Table of Contents
Title Page
Acknowledgements
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
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Other books by this author
Author’s Note About the Never Too Late Series
About the Author
Dating Dr. Notorious
Book Two of the Never Too Late Series
by
Donna McDonald
* * * * *
Copyright 2011 by Donna McDonald
Cover by Dara England
Edited by Toby Minton
Edition Notice
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to the author and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is coincidental.
This book contains content that may not be suitable for young readers 17 and under.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank RA Bettez for taking the time to read this book and provide feedback. It took me a full week to decide what to edit and what to change based on your comments. Your tough love is appreciated. I promise to listen to you say “I told you so” if the readers complain about what you didn’t like either that I left in because I couldn’t part with it. I will just need lots of chocolate before I can do another revision.
I would like to thank my fiancée, Bruce McDonald, for never making me feel guilty about needing or wanting to write when the muse visited at inconvenient times. I know I wrote all night, often got up at dawn, and in general—drove you crazy. I hope one day to be less obsessive about this work and more balanced about when I write. Your love and support helped me make this dream a reality. You are always the best of every hero to me.
I would like to thank my editor, T Minton, for helping me clean up my act. My readers and I are both grateful for your hard work. I just hope I got all the corrections included. Thanks for the moral support, too.
I would to thank all the women who choose to go into careers where they have to speak any uncomfortable truth. Your courage and conviction inspired me to create a character who would say anything, be herself, and live being true to what she believes. Naturally, I wanted to make sure someone entered her life who consistently thought she was worth supporting.
Prologue
Regina moaned as her lover’s hand brushed over her breast, teasing an excited nipple before sliding slowly, ever so slowly down her stomach. Dizzy with lust, she arched up to meet his touch, her whole body quivering in response as he kissed her neck.
“Yes—yes do that more—oh, harder.” Regina whispered the directions, rolling her neck to the side to encourage what he was doing.
She sought his gaze in the dark, wanting to see him. She wanted him to know that she was so hot she was practically on fire for him. Her chest, her neck, her face burned with heat.
She was a flame in the night ready to blaze out of control if he would just move his hand a little lower. She moaned at the thought of what was about to happen.
“Regina,” he whispered huskily in her ear, just before pulling away.
Her eyes popped open then, and she stared hazily into the silent darkness of her bedroom. Turning her head, she knew what she would find—no one on the pillow, no man beside her—again.
“No!” Regina moaned aloud, her heart still thundering in her chest even as she lay panting and drenched in the bed, her nightshirt sticking to her hot body. “Not again.”
Regina swore over and over as she sat up in bed, her words bouncing around the empty bedroom before coming back only to her.
Only a dream, she realized as reality returned in bits and pieces. It had been just another erotic dream. And she didn’t even get to the good part because the damn hot flash woke her up.
“I don’t believe this,” she said, raking her wet curls back from her face. Being forty-seven truly sucked at times, and tonight was definitely one of them.
Peri-menopause sucked as well, and losing sleep was certainly not good for anyone, but she’d rather test some alternative solutions before altering her body chemistry more drastically with hormone replacement therapy. She already knew of one solution she’d willingly try first chance she got.
Based on her surveys of her female clients, Regina had developed a theory that an active sex life could inspire the body to help regulate hormones—at least when orgasm was achieved regularly—but to test the theory she needed a real man in her life.
Damn it.
And she obviously still wanted one badly, judging by how often she had sex dreams.
Frustration tensed her legs and hips, making her sluggish as she forced herself to climb out of bed. Shedding her now wet nightshirt on the way to bathroom, she hung it carelessly on the doorknob to dry. She bent over the large cut glass sink she cherished to splash her burning face with cold water. The cool water brought immediately relief and the return of the rest of her sanity.
“You even look horny,” she told her reflection in the mirror, assessing her shiny face and tousled bed hair curling wildly. What she saw reflected there was a fairly attractive, hot-blooded, mostly red-headed woman, who was still looking to be the answer to some man’s erotic fantasies.
“So where’s the guy then?” she asked her reflection.
The biggest irony of her life was Regina knew as much about sexually pleasing a man as a professional prostitute. She should have a black book full of satisfied lovers to rival her friend Alexa’s list. Instead, Regina rarely even had a man to practice her expertise on.
Oh granted, there was sometimes a line of men who thought they wanted a night with her. But when they found out how seriously she took sex, they ran really fast in the other direction.
Okay, her typical reaction of unleashing her temper probably made men run just that much harder and faster away from her, but how else could she react? No, she wasn’t like Alexa with her endless optimism for dating. Still, she wasn’t like her friend Lauren either with her collection of mechanical toys and men-are-slime attitude.
Sure she wanted sex, Regina conceded, but also more than sex. She wanted love. She wanted what Alexa had with Casey, only with a mature guy she could talk to about her work now and again.
How did someone with her crazy life meet a guy like that?
Disgusted, she pulled her messy curls up with her hands and stared angrily at the woman staring back at her, who for all her degrees, her years of expertise, her phenomenal success rate with clients, still couldn’t solve her own frigging problems.
Love and sex simply did not have to be this complicated. Wasn’t that what she told her clients every day? Well, at
least sex didn’t have to be, and Regina was really, really tired of being the frustrated, bitchy sex therapist who never had sex. If she were counseling herself, she would conclude it had just been too long since she had been physically intimate with a man. She had made Alexa address her physical needs, and then her friend had ended up dating Casey.
So why wasn’t she taking care of herself? She splashed more water on her face as she thought about it.
“Damn good question,” she answered, patting her face dry.
Maybe she’d just take a trip to Europe and hire a man for a week over there where she was unlikely—or at least less likely—to be recognized. Regina closed her weary, sleep-deprived eyes and let herself imagine a sexy European with a thick accent whispering lusty demands in her ear to touch him, to please him. Hearing the current governor of California’s Austrian accent in her head immediately improved her mood by making her laugh hard out loud.
“I’ll be back for you, darling,” she mocked, not coming close to any European accent at all. She didn’t mind the failure of her gigolo fantasy. Regina figured hysterical laughter at four in the morning had to be better than swearing or crying.
And amusement counted as optimism, didn’t it?
Sighing and mostly calm at last, Regina got a clean nightshirt out of her dresser, pulled it over her rapidly cooling body, and climbed back into bed. She swore again when she discovered her pillow was wet, flipped it over, and finally settled back down for a couple more hours of restless sleep.
Chapter 1
After a day made more grueling due to several nights of interrupted sleep, Regina locked her office door and happily dropped her office keys into her portfolio bag.
She still wasn’t sure how her friend Lauren McCarthy had coerced her into being the entertainment for her latest fundraiser, but that’s where she was headed. Her sneaky, manipulative friend would just have to forgive her for running a little late. It had taken a while to come up with a talk tame enough for the country club crowd.
Regina knew how to practice restraint in her subject matter when necessary, but she was more used to saying things others barely dared to think about.
In the parking lot, Regina pulled her attention away from her surly thoughts to the present and smiled. The day got measurably better when saw her favorite male waiting for her in the parking lot.
“Hello, Harry,” she purred in her best sexy voice, “you’re looking very handsome today. Want to go for a ride?”
Regina walked the short distance to her car, an excited hand reaching for the sleek door handle of her metallic baby blue Porsche. Delighted to be comforted at last, she let herself sink into the plush leather driver’s seat. It rumbled beneath her rear as she started the car and she sighed in pleasure, laughing softly at her intense response.
Ironically, it had been Saint McCarthy who pointed out to Regina her relationship to her car was the most sexual one in her life. While Regina had laughed hard at Lauren’s teasing, she readily admitted a growling car sure as hell beat a vibrator for her any day. Driving Harry made the craziness of her life seem at least a little more worth it. Regina worked hard on letting Harry and the good she did for others be enough to keep her content.
Tonight she stroked the leather shifter firmly, groaning in happiness as she pushed in the most responsive clutch she had ever known. She touched a button on the dash and the Stones soulful music filled the small car. It was reassuring somehow to hear the sexy lead singer complaining about the same problem finding satisfaction Regina had.
“Come on, Harry. Let’s go talk to some stuffy rich people about sex,” Regina said to the car, peeling out of the parking spot.
*** *** ***
Ben Kaiser walked the long hallway to the country club offices, trying to remember the last time he had been to a function like this. It probably had been before Catherine had even gotten sick, which was three years ago at least.
He hadn’t really been very social since she’d died, though not from grief exactly. His grieving had taken place over the entire two years of her illness as he lost her a little at a time. By the time Catherine had finally died, sheer relief she was finally out of pain was stronger than what he felt over the final loss. The six months since her death had been about figuring out next steps.
His family was encouraging him to start dating again, and Ben wasn’t opposed to it. He just wasn’t thinking about it much or taking any steps yet. It was one the reasons he had decided to come tonight and deliver the bid himself.
It had crossed Ben’s mind several times lately to ask Lauren McCarthy out to dinner.
Lauren was divorced, had been for years. A tall, sleek blond who dressed meticulously, she was as polished as Catherine had been, though she didn’t seem to have the same warmth.
Not that he was looking for another Catherine exactly.
Actually, Ben didn’t really know what he wanted next time around. After being married for twenty-five years, he didn’t know how dating worked anymore or what it was like to look for someone new.
His not knowing was one of the reasons Lauren seemed like a safe first date. It was a well known fact Lauren McCarthy wasn’t looking for anything more than pleasant companionship.
Though fifty felt a bit late in life to be starting over, Ben prided himself on having an open mind. He knew he wasn’t meant to be alone. He liked sex too much for one thing, or least he used to. He hadn’t been able to express those needs in a long time, and was looking forward to doing so again soon. Being a man who trusted his instincts, Ben was willing to wait a bit longer and let them lead him in the right direction. If they didn’t, then he’d probably ask Lauren out to jumpstart his dating.
Instincts were Plan A. Dating a safe woman was Plan B. There was nothing wrong with planning, was there?
Besides, Ben had always enjoyed the hunt, even though he did tend to settle into monogamous relationships more quickly than most men.
Finding the office locked, Ben slid the manila envelope containing his company’s estimates for renovating the McIntyre Retirement Community under the door. The deep discount for the work was his business’ contribution to the fund, and Ben was glad his company was wealthy enough to do it.
Heading into the ballroom of the club, Ben saw the tables were filling and the music had begun. Lights had been lowered to an intimate level to entice dancers to the floor. Lauren was talking to a group of people off to one side of the room.
Along the other side, there was a table overflowing with food. Standing at the food table was a smiling redhead with a trim, but generous figure. She was wearing a fitted black dress that seemed to Ben to be working pretty hard to restrain the curvy woman inside it. The fact he noticed her body made Ben smile.
He watched as the woman spoke to someone else getting food, casually popping a grape into her mouth as she talked, all the while nodding at something said. Ben tried to tear his gaze away from watching her, but he couldn’t.
Then realization hit him.
I’m attracted to her, Ben thought, his blood pumping a bit harder and faster as he adjusted to the unfamiliar feeling.
Well, he reasoned, rubbing the tightness in his chest with one hand, at least this was how the game was supposed to work. You saw someone interesting, and then just took a chance.
And why not, he asked himself?
But his feet were already moving him toward her before he could ponder the answer to his own rhetorical question.
Ben walked up to the woman just as she was tossing her now empty plate into the trash.
“Hello,” he said. “Would you like to dance? It’s for a good cause I hear.”
*** *** ***
The polite refusal Regina had been about to make died on her tongue when she raised her eyes to the man’s smiling face. It was a rare occurrence for her to be rendered speechless, but she was as she met his direct, obviously interested gaze.
Damn erotic dreams, she fumed, fighting a sudden urge to wipe damp palms on the si
des of her dress. Her dream man would undoubtedly have this man’s face tonight.
Somewhere between the ages of forty and fifty, the incredible specimen standing in front of her was both handsome and masculine in spades. Only a little taller than her five-foot-eight height, there appeared to be a lot of solid male packed into the space he occupied.
His mostly jet-black hair was streaked with silver on each side of his head. Like a magazine model, his skin was tanned and clear, and his very nice clothes were perfectly suited to him.
But it was the man’s rakish smile—as he openly appraised her—that was severely testing her composure. He hadn’t said more than a few words to her, hadn’t even touched her yet, but she was already turned on just looking at him.
Confusion over her sudden, intense attraction rose inside Regina. It threatened to overrun her normal sense of self-protection like a rising tidal wave preparing to conquer a shore. Fortunately, before she could do something totally stupid, like giggle or reach out to touch him, her normal self-protection urge finally overrode her hormonal reaction.
“Thanks, but I shouldn’t dance—really, I have—well things I have to do shortly,” she stammered. If she had heard anyone else say something so lame, she’d have rolled her eyes. Her tongue, which habitually said things that shocked everyone—sometimes even her—seemed unwilling to just say a simple no to a man who looked as good as he did.
Regina watched the man’s eyes crinkle in amusement as he smiled at her attempt to politely refuse. Rows of perfectly straight, perfectly even white teeth sent unexpected butterflies fluttering around in her stomach. His knowing, disbelieving look was much more alluring to Regina than his polite words. His smile was lethal.
And as he simply smiled, Regina realized he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Her reaction to his persistence landed somewhere between here-I-go-again and holy-hell-he’s-hot. She sighed, unable to remember the last time a man had pursued her so blatantly and openly.
Dating Dr Notorious Page 1
