Dating A Saint by Donna McDonald Page B

venting to Regina and Lauren tonight. Couldn’t whatever shenanigans you guys are planning wait a few more days?” Alexa asked, exasperated with the men.
    “No,” Casey and Ben both answered at once. They looked at each other and rolled their eyes. They had been like a stereo system lately, both saying the same things at once.
    Regina laughed and patted Ben on his knee. “You two are so cute together. You’ll be finishing each other’s sentences next.”
    “Keep it up. I have two words for you Mrs. Kaiser— missionary position ,” Ben warned sternly, before swinging his gaze back to Alexa.
    “Don’t pretend you’re not interested in what’s really going on between Lauren and Mr. Mysterious,” Ben said. “Unlike the rest of us, they aren’t likely to make the papers where we can read about it. We have to find out the old-fashioned way through subterfuge and clever questioning.”
    “Or you could just ask Lauren if whatever the hell Jim told you is true,” Regina said reasonably, sipping her drink.
    Ben looked at his wife. “Your clients have spoiled you. Not everyone is ready to spill their guts all the time, you know. Maybe there’s still a lot you don’t know about men, Dr. Logan.”
    “Oh? Are you offering to teach me?” Regina asked sweetly, thinking her husband still didn’t know all she knew about men. He might in a few years at the rate they were going though.
    Ben started to say something in return, looked around a moment, then just settled on lifting his ice water to take long, cold drink while his wife chuckled at his side.
    Casey looked at his wife-to-be. “By the way, why didn’t you tell me Lauren had been taking martial arts classes?”
    Alexa shrugged and smiled, “Lauren is always taking classes. Turns out, Jim isn’t the only mysterious one. I’m finding Lauren doesn’t tell us a lot of things, such as the names of her dates for instance. I finally had to stop commenting on men so she wouldn’t literally follow in my footsteps. Even I was getting creeped out.”
    Casey was momentarily distracted by needing to remind Alexa about certain facts between them. He waved a hand in front of Alexa’s face and chest. “ This is a Carter force field. Other men do not exist for you any longer. You’re not even allowed stray thoughts about the past.”
    Alexa laughed at his sincerity. “Fine. Give me something better to think about then,” she demanded.
    Casey stood to leave with his hand under Alexa’s elbow.
    “Sit down, Carter,” Ben ordered. “We have a job to do here.”
    “Mission,” Alexa corrected with a giggle. “Casey likes to think of it as a mission.”
    “Fine,” Ben said easily. “We have a mission, Carter.”
    “Hey,” Lauren said, slipping into the empty chair between Ben and Casey. “We’ve been invaded by men this evening. What’s up with that?”
    “Temporary insanity,” Regina said on a laugh, running her fingertips up Ben’s thigh and earning herself a smoldering glance.
    “So, Lauren, have you seen any good movies lately?” Casey said, smiling at Lauren.
    “None you’d probably like. I only watch chick flicks and comedies,” Lauren replied.
    “Really? I had you pegged as a closet martial arts fan,” Casey joked.
    “Why in the world would you think that about me?” Lauren asked on a laugh, shaking her head at the silliness of the question, her silver blond hair flying.
    “I thought I heard you had an interest in marital arts,” Casey said as casually as possible, picking up his beer as he watched Lauren tilt her head in confusion at the question.
    With her hair cut longer in the front now, Casey thought Lauren looked more like a cute purse dog than a martial arts master. He just couldn’t bring up the visual of her putting a man the size of Gallagher on her kitchen floor. Jim had to be either exaggerating or outright lying.
    Lauren looked at her hands. “Excuse me,” she said to the group. “I stopped for gas on the way and need to go