Gold Coast Angels: How to Resist Temptation (Mills & Boon Medical) (Gold Coast Angels - Book 4)

by Amy Andrews

  He smiled back. ‘Then I’ll be strong enough for both of us.’

  Callie raised an eyebrow. This ought to be good. She didn’t like to boast, but she was pretty damn hard to resist when she went into seduction mode. She may have failed miserably at seducing her husband but she hadn’t failed since and she wasn’t about to start!

  The whole stupid premise would be worth it, just to take Mr Willpower down a peg or two.

  ‘Fine,’ she said. ‘When and where?’

  ‘No time like the present. We’re on a date already, right?’

  Callie wasn’t exactly dressed for seduction but one thing she’d learned about every man, bar one: they weren’t that fussy. She smiled and sat back. ‘Okay,’ she said as she did a slow lazy cross of her legs, her foot nudging close to his leg again, and was satisfied to see Cade’s gaze stray to the way her trousers pulled across her thighs.

  ‘You go first,’ she prompted. ‘You’re the date aficionado. Impress me.’

  ‘Okay. How about a quick word association as an icebreaker?’

  Callie lifted a shoulder. ‘As long as I get to turn the tables.’

  ‘Sure,’ he murmured. ‘Turn around’s fair play.’

  He reached forward and popped another stuffed mushroom into his mouth, watching her thoughtfully as he ate. She seemed very sure of herself. How much would it take to rattle her?

  ‘Doctor,’ he said. An easy one to open with.

  She smiled. ‘Who.’

  Cade laughed. Okay, that he hadn’t expected. ‘Hospital.’

  ‘Patients.’

  ‘NICU,’ he shot back.

  ‘Babies.’

  ‘Emergency.’

  ‘Airway.’

  ‘Alex,’ he said.

  Callie didn’t falter. ‘Friend. Best friend.’

  ‘Broken Hill,’ Cade continued, inordinately pleased at her quick-fire response to his brother’s name.

  ‘Home.’

  Callie blinked at the answer that had fallen from her lips. Broken Hill hadn’t been home for over a decade. She didn’t think of it like that. It hadn’t felt like home since before her divorce.

  Cade raised an eyebrow. ‘Ooh, Freudian or what?’

  She rolled her eyes. ‘Have you finished yet?’

  He shook his head. ‘Joe.’

  Callie sought through a hundred different responses. Teenage sweetheart. Farmer. Best footy player in town. Good friend. Family man. Husband. Provider.

  Distant. Messed up. Sexually dysfunctional.

  ‘Ex.’

  Cade nodded. She’d taken a while to find that word and there’d been a hell of a lot going on behind her eyes as she’d looked for it.

  ‘My turn,’ Callie said, jumping into the sudden quiet. There’d been too much navel-gazing for her.

  ‘Should I be afraid?’ he asked.

  Callie leaned forward again, aware of the slight gape of her buttons at her cleavage. Aware he was aware of it, too. ‘Very.’

  ‘Be gentle,’ he joked.

  Not on your life. ‘Beach,’ she said with a smile.

  Cade chuckled as she laid down her first ace. ‘Shark.’

  Callie raised an eyebrow. So, he was determined not to play? ‘Shower.’

  He shook his head at her persistence. ‘Hot.’

  ‘Tiles.’

  His gaze locked with hers. ‘Very hot.’

  ‘Scratches.’

  Cade didn’t look away. ‘Really freaking hot.’

  ‘Underwear.’

  He gave a half laugh as he broke eye contact. ‘Beach.’

  Callie smiled. On a beach probably somewhere on the other side of the Pacific by now. ‘Alex,’ she said.

  Like Callie, Cade didn’t hesitate. ‘Brother.’ Although he’d almost said stepbrother from habit. But they’d got past that. They’d certainly been through more than a lot of brothers had.

  ‘Childhood.’

  Cade glanced at her as the softer note of her voice called to him. He hesitated, trying to find the right adjective. ‘Tumultuous.’

  Callie nodded. Yes. From what she’d gleaned from Alex, he and Cade had been through some very rough times. ‘You give in or you want me to go on?’ she asked.

  He narrowed his eyes at her. ‘That depends. What’s your next shot?’

  ‘Seaweed.’

  Cade laughed, holding his hands up in surrender. ‘Enough.’ He took a sip of his beer, looking at her over the frosty rim. ‘See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?’

  ‘Oh, no,’ she agreed innocently. ‘I can totally see why women dig this…icebreaker. Is that what you called it?’

  Cade regarded her smart, sassy mouth. She really was a damn near irresistible package. He could see why Alex spoke so highly of her. ‘Yes. We have a bit of a laugh and everyone relaxes.’

  Callie lifted her glass. ‘You know wine works just as well, right?’

  He shook his head. ‘You Aussies. No finesse.’

  He said ‘Aussies’ in that soft American way, pronouncing the ‘A’ with a whole lot of breath behind it instead of with a harsh almost ‘O’ as Australians usually did. It sounded foreign to her ears but also deliciously exotic. ‘So what’s your next move?’ she enquired sweetly.

  ‘We move on to the usual stuff. Movies, books, television.’

  ‘Work?’

  He shook his head. ‘Not usually. If she’s not in the field and wants to talk about hers then sure.’

  Callie frowned. ‘But you don’t talk about yours?’ She didn’t know what she’d talk to men about seventy-five per cent of the time if it wasn’t for work. And the other twenty-five per cent? That required not very many words at all.

  ‘Not really.’

  ‘Why not? You’re a prenatal surgeon, for crying out loud. Chicks must dig that.’

  He shrugged. ‘I’d rather not spend a date talking about myself.’

  There was more—Callie could tell. Why was he reluctant to talk about a job that was seriously cool? He did something very few doctors on the planet did. He was like an astronaut, for crying out loud—exploring unchartered territory.

  In fact, it was downright heroic. Why wouldn’t you sell that to someone you were trying to get between the sheets?

  ‘And?’

  Cade drained his beer, looking into the bottom of his empty glass. ‘My job varies. There are days that aren’t exactly sunbeams and glitter, as you would know.’ He looked at her. ‘I’d rather not get into any of that with someone who doesn’t really understand how that feels.’

  Callie was taken aback by his heartfelt honesty. She knew those days. When things didn’t work out. When no bit of machinery or hotshot prenatal surgeon in the world could prevent the tragic inevitability of a baby’s death. When life support failed. When hope and optimism and prayers all failed.

  When you had to look into a mother’s eyes and tell her that her baby was gone.

  And he was right. Only people who knew what it was like to have that talk could truly understand how it took a tiny piece out of you every time.

  How it left you just a little bit the poorer.

  She nodded. ‘Of course.’

  The waiter came and cleared away their food, giving them a break from the sombre mood. They ordered another round of drinks and when the waiter left Cade looked at Callie and asked her the question she’d avoided answering the other night.

  ‘So how did you become a doctor without any support or encouragement from your family?’

  Callie regarded him steadily. She didn’t normally talk about this stuff with anyone but his admission just now had touched her. She found herself wanting to tell him.

  ‘When I was at school I had a part-time job at the local chemist’s. John Barry Pharmacy.’ She smiled at the memory of it. ‘Mr Barry was a really great old guy. One of those the-sky’s-the-limit kind of people, you know?’

  Cade nodded. He knew. Not that there’d been any Mr Barrys in his life.

  ‘I did really well at school and he kept sayi
ng I should go to university and study medicine because I was smart and really good with the patients. But…’

  Callie stalled. But all she’d wanted to do was marry Joe and live on his farm and have a family. And her mother had wanted it, too. So two months after leaving school, and two weeks after turning eighteen, she had done just that. With everybody’s blessing.

  And she’d been the happiest eighteen-year-old on the planet.

  The waiter arrived and put their drinks down. Callie took a long, grateful swallow of her wine.

  ‘But?’ Cade prompted as Callie stared into her glass.

  Callie lifted her eyes. No doubt Cade had always been driven… . Would he understand? ‘I wasn’t particularly ambitious back then. I…wasn’t ready to do anything about it. So I worked there full time after I finished school and he slowly chipped away at me until…’

  My marriage fell apart and my husband left me.

  Callie swallowed. ‘One day I was ready. And I took the plunge and he helped me apply to unis and for scholarships and…I got in. On a full scholarship because I was a rural student. And I grabbed the opportunity with both hands and have never looked back.’

  Cade nodded. He wasn’t fooled by her abridged version but it was a start. ‘You were lucky to have had a Mr Barry,’ he said.

  Callie nodded. God alone knew where she’d have been now without him. Still living in Broken Hill in the shadow of her failed marriage probably. ‘I owe him a lot,’ she agreed. One of the few times she’d been home in thirteen years had been for his funeral.

  Cade smiled at her and Callie smiled back, aware that he hadn’t been as lucky as her. ‘What about you?’ she asked. ‘How’d a kid from a troubled background get to become a hotshot prenatal surgeon?’

  ‘Ah,’ Cade said, taking a pull of his beer, ‘again, I try to keep the dates about the woman. Chicks love talking about themselves.’

  Callie snorted. This chick didn’t. ‘Oh, no,’ she said. ‘I told you mine. And turn around’s fair play, remember.’

  Cade smiled at her using his words against him. He regarded her for a moment or two, trying to figure out where to start.

  ‘I think I always had this…hankering to help kids. They’re so vulnerable… . I wanted to give them a voice and a chance of beating the odds. But it wasn’t until after I got out of home and…’ started making some serious money from some very appreciative women, all old enough to be my mother ‘…came into some money…that I realised I wanted to be a doctor. That I wanted to start at the beginning. From the beginning. Giving vulnerable babies the best chance at life.’

  Callie frowned. ‘Alex didn’t mention you came into money.’

  Cade gave a half laugh. ‘I didn’t. Not like that. I…earned it. Sort of.’

  Rich, bored women paid their hot pool boys a lot of money. More than he’d ever seen in his life.

  And he’d been very good at his job.

  ‘It’s…kind of complicated.’

  Callie smiled and raised her glass. ‘Now, that I understand.’

  She took a sip of her wine and then promptly yawned.

  ‘Is this date boring you?’ He smiled.

  Callie laughed. ‘I’m beat. I’m sorry. I’m on call this weekend, too.’ She placed her barely touched glass of wine on the table. ‘I think I need to call it a night.’

  Cade grinned triumphantly. ‘See, there you go. You got through a whole date without jumping me.’

  Callie shot him a direct look. ‘Don’t count your chickens. Didn’t you say you were giving me a lift home?’

  Cade’s smiled faded. ‘Sure.’

  Callie flicked an appreciative glance over his body. ‘Oh, the possibilities.’

  Callie kept herself in check during the car trip and the ride up in the lift. Cade had eyed her warily, even more so since she’d come out of the hotel bathroom with two buttons popped on her blouse and her hair pulled out of its ponytail. Having him on guard made it harder for her but she wasn’t one to give up easily.

  When they got to her door he stopped as she unlocked it and pushed it open. ‘Wanna come in for a nightcap?’ she suggested cheekily.

  Cade smiled. ‘No, thanks.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ she asked as she backed into her apartment, pulling her blouse out of her trousers and starting to undo the remaining buttons.

  Cade laughed this time. ‘Nice try, but no.’

  Not to be deterred, Callie popped the last button and parted the blouse to reveal a gauzy bra with purple satin trim and a diamanté twinkling from the cleavage. Her nipples were clearly visible—it left nothing to the imagination.

  ‘Really?’ she murmured.

  All the moisture in Cade’s mouth evaporated as he remembered how her nipples had tasted. How good they’d felt against his tongue. His loins stirred and he held on to the doorframe just in case. ‘I thought you were beat,’ he said, his eyes roaming over every millimetre of exposed skin.

  Callie loved how he looked at her breasts like he wanted to devour them. Her belly heated and the now familiar ache between her legs started up again. ‘There’s nothing like the bone-deep satisfaction of a good orgasm to help you get a good night’s sleep, I always say.’

  Cade dropped his head from side to side, his fingers tightening on the architrave. Truer words had never been spoken. ‘You are evil,’ he muttered.

  Callie smiled triumphantly. ‘I can be. I can be whatever you want me to be.’

  Cade growled under his breath as the stirring became something much more. ‘Goodnight, Callie,’ he said.

  And then with supreme willpower he pushed away from the door and headed for his apartment.

  And a cold shower.

  Callie stared at the empty space in her doorway where Cade had been only seconds before, looking at her like he’d sell his soul for a night with a little bit of evil. And now there was just dead air and the horrible fluorescent lights of the hallway.

  The buzz in her blood became a hum of disappointment. She squeezed her thighs together as the tingle between her legs burned with no regard for how its chance at satisfaction had just walked away.

  Again.

  Cade Coleman, she decided as she pushed the door shut, was hard on her ego. Had she not already known him carnally—extremely carnally—his second rejection of her might have been a devastating blow to someone who needed male appreciation more than most.

  But she did.

  So her ego was going to have to be satisfied with the frank desire she’d seen heating his whisky gaze.

  Something she’d never seen in Joe’s eyes.

  Callie wandered over to the huge sliding doors that opened onto a small, aged balcony. One of the few advantages of living in a positively ancient apartment block, built way back before the skyscrapers of the strip could ever have been imagined, was its prime position with a one-eighty-degree ocean view.

  The breeze blew the loose edges of her blouse open as she stepped out and she welcomed the cooling effect on her heated skin. But the heat still simmered in her blood and there was only one thing that was going to satisfy it.

  She tapped her nails against the railing in frustration. Cade wanted her. She knew it. He was just in denial.

  And if that wasn’t a challenge, she didn’t know what was.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CALLIE JAMMED HER HAND between the closing lift doors just as they were about to shut altogether and deprive her of the very fine sight of Cade all alone inside.

  They jerked open and Cade quirked an eyebrow at her. ‘In a hurry?’ he asked.

  ‘No.’ She smiled. ‘Just wanted to get you all alone.’

  They’d spent the last hour in a multi-disciplinary meeting with Trudy and Elliot, talking about the options for their baby. It had been an invigorating discussion and the decision had been made to go ahead and do the lesion repair as soon as possible.

  But Callie had found it hard to concentrate. Not even a hellish weekend on call had managed to cool the simmer in her blood
and one look at Cade in the meeting, being all hotshot surgeon, had set it boiling.

  ‘I want another date,’ Callie said after the doors had slid shut. ‘How about tonight?’

  Cade grinned. ‘You do like to cut to the chase, don’t you?’

  ‘You get what you see with me. You want pretence, you’re looking at the wrong woman.’

  Cade had to admit it was one of her most attractive features. Sophie hadn’t been straight with him. Not about her plans for him or about her contraceptive cover.

  Of course, the fact that Callie also looked hot in her ponytail and black sleeveless dress added to her allure. The dress had a utilitarian look to it with pockets and press studs everywhere his eyes skimmed—breast pockets, hip pockets, pockets over her very delectable backside.

  ‘I thought you didn’t date?’ he said, keeping his hands wrapped firmly around the railing behind him.

  Callie shrugged. ‘Would you rather I said, “I want to have another round of sex with you—how about tonight?”’

  Cade laughed. ‘I think I could read the subtext.’

  ‘So what do you say?’

  Cade regarded her for a moment. Callie was great. Hot and sexy and funny. But she was also seriously screwed up. Which was fine—he wasn’t exactly emotionally healthy, either. But she was too nice a person to be hiding behind this façade of hers. He wasn’t sure what had happened to turn her life into a series of brief, meaningless hook-ups but she was missing out on some of the best times life could offer.

  And for some reason he couldn’t bear the thought of that.

  Not to mention having Callie as a fake romantic interest was a potential win-win for him.

  The lift dinged. ‘Well?’ she said as the doors opened.

  Cade let go of the railing. ‘Yes, to the date. Maybe, to the sex,’ he said as he exited and headed for his office.

  Callie blinked at his back. Damn the man. ‘What exactly does that mean?’ she called after him as she scurried to catch up.

  Cade was aware of her at his elbow but he kept his gaze fixed firmly ahead. Given that he hadn’t been able to get her semi-striptease out of his head all weekend he figured he didn’t need to look at a dress that had access written all over it.