Dating Dr Notorious (6 page)

This time, Regina thought, this time she would do the right thing for both their sakes. Regina used both hands to gently remove Ben’s arm from her waist and step away. The loss of his heat was like a wound.

She stepped forward and opened the cab door before turning back. “Ben, someone just took our picture while you were wrapped around me. When the picture hits the papers tomorrow, you’ll see your face next to mine and wish we had never met. Please know I understand and that I’m sorry it happened, too.”

Looking around, Ben saw no cameras. When he looked back, the cab was already taking Regina away.

*** *** ***

The next morning Ben was dressing when Alfred called.

“Check out page seven,” Alfred said quickly. “I want details later.” Saying no more, Alfred hung up.

Ben walked through the house in his underwear and picked up the paper that had been slipped through the mail slot of his front door. On page seven, there was a three-column spread of him holding Regina in his arms. Ben studied the paper, too bemused to be upset. Anyone with eyes could see Regina wanted nothing more than to be held by him.

Seeing Regina almost in ecstasy confirmed for Ben what he had suspected was there every time he held her in his arms. It wasn’t ego making him feel the way he did about the woman, just some innate sense he had about what they could bring each other.

And whatever it was, he wanted it as much as she did.

The expression on his face in the photo told a more complex emotional story, but his intentions toward her were clear to anyone with eyes. His arms held Regina tightly. The possession in his face slightly surprised him, but not much. Without a thought to how it would look to anyone, he’d gone tearing out of the restaurant after Regina, fully intending to stop her from running away from him.

He’d have also gone home with her in a flat minute if she had said yes to his plea.

He wasn’t sure what someone like Alfred saw in the photo, but when Ben looked at the picture of them, he saw two people who wanted to be together so much they couldn’t hide it from the world or themselves.

Then Ben noticed the headline under the picture:
Lonely Widower Seeks Help From Famous Sex Therapist
.

The article spun a story about him seeing Regina professionally. It had nothing to do with the truth even though the picture was spot on. The story was such fiction Ben couldn’t even find the energy to be offended. He cut the picture out and put it on his refrigerator door, using magnets to hold it place. Ben threw the rest of the paper in the trash, not bothering to read the full article. Instead, he finished dressing and went to work like always.

When he got the first call that morning from a tabloid paper, Ben was calm enough to be polite and went back to his work without a problem.

By the fifth call, he was angry but firm.

By the time Ben lost count of the calls, he was heading out the door on his way to Norfolk to see Regina.

Somewhere in the middle of the harassing calls, Ben had made a decision. If he was going to go through hell for daring to want a notorious woman, then he damn well was going to have all of her he wanted, not just a desperate clinch in front a restaurant.

*** *** ***

After he rashly drove all the way to Norfolk from Falls Church, Ben had to concede he had underestimated the effect seeing the infamous Dr. Logan again would have on him. He peeked in the conference room where her morning seminar was already in session and saw her talking to at least three or four hundred of her professional peers.

To avoid attracting attention, Ben filled out a nametag from the table outside the door, hastily adding
Dr.
to his last name on the tag. He entered quietly and took a seat in the last row.

Regina was wearing a bright blue suit today, a deeper blue than her eyes. Both sides of her long red hair were pulled back and tamed by a single clip. She wore black reading glasses, peering at the audience over them each time she glanced up from her notes.

Her speech was certainly no country club comedy routine about sex and aging. Today she was talking about the benefits of self-gratification for women who had suffered sexual violence or abuse. Ben listened somberly to Regina’s very graphic but poetic explanation of the value of self-love when you couldn’t bring yourself to let someone else love you.

He noticed no one in the room checked email or looked at their phones or did anything else but listen while Regina was speaking. Some people murmured in clusters, while others nodded in agreement with what she was saying. Not only did Regina see the truth for what it was, she verbally insisted everyone else wake up and see it. In one way or another, all the people in the room were affected by what she was sharing.

While Ben didn’t have the credentials of the others in the room, he wasn’t stupid either. On some level, he was just as enthralled as everyone else by her astounding belief in herself and the value of what she was sharing. Seeing her speaking professionally produced the same effect seeing her always had on him, just for a different reason. As he listened, he was forming some new conclusions about Regina.

Regina was not someone who touched a person’s life like a hummingbird looking for nectar as nourishment before flying away. No, she was more like a honeybee seeking nectar for a higher purpose, and one not afraid to use her stinger if something or someone got in the way of what she wanted.

Ben sighed deeply as he studied Regina’s earnest face. Lust and respect warred inside him, unlikely combatants in the war he was having with himself about the wisdom of wanting to be with her.

“I feel for you,” a man at his right whispered. “I used to have a giant crush on Dr. Logan myself.”

Ben looked at the man. The young doctor talking about Regina couldn’t be more than thirty-five. Ben blinked a few times as he processed the comments. His face was probably as revealing today as it had been in the picture taken last evening. He supposed there was no disguising what he truly felt about Regina, especially not to experts trained in looking for such things.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” the young man continued, “but Dr. Logan doesn’t date men from any profession related to hers. I think she had a bad experience in her thirties with a guy who stole her research. She sued him for a printed professional apology, and then wrote a bestseller with the material. Dr. Logan’s a got a reputation for having brass balls.”

Ben wanted to laugh at the man’s seriousness, but didn’t.

“Yes,” Ben said agreeably, “I did hear she had quite a pair.”

He just didn’t add he’d heard it from Regina herself. He thought it might break the man’s heart further.

After the speech was over, Ben floated in the large crowd for the rest of the morning and again all afternoon, keeping his distance so Regina wouldn’t see him. He learned a lot about her professionally just by talking and listening to others.

Eventually, Ben ended up in a room where he even purchased one of her books. Maybe he’d work up the nerve someday to actually read it. Finally, Ben decided it was time to let her know he was there. He found her in the hall talking animatedly to two people.

Regina stopped talking when he walked up.

Ben grinned at her shock. “Dr. Logan? Hello, I’m Ben Kaiser. So nice to finally meet you,” he said, extending his hand and smiling into her eyes.

Regina shook his hand automatically, which made his grin even wider. Ben was momentarily tempted to say
gotcha
, but feared she might actually take a swing at him for it, onlookers or not.

“Did you have a question for me,
Dr. Kaiser
?” Regina asked Ben, her gaze dropping to his name tag.

Regina hoped her expression was challenging, because that was all the defense she had left. She was happy to see Ben standing here smiling at her, but at the same time she didn’t trust his sudden appearance either. When Ben kept Regina’s hand instead of letting it drop, she gently yanked to free herself, but he didn’t let go. The two other people looked nervous at the less than cordial exchange.

Ben just smiled, his body priming itself with energy as it tightened for the fight. When the inevitable anger at being controlled lit Regina’s eyes again, it pretty much sealed the deal for him. He would just have to figure out the rest of the issues as they went along.

Regina watched Ben’s eyes darken from chips of emeralds to the color of a stormy sea. Some instinct warned her that Ben in this strange mood might not be someone she wanted to antagonize.

“Will you have dinner with me later?” Ben finally asked, using a thumb to stroke her now passive hand in his.

Regina felt panic first, but it was followed rapidly by acceptance. Resisting only made him more determined, she knew. She had already discovered Ben wouldn’t run from a fight.

“Fine,” she agreed, snatching her hand away as Ben finally eased his grip.

“I’ll just wait while you finish your conversation. Sorry I interrupted,” Ben said, apologizing to her companions.

Walking a short distance away, he stayed near enough to hear them talking. He could feel Regina’s stare the whole time. Finally, Ben felt Regina’s hand touch his back.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Regina demanded.

Her mouth was cursing him, Ben decided, but her eyes were pleading with him to be kind.

“I’m trying to make peace with your professional side,” Ben told her, using Lauren’s words, which he had concluded aptly described the situation.

Ben waited patiently while Regina seemed to absorb the idea for a few moments.

“Well, is it working?” Regina demanded finally.

Ben heard some hurt in the question, and a bit of anger below it. It didn’t put him off at all.

“I’m impressed so far,” he told Regina sincerely. “I have also been diagnosed with a crush on you and warned off.”

“
Warned off?
” Regina asked, surprised. “From doing what?”

“Asking you out—I’m told you don’t date men in your profession,” Ben said sadly, trying to sound regretful, like he knew he’d missed his chance.

“Well—it’s true, I guess,” Regina admitted cautiously, but she hadn’t realized it was a well-known fact.

Ben peeled off his fake nametag and stuck it on Regina’s front instead, making a big production out of patting her chest in the process, deliberating sliding his hand down across her breast while she watched. Maybe he had a little game left in him even at fifty. He sighed dramatically as Regina laughed at his ruse.

“If that’s true,” Ben said quietly so only Regina could hear, “then I’m
really glad
I’m not a doctor. I chased you to Norfolk hoping like hell to get laid tonight.”

Regina looked at the
Dr. Kaiser
nametag stuck on her suit front, and then back at Ben. He was charming, fun, and lethally handsome. As afraid of getting hurt as she was, Regina wasn’t dumb enough to send Ben Kaiser away after he’d come all the way to Norfolk to see her. His persistence alone made Ben worth the emotional risk.

“Well then, looks like we’re both going to get lucky tonight,” Regina told him, her gaze dancing with her decision as she hooked her arm through his.

People all around them stared openly, some in blatant open-mouthed shock. Ben could only smile at the possessiveness of Regina’s hand on his arm.

In the hotel restaurant, Regina felt her system settle down some once drinks were on the table. She lifted her glass and took a third of it in one big gulp. Then she noticed Ben was watching her very closely.

“I know. Every time you see me, I’m drinking. I swear I’m not a lush. I’ve just had a stressful few months.” Regina pushed her glass away slightly to prove her point.

“I wasn’t judging,” Ben denied, smiling. “Just wondering if you did everything with the same level of enthusiasm.”

“Pretty much,” she replied easily, relieved by his smile and downing another third of the drink. She laughed even more when Ben motioned to the server to bring another round.

“You should probably know I’m a desperate man after two weeks. I’m not above getting you drunk and taking advantage,” Ben said, liking the way she laughed at his teasing.

“Wait until I tell Lauren how wrong she was about you being a nice guy,” Regina said on a laugh.

“Oh, I am a nice guy,” Ben explained. “Even nice guys get desperate now and again.”

Regina waved a hand and laughed. “Plying me with alcohol is totally unnecessary, though I do appreciate it. I don’t play coy. However, I am going to make you buy me dinner first. Just because I want you in my bed doesn’t mean you’re allowed to think I’m easy. Truth is I’m picky as hell.”

Ben raised an eyebrow. He figured they’d have to have this conversation. It had just come up sooner than he’d anticipated.

“Picky, huh? Can I ask how many men you’ve been picky about?” Ben asked lightly, steeling his nerves for the answer.

“Five,” Regina said starkly without counting. She finished the last of her drink, winking at Ben over the rim of her empty glass. “Hello, number six.”

The shock was too great for Ben to hide his stunned reaction from her, and he suddenly felt better about his masculinity for getting this far.

Regina wasn’t offended by Ben’s shock. Countless dates not ending in bed had taught her to laugh in the face of disbelief. This also wasn’t the first time she’d had this conversation with a potential lover. No man had truly believed her so far. Why should Ben be any different?

“Okay. Now it’s your turn, Ben. How many women have graced your bed?” Regina asked in return, eyes daring him to answer honestly.

Ben looked at the ceiling and pretended to count to a large number, until he heard her laugh. “Four,” he said at last, meeting her gaze directly. “Hello, number five.”

Regina set her empty glass down, mouth agape as she stared at him. “
Four?
Don’t you have any mirrors in your house? Have you seen yourself?” she asked.

Ben shrugged, pleased to know Regina considered him attractive. He was also very pleased with the way he had lived his life.

“I was married and faithful for twenty-five years. Catherine’s only been dead for six months. The others before her were the typical high school and college stuff,” Ben explained. “At fifty, I’m not interested in sowing any more wild oats, and I’ve never been into one night stands. I think the best sexual relationships take a little time to perfect.”