The Doctor She Always Dreamed Of

by Wendy S. Marcus

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  ON MONDAY MORNING Kira arrived at work and greeted Derrick like nothing had happened between them, like she hadn’t spent hours in his arms, naked and breathless, the day before. On Tuesday and Wednesday she did her job and looked after him like nothing had changed. But something had changed. Derrick wanted more, the intensity of his desire was so strong it was starting to become a dangerous distraction. Seeing her every day and not being able to touch her was pure...torture.

  By Thursday, after two patients, one pharmaceutical sales rep, and his old neighbor Jeff, who’d stopped by to borrow his car, all inquired about the availability of his sexy new office manager, Derrick had had enough.

  She wasn’t available, damn it. If she was, she’d be his—despite all the challenges they’d have to overcome to be together. He’d make it work. He’d compromise. He’d do...anything. A primal urge to claim her raged inside of him. He paced his office, antsy, needing an outlet, a release.

  Someone knocked on his door.

  He called out, “Come in.”

  Kira stuck her head in. “Last patient is out, phones are on answering service, and the front door is locked. We are officially closed for lunch.”

  “I need you.”

  She looked over her shoulder. “I was going to run to the deli with Krissy. Can it wait?”

  In two big strides he reached her, pulled her into his office, and shut the door. “No.” He pushed her up against the wall, his body flush with hers, and kissed her, hard. Needy.

  She wouldn’t give him more than sex? Fine. He’d take sex. Now.

  Hands clamped to her ass he lifted her and carried her to his desk.

  “What are you doing?”

  He pushed aside papers, his inbox and outbox, and whatever else was in the way to make a clear space for her.

  “Derrick.”

  He set her down, looked deep into her eyes. “I need you,” he said again. “Now.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.” He clutched the sides of her head, kissing her again, deeper this time. He slid his leg between her thighs, tried to spread them wide, to let her feel his erection, to show her how much he burned for her, to make her burn for him.

  For the first time since he’d seen her in one, he hated the tight, figure hugging skirts she wore.

  “Derrick, stop,” she said, so calm while he felt on the verge of losing it.

  He didn’t want to stop, damn it! But he forced himself to step back, couldn’t look at her, didn’t want to watch her leave.

  She picked up his phone. “Hey, Krissy. Derrick and I need to go over a few things. Would you bring us back two of the specials?”

  What? He turned.

  She winked at him. “Just put them in the kitchen.” Phone balanced between her shoulder and her ear, she used both hands to start unbuttoning her blouse. “We’ll be out in a little bit.”

  Derrick ripped off his lab coat like it had caught fire and tossed it onto the couch.

  “The door,” she whispered, pointing, as she hung her shirt on the back of his chair. “Honestly,” she said, undoing the back of her skirt. “As if I’d let you get me all wrinkly.” She slipped it off, draped it neatly over the arm of the chair, then stood tall wearing nothing but a satiny light purple bra and pantie set, a pair of killer black heels, and a smile. “I’m guessing you’d like me to keep the heels on.”

  Derrick felt about to explode. “You’re damn right I would.” He picked her up. “Wrap your legs around me.” She did. He palmed her ass, pulled her close, and thrust his rock hard erection against her. “You feel what you do to me? How much I need you?”

  She ran her fingers through his hair, angling his head. Leaning in she whispered, “That’s quite a hard-on you’ve got going there. What do you plan to do with it?”

  He laid her down on the desk, ran his hand over her breasts, across her flat abdomen, beneath the waistband of her pretty panties, down between her silky, wet lips. “I’m going to put it right here.” He slid a finger inside of her, finding her hot, wet and ready. His balls tingled with anticipation.

  “Do it.” She spread her legs wide. “Now.”

  Derrick unbuttoned his pants with shaky hands, letting them fall to the ground so he could kick them off. That’s when he remembered. “Do. Not. Move.” He ran to the bathroom, sliding off his underwear with one hand and grabbing a condom from the drawer in the vanity with the other. On his way back he ripped the damn thing open with his teeth and started rolling it on.

  He returned to find her naked, her body absolute perfection.

  The condom securely on, he pushed between her legs then inside of her, fast and deep, knowing she was ready, unable to take it slow. “God help me you feel good.” In and out, in and out, over and over.

  She reached down between her legs and fondled herself. He watched, seeing what she liked before pushing her hands away and taking over.

  “Yes,” she said, clamping her legs around him. “Like that.”

  He moved his fingers and hips, his body a machine, programmed to give pleasure and receive pleasure. Right now those were the only two things that mattered.

  His orgasm started to build. He could feel it, wanted it, needed it.

  “Come on, baby.” He moved his hips and fingers faster. “Come for me.”

  Her breathing heavy, Kira rocked up and down, bit her lip and moved her head from side to side.

  In and out, in and out, again and again.

  When she arched her back, stiffened and let out the most gratifying of groans, Derrick let go, pouring himself into her, wishing she could feel it, that there was no barrier between them.

  His heart pounding, his body spent, he laid his upper body on top of her, his elbows taking most of his weight, still buried deep inside of her. He kissed her cheek. “Thank you.”

  “Did something happen?” she asked, running her fingernails up and down his back.

  He didn’t want to talk about it.

  “Hey.” She bucked her hips. “Look at me.”

  He lifted his head.

  She studied his face. “Something upset you.”

  “I don’t like other men asking about you.” He leaned down to tongue her ear. “I want to tell them you’re mine.” He moved down to kiss her neck. “I want you to actually be mine.”

  With a hand on each side of his head she lifted him. “If you want me, I can be yours between the hours of nine to five, Monday through Friday. That’s the best I can do.”

  It wasn’t enough, but he’d take it, for now. “I want you.”

  Usually Derrick didn’t settle, he identified what he wanted—in this case Kira—then went after it with unbridled determination. But that approach wouldn’t work with Kira. So he’d be patient, bide his time until he could figure out a way to get more. He had no doubt the wait would be worth it.

  For the next two and a half weeks he and Kira ‘ate lunch’ in his office, most every day. The staff probably had a good idea of what they were really doing, but they had too much respect for Kira, and maybe for him too, to say anything about it. At night and on the weekends, he and Kira talked for hours, about so many different things, some funny, some sad, everything but the future. Every time he brought it up she stopped talking.

  And he began to wonder if agreeing to her terms was a good idea. He wasn’t any closer to figuring out a way for them to be together than he’d been two and a half weeks ago. Every request to see more of her, denied. Every suggestion for change, shot down. And while, with each passing day, Derrick fell more in love, Kira showed him nothing more than a hot sexual attraction, which, with another woman, would have been great. But he wanted Kira long term. A man of his age and experience knew when he’d found the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Only he could
feel himself running out of time, and he didn’t like that feeling one bit.

  Late on Thursday afternoon, when he couldn’t find Kira anywhere, he searched out Krissy. “Did Kira run out for something?”

  “Shoot.” Krissy shifted the blood-draw carry-all into one hand and her laptop into the other. “You were in with a patient. Then I got crazy busy. She told me to tell you she had to run home. The aide called. Mom spiked a temperature or something and was acting all crazy.”

  Jeez. “How did she get to the train?”

  “Sara took her.”

  Good. “Do you need to go, too? We can manage—”

  Krissy shook her head. “Don’t look so worried. Kira will handle it.”

  For as much as he liked Krissy and appreciated all of her hard work on the job, he hated that her laissez-faire attitude let responsibility for their mother fall solely on Kira’s shoulders, part of the reason he and Kira couldn’t be together like a normal couple. “I get that Kira will handle it, but she shouldn’t have to do it all alone.”

  Krissy looked up at him. “I’ve got dinner plans. Kira said—”

  “Let me guess. She said, “Don’t worry. I’ll handle it.” Like she always does. And you let her, because that’s what you always do.”

  “Wait just a minute—”

  No. He would not wait just a minute. Enough was enough. “If you think going out to dinner with your friends is more important than helping your sister take care of your mother, fine. That’s your decision. But you won’t be going out to dinner until after you help me with something, and you can’t help me until after we finish with our patients, so back to work.” He turned and left without giving her a chance to respond. But for the rest of the day he couldn’t shake the feeling something bad was about to happen.

  * * *

  Around six thirty, Kira looked down at her cell phone, expecting to see Derrick’s number come up—after talking with him briefly earlier, he’d promised to call back after work. But she was equally happy to see Connie’s smiling face on her screen, something her old assistant had programmed to happen every time she called.

  Of course Kira accepted the call. “Hey, Connie.”

  “Hey, hon. How’s it going?”

  “Not so good.” She looked over to where Mom sat in her recliner chair, watching television. “Mom’s sick.”

  “That sucks. Then you won’t be able to meet up with me to celebrate?”

  “Celebrate what?”

  “Mr. Jeffries got fired today,” Connie said. “I heard they threatened him with legal action if he didn’t leave quietly.”

  What? Kira had received a call from her old boss, Mr. Regis, the CEO prior to Mr. Jeffries, who’d agreed to come out of retirement, along with Kira’s predecessor, April Weir, to perform a covert audit based on the documentation she’d sent to the board of directors. He’d asked her dozens of questions, which she’d answered honestly, and then...nothing.

  “What happened?”

  “Word is...”

  Kira smiled. Of course Connie had the inside scoop.

  “...was in the process of forming alliances or something with the heads of home health care agencies around the state. Apparently he offered to make them preferred providers so they’d get first dibs on WCHC referrals along with kickbacks in return for limiting home health care services and medical equipment referrals wherever they could.”

  The bastard. “What about Sheila?”

  “At first she claimed she didn’t know anything about it, the skeezeball. Then Richie told me that Michael told him that while he was doing some random computer stuff next door to the conference room he overheard Mr. Regis confront Sheila about a bunch of statements from patients who said they’d filed complaints and appeals with her and then heard nothing back. Mr. Regis pointed out he couldn’t find any of those complaints or appeals. Well, knowing she was caught, Sheila turned on Mr. Jeffries like the rat that she is, claiming he used sex to manipulate her and she felt her job would be in jeopardy if she didn’t go along. You have no idea how much I hate her. Anyway, now she’s sucking up to anyone in power who will listen, vowing to clean up the case management department, blah, blah, blah, make me sick.”

  Needing to move, Kira walked out of the living room and started to pace up and down the hallway. “Do you think they’d honestly promote her?” For some reason, Mr. Jeffries hadn’t given Sheila the Director of Case Management position.

  “No way in hell. Mr. Regis agreed to serve as interim CEO until a replacement can be found. Richie says they probably want to handle things internally, keep it from going public.”

  Kira’s phone buzzed. She moved it from her ear to look at the screen, her heart skipping a beat. “Connie, I’ve got to go. Mr. Regis is calling me.”

  An hour later, Kira sat in the chair beside her mom’s recliner, reeling over what her old boss had told her. And what he’d offered her.

  The house phone rang. Kira got up and hurried into the kitchen to answer it, expecting Derrick. But why would he be calling on her house phone? “Hello?”

  “Miss Peniglatt? This is Harold downstairs at the desk. A Dr. Limone is here to see you.”

  Derrick? Here? She glanced at Mom, finally calm. Krissy had gone to dinner with friends straight from work. Kira couldn’t leave. “Please tell him—”

  “Don’t you mean her?” Harold asked.

  “Her?”

  “Yes, Miss. This here Dr. Limone is a she.”

  Kira smiled as she remembered.

  “I’ll throw in free medical care for you, your mom and your sister.”

  “My mom needs a female doctor.”

  “I’ll wear a dress.”

  Her eyes filled with tears. He’d come. Just like he’d said he would. Without her even asking. “Please.” She sniffled. “Send her up.” She loved him so much her heart actually hurt. Although she couldn’t be quite certain whether the hurt was caused by so much love or the pain of knowing nothing would ever come of it. The closer they got, the more she knew she needed to put a stop to their lunchtime trysts and intimate phone calls. It wasn’t fair to him...or to her.

  She opened the door and stood in the hallway, waiting, completely unprepared for the sight of him walking toward her, his gait in no way feminine, carrying his briefcase. He wore a flowy, multicolored dress that fell to a few inches above his ankles, which were covered in thick navy blue tights that disappeared into his sneakers.

  “I know,” he said, looking down. “The sneakers don’t match.” He said it like he’d really wanted to match, and she fell a little bit more in love with him. “But I have size thirteen feet. That’s a men’s thirteen. We tried dozens of pairs of women’s shoes and couldn’t find any suitable ones that fit, except for a pair of bright red heels, if you can believe that. But no way am I wearing heels.”

  She ran to hug him. “We?”

  “I made Krissy come to Goodwill to help me put an outfit together.” He hugged her back. “It was the least she could do.”

  “She did ask if I wanted her to come right home.” Kira wasn’t ready to release him yet, so she didn’t. “But I knew she had plans to meet up with some friends she hasn’t seen in a while. Why should we both have to sit around the condo?”

  “You’re too nice.” He gave her a squeeze. “How’s your mom?”

  “Resting.” She stepped back to get a good look at his face. Foundation covered any hint of razor stubble. Black liner and purple shadow highlighted his eyes, blush brightened his cheekbones, and a red lipstick colored his lips. “I like you better as a man, but you make an okay looking woman.” Not drag queen pretty, but passable. Her gaze dropped to his breasts.

  “I know.” He nodded proudly as he caressed his womanly form. “They look real, right?”

  She couldn’t help but laugh.
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  “What?” he asked, obviously offended.

  “So big?”

  “Krissy and I decided I was a big guy so I needed a big rack.” He adjusted his rack. “You should see the size of the bra I’ve got on. I could launch watermelons with it.” He twisted. “It looks cool, but it’s not all that comfortable. I don’t know how you women do it.”

  She poked one of his boobs. “What have you got in there?”

  “Socks,” he said, itching his head through a black page boy wig then fussing with his synthetic bangs. “The lady at Goodwill is going to have one very unhappy customer at her register first thing tomorrow morning if I find anything crawling on my scalp when I take this wig off later.”

  Kira covered her mouth to keep from howling in laughter.

  “Yeah, very funny. I did all this for you.” He motioned up and down in front of himself. “You should see the contraption we had to rig up to keep the tights from falling down around my ankles. The crotch is hanging down by my knees.”

  Kira couldn’t hold it in any longer. She laughed out loud. It felt especially good after all the stress and worry of the past few hours. She wanted to tell him how much she appreciated him and loved him. But admitting that would be a huge mistake. So she settled for a sincere, “Thank you.” It wasn’t enough. It’ll have to do.

  “You’re welcome.” He looked down at her. “You going to let me in?”

  That’s when Kira realized she was blocking the door. “I don’t know.” She glanced over her shoulder. “I just got her quieted down.”

  “Let me in,” he said, his voice calm, his big warm hand cupping her cheek. “Let me examine her.”

  “But what if...” she recognized that he was a man. “She might...” hurt him or hurt herself.

  “It’s going to be fine,” he said, so sure of himself. “At least let me try.”

  She wanted him to try, really, but...

  He placed his hand on her arm and applied a gentle pressure. “You’re going to need to move.”

  “Wait. Let me get something.” Kira ran to her room, unlocked the cabinet where she kept Mom’s meds, and grabbed an injectable sedative and a syringe, just in case. Then she returned to the door. “Okay.” She held up her hand.