The Sex Shrink of Seattle VOL. 3 (Sessions #3)

by Kailin Gow

  Dressed in an impeccable, distinct, Ralph Lauren sports jacket, and a silk woven sweater underneath that showed off how fit I was, I walked in through the double white French doors of the club, making my way to the concierge, who was standing properly and smiling at me.

  “Hi, Simon Session here to meet Ralph Bixby.”

  “Of course, Mr. Session. I have your name right here. Just one second.” They pressed a button and another employee showed within a few seconds. “Follow Jessica, please.”

  “Thank you,” I said, smiling at the concierge. Then I turned to Jessica and smiled, too, and she was trying to remain poised, but I could tell that she’d had a response to my presence. I never got bored with that reaction that I received the first time a fan saw me.

  I walked through the crowded club, waving and saying hello to a few people that I recognized along the way as I journeyed to the furthest corner, which is where Ralph was sitting. If he was intimidated by me, why parade me through the entire establishment? I had to wonder about him. Perhaps he was making his actions confusing and complex on purpose, some sort of strategy. Well, he didn’t know what he was in for. I didn’t lose, and typically, I got my way. I didn’t see why Bixby would be any different. Just because he had an extra zero at the end of his financial statement didn’t mean he could best me.

  “Ralph, hi,” I said, walking up to him and smiling.

  “Simon, it’s nice to see you. I’ll admit, I was a bit surprised to hear that you wanted to talk. What is it I can help you with?” Ralph asked. “Let’s order some drinks and then you can tell me.”

  “Okay, sounds good,” I said.

  “What will you have?”

  “Hennessy with a splash of club, on the rocks,” I said.

  “Good choice. I think I’ll have that, too.” Ralph motioned for a waitress to come over and placed the order. Then he said, “Now, what was it that you needed from me.”

  He was arrogant. “I don’t need anything from you, but I did want an opportunity to explain a misunderstanding,” I said. I looked at Ralph as his face tensed, making small wrinkles appear around his eyes.

  “In regards to Lina, I assume,” Ralph said. He quickly rebounded from his tense look and tried to give a more controlled appearance. It was a failed attempt, in my opinion.

  “Yes. I just wanted you to know that nothing happened between us that day, and I feel horrible that it came across that way. I assure you that she was nothing other than ladylike,” I said.

  “And you,” Ralph said to me with a slight tremor in his voice, “were you a gentleman?”

  “Yes,” I said. There was no need to disclose that I didn’t want to be. I would have taken Lina and made love to her all night if she’d allowed me to that day. “Honestly.”

  The waitress came and placed our drinks down in front of us. Ralph looked at her and said, “Bring another round right away.” I felt like a date he was trying to get drunk. I soon found out why he’d asked, though. He downed the entire drink in one swallow, using the alcohol to calm his nerves. Then he looked at me and continued to talk. “You have quite the reputation, you know.”

  “As do you,” I countered.

  “Well, those days are long gone. I’m a committed man now, and I would be devastated if Lina didn’t have the same commitment.”

  I thought his statement was interesting. Would he truly be devastated? I didn’t think so, but I could see that he was an insecure man, which was shocking. It wasn’t true in the business world, from what I’d been told, but in his personal world, he was vulnerable. “That’s a good thing. If you don’t mind my asking, why put a stranglehold on the Session/Tannebaum deal just because you were concerned about Lina?”

  “I was angry and hurt. Business really has nothing to do with any of it,” Ralph said.

  I knew that it was not wise to push business any further so I decided to pry into Ralph’s personal life, and find out anything I could that might be of value to me at some point. “I don’t mean to overstep my bounds, so please tell me if I do, but why are you so insecure about Lina? You’ve dated starlets and very affluent people. Why does she make you seem so insecure?”

  “She’s important. There’s a lot riding on her,” Ralph said to me. The confusion from his words must have shone on my face. “For my happiness,” he added.

  “I can see that you love her very much, and honestly, I see that she loves you very much.” Saying those words out loud nauseated me.

  “Do you think she loves me for my wealth?” Ralph asked me.

  What a loaded question. Of course I had thought that when I first met her. Nothing else made sense; however, the more I got to know Lina, the less likely I thought that was a real possibility. “Many women would certainly be drawn to your money, we both know that, Ralph, but I do not see Lina as being one of those women. She’s very driven and determined to pave her own path. That’s what it appears like to me.”

  “Exactly,” Ralph replied.

  Aha, I think I got it. “You’re afraid that she doesn’t need you enough?” He didn’t answer my question, which was an affirmation that I’d hit a nerve. Good, I hope it hurt. “I’m aware that she could have any man she set her sights on, Simon. She has that certain je ne sais quoi that makes her desirable to any man with a pulse, who loves women. She’s the type of woman that completes a man.”

  I felt like I was talking with a love struck teenager, only this was a billionaire who was ruthless enough to want to take over two businesses in order to put a stranglehold on the woman he loved—all because he was afraid to lose her.

  “You realize that if you try to change her, or control her, you’re more likely to lose her. You need to have some confidence. And remember, she’s a woman, not a merger.”

  “Spoken like the women expert you are,” Ralph said. He finished his second drink and I slid my second one over to him. I’d only had two sips of the first one.

  “I have heard and helped many women over the years, Ralph. There are certain similarities between all of them, yet they are all unique in their own way. I’m not sure if you are comparing Lina to anyone else you’ve had in your life, or thinking she should be someone without a backbone against you, but you would probably do well to remember that she is incomparable to anyone else. Je ne sais quoi, remember?”

  Ralph nodded his head in agreement. “I’m so focused on work and all these events where I have to network that I’m not in great shape,” Ralph blurted. “Not like you.”

  “Do you think I have all day to work-out?”

  “You’re a celebrity. Isn’t that part of the gig?”

  “I am very busy, sitting in my office a lot of hours a day, but I do realize that if I don’t take care of my own needs, I am hardly effective with others. It’s really a difference of how we view our time,” I said.

  “It’s those differences that made us never really click as friends, isn’t it?” Bixby asked me.

  “I don’t really know. I’ve never thought much about it,” I said.

  “I’ve thought about it lots.”

  “All I know, Ralph, is that you need to take care of yourself, and it takes more than just a few hours a week to stay in the condition I am in. I don’t think that having a physique more aligned to mine is the answer to your problems.”

  “No? What is then, Simon?”

  “Confidence in your personal life. That is something that only you can work on,” I said. I was giving him genuine advice, and it made me a bit sick because I didn’t want Ralph to win this battle, but I felt compelled to be honest. And like I’d thought for so long now, if I was going to win over Lina, I wanted to do it fair and square, proving that I was the best man for her.

  Ralph downed his third drink. “Ready for another?”

  “No thank you,” I said. “I’m going to the gym after this. Feel free to come along if you like.”

  “Not today, thanks,” Ralph said. His answer was predictable.

  “Maybe another time then,” I sai
d. “Well, I’m glad we got to clear the air, and I hope this helps with Lina, Ralph.”

  “Me too. Maybe we can go out for a few drinks downtown some night after work. My office is right across from yours,” Ralph said.

  “Sure, maybe,” I said. I wasn’t sure how wise it was to keep pressing my luck with the issue. “Well, thank you, Ralph. Have a great day.” I extended my hand and he extended his. We shook it and I felt the underlying tension between us. Both of us were playing nice, but I didn’t think that Ralph wanted to be doing so any more than me.

  Chapter 6

  I met Matt in the weight room at his club, and was very anxious to talk with him. I wanted to hear what he’d found out, and share the conversation I’d just had with Ralph, as well. Strange days.

  “What have you uncovered for me?” I asked.

  “Well, I’ve learned a lot, and I’ve been having a wonderful time in the process.”

  “I know what that means. You’re getting laid.”

  “Only for research’s sake,” Matt said to me with a telling smile. Typical Matt.

  “Naturally, so what have you found out?”

  “I’ve been hanging out with one of Bixby’s better known acquaintances. He cut it off with her about the time he met Lina.”

  “Really? He hasn’t had sex with her at all since?” I asked. It sounded suspicious, unbelievable.

  “Not with her,” Matt said. “Charma doesn’t mind talking after she receives what she craves, and I’ve been asking her a lot of questions.”

  “All for me. You’re such a good friend, Matt,” I said with a laugh.

  “True,” he replied. “Anyway, Charma and Ralph’s relationship was one based on some pretty kinky stuff. He has a bit of a dark side to him, some issues that he likes to take out by role playing with sex.” So Mr. Seemingly Insecure was more sexually secured than he had led me to believe.

  I recalled hiring the hooker that looked like Lina to try and get her out of my mind. I actually got that desire. “Like what? BDSM, things like that?”

  “Some, but he also likes some more company in the room on occasion,” Matt said.

  “So he wants to load up on the women, and receive the gusto. That’s not dark, really,” I said.

  “You’re assuming women, which is the first problem.”

  That caught my attention. I stopped in mid flow with the barbell I’d been curling. “He’s bi?”

  “Curious, anyway. From what Charma said, and she won’t give it all away, he doesn’t actually ‘connect,’ if you know what I mean.”

  “Is it a control thing?” I asked.

  “No, it seems like he likes to surrender control from what Charma says,” Matt answered.

  “Wow, it takes a lot to surprise me, but I’ll confess, I’m surprised.”

  “Me too.”

  “This makes everything make less sense, than more,” I said. “Why would Ralph be interested in a virgin like Lina, and then hold out on having sex with her? She’s ready to surrender her virginity to him.”

  “I have no idea,” Matt said.

  “Do you think he got a VD or something? That might make sense. Waiting for a clean bill of health.”

  “That would be logical, but I’m not sure how I can ever find that out,” Matt said.

  “I wonder if Lina’s ever asked him about why he wants to wait.”

  “Ask her?”

  “She’s being pretty aloof right now. I don’t think she’d answer,” I said.

  “What is it about this girl that you’re willing to go to such extreme measures in order to win her over? Yet, you wouldn’t marry her—ever—according to your guidelines and statements.”

  True, I’d said that. I still cringed at the thought of marriage, too. “I don’t know. I guess she has that certain je ne sais quoi.” I started laughing, suddenly amused at the one thing that Ralph and I didn’t have to struggle to agree on.

  “You’re turning soft,” Matt said to me.

  “Quite the opposite when I think of the lovely Lina,” I said.

  “The quality of this work-out is going downhill fast, Simon. Let’s get back to the task at hand, which is lifting some weights and doing some killer moves to take us to our thresholds.”

  Matt was right. From that moment on, I absorbed myself in the work-out, knowing that with that burn, fresh thoughts and ideas about what was happening would be more likely to come.

  Chapter 7

  The entire day before had been so interesting and intriguing. I’ll admit that Ralph Bixby seemed more human than I’d previously given him credit for; like he was a man with genuine concerns and not just some weasel. Still, I couldn’t rely on him to just ease back on the threats he’d posed against my family’s business, or Lena’s stepfather’s. Well, it was time for work so there was no need to worry about it.

  For the first day in weeks, I felt like my head was completely in the game and I was back to my old self. Did I lust for Lina? Absolutely, however, I’d found a way to make sure she wasn’t controlling my actions any longer. I’d veered from the true me and it had cost me. And logically, why would I have to change just to fit into Lina’s life? I shouldn’t have to and she was engaged to someone else that she seemed fully committed to. I didn’t get it, but it wasn’t mine to have to understand. All I was responsible for was my well-being and my patients. I’d slacked on them the past few weeks and today was going to be a day where they had my full attention. Dr. Session was back!

  “Good morning, Brandi,” I said as I walked into my office, my suit jacket slung over my shoulder. It was a beautiful morning and the fresh air felt good for me, and on my muscles. Admittedly, it had been a more taxing workout with Matt yesterday than I’d had in quite some time. Pushing my personal limits had always turned me on.

  “Good morning, Dr. Session,” Brandi said and her eyes glanced to my right. I turned and stopped in my tracks. There was a sexy hot woman sitting there, her legs crossed and a black stiletto dangling off her toes. Her arms were folded and her skirt was knee length, but had a slit that led me right up to the top of her thigh. I couldn’t help but have an instant fantasy about what may be underneath that skirt, if anything at all.

  I turned back to Brandi, who had a coy smile on her face. “Dr. Session, this is Gloria Sanz. She was referred to you by someone and would like an appointment. You did have an opening this morning so I scheduled her in for a consultation. I tried to call you but there was no answer on your cellphone.” At that moment, my cellphone buzzed and it was a message from Brandi. Damn reception! I surely would have loved to be prepared for seeing this woman for the first time; perhaps in my office while she walked in.

  “That’s fine, Brandi. Thank you,” I said to her. Then I turned to the woman. “Ms. Sanz, give me just a few minutes and I’ll be right with you.”

  She’d been watching me with an alluring smile on her face and she purred, “No problem, I understand.” Her eyes said she understood a whole lot about life, and about me? She was looking at me like she knew me. Crazy. I guess it must have been my celebrity status. Of course! More people knew about me than I did about them. It came with the territory and had been significantly amped up since the television appearances had started.

  I went into my office, hung my jacket up, and composed myself. It wasn’t surprising, really, but the woman reminded me of Lina, only she wasn’t as beautiful. Still, she was highly attractive; most men would salivate at the thought of being with a woman like that. The only questions that remained was, “What was Gloria Sanz’s problem? Why did she need a sex therapist?”

  Leaning over to my telephone, I pressed the Brandi hotline, and said, “Send Gloria back.”

  Then I waited. I decided to sit behind my desk at first today and get a stronger feel about what Gloria’s personality was like. She looked like a vixen on the outside. But she could have been an insecure, unstable woman on the inside. It was easy to point these things out for me. It was what I did for my career, after all.
r />   “Hi,” Gloria said as she walked into the office. She glanced around at my office, casually studying it.

  I got up and walked around my desk. “Please, let’s have a seat on the couch,” I said. There was no debating it, I was going to take her to the couch where some of my more intimate sessions took place.

  “Thank you, Dr. Session,” she said to me.

  “You can call me Simon, if it makes you more comfortable,” I said.

  “Is that standard, Simon?” Her voice was golden and smooth, really appealing.

  “It is with my career. I work with people about very intimate issues and I find it makes it easier, Gloria.”