Arrhythmia (23 page)

“Uh, do you want one of my T-shirts to sleep in?” he asked. He really tried to look me in the face, but somehow his eyes kept getting lost on the way there.

Since I was much too tired to be embarrassed, I just shook my head slightly and crawled into the giant four-poster bed. I yawned hugely and wrapped myself in the cover, which had a lovely freshly washed scent.

I remember sensing when Desiderio joined me and gently pulled me into the crook of his arm before I was fast asleep again.

Chapter 27

I was awakened by a tender kiss.

“Good morning, little warrioress.”

I stretched luxuriously and squinted to find my prince.

Ah, yes, there he was. Gloriously handsome and straight out of a book of fairy tales, he was sitting on the edge of the bed and smiling at me.

Just a minute. Why is he dressed already?

“Shit, what time is it?” I sat bolt upright.

“Don’t worry, you still have time. It’s only six thirty.”

I immediately sank back into those wonderful pillows. “Ahh.”

I closed my eyes with pleasure only to open them again a second later.

“But what are you doing? Are you leaving?” I asked, confused.

“Of course. My shift begins before yours; you know that.”

Right.

“Unfair, really,” he continued. “It starts earlier and ends later. There’s something wrong with that.”

“Well, yeah, that’s why you make four times as much as I do,” I mumbled sleepily.

“Four times? That would be nice,” he laughed.

I pulled the covers over my head with a soft moan. At this hour, I was in no shape to discuss different pay grades.

“Make sure you don’t fall asleep again and miss your shift, though. The house key is in the kitchen. See you later!”

My answer was a growl.

When I heard the door close, I yanked the cover from my eyes.

He’s leaving me alone in his house?? With all these expensive things in it???

OK, that was just my brain being crazy again. It hardly seemed likely that I would stash the movie-theater-sized flat screen in my station wagon and light out for another country.

Still.

All alone?

It was too late anyway. Desiderio was gone, and it didn’t make much sense for me to stop by my apartment before heading in to work. Like most other women, I kept items necessary for survival in my purse: from makeup-removal cloths to toothbrush, everything was there. Thank you, drugstores, for your convenient trial sizes!

All I had to do was win the struggle against myself to get out of the warm and cozy bed. Then I gathered my clothes, which were wildly strewn across the floor, and headed for the bathroom.

Although I was well aware that I was completely alone in the house, I stuck my head out the bedroom door to be sure. When nothing moved, I scurried across the hallway into the wellness temple.

A short time later, I found myself standing in front of the coffee machine, trying to figure out how to operate it.

I had found a mug easily enough. At this point, nothing in Desiderio’s house should have surprised me, but the luxury tableware was a little intimidating. At first I assumed I’d stumbled across the special-occasion set. But when I found no other cups, I had to assume that the colorful Villeroy & Boch series was, indeed, the everyday china.

I concentrated on holding on to the fancy cup, because I was afraid of breaking it while studying the control panel in front of me.

By the time I had figured out the “On/Off” button, it was already getting too late for me to enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee, but I was determined to find out how this mysterious appliance worked. Once the display was lit up and friendly, it really wasn’t that difficult.

The moment I got a whiff of the steaming liquid, I knew that the beans had to have cost a flaming fortune. Just like everything else in this insane place.

The first sip made my taste buds dance with joy. The only thing that I, the greatest coffee addict of all time, could say was that this was the best coffee I had ever tasted.

At least in Germany.

Yes, indeed, you just had to be rich—and then you could really enjoy life!

When I got to work, my number one priority was to remain inconspicuous. I couldn’t help feeling like there was a sign stuck to my forehead that said, “Spent the night at DiCastello’s place!”

First, I was afraid that someone might notice the fact that I was still wearing the same clothes as I had the previous day. Fortunately, nobody did.

Then I feared that one of my coworkers might wonder about the dreamy smile that kept appearing on my lips.

I thought it might be obvious that every time the doors of the outpatient department opened, I automatically spun around to look for a certain person.

I was actually pretty sure that Sandra suspected something, because she was still watching me with eagle eyes to see whether I was really ready to be back at work or might need some psychological help. To convince her that everything was fine, I told her that the perpetrator had been apprehended and that I was feeling much better. It was even the truth. I noticed that I had no trouble talking about the attack. Sandra seemed to notice this, too, and finally eased up on the appraising looks.

I was really put to the test when Desiderio finally came to the outpatient department after rounds.

He was walking down the hall next to Dr. Heimer. The attending physician was describing a case from his student days, and Desiderio was apparently listening very attentively, but his gaze rested on me the entire time as the distance between us grew smaller and smaller.

I swallowed hard and struggled against the urge to go over to him and kiss him.

“Good morning,” I greeted the two gentlemen politely and with a surprisingly firm voice.

“Good morning,” they called back in unison.

Heimer nodded at me with a smile but paid no further attention. There was no reason to. After all, it wasn’t the first time we had passed in the hallway.

The only thing new was that my heart began to race when I reached Desiderio and he somehow managed to brush against my hand in passing. This small touch hit me like a lightning bolt.

Was he trying to kill me or something?

I ducked into the next empty room and tried to remember how to breathe.

A little while later, I had an opportunity for a counterattack.

Desiderio was standing in treatment room one and studying an X-ray of a shoulder joint. I waited until Sandra went to fetch the owner of that shoulder and then stood next to him with feigned interest.

“Severe arthritis,” I said loudly. I casually stroked his hip, made my way to his pocket, and slipped his house key inside. Mr. Supercool didn’t even bat an eye.

“Yes, I believe this patient will need a prosthetic joint replacement,” he said without looking at me.

Crap, my counterattack had failed.

Sandra made a noisy return with an elderly gentleman, so I had no choice but to retreat for the time being.

Unfortunately, Desiderio was faster and scored his second hit just a short time later.

I was standing on my tiptoes in the storage room, struggling to lift a large box into a cabinet but finding that I was a hair too short. My efforts had me so distracted that I didn’t notice him behind me. When a slender arm reached around me to hoist the box effortlessly, I got a tremendous shock and would have fallen over had he not simultaneously wrapped his other arm around my stomach.

“Jesus Christ!” I burst out. “Are you part cat? Why are you so good at sneaking up on people?”

He just whispered, “You’re welcome,” and kissed me on the neck.

And he was gone. I had to take a moment to consider whether I had only imagined what had just happened. Only the tingling spot where his lips had touched my skin convinced me that it really had.

I hardly dared look at Desiderio in the presence of others. As tempting as it was to let my gaze linger on him, the fear of getting caught was simply too great. I thought our little hide-and-seek game was incredibly exciting, and I relished the thrill that accompanied me all day.

Desiderio was a true master at these games. Time and again, he succeeded in touching me without being noticed or in whispering sweet nothings in my ear. Whenever he felt that no one was watching, he pulled me close and kissed me until I wriggled free.

I had just discharged a patient from a treatment room when Desiderio pushed me against the wall and lowered his lips toward me.

“Stop it. Sandra almost saw us earlier,” I gasped hoarsely while making an admittedly halfhearted attempt to fight him off.

He raised the corner of his mouth in a devastating smile. “Would that really have been so terrible?”

Would it?

“If Sandra catches us, the whole hospital will know within the hour,” I pleaded.

“I know that,” he said and began kissing my neck.

“But . . . the whole hospital.” I tried to argue, but with difficulty, as shivers were running down my spine.

“I know,” he repeated without stopping.

Was he really indifferent to this, or was he just talking big because he knew I wasn’t ready to make things official?

Of course, once again I was too cowardly to test his statement, so I resolutely pushed him away when I heard a stretcher rumbling past.

“It would be better if we waited,” I said.

He cocked his head and looked deep into my eyes. “As you wish. As far as I’m concerned, the whole world can know. I don’t think that there’s anything to hide. But if that makes you uncomfortable, that’s fine.”

His voice sounded firm and honest. He meant what he had just said. Pure happiness was running through my veins, and my head was buzzing.

Still, I stuck to my decision and held something back.

“Not yet,” I whispered. I cleared my throat and pulled myself out of his gaze before I drowned in it. “Don’t you think we should get back to work?”

He simply ignored me and asked instead, “Will you come over again this evening?”

“I’d love to.”

“I have to run an errand after work, so let’s say . . . around six o’clock?”

“Around or at?”

“All right
,
then, at six o’clock,” he laughed. Then he gave me one last kiss on the forehead. “I can’t wait, little warrioress.”

I watched wistfully as he left the treatment room. I still couldn’t believe the direction my relationship with my former adversary had taken. The arrogant womanizer had become something entirely different for me. Something special. Something I hadn’t dared dream of.

Something that was finally convincing me to open my heart.

Our shift was over, and Sandra and I began our treks toward home. We were in good spirits as we walked down the wide hallway of the ER in anticipation of some time off. As we passed the large triage room, we heard Attending Physician Reinmann cursing to himself. “Jesus Christ, why isn’t this working?”

The sound in his voice was enough to let us know that he had run into trouble with the computer system again. The digital age and the aging physician just couldn’t get along.

Curious, I poked my head in the door and saw my suspicions confirmed. Reinmann was standing red-faced in front of the monitor and shaking the blameless mouse. Seeing no one on the late shift around to pass the doctor off to, I took pity.

“What do you need, Dr. Reinmann?” I called.

“A lab report, but it seems this thing is having another one of its tantrums!”

“I doubt the computer is at fault,” I teased.

Reinmann grumbled to himself. I sighed and looked at Sandra with resignation. “You go on home. I’ll just help him quickly before he breaks the computer.”

“That’s all right. I’ll wait.”

I went over to the grumbling doctor and assessed the situation. It seemed that Reinmann hadn’t been able to open the patient-information page because he couldn’t recognize the correct button on the desktop. So much for tantrums. Within one minute, I handed Reinmann a printout of the desired lab result with a telling look.

“Very good,” he praised me. “I just don’t know why it has to be so complicated.”

I left him with that opinion. Sandra grinned at me and rolled her eyes. I grinned back at her and stepped into the hallway. And there I stopped, rooted to the spot.

Just steps away, Desiderio stood with his back to me.

But that alone was not the reason that I gaped. Steffi was standing before him, holding an examination authorization form under his nose. She was fluttering her eyelashes and practically drooling over the man.

“So? Are you going to be at The Goose again next Saturday?” she purred.

Hello?
Since when were those two using the familiar pronoun, “du”?

“Don’t think so,” Desiderio answered curtly. He used the wall to sign the paper.

Even though he had his back toward me, I noticed with considerable pleasure how he deterred her with his body language. Was he aware that I was standing behind him? Probably not, because he couldn’t have seen me. But had he heard me?

Steffi seemed not to have noticed his cold body language. Or she was simply ignoring it. At any rate, she continued happily fawning.

“That’s too bad! Last Saturday was so much fun! We should definitely do it again sometime.” She put her hand on his shoulder without any inhibition.

I stared at her hands and silently gasped for air. Sandra watched my color change with some concern, but she seemed afraid to say anything and so resigned herself to watching in silence.

I watched how Desiderio removed Steffi’s hand in a friendly but firm manner and gave her the signed form.

“Steffi, I’m sorry, but . . .”

“Nooo, I understand if you’re busy this Saturday,” she chirped quickly, finally sensing rejection coming. “Just let me know when you have some free time, OK? Here, I’ll give you my number.”

Excuse me, you stupid, plastic bitch? Have you lost your mind?

“No,” Desiderio said again with considerable firmness. “Listen, I—”

Steffi still wouldn’t let him finish. “Well . . . I mean, you know how to find me, hee-hee.” She lowered her voice, but I could still hear her whisper to him, “I’m always at your disposal, if you know what I mean.”

How well I understood!

This cheap little floozy!
She had clearly offered herself for sex, and I was raging.

How on earth does this little slut dare?

Desiderio had just taken a step back from her and had raised his hands defensively. He was about to say something to her, but I couldn’t stand it anymore.