Aftercare: Second Chance Romance

by Jennifer Hartley

  “What did you do for my best friend to yell at you? Where’s Dr. Turner?”

  “We had sex and went at it too hard last night, hence, the situation,” Landon replied.

  “Will you stop telling people that?” Regina protested as Katie walked around him, giving him a thoughtful once-over. “And Katie, come on! Stop looking at him like he’s a piece of meat. And don’t look at me!”

  “Thank you,” Landon said as Katie laughed and offered her hand.

  “You must be the stud. I’m Katie.”

  “Stud, huh?” Landon smiled at Regina, those lethal dimples nearly undoing her. He spread his hands. “Sorry, Katie. Can’t do that. I’ve just been inside her.”

  “Landon!” Regina howled, trying to kick him. “Stop telling people what we did and get it out! Come on!’

  As Katie unsuccessfully tried to not giggle and Marie fantastically failed in restraining her smile, Landon pointed at the door.

  “Alright. Everyone, leave. Now. Unless one of us yells for help, nobody comes in here again.” He ordered Marie was the first to leave. Katie lingered, winking at Regina and reaching out to pat Landon on the shoulder.

  ”It’s a bad situation, but I thank you for doing that for her last night. I told her she needed it!”

  “Katie!” Regina yelled.

  Katie grinned, blew her a kiss and left. Landon rolled his eyes and sat back down. Regina stared at him, her expression tearful and frustrated.

  “Are you alright? Regina? Tell me you’re alright.”

  She nodded woodenly. “Just get it out.”

  “Relax. Come on. Take a deep breath. I’m not a stranger, Regina.” His voice suddenly softened. “I hope I won’t be for long, anyway.”

  Sapphire and emerald eyes lingered on each other for a moment. As she tried to understand what he could possibly mean, he asked, “What do you say? Come on, we can do this.”

  She took a deep breath and nodded. “Alright.”

  “You have to relax.”

  “I’ll try.” She mumbled.

  “That’s good enough.”

  He lowered his head between her thighs again, fingers gently spreading her outer labia. They delved inside her vagina with the kind of care and assurance that drew her spine into an arch, for a soft gasp to leave her lips. Her nipples thrust against the hospital gown as a hot wave swept through her.

  “Relax, Gina. Relax,” he urged, spreading her wider still, his fingers probing. She squeezed her eyes shut, stiffening.

  “Regina.” His fingers remained in her as she sensed him raise his head. Seeing her scrunched expression, he demanded, “Dammit. Am I hurting you?”

  She opened her eyes. “No.”

  “You’re breathing really fast. You’re clenching.” She jumped when he suddenly kissed her on the knee and turned back to her. “Sweetheart, you have to relax.”

  “Did you just kiss me?”

  “Sorry. It became a habit.”

  “It’s a habit of yours to kiss your patients?”

  “No, it’s a habit for me to kiss someone who’s scared. I don’t want you hurt, Regina.”

  ‘No, you’re making me feel good!’ How much more embarrassed did she have to be? She took a deep breath, pulling his fingers deeper into her as she moved. “I’m just...”

  “What? Tell me. Now, Regina. I don’t want you hurt.”

  In a small voice, she admitted, “I’m sensitive.”

  Landon paled. “Damn it. I’m hurting you.”

  He started pulling out and she shook her head miserably. “No. It’s not that. It’s just...”

  Since she suddenly stopped speaking, he asked, “What is it?”

  Tearful, she whimpered, “I’m feeling things. Things I shouldn’t feel when you’re doing...that.”

  “Huh?”

  “Look, it’s not exactly great what you’re doing to me because of what’s happened but I’m getting-”

  And finally, he realized what she was hoping not to say. It was almost comical how surprised he looked when the truth slammed him right in the face. He let out a breath, long and unsteady.

  “Ah. I’m not-”

  “I know.”

  “Alright. Because I’m trying to help-”

  “I know, Landon.” Feeling herself about to cry, she added, “Just get it out.”

  “Yes, about that. I can now say without a doubt it’s lodged. I can’t reach inside just like this.” He told her, wiping the back of his hand across his forehead. “I’m going to have to use a speculum.”

  Just as well. That duckbilled thing inside her exactly what she deserved for reacting as she had during the examination. She certainly won’t get turned on by it.

  “You alright there?” Landon asked, applying a special substance on the instrument.

  “Just when I think it couldn’t get any worse. I’m never having sex with anyone again.”

  “Come on, that’s a little extreme.” Landon gently chided her as he got ready. They exchanged a look and she nodded, willing herself again to relax. He watched her breathe in and out before beginning to insert the speculum inside her. She froze at the unyielding metal.

  “Just relax, sweetheart. Relax. I’ll do everything to make it alright, I promise.”

  It was a mantra he uttered as he guided the speculum inside her. Regina willed herself to breathe as it rested inside her, grimacing as she felt its first thrust. His head disappeared between her legs.

  “I’m going to open you up.”

  “Alright.”

  He pressed the lever. She grunted as the bills opened her.

  “Damn it.”

  “What?”

  Landon sighed loudly. “Regina, I can’t. I can see how far it is but with the speculum in the way, I can’t reach inside and get it.”

  “I can try pressing down?”

  “No. Not with a speculum inside you. I need you wider.” He was talking to himself now, looking around the room for the perfect instrument. “Wider so I can see and reach inside. Alright. Sweetheart, I have to pull the speculum out.”

  “What? Why? You have to try! Can’t you try?” She pleaded. “Please, Landon?”

  He shook his head. “No. It’s impossible, Regina. Hold on. Let me try something else.”

  Relieved of the device, Regina groaned as the speculum was completely pulled out of her. Setting it down on the table next to him, he turned to her. He looked even grimmer.

  “Regina, I’ll have to try forceps.”

  “What?”

  “I know it’s unusual. But this is not an ordinary situation.”

  She wanted to rage and throw things, to fall on the floor and just let arms and legs flail. Cry it out. As Landon continued explaining what he hoped to do next, her face crumpled and big, fat tears exploded from her eyes.

  “Regina, sweetheart-” he began, his eyes betraying his helplessness. As her hands clapped over her face to quiet her sobs, he lowered his mask and removed the gloves. She refused to let tears overtake her, hating how she was crying. But when his arms closed around her trembling body, her head dropped to his chest and out came a loud, wet sob.

  He made nonsense coos and other noises that nevertheless assured her. His hand rubbed up and down her back as she clung to him, hating what had happened, hating herself. She only needed a break from supervising programming all those new computers at work and installing them. Bugs and crashes had kept her department busy all week. Katie had joked she needed a good banging to get her head back in the game, to be refreshed and relaxed for the next week. It was ridiculous for she was not the sort who could simply get laid. Not with height, her looks. How was she to resist the blond, living God that walked up to her in the bar? He praised her for her legs. Actually looked her in the eye and declared he wanted to get to know her even after she tried blowing him off. Then when she finally stood up after agreeing to make out at his place, he had looked rather pleased with how she towered over him. That never happened.

  In the alley, they ki
ssed like lovers who will never see each other again. He cupped Regina’s breasts through her clothes to make her moan. In the cab, she sucked his tongue as he raised her skirt, palmed her vagina. Nibbled on his lip as he grunted his address to the driver. In his bed, they had sex. Landon, he told her to call him. Landon, not God. And it was funny and he looked so hot and sexy. He was huge and made her feel good just by looking at her with those amazing emerald eyes. They had sex with him on top. On their sides. Then her on top. Each time she screamed for more, harder. Quite literally sang very graphic phrases about his big dick. He smiled. A beautiful, dimpled smile that got her all soft and wet.

  As her sobs quieted and her heaving body softened against him, Regina felt his fingers trace her chin. Curious, she looked up, eyes watery and questioning. Her lips parted as he brushed a lock of her hair away, the movement as light as air but felt deep in her bones. She did the same to him, feeling the twitch of muscle under his cheek when he smiled, his beard rasp on her palm.

  Regina breathed when he suddenly kissed her palm, licked her lips when his kisses traveled down to her wrist, down to rest of her arm before lingering on the warm arc between neck and shoulder. Then their lips were touching, their kiss gentle as it was heated. She couldn’t turn completely to the side because her feet remained in the stirrups but it was no hindrance to the deepening brush of their lips. She grinned as she felt him fumble for a release at the side of the chair that had it reclining some more, his body automatically following hers as it lowered.

  “Dr. Stewart, I know you said not to- what on earth?” Marie demanded.

  The spell shattered, Landon ripped his mouth away from Regina. The three of them stared at each other in disbelief. Regina, remembering her position, slapped her palms over her reddening face in humiliation.

  “Marie, please leave us,” was Landon’s quiet command.

  “I’m so sorry. I just came to check because it got quiet...now I won’t.” Marie hastily let herself out, shutting the door with a slam.

  Regina watched his shoulders rise then sink as he got hold of himself. When he turned to her, his expression was cool.

  “My apologies. That was unprofessional.”

  She shook her head. “It doesn’t bother me.”

  He looked relieved. “Thanks. I appreciate it.” Putting on a fresh pair of gloves, he returned to stand between her legs. “Sorry about the forceps. Are you still with me?”

  She nodded.

  “Good. We’re getting this out of you, Regina. I promise. How about some ibuprofen?” At her puzzled look, he explained, “It’s for the pain.”

  “Is it going to hurt?”

  “Yes. The ibuprofen is to make it a bit more bearable.”

  Regina nodded. Landon opened a drawer and popped out a pill from the push tab then got her some water from the dispenser. She swallowed it then lay back down.

  “I’m never going to use a diaphragm again.” She complained, resting an arm over her forehead as she listened to him get the forceps out of the box again.

  “We’ll discuss alternative methods of contraception later,” he told her, taking a seat. He snapped his mask back on. “Ready?”

  She filled her lung with a lot of air, her cheeks ballooning and red before forcibly expelling it. “Damn it, yes.”

  Regina bit her lip, whimpering as she felt the instrument enter her vagina. Over and over she chanted to herself to relax as the forceps worked inside her, turning a little, turning some more. She focused her eyes on the bright white sphere of light at the ceiling, fisting the fabric of her gown as he grunted and growled under his breath, trying to get hold of the diaphragm.

  “Ow!”

  “Sorry. Almost there!”

  “God,” she gasped, face twisting in pain. It was a struggle not to thrash and wail. It wasn’t the most painful thing she had experienced but on a scale of one to fifteen, it was definitely above midway. Above, most definitely.

  “There, I got it,” Landon was muttering to himself as she felt the forceps slide out of her. She raised her head at the exact moment he pulled it out, so she saw the trail of fluids and blood. Her stomach flipped, and she looked away lest she got sick. Instead, she heard the clang of the forceps on a tray, the wet plop of her bloody diaphragm.

  “It’s out. God, it really is out at last,” Landon was saying as he removed his mask and gloves. Wearily, she turned back to him. Triumph lit up his face.

  “Yes,” was all Regina could say. “Thank you.”

  “Thank you for working with me too.” He helped remove her feet from the stirrups and when she started sitting up, was quickly at her side with an arm around her back. As the feeling returned to her legs, she laughed and dropped her head on his shoulder. He chuckled too and hugged her. “It’s over, Regina.”

  “I know. God. That was hands down the scariest and most humiliating moment of my life.” She whispered, looking up at him with a wan smile. He smiled back.

  “Are you alright?”

  “I will be.”

  It was sweet how he helped her off the seat. Good thing he did because her legs kind of collapsed under her from the sudden surge of sensation. She blushed as he kept his arm around her waist and walked her behind the screen. It was nice having someone strong and stead to lean on.

  “The diaphragm should come with a warning,” Regina said as they shuffled together. “Like, you know, ‘can get stuck during vigorous sex’ or something like that.”

  Landon gave her a squeeze. “I have to agree. I never thought I’d do something like that.”

  She stopped and gave him a slight kick. “I thought you have! And Marie said this happens all the time.”

  “No. Sorry, sweetheart but I had to lie. I needed you to trust me. And yes, I did know what I was doing once I crossed out the things that weren’t working.”

  “I guess it worked out in the end,” she admitted as they resumed walking. He continued to basically pull her with him. And she liked it. “Landon?”

  “Yes?”

  “I’m sorry I was a shrew. Yelling at you like that.”

  He grinned, shaking his head. “All part of the job. I’d be yelling too if I had something up my ass.”

  Regina laughed, and they stopped before the modesty screen. Landon’s arm loosened from around her and she suddenly felt cold.

  “I don’t know if this is the appropriate time to say this, Regina,” he said, looking at his shoes briefly then her. “But I figure since we’ve been quite intimate in the last hour-”

  “Oh, god. Don’t remind me again,” Regina groaned, covering her blushing face with her palms. To her surprise, his hands pried them away from her. His expression was serious.

  “I know you said last night was just about sex. I’d completely understand if that’s all there is. But I’d like to try again.”

  “Try what again?”

  “To see you.” Landon touched her cheek. “But not here.”

  Her mouth dropped open. Not here? Did he mean what she thought he meant?

  “Of course,” he continued after a moment of silence. “I mean if you’re into some kinky stuff like the one we just did-”

  Regina burst out laughing and slapped him on the arm. “You’re strange.”

  His eyes shone then ran a hand through his mussed hair. Her knees weakened, remembering what had upset the style. “Hopefully not too strange. Or your kind of strange. I don’t know. You don’t have to answer now, you don’t have to answer, really. But I thought I’d let you know.”

  Landon winked at her and turned to leave. She watched him go, hung between certainty and anxiety over what just happened, what he said. There was an answer right at the tip of her tongue but it was something else that came out.

  “I’m in I.B.”

  “What?” He looked back. “What do you mean?”

  Regina shrugged and spread her hands. “I know you’re a doctor now. I thought you should know I’m in I.B. I run the department, actually.”

  “Huh.�
� He looked like he was considering it for a second before a suggestive smile lit up his face. “That’s great. I’d love for you to take a look at my hard drive sometime.”

  “Oh, god. Do you ever shut up?”

  “God, no.”

  She could not stop smiling. She physically could not.

  “Get dressed then we’ll talk about your other options. And Regina?”

  “Yes?”

  Landon smirked. “Don’t forget your panties this time.”

  He closed the door behind him, thus missing out how her face flared brighter than a red traffic light’s. She had left her underwear on his bathroom floor.

  “Alright, you’re right. This is a much better way of celebrating getting that thing out of your vagina,” Katie said sometime later. She took a huge bite of the pepperoni pizza.

  “Good for you to know that having sex isn’t the only way for celebrating...anything.” Regina retorted.

  Exhausted from her ordeal, all Regina wanted to was curl up in bed and not move until Monday. Katie lived a few doors down and had already invited herself over to sleep in her apartment.

  Wrung out, Regina was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. She woke up to sunset outside of her window. When she padded to the kitchen, Katie was unpacking the buffet of their favorite greasy food: pizza and Chinese.

  Now they were on the couch, Regina’s legs on Katie’s lap. Their eyes were glued to a TV show.

  “You know, I would have paid better attention in history class if it was taught like this,” Katie remarked, squeezing more hot sauce on her pizza.

  Suddenly, the buzzer rang. They looked at each other curiously. Before Regina could get up, Katie was putting her friend’s legs away and jogging toward the intercom. She pressed a button.

  “Who is it?”

  “Delivery for Regina Abbott?”

  “Oh.” Katie glanced at Regina, who shrugged to indicate she didn’t know. “Who’s it from?”

  “Landon Stewart?”

  Katie grinned while Regina blushed. “Come on right up.”

  “It’s sweet of him to send flowers but you should tell him you’re allergic,” she told Regina as she went to unlock the door.

  “He’s not going to send me flowers, Katie. It’s probably just a prescription or something.”