20

Rachel finally called her at 10 with the worst possible new.

"Strep. I'm out for a few days."

Dallas was sitting at a table in the arena, drinking a soda. It had been a long morning. Probably because she'd gotten up so early. She sighed and shook her head. "A few days meaning?"

"A week." Rachel squeaked it out. She really did sound horrible.

Dallas felt a bit ill herself but for entirely different reasons. "Well…just have them email me the note." She managed to sound normal. She gave herself points for that.

"Already done. I'm sorry 'bout this. I hate getting sick…"

"Yeah well. You gotta stop making out with strangers." Dallas smiled but wasn't feeling nearly as humorous as she sounded.

"Ha. You are hilarious. Sorry about sticking you with Taker this week too. I know you'd probably rather have a hot poker to the face than deal with him."

Dallas actually felt the pasted on smile wither and die on her face. "Why would you say that?" Besides Lisa, nobody knew about what had happened. And if Lisa said anything, Dallas was going to…

"Oh. Oh fuck." Rachel laughed and coughed at the same time. It took a good two minutes to get herself under control. And her voice was worse. "I wasn't supposed to say anything…please don't tell on me."

"Tell on you to who?"

"Taker! I swear, it's kind of annoying. You are all he could talk about. Once he started talking. It kind of all came out. And he swore me to secrecy! I'm an idiot."

Dallas let her ramble for a minute before interrupting. "What…exactly…did he say?" She kept her voice neutral.

"Specifically?" Rachel cleared her throat, or tried to rather. "Just that he liked you. And that you guys had a little falling out."

"Right." Dallas pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand and sighed.

"I was wondering why you were in such a funk. Guess now I know." Rachel said with a choked sounded laugh. "I think you're both nuts."

"Yeah. No argument there."

"Seriously. I know your rule about messing around with the guys. I'm not even gonna ask why you broke your own rule, because it's the Undertaker for cryin' out loud. I would bang that man like a screen door."

Dallas started laughing at that. Rachel was sickly but still herself, obviously. "Maybe you'll get your chance."

"Doubt it. He's already kinda stuck on you. You want some fever induced advice?"

"You're gonna give me some whether I wanna hear it or not." Dallas said, still smiling a little.

"Damn straight. Give the guy a chance. Who cares if you'll be a couple?" Rachel emphasized it, and Dallas got the feeling she'd done air quotes. It made her smile again. "No law says you gotta marry the guy just because you agree to hang out together for a while. Stop being all Type A for a while and just enjoy it. You've earned it, woman."

Dallas snorted. "I've earned getting laid?"

"Among other things." Rachel coughed again.

"You should go get some rest. I've got to get some stuff done. Oh…and don't call me Type A. I find that kind of insulting."

Rachel laughed and they said their goodbyes. Dallas tapped her phone against the table she was sitting at before gathering up her papers. She had a lot to do, and sitting there moping wasn't going to get any of it done.

An hour later she was in Taker's locker room. It was safe for the moment, because he was out at the ring with Show, going over their match that night. She was sitting on the floor with a folder and papers all around her, trying to get his schedule in order. It was when she started in on the following week's schedule that Dallas paused and laughed at herself. Rachel may have been joking but she had a point. Dallas really was too used to running everything. It made her a good manager, but probably the worst possible female in the universe to try and have some kind of relationship with.

She was engrossed in her paperwork and didn't notice Taker coming back. He looked at her with an eyebrow up, a little surprised to see her. And then he went into the shower. Fifteen minutes later and he was back, dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He sat down on the bench against the wall and pulled his boots on, keeping a curious eye on her.

Dallas finally looked up and acted surprised to see him sitting there, so Taker figured that made them even. She was single-minded sometimes. He understood that. In fact, he kind of liked it. Maybe because he could be the same way.

"You want to go to lunch with me?" Taker finally asked when the silence had stretched out a few minutes.

Dallas looked at him again, then down at the papers. "I...guess. Sure." She grabbed the loose paper and straightened it before tucking it all back into the folder. Taker stood up and held out a hand to help her up. Dallas hesitated but took his hand and let him pull her to her feet.

But he didn't let her go. Instead, he kept on pulling her until she was up against him, with his arms around her. He gave her an intense, unreadable, sort of scary but stomach-butterfly inducing look and ducked his head. He caught her mouth with his, sliding his lips against hers before she had time to really form a protest.

Dallas reached up, meaning to push him away, but found her fingers grabbing onto his shirt, holding onto him. She kissed him back, parting her lips for his exploring tongue. She was still confused, and she hated second guessing herself, but it felt so good at the moment she couldn't begin to form an argument against just giving in.

She let her hands slide up Taker's chest, over his shoulders, and up to cup his face in her hands. He made a noise at that, and she felt him let go of her for a moment. She heard the distinct snap of a lock being latched, and realized he'd thrown the deadbolt on the door. At least one of them remembered to lock the door.

Of course, that only reminded Dallas of where she was, who she was with, and what was happening beyond their heated kissing. Taker dragged his mouth away from hers and nibbled a line down her jaw, onto her neck, and she held onto him, feeling like she was going to fall over. And regretted having to break whatever spell was over them.

"Mark…" Dallas knew the use of the real name over the nickname would get his attention. He made a noncommittal 'hmm' next to her ear, sending a shiver down her back. She took a shaky breath and sighed. "Even with the door locked, there are still gonna be about six dozen kids wandering the hallways soon. And the big wigs know you're still here." She pointed out the obvious.

Taker groaned and pulled back a little, green eyes several shades darker than normal. Dallas felt her knees buckle at that. Good old fashioned animal lust. She had definitely missed it.

"Call 'em and tell 'em I left." He finally said, fingers going to the top button on her shirt. Dallas smiled and bit her lip, wondering why it was that on some occasions she couldn't just go with the flow. If there was ever a time, it was now.

Of course that would mean going against her nature.

"What about…what you said?" Dallas finally asked, watching his eyes as he watched his fingers pop open each of the buttons on her shirt.

"What I said?" Taker's eyes flicked to meet hers for a moment before dropping down once more to focus on the last button. "You ready to admit you wanna have me around?" He asked, wanting to know and sounding sort of surprised at the idea.

He finally got the button open and ran his fingers up her stomach. Dallas leaned into his hand as he stroked the skin between her breasts with a knuckle, impeded by the material of her bra.

"Is that what you want to hear?" Dallas asked.

"Darlin', a 'let's just fuck' at this point would be more than I figured on gettin'." His deep voice got lower.

"Well, I do." Dallas felt her breath catch in her throat as his hand slid to the left, over her breast.

"You do? What? Wanna fuck?" He smirked and traced the hard outline of her nipple with his thumb.

"I want to have you around. You idiot. I might be changing my mind now, though." Dallas laughed when he snickered and yanked her closer, preventing her from trying to get away. Truth be told, she was scared. She didn't like this odd power he seemed to have over her. It was something she hadn't experienced before, and while it wasn't unpleasant, it was unusual. Dallas was no blushing virgin, and she'd been married and divorced. She knew what hurt was. She had a feeling that this particular attachment would only hurt more.

And heaven help her, she wanted it.