Chapter 13 #2
His hand ran further down my waist and up my skirt before his fingers slid beneath my panties.
I shuddered as his fingers slid down, opening me up to his touch.
I made a sound, a noise of protest, when he pulled his fingers out of my panties.
The second he got down on his knees, pushing my skirt up around my waist, I stopped protesting.
Kai’s brown eyes came up to mine, full of things I never thought I’d see there. Desire. Need. Maybe even love, but I’m not sure.
“You’re so ready for me, princess.” He whispered before something ripped and my panties disappeared. I leaned back when I felt the heat of his breath between my thighs. Never had I ever imagined myself having sex in my office – on my desk.
We both jumped and gasped when someone knocked on the door. My legs clamped around Kai’s head and my eyes went to the door, willing it to stay closed.
“Is everything okay, Dr. Bennet?” Damn. Siti was such a buzzkill.
“Uh huh,” I squeaked.
“Should I come in?”
“No, I’m with a patient.” My high voice was a dead giveaway, and I could only hope that she didn’t figure out what we were doing in there.
Kai stood up and I could see his beautiful face again. “Should I continue?”
I shook my head awkwardly. As much as I wanted this to happen, I was afraid I had to cut it short. I saw how disappointed he was, but his disappointment couldn’t match anything that I was feeling.
* * *
Kai didn’t have a problem producing his sample after that. He was rock hard after that moment between my legs. That much I knew.
I quickly tidied my office before asking Siti to send the sample to the sperm bank. She would have to make up some kind of explanation since sperm donation wasn’t a service my clinic offered. But I trusted that Siti would make up something worth believing.
Then, I dashed out of my office.
“What’s your plan for the evening?” Kai asked, giving me those sad puppy dog eyes again. His look suggested that he wanted to continue what we’d started in the exam room.
“Well, I have to go home, get changed and then go to a charity event. And…” I looked at my watch for the millionth time today, “I have thirty minutes to get ready.”
I wasn’t lying when I’d said I had a full day today.
“I’d love to help. How much money do they need to raise? Can I come?”
Kai followed me out of the hospital.
“I would love for you to come, but unfortunately the tickets were all sold out.”
“Can’t I just be your plus one?”
That would have been nice. “Unfortunately, I asked Siti to come with me.”
“That little mouse?”
I raised my eyebrows. “What? Yeah, my assistant. She said she’d never been to a gala before for fun. She’s had to work at a few, but she’s never been a guest, so I invited her.”
“But she’s still at work.”
“Don’t you worry about her.” I had no time to think about Siti right now.
All I knew was that whenever she had to work at an event, she had always managed to be there on time regardless of what else she had to do.
That woman was like a time management wizard.
That was why I couldn’t do this job without her and in return I made sure that she was well compensated with plenty of bonuses.
I got into my car and drove home, distracted and tense.
I needed a vacation from all of this stress, but I knew that wouldn’t happen any time soon.
When I got home, there was a large parcel that the doorman had collected for me.
It was something from Gucci. I thought I had made it very clear to their manager that I wanted nothing from them.
I wondered why it was so hard for these people to take no for an answer.
I brought the large brown box upstairs and found the wine-colored red dress tucked inside.
Seriously?
There was a message.
Promise me you’ll wear this tonight,
Kai.
Kai had somehow managed to get Gucci to deliver this dress to me after I told him my evening plans. It annoyed me that he’d ignored my refusal of the dress, but that was Kai. I didn’t have enough time now to call him, or to do much of anything else but get ready.
I made a mental note to send Kai a text later.
That was when I realized that I didn’t say goodbye to him in the parking lot.
I’d just driven away like a mad woman. Had my life become so chaotic that I’d blanked the man of my dreams?
This event was no more important than the last one I organized.
Regardless of what I told myself, I still couldn’t shake off this bad feeling.
The feeling that I had forgotten something, or worse something was going to go wrong because of that.
Fifteen minutes later, a well-dressed, fully made-up Siti stood outside my building with the town car I ordered.
I had never questioned her ability to be there on time.
Her college had really trained her well.
Or she must have possessed some kind of superpowers that allowed her to do her job well, all while, also, being totally gorgeous at the same time.
I thanked her for work and made her promise to enjoy herself tonight.
Tonight’s event was really important to us.
At the Bennet Medical Group, we emphasized and celebrated the importance of women’s health.
For the last year, I had been leading the group in promoting better women’s health, not only for the United States but for the world beyond.
We have donated millions to countries in need, to help women in poverty overcome problems, from small problems like getting clean period products to bigger ones like fertility and abortion issues.
Our group was working on correcting the problems caused by the outdated and poorly executed experiments of the past.
The main problem with those experiments were the test subjects.
In the past, most of the test subjects were mainly white and male.
Now, the university that we worked with was creating larger sample sizes that comprised females with a variety of backgrounds.
We wanted to know how a variety of people, with different races and backgrounds, reacted to certain drugs and treatments.
Now, I’m raising money to further those studies, and I was really pleased about how well the gala had been received.
As I stepped into the building, I saw that many of the guests that I invited had indeed showed up.
We had invited philanthropists, celebrities, politicians, journalists, social media influencers but my real aim was to get the government’s attention, so we could help more people in need.
“Hey, you look great.” Lincoln, my brother tapped me on my shoulder.
I turned around and gave him a hug. “You look nice too. Where is my sister-in-law?”
“She’s just checking out backstage.”
“What? Is she performing?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
Chloe was a first-class pole dancer, and a very talented ballerina.
When I invited her to perform tonight, Lincoln had rejected the invitation on her behalf because she was pregnant.
But that was almost six months ago, and I didn’t know about the pregnancy.
“Yes, she said she would if there’s an auction large enough. And if they didn’t mind her belly.” Lincoln said sheepishly. In spite of everything, I knew how much he loved watching Chloe dance.
“No one would mind a little bit of her belly. She looks nice with a bit of a belly.” I reassured him, my hand on his bicep to comfort him. He was so protective of his wife, and it was touching.
“Listen, Liam asked me to tell you that your item went missing.”
“You mean the antique vase from the Ming Dynasty?” It was an antique replica that a client gifted me. Although it wasn’t an original vase that was used by the emperor, it was a replica secretly made and traded during that time period among the aristocrats. It was still worth a fortune.
As much as I loved that vase, it didn’t quite fit in with the rest of my apartment. I knew it would collect lots of money tonight, so why not donate it for a good cause?
“I have no idea. Just that your thing was missing.” Damn, of course he wouldn’t know what I had donated. Lincoln and Chloe had been living in Myrtle Beach and had no part in organizing this party.
“Did someone steal my vase? What happened to it?” I whispered loudly to him, looking around me as if I’d see someone casually walking off with my vase.
“Junie, how many times are you going to make me say this?” It was too tempting. Link couldn’t resist giving me a lecture whenever there was a chance.
“I handed it over to someone from the auction house, alright.” I hesitated. “I’m pretty sure.”
My big brother rolled his eyes at me, and I totally deserved that.
I couldn’t remember who I’d handed the vase over to now.
Writing a note was the last thing I could recall doing for that vase, whether or not I sent it off…
Shit ! It was probably still sitting in my apartment somewhere waiting for someone to collect it.
I had no memory of me making any sort of arrangements for it to be collected after the note.
“You forgot to send it, didn’t you?” Lincoln asked, and I could hear another lecture was on the way from the way he sighed.
“Spare me the lecture.” I scolded, though I was the one in the wrong.
“Calm down Junie,” his voice softened.
“Calm down? How do I come up with something for my auction on such short notice?”
“You don’t have to give them anything.” He was now using his daddy voice. Having a daughter definitely had made him a better brother. A softer, more compassionate one, I hoped.
Link had a point. I didn’t have to give them anything.
But no, it didn’t feel right.
“It would look very bad on me if I didn’t. Do you even know that this face was the face of this event? Have you seen the posters, no I mean the wallpaper around here?” I emphasized the word wallpaper.
Link chuckled lightly, I wanted to put my fist in that little socket where his pretty brown eye twinkled at me from. The left one. The good side.
“I could donate something instead.” He paused, his eyes checking my face for approval. “But I know you wouldn’t want my help.”
One of these days, I really should consider taking face acting class, if there’s such a thing. I swear that people – especially my friends – can always tell what I’m thinking. And I always lose in poker. Winning at poker every now and then would be awesome.
“You could donate your services instead.” Lincoln suggested, looking around as if he hadn’t just saved my ass.
Suddenly, my urge to punch him eased.
“Keep talking.”
“Isn’t this benefit about women’s health?” I lifted an eyebrow prompting him to continue. “And you’re a doctor, right?”
“Wait… You mean like, free IVF treatments? Like ten of them or something?”
“No, that was just depressing.” Yes, he was right.
Who would even want to openly bid for that and let the whole world know that they had fertility problems, huh?
“Maybe a year of private consultation with you on anything women’s health related.
A lot of women would go for that. In fact, go for longer, like five years. ”
“One is enough. I couldn’t commit to anything longer than that. I don’t know where I’ll be next year.”
“Why? Where are you going?”
“I’ve been working on a project for ages. You know that” I replied, glaring at him a little.
“Oh, right. The one in China.”
I met his eyes, and saw an acknowledgement that he knew about what was happening in my life.
Last year, I almost went to China to set up a fertility clinic for the Bennet Medical Group.
Our potential partner had requested me to be their chief, and without me there would be no deal.
Though I was eager to take the project on, there was still a part of me that had reservations about it.
“Fine, let me go speak with the auction director about the mix up and then I’ll go say hi to Chloe. You mingle and keep my guests happy. You’re good at that.” I kissed his cheek and left him standing in the crowd. After I spoke with the auction people, I headed to the area behind the stage.
Lincoln was more than happy for me to deal with Chloe right now. Even though she had been performing for a long time, for some reason, she didn’t do well having Lincoln with her backstage. Anything Lincoln did was deemed a distraction to her getting ready.
When I saw Chloe at the back, I realized that her belly had gotten larger than I had expected.
We gave each other a quick hug, before I leaned back a little to look at her. “Is everything alright with your pregnancy? You seem a little…”
I didn’t know how to phrase it in a way that wouldn’t hurt her feelings. Inevitably, I end up sticking my foot in my mouth when I voice my concerns. I’m not very diplomatic, sometimes, and it’s gotten me in trouble before.
“We’re expecting twins.” Chloe’s grin relieved my worries that I’d stuck my foot in it again.
“Phew.” That makes sense. “Congratulations. Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“Well, please promise you won’t stress out.” I knew I would worry but I nodded anyway. “I have gestational diabetes and with me carrying twins and all, the doctor wants me to be extra careful. And Link didn’t think we should worry you about this.”
I nodded along, pinching the side of my thigh to keep my mind clear and calm. I couldn’t give her my advice without knowing the full picture. And I knew for a fact that they wouldn’t let me handle their case anyway. Chloe said it was too weird and also too much pressure on me.
“You’re with Rebecca, right?” Rebecca Simpson was an outstanding doctor that I’d met at a conference.
I wouldn’t say we were best buds or anything.
Let’s just say that Dr. Simpson and I happened to go to the same school, different year, and had a very similar outlook on the way we treated patients.
We often recommended patients to each other.
“Yes. You recommended her, remember?” Of course, I remembered, but people don’t always go with the first recommendation they received.
“Rebecca is a great doctor. She’ll take good care of you. Do you mind if I talk to her about your health? You know, just to see if she needs a second opinion, or if she needs any help.”
Chloe reached in for a big hug. “Please don’t worry.”
With that, she meant no. My best friend and now sister-in-law still didn’t want me to worry.
“But you can talk to her only if that makes you feel better.” Chloe said and I nodded. Talking to Rebecca would definitely make me feel better.