Sudden Response (30 page)

five years ago, agreed.

"I guess that leaves me with no choice but to run," she said solemnly seconds before she tried to make her escape.

Unfortunately for her she wasn't fast enough and was soon strapped tightly to a backboard and hoisted up in the air. She had to

bite her lip to stop herself from begging them not to shave her head, dye her skin or strip her only because she didn't want to

give them any ideas.

Why the hell hadn't she accepted Eric's offer to pick her up after work? Because she was a moron that's why. She wanted to go

home, freshen up and look beautiful for him since he was taking her out to celebrate her first official day. Now thanks to her

damn vanity she was facing a future without hair or being purple.

"Maybe we can talk about this? Guys?" she said, hoping they'd let her go, but of course they wouldn't. She decided to ignore

their laughs and jokes as she tried to break free from her restraints, but unfortunately for her they knew how to do their damn

jobs.

When they brought her outside she tried not to squirm and draw attention to herself, but of course that was pointless. The

building that housed dispatch was right next to city hall and across the street from a strip mall. She prayed that they would keep

this little display of insanity private and throw her ass in an ambulance and take her back to the station, but of course they

didn't.

They decided to stand her up and lean her back against the black iron fence that cut across the front of town hall. She couldn't

see past the thick wall of men that suddenly surrounded her, but she was pretty damn sure that a crowd was forming and that

some of them were taking pictures. She tried to ignore them as she renewed her struggles to break free, but there was no give.

"Guys, don't do this!"

Jeff merely shrugged. "Sorry, but it's for your own good, Joe," he said with a wink before they all stepped back as one and Joe

felt her heart skip a beat as her eyes landed on Eric.

She swallowed hard as she looked him over and felt herself melt against her restraints. He looked incredible in his dress

uniform as he walked towards her.

"Joe," he said in way of greeting as he neared her.

"What's going on, Eric?" she asked, shooting nervous glances towards the men grinning hugely at her side and the large crowd

gathering around them.

"The guys wanted to give you a proper sendoff," he explained.

"A nd you?" she asked, hating the way her voice trembled.

With that bad boy smile that she loved, Eric dropped down to one knee in front of her and pulled out a small velvet box.

"Wanted to know if you would marry me?"

She opened her mouth, but no words came out. She swallowed and tried again, but the only sound that came out was a little

sob. Mortified, she tried to hold the next one back, but it broke free the second she realized that hot liquid was running down

her cheeks.

Not hot liquid, she realized with dread, but tears. She was crying, she thought with disgust. She never cried, no matter what. It

was a useless waste of energy and something she never allowed, but now in front of all the guys she'd worked with for twelve

years and half the town by the looks of it she was crying.

"Oh shit," one of the men breathed, "he broke Joe."

Joe ignored him and rest of the comments as she struggled to break free and hide her face as the damn burst. She hadn't cried in

years, not since she was a little girl and now it seemed that all those tears she'd saved up wanted out. It was so embarrassing.

"Shhh, Joe, shhhh. It's okay, baby," Eric said softly as he stood up and cupped her face, gently wiping her tears away with his

thumbs, but that only cleared the way for more to come.

"Don't cry, Joe," he said, sounding like his heart was breaking.

"I'm not crying!" she snapped, but she was. Oh god, she was crying and people were taking pictures! She would never live this

down.

"Then what would you call the tears running down your beautiful face?" he asked, cracking a smile as he brushed his lips

against hers.

"Rain?" she suggested.

That earned a chuckle from him as he kissed her again. "A re you planning on putting me out of my misery anytime soon?"

"What?" she asked, wishing that she could shut off the damn tears, but there didn't seem to be a shut off valve.

"I asked you to marry me, Joe," he said, smiling sheepishly. "In front of all these people and you're leaving me hanging here."

She sniffled, further adding to her humiliation. "Untie me and I'll give you an answer."

He pursed his lips up in thought and looked like he was thinking it over. "No, I'm sorry. That's just not going to work for me,

Joe. I'm afraid I'm going to need an answer."

"What if I give you the wrong answer?" she asked, feeling her lips twitch.

"Then I guess I'll just have to keep you strapped to that board until you give me the right one," he said, cupping her face in his

hands.

"Oh? A nd what's the right answer?"

"That you'll marry me and make me whole, Joe," he said on a reverent whisper.

"A nd if I don't?" she asked, her voice breaking as joy like nothing she'd ever known before surged through her body.

He shrugged even as he brushed his lips against hers. "Then I'll just have to stuff worms down your shirt until you say yes."

"I'll just make you eat them," she pointed out, smiling even as more embarrassing tears streamed down her face.

He chuckled softly against her mouth. "Marry me or I'll have my big brother beat you up."

"He's a pushover," she felt obligated to point out.

"Fine," he said, smiling. "Marry me and I'll finally get you that steak dinner I promised you."

She pretended to think it over for a minute before asking, "Can I have an appetizer with it?"

"Will you give me children?"

"Maybe," she said coyly, trying not to grin hugely at the thought of having his babies.

"Then mabye," he conceded slowly.

"A nd dessert?"

He sighed heavily as he pulled back to look in her eyes. "Will you put out at least five times a week if I do?"

She nodded. "I'll put out twenty times a week if I can have ice cream with it."

"Then you can have ice cream, you little gold digger," he said with a putout sigh.

"Then my answer is yes," she said, not even caring that she was crying anymore as he leaned in and kissed her. She was happy,

but more importantly she was his.

Epilogue

Four years later.......

"He's going to kill her," Joe felt obligated to point out as they watched in fascination as Nathan's eyes darted from his butter

knife to the latest harpy A lice tried to set him up with.

"But it will entertain us and really that's all that matters," he said as Emily, their two year old rambunctious daughter, climbed

onto his lap.

Eric adjusted her on his lap so that she was sitting on his knee and close enough to steal his dessert without falling. He kept one

hand pressed against his little girl's tummy as he returned his arm to lie across the back of Joe's chair. She shifted

uncomfortably on the chair as she rubbed her large stomach.

"A re you okay?" he asked for probably the hundredth time since he got off work and picked her and Emily up.

"I'm fine," she said, giving him a tight smile.

He moved his arm from the back of her chair to place his hand on her stomach. "Is he giving you problems?" he asked, rubbing

his hand soothingly over her stomach, chuckling when his little boy decided to follow the moves with little kicks that his

mother probably didn't appreciate.

"He's just really active today," she said, pushing her plate of triple fudge cake towards Emily only to have it snatched up.

Eric watched in amusement as his brother dug into the cake. "I need it more than she does," Nathan grumbled and Eric couldn't

agree more.

The woman was an annoying pain in the ass and Eric had to wonder where the hell his mother kept finding these women.

Seriously, after all these years she should have run out of available annoying woman, but not yet.

Of course he also knew that if their mother didn't have a strict no drinking policy when Emily was in the house that Nathan

would probably be drunk off his ass by now.

"What is it that you said you did again?" the woman, whom he didn't even bother learning her name, demanded suddenly.

It wasn't until he looked away from his brother pouting that he realized that she was speaking to him. She was a beautiful

woman, of course she had nothing on his Joe, but she was stuck up and rude in his opinion at least. She hadn't felt the need to

acknowledge him or Joe with more than a murmured hello two hours ago. Instead she spent the entire time giving Nathan as

much attitude as she could muster while their mother fretted around the kitchen nervously.

"Drug lord," Eric answered, chuckling when Joe poked him in the ribs. Nathan smiled for the first time since this dinner from

hell started and their mother even cracked a smile, but not the ice princess. She simply glared at him.

"He's a paramedic for the city," his mother felt obligated to explain. "He's also a field supervisor," she said proudly, making

him roll his eyes.

The woman did love to brag.

"But I'm still his boss," his beautiful wife pointed out teasingly.

The woman shifted her eyes over to Joe and blinked as if she'd just realized his wife was there. How she could have missed

Joe with that huge stomach he'd never know, but she looked genuinely surprised to see her. Then again most women took one

look at his wife and easily dismissed her. They were all idiots. His wife was fucking hot and he knew it and so did most of the

guys much to his horror.

It was one thing being married to the hottest woman on earth, but it was quite another for other guys to notice as well. Even

after four years of marriage it still pissed him off when he caught some asshole checking her out, not that he could blame them,

but still......

"She's a supervising dispatcher for the city," his mother said proudly as she sent Joe a fond smile.

"Oh," the woman said, not sounding too impressed. Not that he was a snob or anything, but he really didn't think a woman who

worked at the mall customer service counter had any business looking down her nose at anyone.

"Grandma?" Emily said, drawing his mother's attention.

"Yes, pumpkin?" she asked, giving Emily the smile reserved solely for her.

Emily pointed accusingly at Nathan. "He took my cake," she said, pouting.

"Nathan Parish!" their mother said in shocked outrage as she reached over and took back the half eaten slice of cake and placed

it in front of Emily, who happily attacked the frosting.

"Tattletale," Nathan grumbled even as he sent his niece a wink that made her giggle.

"A lice? I'm not trying to be rude or anything," the woman started and he seriously doubted that. She'd been incredibly rude

throughout the entire meal. "But, I think you have a leak or something," the woman said, gesturing to the floor as she stood up

and walked away from the table.

"What?" A lice asked, looking confused as she peered down at the floor.

"Not a leak," Joe said, gasping. "My water just broke."

"Shit," Nathan gasped as Eric stood up and passed his daughter over to him.

"Let's get you to the couch, Joe," Eric said calmly as he reached down and scooped her up into his arms.

"I don't think you should be doing that," the woman pointed out. "You could hurt the baby!"

He sent his mother a glare for inviting the woman as he walked towards the living room. A talk was long overdue about the

woman's unwanted dating services. Judging by her reluctant nod she knew what was coming.

"More cake?" Emily asked sweetly.

"You sure can," he heard Nathan say as he walked into the living room.

He wasn't too surprised when his brother walked in a minute later, talking on the phone while he handed Eric a pile of white

towels and blankets.

"Is that 911?" Eric asked.

When Nathan nodded Eric held out his hand and took the phone. Nathan quickly sat down by Joe's side and put his arm around

her as he offered her his hand to squeeze. That actually surprised Eric since the last time the man did that Joe ended up

breaking three of his fingers during a rather nasty contraction.

"What's the address?" he heard Roger, a dispatcher of two years ask.

"Hey, Roger, it's Eric."

Roger chuckled. "Let me guess, Joe's the one ready to burst?"

"Oh yeah," he said, watching as his wife squeezed Nathan's hand as she bit back a scream. Nathan didn't fare so well. He

dropped to his knees on the floor, whimpering but he never pulled his hand away.

"Only give her two fingers so she doesn't break your damn hand," he said in exasperation as his brother struggled through

another contraction.

With a sigh of relief his brother pulled his hand away and offered only two fingers. Joe grabbed onto his hand as she bit back

another scream.

He didn't need to look to know that his little boy was going to be making his appearance soon. This was her second child and

that usually meant a quicker delivery and judging by the space between her screams it was going to be real soon.

"What's the address?" Roger asked.

"458 Cranberry Road," he answered.

"Okay, I'm sending them now. Good luck, Eric."