Dating Dr Notorious (15 page)

“Do you expect me to date as well?” he asked bitterly.

Ben’s gaze was hard, his jaw set with a stubbornness Regina had suspected he had, but had never seen until now.

Of all the times Ben had to be a textbook alpha male, Regina thought, why did it have to be about this? She sighed and turned away to keep from bursting into tears again. Her heart was hammering so hard she thought her chest would explode.

“No, I don’t want you to date other women,” she said through gritted teeth. “If you found someone normal you liked, I’d have to kill you both. It would be messy and I have no idea of how to dispose of dead bodies.”

“Then how can you even ask me to tolerate you dating other men?” Ben demanded, not mollified by her teasing.

“Because I have men friends, and that’s all they are. If I tell them I need to create a distraction for the press, they’ll do it for me. It’s how famous people deal with unwanted publicity,” she explained. “I’m just going to give them something else to talk about so they’ll leave you alone.”

Regina turned then and walked to Ben. She grabbed his shirt with both hands and shook him a little. “You know damn well you’ve ruined me for all other men, Ben Kaiser. I’m asking you to trust me while I fix this situation.”

“Watching you go out with other men is too much to ask, Regina.” Ben pulled away from her grip to pace through her kitchen before coming back into her living room. “There must be some other way to fix the situation.”

“How did your family react to the pictures and stories today, Ben?” Regina asked. She already knew the answer. Ben had shown up at her door dressed all in black.

“We got a few calls,” Ben admitted, not willing to go into it more during this conversation.

“If I don’t convince the press pretty fast you were just a one shot date, you’ll get more calls at your company and more trouble. True scandal hounds will put a tail on you and follow you home from work.”

Regina walked to him again and put her hands on his arms, gripping hard to get his attention focused on what she was saying.

“I hate this, Ben. I also hate my job and my life right now because I can’t change either fast enough to save you completely. I can only think of one thing to do to help you and keep your family out of it as much as I can. If you don’t want me to see other men, then I’ll have to completely stop seeing you until the press thinks I’m no longer interested.” Regina gripped him harder, imploring him to understand. “And damn you, you have to at least promise to try not to hate me too much while I work this out.”

Snapping, Ben pulled Regina’s head back by her hair and plundered her mouth. He kissed her in anger and with his frustration not tempered. Regina cried out under his assault, and he kissed her even harder, until he realized she wasn’t going to protect herself. Regina would let him hurt her to prove her point. Ben knew he would hurt her to prove that she was his.

It shook him to the core to know the hard truth about both of them. The last thing in the world he ever wanted to do was hurt her.

Ben’s arms were fierce as he pulled her closely to him, his body shaking with his own frustrated emotions as he buried his face in Regina’s hair. “I don’t have any words strong enough to tell you how much I hate the idea of you and other men.”

Regina cried and buried her face against Ben’s shoulder. She wanted yesterday back.

She should have seduced Ben in the doorway, just kept him in the apartment. They should have never gone out to dinner. None of this fight would be necessary. They’d still be laughing and teasing.

If yesterday hadn’t happened, tonight he would have had her naked already. He would be moving hard and deep inside her, making her fantasies come to life as he always did.

When she felt his body shaking with angry sobs, she thought she would be ill from the pain his tears brought her.

“I love you, Benjamin Charles Kaiser. I think I’ve loved you since you walked across the dance floor to me. That’s why you have to let me protect you and your family. This is nothing I can’t handle as long as I know you won’t hate me.” Regina’s lip quivered when her bravery and her words ran out.

Ben pulled her hair again, but more gently this time. He looked at her face and as always saw only absolute truth and sincerity there. He already knew Regina loved him, but he hated this was the reason she finally told him.

“How am I supposed to live with this?” he demanded.

“If you have a better idea, I’m willing to try it, but Ben—this is the only thing I know that works,” Regina said quietly again.

Damn it
. What solution did he have better than the one she offered? He had nothing, could think of nothing. It was the most helpless he’d felt in a long time.

He had no choice—no choice but to let Regina do what she thought was best, at least until he could come up with something better. Ben thought of Alfred, Daniel, Janet, and the livelihoods of the others in his company. He thought about giving Regina up, even temporarily. He couldn’t do it. He’d already lost too much in life. He wasn’t giving up Regina.

“I will not stop seeing you,” Ben said harshly when he could trust himself to speak.

“Okay.” Regina nodded and closed her eyes in relief.

“After your—
dates
, I will either be here when you get home or you’ll come to me,” Ben ordered, meeting her shocked blue gaze with his unyielding green one.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Regina said.

“Non-negotiable,” Ben said, tugging on her hair again. “You will do this for me. My insecurities are worse than yours.”

Regina nodded again. All Regina cared about was that Ben wasn’t leaving her. He wasn’t giving up. To keep him in her life, Regina would agree to just about anything.

“Okay,” she agreed weakly, hoping she’d find a way to manage it.

“I’m spending the night tonight. If I leave you right now, I might kill the first person I see with a camera or a cell phone. I’d hate for you to have to visit me in prison,” Ben warned, his attempt at teasing not really working when he meant every word he said.

“Okay,” Regina said quietly. “Stay. I want you to stay, Ben.”

Ben started dragging Regina by the hand to her bedroom, and then stopped.

“There’s one more thing. I love you, too. If any man you date even so much as tries to kiss you goodnight, I swear I will kill him,” he promised.

Regina laughed at little as she rubbed her eyes and nose, but stopped when Ben glared.

In the bedroom, Ben toed off his shoes and told her to do the same. Then he pulled Regina onto the bed with him and into his arms to just hold her.

He couldn’t bear the thought of losing another woman he loved.

Tired of riding in taxis, Ben cruised into the parking lot of Regina’s condo on a black Kawasaki Daniel had reluctantly loaned to him. He left the helmet and sunglasses on until he got inside. Dressed in clothing Regina had suggested would suit him, he was wearing a snug-fitting tee shirt, black jeans, and boots.

Ben waved an access card at Marvin as he passed on the way to the elevator.

Marvin sighed and thought Mr. Kaiser looked like a man itching for a fight.

Ben swiped the card at Regina’s door and walked inside. It was just the first date night and already Ben was struggling to keep his part of the agreement. The idea of Regina getting dressed up to go out with anyone but him was driving him nuts.

Ben was sitting on her couch with arms crossed when Regina came out of her bedroom dressed in a pink suit and pearls. The skirt was knee length and conservative. The white silk top was simple and uncomplicated. Ben frowned at the clothes because they didn’t suit her vibrant personality, and he was upset with how vulnerable they made her look.

Regina saw the frown and assumed she knew what it meant.

“I promise I’m wearing underwear under the skirt,” she told Ben, crossing her chest with an X, hoping her teasing would put him a little more at ease.

Ben snorted, got up and walked to her. “Good,” he said, “keep your underwear on all evening. I intend to check when you get home.”

Regina laughed nervously, still not comfortable with him being there waiting on her, but not able to deny him wanting to do it. He looked like James Dean on steroids this evening. His hard, sculpted body did everything for a tight tee shirt she thought it would. She hoped like hell he’d still be here when she got back.

“Do you want to meet Alan?” Regina asked quietly.

“Only if you want your dinner date to have a black eye,” Ben answered logically.

Marvin buzzed to announce Regina’s company was waiting. Ben saw Regina out, but didn’t kiss her goodbye.

Regina sighed heavily as she took the elevator to the lobby

Marvin scratched his head at the handsome man waiting in the lobby, and then scratched some more when Dr. Logan took his arm.

As they left, Marvin thought Dr. Logan looked like she was going to a PTA meeting or something equally as strange with her arm tucked companionably into the man’s. He couldn’t remember ever seeing her in such conservative clothes before.

Marvin swore softly when they left the building and got into the man’s car together. And just where the hell was Mr. Kaiser, he wondered? What in blazes was going on?

A couple hours later, Marvin watched the man deposit Dr. Logan back in front of the lobby door, kissing her cheek and hugging her before he got back into his car and left. Marvin walked to open the front door for Dr. Logan as she came back inside the building.

“Did Mr. Kaiser leave?” Regina asked Marvin hesitantly, trying not to sound anxious.

“No. Not that I’ve seen,” Marvin replied, still perplexed. He watched Dr. Logan take a deep breath and head to the elevator.

Marvin shook his head.
Famous people were just too strange sometimes
.

*** *** ***

Regina swiped her key card and let herself quietly into her apartment. Ben was stretched out on her couch with the TV turned low. She raised his feet and brought them into her lap as she sat.

Ben had surprisingly big feet, she thought, for a man his height. Although, she conceded with a knowing laugh that they did match some other surprisingly big parts of him.

Regina pulled off a sock and rubbed his bare foot, trying to chase away her guilt by touching him. She pulled off his other sock and rubbed the other foot.

Regina sighed, oddly relieved as she touched him gratefully, glad now that Ben had insisted on being here when she got home. Alan was just a friend. It wasn’t really that she felt like she was cheating on Ben, but she was afraid Ben might feel that way about it. Either way, Regina acknowledged, she was spending time with someone else when she could and should be spending time with Ben.

“My feet are getting cold,” Ben complained, swinging his bare feet back and forth in her lap.

Regina opened her jacket and hugged his bare feet to her breasts, closing her jacket around them. It comforted her to comfort him.

Ben sighed, enjoying her warmth. He wanted it for the rest of his life. Regina hugged his feet tighter as if reading his mind.

“There should be pictures in the paper tomorrow,” she said. “We went to Sorlini’s. Alan’s life partner works there part-time as a Sommelier so we got a table right by the front window. Most of the town crowd caught the act. However, it’s a toss-up whether the article will be about me cheating on you or Alan cheating on Serge.”

“You went out with a gay man?” Ben asked before closing his eyes, pretending to sleep. He opened them just slightly to see if she was smiling yet. “I guess that means I can save the wild jungle sex for another night. Let me know when you start dating macho, straight guys.”

Ben felt her laughter against his feet. It made him feel a little better. Or maybe knowing Regina had been out with a gay guy made him feel better.

“If wild jungle sex is out, think you can muster up the energy for the old-fashioned kind? I’d even settle for missionary position tonight,” Regina said, kissing the tops of his feet and lifting them to stand.

“I might be able to help you out. You going to take off that anti-sex outfit?” Ben asked.

Regina inspected the front of the blouse, stretching it across her breasts, and then pulled the skirt fabric up in her hands. “Anti-sex? What do you mean? This is a great suit.”

“For dinner with the Pope maybe,” Ben told her, smiling up into her face.

Regina put her hands on her hips and glared down at him. “Alan liked the outfit. He said it was very 50’s housewife.”

“Then give it to Serge and let him wear it for Alan.” Ben was amazed he could joke since the urge to shake her and demand she stop dating was still festering under the amusement.

Regina laughed as she reached down to pull Ben’s feet off the couch to the floor. “Serge Barlinov is a six-foot-four former ballet dancer with biceps bigger than Vin Diesel’s. I doubt we wear the same size.”

Ben grabbed her hand before she could retreat and spun her to face him. He stripped off the jacket as she laughed, pulled the blouse over her head, and then unzipped the skirt, pushing it down over her hips. When the outfit below it was revealed, Ben swore and glared at her. Regina wore white lace everything, including the garter belt and thigh highs. She did have on panties, but they weren’t covering much.

“You lied to me again,” Ben accused, lustful eyes narrowing on Regina’s blushing face. “I’m going to start checking you before you leave the house.”

“Ben, this is what a lot of women call underwear,” Regina said, laughing, the chastisement dying as Ben nipped her bottom lip and then sucked it into his mouth.

“Regina,” Ben said pointedly, “buy some granny panties.”

“Oh God, I know you’re still upset, but don’t make me do that,” Regina begged, laughing until Ben splayed both hands over her lace-covered breasts and stroked their peaks.

Ben growled when Regina fell into him. He forced himself to release everything but her hand.

“That’s it. The missionary position is all you’re getting until you learn to tell the truth,” Ben scolded, dragging her behind him to the bedroom.