Read Stoking the Embers (New Adult Romantic Suspense): The Complete Series for Free Online Page B

When I realized I had to get all the others out instead of staying with the injured couple. I hated that moment. Hated feeling like I was choosing.”
    I wanted to reach across to her, stroke her face, comfort her. Erase the ghosts in her mind.
    “You did good, and I’m not just saying that to get in your pants. You have great instincts and without training, did better than most rookie firefighters. Do you know how close that van was to blowing?”
    She shakes her head no.
    “Minutes,” I tell her and she shivers. “You did the right thing. I really do think you would make a great paramedic. There are very few RN’s that leave the hospital and become first responders and they are so valuable. Whether they become flight nurses or paramedics, it’s a blessing to all of us.”
    Reaching out she leans forward, lightly touching my forearm. “I’m scared of being a failure. In the hospital, you’re told what to do. We follow a doctor’s orders. It would be a shame to see someone die, but ultimately I wouldn’t be in charge of life or death decisions. Doctors do that, not nurses. In the van, I had to be both.”
    I wasn’t sure how to react. I was training as a paramedic and never thought I was playing God.
    “Paramedics don’t play God, God does. I tell you what, why don’t you come for a ride along sometime, even tomorrow? I’m going to be training and they could always use some help.”
    “Hey, you guys going to order dinner, or just drink tonight?” Robin glances at Steph’s hand on my arm and she gives me an ‘I’m warning you’ stare. “I hear the liver and onions are good.”
    Gag. She has to be kidding. “I’m just gonna have a cheeseburger and fries. What do you want Steph?” I offer, not wanting the non-date to end.
    “I’m starving so I’ll have the same, plus another beer,” Steph replies, a little embarrassed.
    She eats! Another indication she’s normal. Not like the others girls I’ve dated. The ones who try so hard to be who they aren’t until you get sucked in and the real them comes out.
    As Robin walks away, I just have to ask. “Steph… I know this isn’t a date, but ummm, why aren’t you taken? A boyfriend or something. I mean, it doesn’t matter, I’m just curious.”
    Turning a little pale, she takes a long sip of her beer and looks right at me with those green eyes. “It’s a little complicated. Technically no, I don’t have a boyfriend. We broke up just recently, very recently. We were together a long time, so it’s kind of strange still.” She looks away again. “This is the first non-date I’ve been on in a long time.”
    While my dick was giving my balls a high-five, I know I need to act sympathetic. “Sorry about that, break ups can really suck.”
    She shrugs, and hugs herself again. “He didn’t take it well.”
    I look at her closely. The bruises on her arms from helping with the accident were almost fading, but there were two, the size of thumbprints on her upper arms. Rage fills me.
    “Did he hurt you?” Damn, it was early to talk about deep shit like this, but I need to know.
    She shakes her head, her hands instinctively covering the two bruises. I know better. I’d seen it before, too many times, girls jerked around by assholes and they all looked exactly the way she looks right now.
    She changes the subject. I’ll let her for now. “Are you seeing anyone?”
    “No, not right now. I’m too busy between work and paramedic training. Besides, most girls love the thought of being with a firefighter until they see the weird hours and crazy stress. Honestly, I don’t know how any of my co-workers stay married.”
    I grab a package of crackers in the basket on the table to give myself something to do. I tear the plastic off my rye crisps and offer the basket to her.
    She grabs a pack of the wheat ones. “I completely understand the no time deal. I have my job and school full-time. I don’t think I could really handle another serious relationship