Part One
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
Mac Gordon came up short in the break room at St. Anthony’s hospital. He and the rest of his EMT crew were just coming on shift. And right in the middle of the sofa in the break room was a gigantic stuffed dog with a big pink bow tied around its neck.
Without reading any kind of tag, he knew exactly who it was for. And who it was from.
“I’m going to kill him.”
Sam Bradford chuckled and slapped him on the shoulder. “You say that at least twice a week.”
Kevin Campbell crossed to the dog and read the big heart shaped tag. “I’m happy to follow you around like a puppy. Happy Birthday. Love, Conner.”
Mac stomped forward, “Oh, he did not sign it love.”
Kevin laughed and stepped back out of the way. “No. He didn’t sign it at all, actually.”
Mac reread the card. “This is over the top.”
Dooley Miller was grinning like a dumbass. “You had to be expecting it. There’s no way Conner would let Sara’s birthday go by without doing something stupid.”
Mac stared into the dog’s eyes. Dooley was right. He had been expecting Conner Dixon to do something to commemorate Mac’s wife’s birthday. Conner claimed he was madly in love with Sara and would never find another woman to compare. Mac knew that seventy-five percent of that was simply a convenient way for Conner to fuck with Mac’s head. But there was that other twenty-five percent that he knew was true. Conner had met Sara without knowing she was married to Mac and had immediately hit on her. But, even after finding out she belonged to Mac, he kept up his flirtation. “People break up every day” was his favorite saying when Mac was around.
And there were his jabs about how much older Mac was. And how Conner was exactly the right age for her. And his crazy statistic that seventy percent of married women cheat. And his endless supply of compliments and come-ons that had made Sara blush more than once.
Still, Mac hadn’t killed Conner yet. Hadn’t even hurt him. Because the kid was actually pretty cool.
He was a phenomenal paramedic, for one. On calls, Mac knew that Conner would make the right decision, would make it quickly, and would give a one-hundred-and-ten percent effort every time. That got him a lot of forgiveness.
Then there was his off-duty side. He was funny, he could take as much shit as he gave, and he was a good friend and leader to his crew. He was also the big brother to four dynamic younger sisters. The Dixon Divas were something. They were gorgeous, out-going, bright and flirtatious. Mac had to admit that he felt a little sorry for Conner. At least some of the time. Conner was protective of his sisters and he was always there for them, no matter what trouble they got into. Mac admired his ability to keep his cool and do the right thing even while clearly wanting to lock them all in a convent permanently.
“He shouldn’t have delivered the damn thing here,” Mac said, still staring at the dog. Sara was going to love it. Sure, she’d end up giving it to Elijah, their three-year-old son. Still, she would think Conner was sweet for getting her something for her birthday.
“He had to deliver it here. That’s the only way to be sure we saw it and could give you crap about it,” Dooley said, plopping onto the couch next to the dog that was bigger than he was, and looping his arm around its neck.
“Look at it this way,” Kevin said to Mac. “He’s got great taste in women and he idolizes you as the man who got Sara Bradford to fall for him.”
Mac had heard that argument before. It was a good point. It still didn’t mean that the guy should be giving gifts to another man’s wife.
“Maybe I’ll give Conner some ideas about where he should shove this dog,” Mac grumbled.
“Hey, I wonder where those guys are,” Sam commented, twisting the cap off a bottle of water. “It’s really quiet in here and I’d expect to see Conner’s smug face by
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