Dating Dr Notorious (17 page)

She took off her glasses and laid them on top of her notes.

“I’m suggesting a new level of communication among partners is required to renegotiate sexual expressions. I advise my clients to experiment with comfort levels and work with their partners to find a happy medium where both partners’ ravishment needs are being fully met.”

Regina continued her lecture, talking for almost the full hour, and then she offered to answer questions. Both Dr. Searle and Dr. Emery walked through the audience handing microphones to people.

A young female student Regina judged to be about twenty-five asked the first question.

“Dr. Logan? If I get your message correctly, you’re suggesting I tell my husband he can do whatever he needs to express his desire for me without necessarily restraining his expression?”

“That’s mostly correct,” Regina said, “but I’m not suggesting you let him become abusive or even too rough with you, nor that he set aside a basic recognition of his strength, body size, and various other factors in relation to you.”

Regina walked to the edge of the stage, microphone in hand. “Instead—I am suggesting that, as a couple, you define the parameters of your sexual expressions in ways you might be currently avoiding. Let me ask you a question. Do you ever feel your husband is holding something back during intimacy?”

The woman looked terribly uncomfortable with the question, but with the whole auditorium looking at her, Regina knew she wouldn’t lie.

“Sometimes,” she admitted finally.

“Aren’t you curious what it is?” Regina asked. “Ask yourself what it would be worth to you to know this information about your partner. It could be fear of being hurt holding you back. It could his fear of hurting you keeping him from his expression. Talk to him and find out. Like everything else in a relationship, sexual expression is an agreement. Honest communication is the path to change.”

The woman nodded, thanked her, and sat.

There were several other pointed questions, and then Regina saw the microphone being passed to a man with a press badge. She swore silently, but kept her Dr. Logan face in place.

The man stood to ask his question. “Dr. Logan? Is your research based on personal experience or solely that of your clients? My sources say you are not really in a committed relationship yourself.”

Regina laughed, taking her sweet time in answering his question. “Gee, I can’t tell if that’s an academic question or if you’re trying to ask me for a date.”

The audience laughed.

“I’m married,” he replied easily. “It’s an academic question.”

“Okay. My research comes from many sources,” Regina answered. “Most of them have to remain confidential.”

“Are you currently practicing your findings within your own committed relationship?” he persisted, not surrendering the microphone.

“To ask about my findings is an academic question,” Regina told the reporter. “To ask about the partners in my life is a personal question. As I am sure you are aware, my private life tends to become newspaper fodder in both legitimate publications and not so legitimate ones. Since sexual relationships and intimacy both require a certain level of privacy, publicity tends to put a damper on my dating life. Let’s just say I remain hopeful to acquire a partner to practice with at some point. Next question, please.”

A young good-looking guy from the back stood and snatched the closest microphone. “I don’t care about the press. I’d date you, Dr. Logan. You’re really hot for an older woman.”

The crowd around him laughed and applauded his nerve. There was always one in the crowd, and Regina always chose to view it as flattering.

Regina laughed before answering, a husky echo in the auditorium. “Thank you. That’s a lovely offer, but I’m sure dating you is illegal for someone my age, and I’m afraid I prefer older men. Now if your dad’s single, see me afterward with his phone number.”

The audience roared with laughter, clapping loudly. “I’m just kidding,” she insisted to the amusement of the crowd, laughing at herself.

The kid yelled thank you and blew Regina a kiss. She laughed again, more nervously this time.

“Anyone have an academic question?” Regina pleaded. “Please. I’m dying of embarrassment up here.”

After a couple more questions, the time limit was at last over and Regina was able to step down. As always, there was a rush of people to talk to her personally. Some half hour later, Vincent Emery took her arm and pulled her along with him out of the auditorium.

Back in the office, Regina was quiet as she gathered her things. Vincent Emery held her coat for her while she put it on, and again Regina was uncomfortable with how long he lingered over helping her.

It’s funny, she thought, fighting the urge to cringe away from his hands. When the right guy put his hands on you, it was amazing. When the wrong guy did it, the same actions could give you the creeps.

“Can I interest you in dinner?” he asked her.

“No thanks,” Regina answered easily. “I can never eat after speaking this late. I just want to head to the hotel and settle in. I’ll be back for Dr. Searle’s class in the morning.”

“Here, let me help you with your suitcase,” he said, grabbing the handle and deliberately putting his hand over hers.

Regina sighed hard. “Dr. Emery, I see I’m going to have to say this plainly.” She used her other hand to remove his. “Stop touching me. I don’t like it, and I don’t want it. I don’t play games. Despite what I said to the press reporter, I do actually consider myself in a relationship. You’re a good-looking guy, but I’m just not interested. That’s as nicely as I can say it.”

While Regina struggled to pull Emery’s hand off hers, the man with the press badge stepped up and snapped a picture. Regina swore succinctly and so colorfully that Dr. Vincent Emery blushed.

“So who’s the guy in your relationship, Dr. Logan?” the reporter asked. “You look pretty cozy wrestling over your suitcase with Dr. Emery.”

“Yeah?” Regina said, her temper strained to the breaking point. “Sometimes things aren’t what they look like, unless you really are a horse’s ass.”

“You know, I heard about your rapier wit,” the press guy said, throwing his business card on a nearby desk. “Give me a call if you want a real story printed on you sometime. If you weren’t always hiding your life in shadows, probably no one would care as much.”

Regina swore again after he left, but she picked up the card. She’d make a call tomorrow, not that it do any good, but she would try.

“I’m genuinely sorry if I caused a problem for you,” Vincent told her, finally realizing the woman beside him was worldly in ways he couldn’t fathom.

“Forget it,” Regina told him. “The press loves to harass me. If you stay in this field, you better grow a thick skin and try not to be too famous for anything. If you have a girlfriend, Dr. Emery, I suggest you think of something clever to say before she sees the picture of us.”

And, Regina thought, she was going to have to warn Ben.

*** *** ***

“So now what do you think?” Ben asked Casey, staring at the broken alarm on the warehouse door swinging loosely in the frame.

Casey looked at the doorway, and then looked back at Ben.

“I think you need to weigh the amount of loss you suffered against the cost of replacing the equipment. Your loss isn’t high enough to merit the cost of a new system.”

“Fuck the cost,” Ben said succinctly. “I’m tired of the company getting ripped off every couple of weeks. We’re like practice now for petty criminals to hone their breaking and entering skills. This is a decent part of town and it shouldn’t be so hard to protect a mostly empty warehouse.”

Casey saw then it wasn’t the money motivating Ben, but rather fixing a long running problem. Ben Kaiser had reached the limit of his patience with the thefts.

“Okay. What do you want from me?” Casey asked.

“I want an estimate of costs for replacing the alarms on all doors. Plus I want something for the ceiling windows as well. Then I want to know anything else you think will help. How soon can you get it to me?” Ben demanded, growing more and more sure this was the right call.

“I don’t have anyone to do the installation. It may take me some time to find help,” Casey told Ben.

“I’ll help, and I may know someone who would be interested as well. Go ahead and include installation in your bid. If I provide two warm bodies, we’ll knock costs off the end of the payout once the work is done. You can trust me,” Ben told him.

“Okay,” Casey replied, his mind a whirl of details. “Uh, Ben, I know this is a priority for you, but I’ve got my engagement party this weekend. It’s going to be next week before I can get to the bid.”

“I’ve hired a guard service for the weekend anyway. If the break-ins are gang related, I wanted to make sure they know we’re taking precautions.” Ben jumped back into the golf cart and motioned Casey to join him.

“You are one motivated guy when you set your mind on something,” Casey said to him, having to hold to the side of the cart as Ben lunged off at full throttle. “So—you coming to the party?”

Ben nodded. “Regina is coming too. She’s in Princeton and won’t be back until a few hours before. We agreed to just meet there.”

“Want us to screen for cameras and cell phones?” Casey asked.

Ben swore again. “No. Screw the press, I’m tired of hiding. Let them take all the damn pictures they want. That’s my next project. Regina said last night some reporter took a picture of her shaking off the pass of some academic at Princeton, and then tried to blackmail her for a story about us. It’s bad enough she dated other men trying to protect me. I’m not going to stand by and do nothing while this shit continues to happen.”

Casey swore in disbelief. “
Regina dated other men?
How did that work?” Casey looked at Ben and then realized how personal a question it was. “Shit. Sorry, none of my business. Forget I asked.”

Ben shrugged. He hadn’t meant to spill it. He was just mad and the truth had come rolling out of him.

“I was there when she left and still there when she came home from her
dates
, if you want to call them that. The men were all friends of hers. The press was too smart though. We never saw a single picture over it.”

Ben’s mouth tightened as he thought about the many fights they had about her dating. “They forgot about us for a while, but only because they never caught us sneaking to see each other.”

Casey whistled low, trying to imagine watching Alexa date other men. No way in hell, Casey concluded. He looked at Ben’s set jaw and the determination in his face.

“You’re a better man than I am, Kaiser. I’m too damn jealous. I’d end up killing someone.”

Ben stopped the cart midway between buildings. “I eventually met the guys, and they were sincerely just trying to help Regina out. Besides, if you saw the clothes Regina wore on her dates, you’d have known nothing was going to happen even with the straight ones.”

Casey couldn’t help laughing at Ben. “Don’t tell me you picked out clothes for her dates? I’m sorry. It’s hard to even bring the mental picture to mind.”

Casey laughed harder once he’d voiced his thoughts aloud. Actually, it was nearly impossible to imagine the guy who wanted to install his own security equipment picking out a woman’s clothes.

“No,” Ben explained. “I did not pick out her clothes. I’d have done a better job. Regina picked out the frumpy outfits herself, but I eventually had to start checking her underwear before she left the house. Did she buy stock in Alexa’s company or something? She owns a small fortune in sexy underwear.”

Ben looked away, laughing and remembering the thrill of the black lace garters against his legs. He was squirming in his seat before he noticed Casey shaking his head and grinning.

“Man, I thought I had it bad. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone in your condition before,” Casey said sympathetically.

“It’s heaven and hell,” Ben told him. “I wouldn’t change a thing. I just want to stop hiding our relationship. Between the warehouse break-in and her trip to Princeton, I haven’t seen Regina for a week now. I miss her, and I’m tired of not being able to have her in my life.”

“You’ll figure it out,” Casey assured him.

“Yes, I will,” Ben agreed. “I don’t know how yet, but I will.”

Ben looked lost in thought for a moment. “Do you care if I bring an extra guy to your engagement party? He’s the one I think might be interested in helping us install the security system in the warehouse. You can meet him and see what you think before you get involved.”

“Sure, what’s his name? I’ll have Sydney send him an official invitation,” Casey said easily.

“James Gallagher. I think you’ll like him. By the way, I had Janet order lunch for us. I’ll give you Jim’s info while we eat.”

The day of the engagement party started with sunshine and clear skies in Falls Church, Virginia.

Unfortunately, it was raining hard in Princeton, New Jersey. As a result, Regina’s flight ended up being delayed three hours.

In retrospect, Regina decided, taking the Metro from Regan National back to the Park-N-Ride seemed like a better idea than it had ended up being when she was already three hours behind. And here she was, just now coming through the door of her own house while the party was already starting at Alexa’s.

Regina sighed.
Better late than never
, she assured herself.

Despite how late it was, she took the time for a quick shower and then grabbed the black dress she’d worn the night she’d met Ben. She put on the black thigh highs and garter belt Ben liked so well.

She pinned up her hair and swiped on another coat of mascara.

Grabbing a black wrap and Harry’s keys, she headed out the door to Alexa’s house, pleased it had only taken her forty-five minutes to get ready.

*** *** ***

At Alexa’s house, Seth stood by Casey, pretending to pay attention to the group while he watched for Jenna. He didn’t have long to wait. Eventually, she walked in on the arm of a tall blond guy who looked like he’d been chiseled out of stone. That was bad enough, but she was also wearing the damn blue dress that had messed with his mind so bad the day he’d sent her away.