Falling Into You (Geek to Chic) (7 page)

Derek looked
down to see that white napkin was now bright red.
 
He stood throwing some bills on the table to
cover the bill and the broken plate.
 
“Did you drive?”
 
She nodded,
tears streaming down her face in pain.

He looked
around for Izzy and Alex.
 
They had
stayed to play another game of pool.
 
Izzy really didn’t believe they beat them fair and square so she
demanded a rematch.
 
Alex was happy to
oblige.
 
He motioned for them even though
they were already heading over to the table.
 
Having heard the commotion. “Roni needs to go to the ER.
 
Can you take Izzy home?”
 

Alex smiled an
evil smile. “I would be happy too.”

“No, I need to
go with Roni. “ Izzy stated obviously worried about her friend.
 

“No, go with
Alex.
 
I’ll take her to the ER and bring
her home.”
 
Before Izzy could argue, Derek
grabbed Roni, her purse and her jacket and led her out of the brewery.
 
He hated seeing her hurt.
 
He looked for her car.
 
Not remembering exactly what she drove from
when he had dropped her off earlier. “Where is your car baby?” She tilted her
head to the second row of cars so he headed that way and saw a familiar
car.
 
Settling her into the passenger
seat, he ran around to his own side.
 

“You ok baby?”

“Thank you for
taking care of me.
 
It really hurts.
 
I’m not sure how I managed to cut my hand open
while attempting to feel you up under the table.”
 
She smiled up at him through the tears.
 

Letting out a
strangled groan.
 
Derek quickly adjusted
himself in his jeans.
 
“You are killing
me! I am supposed to be rushing you to the ER and now all I can think of is a
hand job…. and more.”
 
Derek gave her his
panty dropping smile before turning his attention back to the road.
 
Roni only giggled.

“Eight
Stitches! How did I manage to injure myself while making out with you? That is
a new one even for me.
 
I guess at least
this time my clumsiness only damaged me and not you.”
 
Roni really could not understand how she
managed to injure herself while making out with the hot tech mogul.
 
Her clumsiness was out of control when she
was around this man.
 

“Don’t worry,
you can make it up to me once you’re feeling better.”
 
Derek said wiggling his eyebrows at her.
 

They were
almost to her house.
 
She was amazed by
his actions tonight.
 
He had stayed with
her the entire time she was in the ER.
 
Even when she assured him she would be fine and he could wait in the
waiting room.
 
Derek sat with her while
the doctor examined her.
 
Stayed through
the shot and through the stitches.
 
She
could tell that the stitching part was a particular troubling part for him.
 
He was holding her non injured hand, talking
to her making jokes, obviously trying to keep her mind off of the fact that a
doctor (who looked way too young to be a real doctor) was pulling a needle
through her skin.
 
However, at one point
Derek turned white as a sheet and had to sit.
 
That made her smile and forget her own pain.
 

Now the pain was coming back full force since the shot was wearing
off.
 
Luckily they were almost back to
her house.
 
“It’s the last house on the
right.”
 
Roni said, pointing her house
out to Derek
.
 
"Whose cars are those in the
driveway?"

Derek
slowed the car as he looked. A slow smile spread across his face before he
laughed. "Well, it looks like Alex is still with Izzy. Maybe that line
between love and hate really is that thin."

"Or
maybe he finally made a comment that made her feel the prison sentence would be
worth murdering him and is in the backyard burying the body." Roni felt
that was a more likely scenario.
 

"Quick
question, how would Izzy, who is tiny be able to first murder, then bury a man
the size of Alex by herself?" Derek asked with amusement.

Roni
smiled. "You have never seen Izzy truly pissed off. I fully believe she
could take on SEAL team six all by herself and win when she is in the red rage
zone. And let's be honest Alex tends to bring that out in her." She hoped
Derek wouldn't miss his friend too badly.

Derek
pulled into the driveway. "Only one way to find out if Alex is alive and
well, or in pieces." With that he hopped out of the car. Once again he ran
around to her side of the car opening her door before she could even make a
move to get out. A girl could get used to this kind of treatment.

They
began walking to the door when they heard all kinds of chaos happening.
 
"See, she’s murdering him." Roni deadpanned
with a shake of her head.
 

"Or
he finally got in her pants."
 
Derek
countered.

Since
Derek still had her keys he unlocked and opened the front door. The scene in
front of them was one that took her brain several seconds to process. The good
news was that Alex was alive and well. The strange part was that instead of
just Alex and Izzy in her house, there were four additional guys and her friend
Gracey. They were playing... of course Izzy's
favorite game Call of Duty. Tha
t's right her pixie sized kindergarten teacher
friend
was a COD addict.
By the words the boys were using,
Izzy and Gracey must have been kicking their collective ass. Roni smiled.

The
guys looked like they had actually seen real combat. All muscle and intensity.
Wait a minute, she knew these guys.

"Aren't
those your drinking buddies?" She turned to ask Derek.

"Why
yes, they are." He answered with a smile. With that Derek placed his hand
on the small of back leading her into her living room. "How on earth did
this come about?" He asked to no one in particular.
 
Izzy and Gracey both turned from the game,
bolting toward Roni when they heard Derek.

"You're
home. Oh my God are you ok?" Izzy gently took Roni's bandaged hand to
examine. "How many stitches this time? Do you need anything? Come sit down
and rest." Yep, Izzy might be a little tipsy but she was in full blown
mother hen mode.

"Izzy
I'm fine, really. Only eight stitches. No big deal."

"Only
to you is a night at the ER, which ends in eight stitches, no big deal."
Izzy giggled. As Roni and Izzy plopped down on the couch. Derek came to sit on
the other side of her.
 

“Roni
the hospital should give you a punch card or something.
 
But Izzy, she’s right eight stitched is far
below average for her.”
 
Gracey giggled
out just as she turned back to the guys.
 

Alex
turned to answer Derek’s earlier question. “After the two of you had to leave,
so Clumsy Barbie wouldn’t bleed to death, in walked these guys. We started
talking video games.
 
Needless to say we
were all shocked to hear that the demon pixie here was a huge gamer.
 
Since she had called Gracey to let her know
about Roni’s latest mishap and have her meet her at her house we all decided to
have a little video game death match while we waited. Seriously Roni, we need
to start taking you out in a bubble or some safety suit or something.”
 
That last part was said with a huge grin
across his face.
 
Taking a swig of his
beer he turned his attention back to the game.

“Hey,
don’t you dare un-pause that game until I have my controller!
 
First, you cheat at pool and now at
Call of Duty
!
 
You have no
morals!”
 
Izzy spat at Alex as she hurled
herself off the couch and toward her controller.
 
Alex only laughed, hitting the pause button
just as Izzy’s hand wrapped around her controller. “I’m going after your ass
first Super Asshole!

As each
of the guys died in the game they came over introducing themselves since she
had left the bar with Izzy before learning their names that night.
 
“So Collin what is it you guys do for a
living.
 
You look like you all live in a
gym.”
 
She asked with a smile.

Collin
laughed.
 
“I feel like I live in a gym
sometimes.
 
However, we are all
programmers.
 
Like I told Derek the other
night, we are his competition.
 
We don’t
quite have the government contacts he does, but we do ok.”
 

“I
offered to buy his company.
 
He laughed
at me.
 
So not cool dude.”
 
Derek deadpanned then at the last second
laughed.
 

“Make
me a real offer, you know more than a pitcher of beer, and we’ll talk.”
 
Collin quipped, turning his attention back to
her. “I thought your clumsiness only set its destructive forces on this dip
wad? What’s with the stitches in
your
hand?”

Roni
had to laugh. “Oh, this is far from the first time I have done myself in.
 
My clumsiness has left me in stitches, a few
concussions, too many bruises to count and a couple broken ribs.
 
That bubble idea of Alex’s might be a good
one.”
 

“Luckily
for you Rocco is an engineer. I’ll have him start working on one for you. Maybe
something with air bags.”
 
With that, he
went back to trash talking those playing the game.
 

Derek
shifted slightly accidently bumping the leg, she had her injured hand resting
on.
 
“Ouch!”
 

“Ok,
that is my queue to get you ready for bed and give you your pain pill.”
 
Derek declared, lifting her into his
arms.
 
“Bedroom?”

With a
shy smile on her face, Roni pointed toward her room.
 
Leaning her head onto his shoulder.
 
Once there, he gently laid her in bed.
 
He went to her dresser, without asking, and
began pulling open drawers.
 
When he
opened her underwear drawer he gave her a wicked smile. “I like this drawer.”
She blushed, earning her a chuckle from him. He continues to rifle through her
stuff until he found her some pajamas.
 
Handing her, her favorite most comfortable pair.
 
“I am going to go grab you a glass of water
while you change and get ready for bed.”
 
He placed a small kiss on her forehead before leaving the room.

When
was the last time a guy she was dating had taken care of her when she was
injured or sick?
 
Roni thought for a
minute and realized the sad truth was never.
 
This was the first time, any guy had ever taken the time to care for
her.
 
With that warm thought in her mind,
she quickly changed and went to the bathroom to do her nightly routine.
 
Returning to her room, she found Derek sits
on the bed waiting for her, with a glass of water in one hand and her bottle of
pills in the other.
 

“Do you
want to watch a little TV?”
 
He asked
quietly as he handed her the pill and glass.
 

She
took the pill, lay the glass on the night stand before crawling into bed.
 
“Yes, that would be nice.
 
Although I am not sure how long I’ll be able
to stay awake once the pill kicks in.”
 
She patted the space next to her.
 
Derek quickly kicked off his shoes and claimed his spot on her bed.
 
Wrapping his arm around her, pulling her
close to him. He turned on the TV with the remote.
  

After
flipping for a bit they settled on a rerun of
The Big Bang Theory
.
 
“This
episode is one of my favorites.”
  
Derek
mumbled as he rubbed her back gently with his large hand.
 
After the show he asked. “How are you
feeling?”

“Mmmm,
nice.”
 
Roni said in a small drug induced
voice.
 

“Well,
it looks like you are about to fall asleep.
 
I will let myself out and call you in the morning.”
 
Gently pulling away from her, he started to
leave.

Panic
suddenly slammed through her system, nullifying the effects of the pain
medication.
 
Roni did not want to be away
from him.
 
“No, stay.
 
Just a little longer…. until I fall asleep. Please.”
Ok, she knew she sounded pathetic, but she couldn’t let him go, not yet.
 

Without
a word or even a pause, Derek slid his arm back around her bringing her even
closer than she was before.
 
He kissed
her forehead again, and she could have sworn he sniffed her hair. Roni felt so
calm and safe now that he was staying.
 
She burrowed closer to him.
 
She
felt like she couldn’t get close enough.
 
It was her turn to smell him, his cologne was a blend of pine and fresh
air. “Hmm” Escaped her mouth.
 
As he drew
her closer to him still, she couldn’t resist kissing his neck.

He
cupped the back of her head, forcing her to look at him.
 
She saw pure lust in his eye just before his
lips captured her.
 
His tongue was in her
mouth dueling with hers.
 
Her good hand gripped
his shirt. Derek rolled her under him. Moving down to kiss her neck.
 
His hands moving toward her breast.
 
She sighed, arching towards her. As quickly
as he started he stopped.
 
Resting his
forehead against her own. Both of them breathing heavily.
 
“Oh Roni, I wish this night was ending
differently.
 
As in us alone in a house
without either of us having stitches. But you’ve had pain meds and
the Call of Duty
marathoners
are screaming at each other in the other
room, I think we better go back to watching TV.”
 
He snuggled her back to where she was before
the kiss.
   

She
felt special at that moment (and a little annoyed).
 
Most guys would have taken advantage of her
state.
 
Derek has shown her over and over
that he wasn’t most guys. Though part of her was wondering why he had
stopped?
 
Was he really not that into
her? Her insecurities coming up hard and fast. She buried those old feelings.
“Only if you promise we will be alone in a house as soon as I’m healed?” Her
smile when he laughed and nodded.
 
She
laid her head on his chest.
 
Listening to
his heartbeat as he once again started to slowly rub her back.
 
It only took a few moments before she was
asleep.