Cohen

12 months Earlier

 

Another day, another dollar. Or, in this case, another night, another patient.

I hand off a code-three patient at Northwestern Hospital’s ER and my stomach lets out a loud rumbling growl.

“I’ll do the call sheet and buy dinner if you drive,” my EMT partner, Corey, says, bumping my shoulder with a laugh as we walk out into the chilly night.

“I definitely need food. We haven’t eaten since lunch and it’s been call after call since this morning,” I say, swinging open the ambulance door then jumping behind the steering wheel. Corey hops in the passenger side and picks up the clipboard to do the paperwork.

“Exactly. Besides, I’ve seen you hangry, and that’s not safe for anyone.”

“Hey, I’m not that bad.”

“Dude, you once snarled at the McDonald’s cashier when she said the fries would take two minutes.”

“Look, she caught me on a bad day,” I say, still feeling guilty about the look of fear on the woman’s face. Before that, she’d been kind of flirty and although I had no intention of going there, I’ve never seen the harm in not returning the favor. It’s the gentlemanly side of me. Well, that’s what I tell myself anyway.

Corey chuckles. “I wouldn’t inflict you on anyone in that state.”

“My appetite is both a blessing and a curse,” I say with a grin. “Blame my mother.”

Twenty minutes and a good burger and fries meal later, we’re back on the road, heading for the station.

“So I’ve got something to tell you…” Corey says, breaking the comfortable silence in the bus.

A quick side glance while we wait at a set of lights shows my EMT partner for the past two years clenching his jaw and not looking at me.

“Cor, what gives?” I ask when he doesn’t elaborate. He sighs, flips a completed call sheet over so it’s ready the next call, then dumps it back on the dash.

“Look, I was going to tell you sooner, but the Captain thought it was best to wait until you could actually meet her.”

“Meet who, Cor?”

“I’m going back to college in January so I’ve given my notice and your new partner is coming by the station at the end of shift to meet the guys—and you.”

I grip the steering wheel and clench my teeth as we take off again.

It’s not that I’m not happy for him. But it sounds like I’m the last to know, especially since there’s a new girl I’m about to meet. Yet another new partner to learn how to work with.

“And, um… saying she’s new might be a bit of a stretch…”

Oh shit. Is this like the ghosts of girlfriends past? Is it that stage-five clinger from dispatch I had a brief grope-and-stroke with at a Christmas party at HQ a few years ago. Or there was that female firefighter candidate who slipped and just “happened” to find herself naked and lying on top of me in the back of the ambulance six months ago.

“What do you mean?” Please no clinger. Please no clinger.

“Your new partner is Marco and Luca’s baby sister. Which means you can’t—”

I roll my eyes. Once a man whore, apparently always one. “Cor, I’ve only ever been with two CFD employees. Two!”

“And the fact I know that,” he says with a smirk, “and Marco and Luca know that, means you have absolutely no chance of surviving with your dick intact if you even look at their sister sideways.”

I sigh and shake my head, flicking on the turning signal and pulling in to the firehouse driveway.

Backing the bus into our designated spot in the garage. I leave the engine idling and turn to face my partner.

To his credit, he does look apologetic for springing this on me. “Look, I know it’s out of the blue but knowing you, you’ll have her trained up to be just like me in no time.”

“Smartass,” I say with a laugh. “But Marco’s sister? Really? Isn’t there a policy about siblings working in the same firehouse?”

“Well, considering we’ve already got two brothers, what’s a sister added to the mix? Besides, if she’s anything like Marco, I bet you she cooks like an Italian nonna which means…”

“Sexist much?” I say, but I can’t help but smile. Corey is twenty-four going on eighteen most days.

He rolls his eyes. “You know what I mean.”

“Bet Marco would love to hear it.” His mouth gapes open before he recovers and narrows his eyes.

“You wouldn’t dare.”

I shrug. Who knows? “I guess it would be a shame if you couldn’t walk by your first day back at college.”

“You’re such an asshole,” he says with a grin.

“Just you wait, Cook. I’ll get one over on you before I leave.”

There’s still a feeling of unease at the bottom of my gut as to exactly what’s going to happen with this surprise new partner of mine.

Hopping out of the ambulance, I’m stopped in my tracks by Marco, and moments later, Luca, their expressions unreadable yet terrifying at the same time.

I anticipated this show of brotherly love. I just don’t entirely understand why I’m the one getting the confrontation treatment. I’m not the only single guy who works here. Although I am the one with the most recent record of fraternizing in-house.

“You’ve got a sister, right?” Marco says by way of a welcome.

“Hello to you too,” I reply with a cocky smirk. I’m playing with fire, but I’m a smartass when I’m eleven hours in to a shift. I’m a rebel when I’m tired. “And yes, Marco, I have a sister. No, I won’t touch yours.” I reach out, cup his shoulder, and shoot him a grin. “Good chat,” I say with a nod, stepping around the brothers and walking across the garage and into the main dining room and kitchen, leaving Corey behind with my welcoming committee.

Scotty and Zach, two of our firefighters, are sitting on the couch.

“You get warned off?” Zach asks, quirking a brow. “I gave Marco a good pep talk on your behalf.”

I roll my eyes. “Thanks, man. Just what I needed.”

Zach holds his hands up. “Hey. My best friend has three sisters, one of whom is now my wife. I know the drill because I was the drill.”

“I don’t shit where I eat, Zach. It’s far too messy, and I avoid messy as much as possible,” I reply. Zach gives an approving nod before turning back to the TV.

“Cohen?” my captain says, walking into the room.

“Yes, sir?”

“I need to talk to you before you leave. Grab Corey and come see me, yeah?”

“Sure thing. But I already know I’m getting a new partner.”

The captain gives a curt nod. “Good. Then all you’ve gotta do is meet Skye. She’s waiting in my office.” With a sweeping look around the room and the rest of the crew, he disappears again.

“You’re in trouble, Co,” Scotty pipes up.

I walk into the kitchen, open the fridge, and grab a bottle of water. “Yeah? And why’s that?”

“’Cause you haven’t seen your new partner yet.”

“She’s just another person to work with. Anything else isn’t even a possibility. We work, we maybe become friends, and then we go home at the end of our shift and do it all again two days later.” My lips twitch. “Do you know it’s possible to just be friends with women, Scotty?”

“Where’s the fun in that?” he asks. “Zach here did it.”

“I only did it because I couldn’t resist her,” Zach replies.

I point at Zach and pin Scotty with a narrowed glare. “Exactly. Why cause trouble when there’s no need to? I’m not that pent up that I’m panting after every woman with a pulse. Unlike someone…” Scotty’s response is to flip me the bird. Zac just laughs.

Corey walks in, Marco and Luca following behind him.

“We good?” I ask Marco as he reaches the kitchen counter.

“Yep. You keep things above board with my sister and we’ll stay being fine.”

“Jesus, Mar. I’m not going to bang you sister!”

“Good to know,” an amused voice says, coming from the doorway to the offices. “It’s always best to set boundaries right at the start of a new partnership.”

I turn toward her and stop, my arm hoisted halfway to my mouth, which has dropped open like one of those Scream masks. Seems Marco and Luca had a reason to give the big brother speech, because Skye is infinitely better-looking than those two. She’s fucking stunning: straight platinum blond hair that stops at her shoulders, mischievous sapphire-blue eyes, curved lips painted sinful red, and a body that is all woman. Fuck.

I shake my head, but not before I make a point of looking her up and down and sneaking a side glance at two glaring Italian stallions looking ready to cause damage.

“Oh for God’s sake, boys,” Skye says, narrowing her eyes at her brothers. “I’m not going to jump my new partner before I’ve even got to know him.”

“Or at all,” I add. Her lips quirk up at that as she turns her attention back to me and gives me the same down-and-up treatment. “Yeah, nah. Not gonna happen. I’m all work and no play.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Scotty pipes up from the cheap seats.

Corey, ever the peacemaker, steps forward and enters the fray. “Just ignore all of them, Skye.” He holds out his arm and they shake hands. “Cohen is not nearly as bad as you’ve heard. He’s only had to issue one restraining order that I know of.”

Skye’s eyes widen before dancing with amusement. “Oh, so he attracts fire bunnies then?”

“Or girls from dispatch,” Marco says. Laughter from the others fills the air.

I sigh. “That’s was an isolated cas—”

“Don’t forget the candidate who lasted a whole two weeks after hooking up with our resident EMT Casanova.”

Skye’s mouth curls into a knowing smirk. “I guess I don’t need to come up with a nickname for you then. Casanova it is.”

Corey laughs, and Marco walks over to his sister and throws his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side. “Already giving Co shit. You’re gonna fit in just fine, brat.”

I lean against the bench and watch the two of them, my eyes meeting Skye’s as Luca and Corey join them.

It’s not that she doesn’t tick all my boxes physically, because Skye Rossi shot to the head of the class in that respect, but I meant it when I said I don’t shit where I eat, and I need my job to get money.

And I need funds to move out of my parents’ house and get my own place. I also need to be able to work in order to earn the money I need to get my own place, and I won’t be able to do that if Marco and Luca Rossi rip me apart limb by limb for messing with their baby sister. So really, the decision is easy.

There will be no touching, no kissing, and definitely no screwing my new partner. I’m friend-zoning my new partner at first meet.

Besides, it’s a hell of a lot easier to work the hours we do if you actually like your partner.

Decision made—as if there was ever a question—I cross the kitchen toward Skye and hold out my arm. Her skin is warm as she slides her hand against my palm and shakes it with a surprisingly firm grip. “Nice to meet you, partner,” she says with a knowing expression.

“The feelings mutual, brat.”

Her lips twitch. “I think we’re going to get along fine, Cohen Cook.”

In my family, whenever someone full-names you, it only means one thing—trouble.

I’m determined to buck the trend this time. Friends, partners, colleagues—that’s it.

I can be friends with a woman and not sleep with her.

Wanting to though? Well, that’s a different story.