Page 6 of The German's Guilty Pleasure
She swatted at my chest with her hand. “Lars, put me down. I can walk!” she exclaimed multiple times, in both English and German, in case I needed to understand it bilingually.
“You are dazed, confused, dirty, disheveled, and scraped. I am taking you to my apartment until I decide if you need a hospital.”
She moaned, and her head flopped onto my shoulder at the mention of a hospital. “I’m fine. If you’d kindly unhand me, I’ll go home and change. When I get back, we can get to work.”
I stood in silence, not unhanding her, and impatiently counting off the floors on the ride up. She huffed every few seconds that I refused to put her down until the door opened to the tenth floor. I used my back to push open an apartment door across from mine and lowered her to the couch. I motioned for her to stay put and jogged to the small bathroom for a cool, wet washcloth. By the time I returned, she had removed the broken shoes and was brushing at her dress in disbelief. She did not question where I got the towel from, simply ran it around her face and neck, then wiped her hands with it. After a moment, she scooted to the end of the couch. “Okay, I’m ready to go. Where do we start?”
I held my hands out to her rather than touch her again. Every time I did, something in me flared bright and hot. She made parts of me tick that had not ticked in the last fifteen years. It was an uncomfortable and disconcerting feeling to experience again. I did not enjoy being uncomfortable. That was the reason I had avoided intimate relationships to begin with.
“We start by making sure you are not injured and do not need a doctor.”
She shook her head so wildly she fell back against the couch. “I’m fine.”
I held up her left arm. It was covered in road rash and blood, and the way she held it told me it was painful.
She sighed heavily. “Maybe not fine fine, but I don’t need a doctor. I’ll go home, clean up, and come back. Give me thirty minutes. No, maybe I’ll need an hour.”
“How do you plan to get home, my littleblauer vogel? Your car is shuddering its last breath as we speak.”
Her shoulders slumped in resignation, and for the first time, I noticed she was sitting funny. She held her left side off the couch, and I moved behind her to see that half of her dress was missing. The entire left side of her body was bleeding from road rash.
“Verdammt!” I exclaimed angrily. “Tell me what happened, right now,” I demanded when I faced her again.
The eyes that should have widened at my anger stared straight ahead. “I got a flat tire and was on the side of the road trying to decide if I needed to call someone. A car lost control and sideswiped me before I could blink. When it hit, I was knocked backward and skidded across the gravel on the road.”
“You did not let them take you to the hospital after you were hit by a car?” I asked, my voice an octave lower than usual from the anger inside me.
“I’m fine,” she insisted. I lowered a brow at her. “I’m fine, considering I could be dead. Is that better?”
“Not especially.” Her eyes clouded, and pain was evident on her face. She was in shock, and I forced myself to stop being an asshole for a few minutes. “Did the car hit you, Serenity?”
She shook her head again, less wildly this time. “Not that car, no. I was standing on the passenger side of my car inspecting the tire. The other car pushed my car into me and sent me flying. I’ll be okay after a shower and some clean clothes. I’m sorry I’m late, Lars. I even left early to make sure I arrived on time.”
I squatted next to her and held her gaze. “You cannot control these things, Serenity. What matters is that you are still alive. I am going to call a doctor to come here and check you over. Your arm could be broken.”
She struggled to stand, but I rested my hands on her thighs, forcing my mind away from her soft skin and the warmth soaking into my fingers. “I can’t see a doctor,” she said again, “I don’t have any insurance. The driver that hit me didn’t have any, either.”
I cursed under my breath. How typical is that? A bad driver who does not carry insurance. “Serenity, are you accepting the position at Kontakt?” I asked, forcing her to focus on my voice.
She nodded her head up and down in a daze. “Yes, that’s why I’m here. You said to be here at nine. I’m sorry for being so late.”
I squeezed her legs gently until she quieted. “Do you accept the terms of the contract, as we discussed yesterday?” She nodded again, the fight slowly draining away as pain and fatigue overtook it. “Then you are officially an employee of Kontakt, which means you have insurance and can see a doctor. I know you will not allow an ambulance, but will you accept me driving you to the hospital?”
She moaned and shook her head, tears gathering in her eyes. “No, I don’t want to go to the hospital, Lars. I’m fine. We need to get to work.”
“We have time to make sure you are not in pain before we work. How about a compromise?” I asked while she shifted uncomfortably again. “I will call a doctor to come here and clean your wounds. Then you can shower and change here. Is that acceptable?”
“Where are we?” she asked, gazing around the room. “Wait, I don’t have any clothes with me. I could call Babette and ask her to bring me some. Yeah, that might work.”
I held up my finger and picked up my phone. She did not disagree with the doctor coming here, so I wanted to get someone on their way over. I knew just the person, too. I placed a call while she closed her eyes and grimaced when her shoulder touched the couch. I hung up the phone and grasped her shoulders carefully, leading her toward the small bedroom.
“This is your apartment. Do you remember when we talked about that?” I asked, and she nodded automatically. I lowered her to the bed, and she laid over on her right side. I doubted her story about how hard the car had hit her. She was too out of it to not have taken a knock to the head.
“It’s a charming little place. I don’t need a doctor, seriously,” she murmured.
I patted her shoulder to calm her. I truly believed she needed more than just a doctor. She needed a hospital, but I could tell I would not convince her of that. Why did this little skiff of a woman bring out the protector in me instantly? Only one other person had ever brought those emotions to the surface so quickly and considering he was dead, that was not a good thing.
“The doctor is on her way. We are going to make sure you are healthy and not in pain before we do any work. Please, relax until she arrives.” I stood and slid open a door on the wall then snapped on a light. “I have made sure you have a full wardrobe here, as I suspected you did not have enough for a job such as this one.”
