‘We have a thing?’
Sebastian chuckled. ‘This is the first time we’ve been out of bed since eight o’clock this morning. We played hooky from the entire last day of the conference. And I don’t know about you but I’m not done yet.’
Callie was torn. She wanted to—God knew, she wanted to. But it warred with all the reasons why she shouldn’t.
‘Even now all I can think about is touching you.’ He lifted the armrest between them out of the way and brought her hand to his mouth. ‘Kissing you,’ he murmured, his lips against her skin as he dropped a kiss on her knuckles.
The shiver travelled all the way to her core and she pulled her hand away. The denim of his jeans pulled tautly across his thighs and crotch, and even though a tray hid most of his lap she could see the thickening beneath his zipper.
She was pretty sure he was as turned on as she was.
She blinked hard. ‘I’m not in the market for a relationship. I like my life the way it is now,’ she said, keeping her voice low. ‘I can do what I like when I like and not have to consult someone else or put someone else’s needs first.’
As much as she missed her nephew and would have him back in a heartbeat, her life had certainly been a whole lot less complicated without him around twenty-four seven.
‘Who said anything about a relationship?’ he asked, moving in to nuzzle her neck now the armrest barrier had been removed. He heard the suck of a ragged breath and smiled as his tongue touched the lobe of her ear.
‘The way I see it, this thing is so intense it’s bound to fizzle out as quickly as it started.’ He caught her hand again and brought it to his chest as he dropped light kisses down her neck. ‘Look at it as pure sexual attraction.’
He moved her hand lower and felt his abdominals contract. ‘Something that needs to be acted on.’ He settled her hand beneath the tray resting on his erection. ‘Exorcised. We’re adults, Callie. We’re allowed to act on our urges.’
Callie was sure everyone on the plane could hear her breathing. Involuntarily she opened her hand over him further, feeling the contours of the thick ridge beneath her hand, and without a second thought she squeezed. Sebastian moaned lightly in her ear and her nipples beaded.
‘Do it again,’ he whispered.
Callie swayed closer to him, his voice hypnotic, a swell of desire blooming in her chest and suffusing heat southwards. But still she glanced around at her fellow passengers. Could they see what was happening beneath that tray?
She crossed her legs, giving them further privacy. Yes, Sebastian had the window seat and the tray was in the way, but she didn’t want to be caught out like a horny teenager.
‘Callie…’The guttural groan in her ear was full of ache and want.
She ran her hand up and down the length of him this time and shut her eyes as his breath hissed out in her ear. ‘This is mad,’ she muttered as her head spun.
‘This can work, Callie,’ Sebastian sighed, fighting the urge to thrust into her hand. ‘Let’s just ride it till the end.’
Callie flattened her palm against him, pressing down hard as his mouth continued to create havoc and his hand stroked her thigh. ‘I can’t concentrate when you do that,’ she whispered.
Sebastian smiled his lips at the angle of her jaw. ‘Come on, Callie. You know you want to.’
‘You’re not playing fair.’
He chuckled. ‘No. I’m not. I’m playing to win.’
Intractable as ever, giving no quarter, just as he’d been on the bridge that day. All magnificent male, dominant and authoritative and sexy as hell.
I’m right and we’re doing it my way.
Thankfully the captain’s voice came over the intercom, announcing some mild turbulence, and pulled Callie out of the sexual trance she’d been in. She let go of Sebastian, sat up straight and looked ahead, her cheeks pinking up at her behaviour.
Sebastian groaned. So close. ‘Callie?’
‘Shh,’ she said, shutting her eyes. She’d never been more grateful for turbulence in her life. ‘Don’t talk. Just don’t talk.’ She rolled her head to look at him. ‘I need to think.’
And think she did. A lot.
Would having a fling with Sebastian be that bad? She’d had a couple of short-term flings before and had come away unscathed. Burnt off some sexual energy? just as Sebastian was suggesting. And they’d been light and fun and she’d enjoyed them while they’d lasted.
And she was free now to do it again. So why not?
Because, a little voice said. Because.
When the plane landed she still wasn’t any closer to a decision. But as they were walking out the terminal doors towards the car park, orange streaks bleeding into a magnificent sunset, Sebastian held out his hand and said, ‘Come with me.’
Callie hesitated. She looked at his hand then back at him. ‘We always go home to sleep in our own beds.’
Sebastian nodded. ‘I wouldn’t have it any other way.’
She took his hand.
CHAPTER SEVEN
TWO months later Callie waved at Ginny as she pulled out from the kerb. Her seven-months-pregnant belly was on proud display in the form-fitting dress and she looked better every time Callie saw her—blooming, in fact. She was doing so well with her reduced medication and looking forward to the arrival of their baby girl.
Ginny had joked that Callie had better get a move on or she’d be too old, and Callie had laughed. But even standing there, with Ginny’s belly round and firm in front of her, Callie had felt nothing.
Sure, she’d felt happy for Ginny and Brad but there had been no crashing urge to join the club. No desire to have her own belly full with child. Zack had been her one chance at experiencing motherhood, albeit it second-hand, and she was perfectly okay with that.
She must have been hiding behind a door when maternal instincts had been given out.
Still, despite this apparent flaw, Callie was deep-down-in-her-bones happy. The sun was shining, it was Friday afternoon, her patients were well.
What more could she ask for?
She certainly couldn’t ask any more of Sebastian. Things were working out better than she had ever imagined. Somehow she and Sebastian seemed to have the work/personal balance right. She’d fretted that things would be awkward at work or that seeing so much of each other would be a recipe for disaster.
But she’d been wrong. And maybe the fact that they always went home to their own beds, that they weren’t spending twenty-four seven with each other, had been the key.
One thing was for sure, things certainly hadn’t fizzled out, as Sebastian had suggested on the plane. If anything, their appetite for each other seemed to be increasing.
Burning out of control, actually.
She’d worried that their colleagues would treat them differently if/when they found out, or would disapprove of such a potentially disastrous match. A few years back two of Jambalyn’s staff had been involved in a tempestuous relationship that had come to a messy end and they’d all spent months walking on eggshells around the office.
But everyone had been blasé about it and Geraldine had announced, ‘Thank the Lord for that,’ when they were sprung one afternoon after work in Sebastian’s office, stealing a kiss.
Sebastian had been right, it seemed. They were perfect for each other. They were both in it for the same reasons?to have fun and enjoy each other without the expectations of a formal relationship. Neither of them wanted marriage or kids so the pressure wasn’t on to make anything more of it than it was.
And what it was was sex.
Lots and lots and lots of truly amazing, fabulous sex that just kept getting better and better.
Callie was going to miss it when Sebastian went back to Melbourne. She was going to miss it a lot.
Along with the other things. Like the laughter. And the dining out—for a change. The movies. Sunday drives after sprawling out on her deck, eating pastries for brunch and reading the weekend papers.
She was still s
miling as her mobile rang and she pushed the button so she could talk hands free as she drove along.
‘Callie?’
Callie’s smile broadened at the voice that was as familiar to her now as her own. ‘I was just thinking about you.’
‘That’s nice.’
The smile slipped. Sebastian sounded tense. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘I’ve just taken a call from Frank Jessop’s wife. He’s agitated and she’s concerned.’
Frank was a Vietnam vet who suffered from PTSD marked by severe flashbacks. ‘You want me to divert there?’
‘Please. I’m on my way but you’re closer and with this afternoon traffic I could be half an hour.’
She nodded. ‘That’s fine. I’m only a few minutes away. See you when you get there.’
‘Callie …’
She’d been about to hang up but the strained note in his voice stopped her.
‘Just be there, for June, okay? If you think he’s close to the edge, leave the house with her and ring for an ambulance…Don’t engage him, okay?’
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him she knew what she was doing but Callie could hear tension in his voice and guessed that this had to be hard for him. That he’d probably faced this situation not only professionally but personally.
‘Of course,’ she murmured, and rang off.
∗ ∗ ∗
When Callie arrived at the Jessops’ she was greeted by Frank’s wife as if she was a floatation device and June was drowning. A small bird of a woman, she looked frantic and had obviously been crying.
‘Are you okay?’ Callie asked, surreptitiously running her gaze all over June to check she hadn’t been harmed. ‘Has he hurt you?’
‘No, no, no,’ June dismissed. ‘He hasn’t…he never would. I just…’She pressed her hand to her mouth. ‘I haven’t seen him like this in a long time.’
Callie reached for June’s hands and smiled. ‘It’s okay now. I’m here and Sebastian’s on his way.’
‘Thank you,’ June whispered. ‘Thank you.’
Callie smiled again and squeezed the woman’s hand. ‘I might just pop in and check on him, okay?’
June nodded. ‘Would you, please? I’m so worried.’
Callie’s heart went out to June. Her love for her husband, even in his disturbed state, was inspirational. ‘Of course.’
Callie followed June into the front lounge room. Frank was sitting on one of the chairs, the leather cracked and worn, staring at the floor. He was rocking slightly and muttering to himself. An image of Andy rose in her mind and she quashed it.
‘Hello, Frank. Do you remember me?’ Callie approached slowly and stopped a few feet away. ‘Callie Douglas? One of the nurses from Jambalyn.’
Frank looked up at her, still rocking. He frowned and it was as if he was looking straight through her before he returned his gaze to the floor.
‘Okay. Well, I’m going to have a cup of tea with June while we wait for Sebastian. Can I get you one?’
Frank curled his lip at her. ‘No tea,’ he barked. ‘No shrink.’
Callie nodded. ‘Okay. I’ll just be out in the kitchen with June.’
June burst into tears when they reached the kitchen and Callie put her arm around the tiny woman and ushered her to the table. She busied herself making tea while keeping one ear on the occasional mutterings from the lounge.
She kept up a constant stream of inane chatter. She should have been trying to establish the events that had led to this breakdown but June seemed too raw and Callie knew she’d have to go over it enough times today as it was.
Sebastian arrived within twenty minutes and she greeted him at the door. He looked tall and capable and commanding coming up the path and her heart skipped a beat or two. She filled him in on her appraisal of Frank and the situation as they walked to the kitchen.
He sat down next to June and put his arm around her shoulders, murmuring to her in a low voice, asking the questions Callie hadn’t and telling her everything was going to be okay.
Sebastian stood. ‘I’ll go and say hi,’ he told them.
Callie nodded and she and June followed but waited at the doorway.
‘Hello, Frank,’ Sebastian said as he walked slowly towards his client. ‘Not feeling so good today?’
Frank’s head snapped up as if he’d been struck with a cattle prod. ‘I said no,’ he roared and leapt off the couch, lunging at Sebastian.
Sebastian stood his ground. Frank was surprisingly strong for a man in his seventies but he was no match for a fit forty-year-old. Sebastian gripped the older man’s biceps hard, preventing any upward swing, holding him stationary while he railed and struggled.
June gasped and Callie’s heart leapt into her throat as Frank’s wild eyes chilled her. And then, as she watched, Frank stopped struggling and started to cry, crumpling against Sebastian.
Sebastian held the older man as he sobbed. He glanced at Callie, who looked pale, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. He smiled at her. ‘Take June outside for a cuppa, will you, and ring for an ambulance? Code two will be fine.’
Callie, her heartbeat still roaring in her ears, returned a wobbly smile and nodded. She couldn’t remember ever seeing him braver. Or more sexy. Not standing on a bridge in a bulletproof vest, confronting an arrogant fool in a restaurant, or presenting an important paper in front of hundreds of colleagues.
But holding a distraught man who was at the end of his tether, gently and reverently, brought a king-size lump to her throat.
‘Come on, June,’ she said. ‘Frank’s going to be fine now.’
Two hours later they were driving in silence back to Jambalyn. A grim-faced Sebastian was looking out his window as Callie navigated the heavy traffic.
She pulled up at a red light and glanced at him. He looked exhausted, the lines around his eyes and mouth more pronounced, his usually erect frame slightly less so.
It was the first time she’d seen him looking every one of his forty years.
But more than that, he looked…alone and she couldn’t bear it. Not when she was right there beside him. She slid her hand onto his thigh and gave a gentle squeeze. ‘Tough day for you.’
Sebastian dragged himself back from echoes of his childhood and rubbed a hand across eyes that felt gritty. He gave her a half smile and covered her hand. ‘Tougher for Frank.’
Callie nodded. The light turned green and she removed her hand, watching as Sebastian returned to his silent vigil out the window. She wanted to pull over, crawl into his lap and just hold him. She wanted to wrap him up until the events of the day drifted away for ever. He looked so untouchable at the moment, so distant, she just wanted to bring him back. To her. Use her body to ground him in the here and now, snatch him back from wherever it was he’d gone to.
But at the moment he looked too far away, too far gone. He certainly didn’t look like he needed anyone and the one drawback of being in a ‘relationship’ where the two people in it completely avoided defining it as a relationship was that she wasn’t sure how much she could push. They were in it for ‘better’ after all, not ‘worse’.
And she couldn’t bear for him to reject her.
So she drove on and it wasn’t until she shut off the engine that Sebastian even acknowledged that they’d arrived at Jambalyn.
Callie undid her seat belt and groped for the door handle.
‘No,’ Sebastian said, placing a stilling hand on hers. ‘Go home. I’ll do the paperwork and follow you.’
Callie was surprised how much it hurt to have him dismiss her. She sucked in a breath. ‘Sebastian, I don’t mind hanging around. I could—’
‘No, really,’ he interrupted. Sebastian could see the confusion in her gaze and squeezed her hand to reassure her. ‘I think I need to…It’s been a long day and I really want to get things straight in my head.’ He smiled at her. ‘I can never think straight around you. I think I need to just be alone for a bit.’
Callie smiled at his little jo
ke, even though tears scalded the backs of her eyes and she felt as if a huge fist had been rammed into her heart. He was pushing her away and it hurt. She knew she had no claim on him or any right to expect anything from him but, still, she wanted to be there, wanted him to want her to be there. To reach for her, not push her away.
‘Of course,’ she said, forcing a note of professional courtesy into her voice as if he was merely someone she worked with. She buckled up her seat belt again. ‘No problems. I’ll see you when you get home.’
Sebastian inserted the key into Callie’s door. He felt old and weary and he wanted her. Needed her. After a harrowing afternoon he needed to get lost in her, to take him away from the memories that had dogged him since their call out to Frank’s place.
His father. His childhood. The Gulf.
To look forward, not back.
To affirm that life was good and right and decent.
‘Callie?’ he called as he threw his keys on the hallstand.
He didn’t get an answer so he called again as he walked into the empty lounge. He heard water running and headed towards her bedroom. ‘Callie?’
Her ‘In the shower’ drifted towards him and his pulse quickened. He toed his shoes off as he entered the bedroom, stopped to strip off his socks and kept walking towards the en suite bathroom.
He walked through the open doorway that connected the two rooms and there she was, gloriously naked, her head tipped back, her eyes shut as she washed shampoo out of her hair. Soapy water sluiced down her long, strong body, over her breasts and the curve of her belly and down her thighs. Bubbles clung to her nipples.
He hardened instantly and reached for his top button. She opened her eyes and stared directly at him with soft eyes that seem to see right inside him, and he got harder. Their gazes locked as he stripped off his shirt, undid his belt, pushed off his trousers and underwear.
He didn’t ask permission, just opened the shower door, stepped inside and reached for her.
Callie went eagerly, plastering her wet body against all his hardness. He looked tired and a restless kind of desperation shadowed his normally clear peridot eyes. She could see how much he needed her and she could no more have said no to him than flown to the moon.
Rescued by the Dreamy Doc / Navy Officer to Family Man Page 10
