk and handed it to him. He barely glanced at it before dropping the forms onto his keyboard. “I seem to recall you telling me that I owe you.”
“Yeah,” I confirmed, relaxing a little now that he’d reminded me of how I’d helped him when his relationship was first starting out. “Big time.”
“I think it’s about time for me to pay up.”
Grinning, I figured the favor he owed me meant good things for my request. “How are you planning to do that?”
“I’m going to solve your social life problem.”
“Social life problem?” I echoed, shaking my head since that wasn’t what I was expecting him to say.
“Yeah, your lack of one.” While I sat there in shock, he added, “Don’t think it hasn’t escaped my notice that you’re the one who always volunteers for extra shifts whenever one of the other paramedics needs coverage.”
“And as our boss, you should be thanking me for it.” I narrowed my eyes. “Not holding my willingness to be a team player against me.”
“As thankful as I am for all the times you’ve pitched in to help one of the guys, I’m still worried about your ‘all work, no play’ mentality.” He tapped his finger against the paperwork on his keyboard. “This is what? Your third request for additional training this year alone?”
I folded my arms over my chest. “Ladder Company 45 only has two paramedics with hazardous material certification. One of them has a wife who has been talking about wanting to move to Florida to be closer to her family now that they’re planning on having kids. I figured you’d want to have someone else lined up with the training in case he leaves.”
“I would,” he agreed with a gleam in his eye that made me worry. “Which is why I’m going to give you a twofer for that favor I owe you.”
“A twofer?” With his talk about my social life, I had a bad feeling about what the second thing was going to be.
“Yup. I’m going to let you do the Hazmat training next month even though I’ll probably take some shit from the other guys. I’m sure I’ll hear about how you’re getting more than your fair share of the training budget, but none of them has taken the initiative to search out training opportunities beyond their required continuing education, so I’m not worried about whatever bullshit they want to spout.” He grinned at me and rubbed his hands together. “But I’m also not going to take any of yours about the second part of what I’m going to do for you.”
“Fuck,” I groaned, dropping my head to stare down at the floor as I rubbed my hands over my face. “Why do I have the feeling I don’t want to know what the other half of the twofer is?”
“Probably because you’re going to be stubborn and refuse to see the brilliance in my plan.” He grinned at me as he picked up his phone and tapped out a text message. “I’m setting you up on a blind date with one of Jaelyn’s friends.”
“You really think fixing me up on a blind date is going to make us even?” I shook my head and chuckled. “If I didn’t know better, I would think you missed the part where I said you owed me big time. Where I come from, blind dates are not favors. Setting me up on one would actually mean you owe me even more. How about we skip that part of your repayment and call us even with the Hazmat class instead? Or you could throw in an early raise instead.”
