David chuckled.
“Might as well make the most of it.” He had finished buttoning his shirt but still hadn’t moved. Dagmar shivered as he stared at her. “I’ll text you about court tomorrow?”
“Please.”
David was making the moves to go but his feet weren’t taking him anywhere. They just stared at each other. Dagmar wondered what was going through his mind. She knew if he stayed there any longer she would be kissing him and taking him back to her bedroom. Then he wouldn’t be leaving at all.
This was not good.
Then David snapped out of his thoughts and dug into his pocket.
“Sorry, I almost forgot. I meant to give this to you earlier.”
“What?”
David cast her a grin and put several bills on the counter.
“One hundred dollars, just as we bet.”
Dagmar had forgotten about that bet. She stared at the money. It looked a lot more than a hundred dollars.
“Does that mean I won?”
David rolled his eyes.
“No, I always give money to girls I sleep with. What do you think? You were right that Brittany would text me first about Rachelle before anyone else. Her mom was next and then Nick, which I found out when I snuck a look at her cell phone.”
Dagmar wasn’t sure if she should be pleased or not. She had called it but now she had the knowledge that Brittany had a crush on her boyfriend’s brother. That didn’t sound right at all.
“I told you.”
“Yeah, you did.” David sighed and shook his head. “I need to tell her that things are getting inappropriate. I don’t want to fight with Nick about her.”
“Maybe get her own mother to talk to her if she’s aware. Might sound better coming from her. I’ve heard of something called an extinction burst and that might happen if you do it with Brittany.”
“No, I’ll do it.” David tapped the money on the counter. “Use that money wisely, Dagmar.”
The more she looked at it the more nervous Dagmar got. She had never done a bet and she had certainly never won anything. This didn’t feel right. She didn’t like taking money from people, even if she did win.
“I can’t take your money, David.”
David chuckled.
“Like I said, it’s loose change. Indulge yourself.” Then he coughed and approached her. “I’d better go. Got to get to court tomorrow.”
Dagmar suddenly realized she didn’t want him to go. But that wasn’t what they had decided upon. She couldn’t change that now. She mustered up a smile and laid a hand on his chest.
“Safe journey.”
“Thanks.”
David hesitated. Then he leaned over and kissed her cheek. Dagmar found her eyes closing and she almost let out a sigh. Even under the rough exterior, he was soft and sweet. Although David would object to being called either.
David lifted his head and gave her a lopsided smile.
“Goodnight.”
Then he left the kitchen. Dagmar wanted to go after him and walked him to the door. But that might have led to something else. That would make things more complicated.
It wasn’t until the door shut that Dagmar sagged against the counter. Suddenly she felt as though she could breathe again.
*****
Dagmar was surprised to find herself waking up the next morning and realizing she had had a good night’s sleep. For the first time in a while, she had slept like the dead until her alarm went off. That hadn’t happened in a long time.
Maybe energetic sex was what she needed to sleep well. Dagmar had never been worn out from sex before. It might have sent her to sleep during sex if she didn’t get the chance to use the headache excuse beforehand but never after. Her exes seemed to be sorely lacking as far as David was concerned.
It was a pity if was only going to be one night. Dagmar could get used to having sex with David on a regular basis. That could become something to look forward to when she got home. But they had both made it clear that it was just a one night stand, nothing more. And Dagmar wasn’t about to go to David and beg him to have sex with her again; he would run the other way as fast as possible.
Even with the sad knowledge she wouldn’t be able to enjoy David in the actual flesh, Dagmar found herself humming away as she got dressed and ready for her shift. It was as if a different person had woken up. Dagmar hadn’t realized that sleeping amazingly changed a person in the morning.
She was still humming as she got into work, getting strange looks from some of her colleagues. That stopped while she was on the job, going back to her usual first-responder persona. But in her mind she could feel herself skipping along.
Dagmar had hoped nobody had noticed that she was in a good mood. It helped to keep the patients’ spirits up if you were positive with them, but she didn’t want to explain it. This wasn’t like her at work at all.
The shift flew by and Dagmar found it was the end of her shift before she even knew it. She and Steve started cleaning out the back of the ambulance and Dagmar started singing again.
“Are you okay, Dagmar?”
Dagmar turned. Steve was outside the ambulance doors, looking strangely at her. Dagmar beamed.
“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“There’s a spring in your step and you’ve been acting like the cat that’s got the cream.”
She got more than the cream but Dagmar wasn’t about to say that out loud.
“Can’t I be cheerful?” she asked, making her way through the ambulance and sitting on the edge of the gurney. “Aren’t I normally in a good mood?”
“Around the patients, yes. But not any other time; you’re normally as exhausted as us, too exhausted to smile.” Steve gave her a knowing smirk. “You got some ass, didn’t you?”
“Steve!”
Dagmar was glad her skin was too dark for Steve to see her blush. But Steve knew her and his smirk widened.
“You did! Who was it? It certainly wasn’t Jeremy.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Well, you’ve never smiled after sex with Jeremy. I don’t think he’s ever made you act like this.”
Dagmar had never thought about it. Had she never smiled the morning after sex with Jeremy? How on earth had she not walked away before?
“I ended it with him a week ago. I don’t have sex with someone after a relationship.”
“So, who was it?”
Should she tell? Steve was her partner and her friend. And he wouldn’t spread it around the office; Steve was as private with someone’s secrets as they came.
“You remember Brittany?”
“You mean the mother of the little baby who was thrown across the lawn by the crazy lady our colleagues brought in?”
“I slept with her brother-in-law, David Mach.”
Steve’s eyes widened.
“The billionaire?”
“You know of him?”
“Of course I do. Who wouldn’t? He dabbled on the stock exchange while working in the film industry and struck lucky. His production company is the best in Texas and made him earn billions with all the people wanting to source him.”
Dagmar knew all about that. But hearing it from someone else felt strange. It was like she hadn’t realized how much she was getting into sleeping with a billionaire.
A billionaire who had come from the gutter and seemed more comfortable in the gutter than in the financial distract.
“Come on.” Steve hopped onto the footplate and nudged her arm. “Do tell.”
“Nothing much to tell. We had chemistry, got it out of our systems last night, and no expectations. That’s it.”
Steve was staring at her like she had grown another head. Dagmar shifted on the gurney.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You’re so straight laced when it comes to sex. I never thought I’d hear you say you had a one-night stand.”
“Well, I did.” Dagmar hopped off the gurney, adjusting her sh
irt and turning to him with a grin. “And I feel good for it.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” Steve raised his eyebrows. “So, you won’t be going back for more?”
Dagmar knew that there wouldn’t be anymore. She was not the sort of person who hung around with the ritzy glitzy people and certainly not with people who had more money than she would ever earn in her life. David may have scratched an itch but he wouldn’t come back for more.
At least, she didn’t think so.
“If he wants more, I’ll take it. But just once will do.”
Dagmar wasn’t about to be treated like a piece on the side. And she wasn’t about to discuss it further; Steve already had enough ammunition to tease her about it.
She went around to the side of the ambulance, intending to get into the cab and fetch her jacket. She was opening the door when something hit the door with a loud metallic sound. The door exploded and Dagmar felt something tug at her arm, knocking her into the ambulance and off-balance. She fell to her hands and knees, pain shooting through her arm and into her shoulder. Her fingers felt numb.
“Dagmar!”
The pain was making Dagmar’s head spin. She slumped to the ground and pressed her head to the ground. She was not going to pass out. She was not.
When she opened her eyes again, she was on a gurney getting wheeled into the ER.
*****
David’s felt like he was struggling to breathe as he squealed his car to a stop in a disabled parking space, running into the ER and barely remembering to lock up. His heart was racing.
Dagmar had been shot. In the ambulance bay. The bullet had come from such a high-powered gun that the bullet her ripped through the door and hit her. From what David had been told, Dagmar had collapsed straight after.
He was silently praying that Dagmar was alive and okay. She was a tough cookie. No way could she be fighting for her life; she wouldn’t allow it.
After trying to get through the crowd of people waiting for the desk, David managed to get the attention of the receptionist. One look at him and the woman recognized him; he was a frequent benefactor of the hospital. She waved him through and pointed him in the direction of the charge nurse. The woman was brisk and not happy that he had jumped the queue but her expression softened when she heard David’s story. Then she led him to a cubicle at the far end, pulling back the curtain.
Dagmar was sitting on the bed, wearing her work pants and boots and a black sports bra. David tried not to openly stare at her pert breasts and flat stomach, his eyes going to the stark white bandage on her arm. Dagmar looked pale. She looked like she was going to pass out.
“Dagmar?”
Dagmar looked up. Her eyes widened when she saw him.
“David? What are you doing here? I didn’t call you.”
The charge nurse glanced at David and made herself scarce. David stepped into the cubicle and closed the curtains.
“Your colleague Steve called me. Said you’d been shot.”
Dagmar rolled her eyes.
“He shouldn’t have worried. I got winged, that’s all.”
David scowled at the bandage.
“That doesn’t look like simply ‘that’s all,’” he snapped.
“I’m fine, David. I’m not going to die.” Dagmar hopped off the bed and flinched, huddling her arm against her for a moment before she reached for her shirt. “It’s just going to sting like crazy.”
David stared at her as she managed to shrug into her shirt. He wanted to help her but he had a feeling Dagmar would smack his hands away. He felt helpless watching her.
And Dagmar wasn’t even his girl. Why was he so scared for her?
“You scared me, Dagmar.”
Dagmar’s eyes widened as her head whipped around. Then she gave him a sardonic look, buttoning up her shirt gingerly.
“I didn’t do it to scare you because I was bored.”
“I know you didn’t. Doesn’t mean it’s not going to scare me.”
“There’s nothing to be scared about.” Dagmar’s expression softened even with her wincing in pain as her arm moved. “I appreciate you being worried for me, but you don’t need to be.”
David couldn’t watch it any longer. Dagmar’s pain was making him uncomfortable. He approached her and gently moved her hands away from her buttons. Then he started buttoning up the rest of her shirt. What he really wanted to do was unbutton them and feel her soft skin under his hands. If it wasn’t for the fact they were in a hospital, he would have done, even with Dagmar’s injuries.
“Maybe not.” David swallowed as he looked down at her. “But try telling this part of me to stop caring.”
He tapped at his chest. Dagmar raised an eyebrow and pointedly looked at his crotch.
“That and another part of your body?” she said with a sly smile.
David felt his pants getting tighter. He coughed and stepped back, hands falling to his sides.
“Let’s not go there, Dagmar. This is not the place to do it.” He moved around to the other side of the bed as Dagmar reached for her jacket. “Once you’re signed out, you’re going to come back with me.”
He felt the temperature in the room drop. Dagmar was staring at him like he had gone mad.
“What are you talking about? No way.”
“Why not?”
Why did that rejection hurt?
“This isn’t the first time I’ve been shot in a drive-by, David.”
“Don’t tell me that, please!”
“What? It isn’t. I’m in a rough area of Houston a lot of the time. It’s going to happen.” Dagmar shrugged. “It’s part of the job. I’m not going to hide.”
“What if it was Susie and her family? What if it was Jeremy?”
Dagmar barked out a laugh.
“Jeremy wouldn’t know what a gun looked like if you stuck it next to a water pistol. And Susie’s family is more likely to shoot themselves than me.”
That was a fair point, considering how David had seen a couple of them holding guns like they were cool gangsters, but that didn’t stop him worrying that it was Susie and her maniac family.
“Even so…” he began, but Dagmar cut him off.
“No, I’m going home. I’ve been given the rest of the week off to recuperate. And that’s what I’m going to do. Recuperate. In my own apartment,” she added, giving him a pointed look.
David knew they could argue with each other all day but it wouldn’t help matter. Dagmar was not going to budge. However, he couldn’t turn and walk away. For the first time in his life, he actually wanted to stay with a woman.
He was in trouble.
*****
Dagmar hadn’t realized she had fallen asleep until she was shaken awake. She sat up suddenly and flinched as the pain in her arm flashed through her arm and down to her fingers.
God, that was painful.
She blinked up and saw David leaning over her.
“Sorry?”
“We’re back.”
Dagmar looked out the window and realized they were back at her apartment. She hadn’t realized they had got back. She yawned and sat up.
“Sorry, I didn’t realize I’d fallen asleep.”
“I think you needed it.”
Dagmar snorted.
“I got what I needed last night.” Blushing when she realized what she had just said and seeing David raise his eyebrows: “I mean I got more than enough sleep last night. The adrenaline wore off sometime between the hospital and now.” She reached for the door handle. “I just want to go to bed.”
She was halfway out when David appeared in front of her. Without asking, he took her hand and pulled her to her feet. Dagmar bumped into him as she swayed, David’s other arm coming around her. Something else bumped into her belly, prodding against her. Dagmar gasped and saw David’s eyes darken.
He was still turned on by her. Surely that should have worn off by now. One night to scratch an itch and they could move on. From the feel of it, David hadn’t thou
ght one night was enough, either.
Dagmar could feel her heart racing. He was close enough for them to kiss. And Dagmar wanted to. A lot. But then she remembered who he was and what she was to him and stepped away, nudging his car door shut. David lowered his hands but he didn’t move, watching her with a heated look.
“Want me to tuck you in?”
Chapter 8
Dagmar’s breath caught in her throat. That sounded very tempting. But she pushed away her feelings and rolled her eyes.
“Very funny, David.” But she wasn’t ready for him to leave. “But would you mind walking me to the door?”
“Of course.” David almost shot to her side, slipping an arm around her waist. “I can be a gentleman at times.”
Dagmar snorted but she leaned against him. Sex was off the table but small comforts went a long way. Touching him would have to do.
What had she got herself into?
They managed to get up the stairs without falling over and David didn’t try anything. That gave Dagmar mixed feelings. On the one hand, she was glad he didn’t do anything. On the other, Dagmar wanted David to push her up against the wall and have sex with her right then. He was like a drug to her. Dagmar didn’t do drugs unless they were to stem her migraines.
But with David, she would make an exception.
They reached her apartment and David plucked Dagmar’s key from her fingers, opening the door for her. Then he stopped, his smile fading and his eyes widening.
“Whoa.”
“What?” Dagmar tugged at his arm and tried to look around him. “What is it?”
David didn’t answer. He moved her so she was leaning against the wall and held up a warning finger.
“Don’t come in.”
“Like hell I’m not.”
Dagmar wasn’t about to be argued with. She pushed past him and hurried inside. Then she stopped in the hallway, her eyes hardly believing what she was seeing.
Her apartment was in shreds. Practically all her furniture was either broken or slashed. Trails of clothes from both her laundry basket and her bedroom showed that they were ripped and covered in bleach. The crockery in her kitchen was smashed. Her laptop was snapped in half in the middle of the living room.
Fallen For A Biker_BWWM Romance Page 8