Dagmar sighed.
“I’m afraid so. Let’s just say he’s not taking the breakup in good graces. What are you doing here?”
“I saw a car following you out of the road and I remembered what you said about the ex.” David shrugged. “As you just noticed, a lot of exes can’t take a breakup very well at all.”
“I’m glad you did.” Dagmar gingerly touched the back of her head. “He’s a lot bigger than me. He’s not been physical towards me, but…well, I wouldn’t want to go there.”
“I don’t blame you.” David paused. He looked torn. “Do you want some company for a bit? I can make sure he doesn’t come back.”
Dagmar was tempted. But David was tempting all over. From the looks he had been giving her in the car, David wouldn’t say no if she crooked her finger at him and led him towards the bedroom. Dagmar wouldn’t say no, either, but not today. Even though she was single, it was by just a few hours. That wasn’t good in anyone’s book. And if David stayed, Dagmar knew they wouldn’t be able to keep their hands off each other. Her fingers were itching to touch him now.
“I’ll be okay. I’m a big girl.”
“If you’re sure?”
“Yes.” Dagmar managed a smile. “I was on my own for a while after I left my husband. I can manage a night alone.”
David arched an eyebrow. Was that at being dubious about Dagmar’s declaration she was going to be okay alone or that she had an ex-husband? David, to his credit, didn’t push it. He went to a pad Dagmar left on the counter, picked up the pen and scribbled on it.
“Well, just in case, this is my number. You can call me if you need anything.”
Dagmar raised an eyebrow.
“You’re not trying to make me another notch on your bedpost, are you?”
“Why would I do that?”
David tried to sound innocent but the expression in his eyes gave him away. He wanted her. The realization that he did want her had Dagmar’s pussy clenching. She swallowed.
“The news articles I found about you say you’ve been with a lot of women. There were also a lot of pictures of you with women and that’s not an exaggeration.”
Knowing that about him made David out of bounds. Dagmar didn’t want to become another statistic for him. David blinked and placed his hands on his hips.
“Aren’t I allowed to be with a lot of women?”
“I’m not saying that. I just don’t want to be pulled in by your charm and good looks and then get tossed away like garbage.”
Did she actually say he was good-looking? Dagmar blushed and looked away. David’s voice was soft, not even admonishing her.
“I don’t treat women like garbage, Dagmar. I treat them with respect.”
Dagmar saw by his face that he meant it. But she had already been lied to by two men. She wasn’t about to be brought into another lie. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Thanks again for your help.”
She wished she hadn’t flinched when David started moving closer to her. But Dagmar didn’t pull away. Her heart was hammering in her chest as David stood within inches from her, his chest almost brushing hers. What was he doing? In Dagmar’s view, if someone stood this close, they wanted to kiss her.
Was he going to kiss her?
David hesitated for a moment. Then he bent his head and kissed her cheek, brushing his lips across her jaw near her mouth. Dagmar held back a gasp and her heart jumped. Whoa. If this was what a kiss to her cheek was like, what could he do with a kiss to her mouth?
David pulled back and gave her a gentle smile, a smile that didn’t seem to fit with him at all. Then he stepped back.
“Goodnight, Dagmar.”
Dagmar stared after him as he walked away and left the apartment. He hadn’t tried anything towards her and had left when she asked him to. Had she read him wrong?
And why did she feel bereft now he had left?
*****
Keeping away from Dagmar for a week had been incredibly hard. David hadn’t been able to concentrate for long without his mind wandering back to Dagmar and how smooth her skin was, how delicious she looked, and how much he wanted to put his hands on her body.
It had almost got him in a lot of trouble at work. But David was smart enough to get himself out of trouble. At the boss, he was able to do that.
He had to have Dagmar. David’s mind was made up. He had to have her. There was no chance that he would be able to walk away now.
Dagmar had to be the one who texted first. David didn’t want it to seem that he was pushing her, and after seeing her with Jeremy and how shaken she was, David knew she needed to go at her pace. If he pushed her, Dagmar would retreat.
And this could his chance. A little over a week after the incident with Rachelle, David got the text from Brittany that Rachelle was being discharged and they would be going home. She asked for him to come and visit the day after, which David promised to do. He sent off a group text to everyone else to let them know, Dagmar included. Then Dagmar texted him back privately, asking if she could see Brittany and Rachelle as well. David agreed, on the condition that he gave her a lift.
To his surprise, Dagmar agreed. David couldn’t stop smiling as he went over to her apartment on Sunday to pick her up. She was going to be in a car with him. There and back. That gave David plenty of time to try and seduce her. If he couldn’t get her with his usual magic, he would leave her alone. If she was susceptible, David was going to go all the way.
He would have Dagmar screaming his name by the end of the night.
David pulled up at Dagmar’s apartment to see Dagmar already there waiting. She looked different to before, wearing a white sleeveless dress with a matching Alice band in her hair, carrying her handbag over one shoulder. White pumps were on her feet. David had thought she looked pretty in a simple shirt and jeans. Now his chest tightened at the sight of her. She really was lovely.
From the straining in his jeans, his cock was agreeing with him.
David hopped out and hurried around to her side, opening the door as Dagmar walked over, giving him a warm smile.
“Morning.”
“Hey.” Dagmar laid a hand on his arm as she sat in the car. “Thanks for doing this.”
“No problem.” David shut the door and hurried around to his side, practically jumping in. He pulled the car away from the kerb and glanced at Dagmar, noting that she was looking better than earlier in the week. “You’re looking refreshed.”
“Well, a long hot shower will do that for you.” Dagmar rolled her shoulders and settled back in her chair. “Plus, I’m on day three of my five day vacation.”
“Five days off? How did you manage that?”
“No idea. But I intend to make the most of it.”
David couldn’t argue with that. Hopefully, he could help her make the most of this evening. If she was agreeable.
They sat in comfortable silence until David got them onto the freeway. It was then David broached the subject.
“No return from ex-lover-boy?” he asked.
Dagmar’s smile faded a little and she grunted.
“A lot of text messages, but he’s focused at his mother’s bedside.”
“You’d break up with someone over their own mother?”
Dagmar glared at him.
“If you’re going to go there, sir, his mother is racist and abusive. She’s been nothing but nasty to me and expects her son to be her emotional husband.”
David had heard of those types of people but had never encountered them. It was all he could do not to stare at Dagmar.
“Are you saying they have an incestuous relationship emotionally?”
“Yes.” Dagmar sighed, pressing her fingers to the bridge of her nose. “It was bad when I met them. I thought I’d had it bad with my ex-husband. His mother was the reason we broke up because he chose to believe that I’d been cheating on him when I took on extra hours at work.” She lowered her hands to her lap, keeping her head bowed. “H
e was physically abusive to me and chose his timing well. He was his mother in male form and I didn’t realize until after we got married.” She snorted disparagingly. “Stupid me stayed with him for three years because I was scared.”
David sat there in silence. He was surprised that he managed to keep the car on the road. After hearing something like that, David wanted to find a man he had never met and rip his throat out. Who would treat a lovely, caring woman like Dagmar in that way? They had to be crazy.
He swallowed.
“What made you leave finally?”
For a moment, he thought Dagmar wouldn’t answer him. It was a lot to tell a virtual stranger, after all. But Dagmar spoke with a soft voice, almost in a whisper.
“He attacked me when I was pregnant. Didn’t believe it was his and kicked me in the stomach. I lost the baby.” Dagmar’s voice broke and she stopped, taking a moment to calm down. “He still says, to this day, that it wasn’t his. Because his mom fed lies into his ear that I must be cheating because I had started losing weight, getting fit, and going to work at odd hours.”
He attacked a pregnant woman? David could feel the anger building. He could be accused of many things but attacking a pregnant woman was something he would never do. He would never hit a woman, never mind a pregnant woman. The thought just made him feel sick.
“What’s happened to him now?”
“He served six months for the assault.” Dagmar’s voice was tight. “Now he’s married to a new woman who thinks the world revolves around him. His mother loves her because she can be easily bent.”
“How do you know?”
Dagmar snorted.
“I was at work and I had to go to a call at his mother’s house. She had fallen off a ladder getting leaves out of the gutter and broken her arm. She recognized me and wasn’t pleased. My shift partner, Steve, worked on her and kept her attention occupied while I did everything else. I had to listen to her prattling on and on while I drove her to the ER.” Dagmar made a face. “She kept on going about how happy her son is, how good his marriage is, and how the wife does as she’s told. I think she was trying to make me jealous.”
“And were you?”
David knew that was a stupid question as soon as he said it.
“Not a chance. I’ve got a restraining order on the man and he made my life a misery. I don’t plan on being anywhere near that man again.”
Chapter 5
Good girl. David could approve to that. He gave her a smile.
“You can do better than him.”
“I know. That’s why I left.” Dagmar sighed. “I thought Jeremy would be different. Evidently not. I’m just destined to attract those with the title of a mommy’s boy.”
David didn’t think so. He hoped he didn’t get classed in that category.
“Well, my biological mother didn’t give a damn and I haven’t seen her since I was eight and while my adoptive mom loves me she cut the apron strings when I was old enough to go out into the world.”
“Well, that’s something.” Dagmar frowned at him. “Are you saying you’d be a better catch than a wife-beater and a man with no spine?”
“I think so.” David gave her a sidelong glance. “If you let me.”
Dagmar was staring at him, her mouth open. David knew she had to have understood the implication. But he left it out there. There was no point chasing it now. Dagmar had to have her own interpretations.
Dagmar looked like she was floundering for something to say. Then she looked out the window as David turned into Brittany and Nick’s road and perked up.
“Oh, good. We’re here already.” She blinked. “And it looks like half the neighbourhood.”
David looked. There were a huge amount of motorcycles covering the cul-de-sac and Nick’s front lawn. A lot of them were even in the neighboring drives. He chuckled.
“Brittany got with a biker. When you date a biker and something happens to you, the whole lot of us get involved.”
“One big happy family, eh?”
“Exactly.”
David couldn’t have put it better.
*****
“Hey, sweetie.”
David closed his eyes and inwardly groaned. He had managed to avoid being alone with Brittany for the past hour. With the throng of members from his father’s motorcycle club, it was easy to not be alone with her. But he could see Brittany trying. And she would try and pounce when he was on the balcony alone.
He was going to have to have a word with Nick. Brittany’s behavior was scaring him.
But it wasn’t Brittany he saw when he turned around. Standing in the doorway was a handsome slim woman in her mid-sixties, her graying blonde hair held back in a simple ponytail. She was dressed in a denim shirt and bleached jeans, simple sneakers on her feet. She didn’t look like a biker’s wife, nor did she look sixty-four.
David relaxed when he saw her. This was a presence he was glad to see.
“Mom, you made it.”
“Of course I did.” Renee Mach grinned. “I did have to finish at work and all hell broke loose, but I wasn’t about to miss a barbecue.”
As the chief head nurse in the psych ward, every day seemed like a day when all hell broke loose. But it didn’t ruffle Renee’s feathers; she was one of those people who carried on without even flinching.
David was glad he had such an unflappable adopted mother. She hadn’t even blinked when her husband came home one day with two young boys from the foster home that he had adopted without consulting her. From what David knew, Renee couldn’t have children and had accepted that fact, so to have two children dropped into her lap without warning had to have been a shock. But Renee never let it bother her. She had been a natural mother. David couldn’t thank her and his father more for what they had done. He and Nick wouldn’t be as they were if it weren’t for them.
If their biological parents, wherever they were, had taken them along, they wouldn’t be as level-headed and as turned out as they were. David was sure of that.
Renee approached him with a warm smile and they hugged. David pressed a kiss to his mother’s head and drew back.
“You got here, at least.”
“I’ll say.” Renee frowned and rubbed at the lines between his eyes. “You’re looking worn out.”
“Mom, I do work hard.”
Renee grinned and prodded him in the belly.
“Well, maybe you should play hard, too. Your tummy’s getting flabby.”
David groaned and pushed her hand away.
“Knock it off, Mom. And I do work really hard.”
“You know what I mean.”
Renee leant against the railing and looked out into the backyard. Her husband was by the barbecue, which was being manned between half a dozen men. With the amount of people at Brittany and Nick’s house, the barbecue had accumulated into several grills. Robson Mach looked up at them, his bearded face breaking into a pleased smile and he waved. Renee waved back and blew him a kiss, which was returned. David raised his bottle of beer to his father and turned to Renee as his mother turned away and leaned back against the railing, folding her arms across her chest.
“How are you holding up, Dave?”
“I’m doing better.” David sipped at his beer. “I can stand up without wincing now.”
It had taken a couple of days to be able to walk comfortably without bending over every few feet. Susie had clobbered him pretty hard. Renee gave him a smile.
“You did the right thing protecting Rachelle.”
“Well, I didn’t protect her well enough. She still ended up getting tossed across the lawn like a rag doll.”
“But she’s now home and she didn’t get kidnapped.”
“You mean going to the hospital with a suspected skull fracture is a lesser evil than being kidnapped?”
“At least she’s going home at the end of it all and not to someone who would likely sell her for drugs.” Renee rubbed her son’s arm. “And you protected her in the hospital.
Brittany’s been singing your praises since she got back from the hospital.”
David winced. He hadn’t forgotten how Brittany had acted. Maybe Dagmar was right; Brittany did have a crush on him. Coming from a single girl was bad enough but Brittany was in a relationship with his brother. That couldn’t be right, surely? David didn’t know how to broach that with his mother, though. She allowed her sons to live their own lives but she wouldn’t be too impressed if she found out her daughter-in-law had a crush on the other son.
“She should be singing Dagmar’s praises, not mine. She was the one who got everyone under control and made sure things didn’t go to shit. Nick and Brittany weren’t in any state to deal with Susie and I was trying not to beat the woman to a pulp.”
“I heard about that as well from Nick,” Renee said. “Brittany made it sound like you were in charge, but I had a feeling the pretty young lady paying court to my sister-in-law had something to do with it.”
David didn’t see it as a surprise that Dagmar was a hit with his biker family. They had a habit of picking up people they called ‘strays,’ those who weren’t in the biker gang by blood or by marriage but had endeared themselves. And Dagmar was a person you couldn’t help but like.
It was a pity the men in her life had no idea how much of a good person she was.
“She’s a pretty woman.”
David blinked. He had momentarily spaced out there.
“Brittany?”
“Dagmar. Lovely lady. So charming.” Renee’s smile widened. “She’s captured the entire room in there.”
David couldn’t help but smile at that, trying to ignore the fact his mother was giving him a pointed look.
“She does tend to do that. Nick says she’s a down-to-earth, caring person and I believe him.”
“So do I.” Renee sighed. “How she’s not been snapped up, I have no idea.”
“She was married, Mom. The man was abusive. And she’s just got out of a relationship with a man who put his abusive mother before her.”
“Oh, poor girl. That sounds like she can’t catch the right fish.”
“She doesn’t catch fish, she catches sharks.”
Fallen For A Biker_BWWM Romance Page 5