His Isadora moaned, and her next words were exactly what he wanted to hear. “Speaking of grand slams. Bedroom?”
Mateo flung her over his shoulder and smacked her ass through her skirt. “I’m gonna make you growl.”
They laughed their way into his bedroom. When he sat her down on the bed, he had to collect crumpled up papers.
“There’s been a yellow blizzard in here.” She indicated all of the legal sheets. “What have you been doing?”
“Everyone and their uncle want to know about the bear attack. Including the chiefs.” Mateo dropped several into his trashcan next to his overfull ashtray.
“Well, isn’t it straightforward?” She had a rather odd expression on her face.
This was a sore subject, and he wished they weren’t talking about it. “Not with McClunis involved.”
He didn’t tell her about how McClunis had still been throwing up after the attack. MetroGen overreacted in typical fashion. He’d been thoroughly questioned about domestic abuse and got kicked out of her bedside. They pregnancy tested her and brought down an OB just in case. All bullshit they’d never had done if she’d been a guy.
“Why not? She baited the bear so you could save ten kids who would have been bear munchies.” Isadora examined one page.
He snatched it from her. “She also was crazily, stupidly suicidal to do it. The chiefs want to know if keeping her at Firehouse 15 is a good idea.”
“Not keep her? I thought she just joined.”
“We’ve kept her on Medic to get her measure. The higher ups have suggested it will be better if she found employment elsewhere.”
“You’re joking.”
“Cordova and his side want her gone. He offered me Captain of 15 if my reports indicate problems with her.”
“Problems? Like what?”
“What do you think?” Mateo couldn’t believe they were having a discussion over this now.
“Is she a problem for you?” That expression was back. He recognized it.
Jealousy.
He threw papers toward his trashcan. “It was simpler without her. We didn’t have to worry about our language because we didn’t have a cute little girl wandering around our firehouse. She might see one of our dicks or be shocked by fucking rough language or a joke that offends her. God help us if someone sleeps with her.”
“Cute little girl?” Isadora echoed. straightening her dress. “Cute?”
He definitely should have thought that one through.
“She’s not an ogre, but you know what I mean. She’s a woman, and that was a man’s space. On the team we know everything about each other’s wives, girlfriends, divorces, hook-ups.”
“So they know about me? Does she know about me?”
“I haven’t talked about it much yet because I’ve been mostly on Medic 15 with Leslie.”
“With Leslie. The cute little girl.” Isadora did not sound pleased.
“It’s not my choice. I’d prefer my shifts sexual tension free.”
Isadora turned bright red. “Sexual tension?”
“You’re proving exactly what Cordova is worried about. I have never made a move on her. She’s loud; she’s obnoxious; she thinks she’s right all the time. Cordova pulled me off my real job—leading people into fires—to babysit her. He doesn’t believe she can do the job, so he wants her to prove herself on ambulance first… or have me get rid of her.”
“Because she’s a woman. A cute one.”
“Because she’s never going to fit in with the team. She might be too small to fight fires. What guy wants her as their partner? She has no place on our team.”
