Rescued by the Dreamy Doc

The others followed suit and for a few moments no one said anything as they contemplated their lukewarm coffees. But Callie could feel Sebastian’s intense gaze on her and suddenly she wanted nothing more than to wrap herself up in all that intenseness and forget every detail of this horrible day.

Geraldine pursed her lips, about to say something, but her mobile rang, interrupting her. She spoke briefly then ended the call. ‘Sorry,’ she said standing. ‘Tahlia thinks she’s in labour.’

Callie looked up from her coffee, her teaspoon clattering against the saucer, everything prior to the call disappearing in an instant. Tahlia was Gerri’s daughter and this was the first grandchild. ‘Oh, my God, Gerri!’

‘I have to go.’

‘Of course,’ Callie urged. ‘Go. Just go.’

Gerri looked at Sebastian. ‘Can you see she gets home? ‘

Sebastian looked at Callie and it was the first time their eyes had met since she’d walked out of the restaurant.

Inevitability smacked him in the face. There was no way she was going home alone tonight.

‘Of course.’

Gerri nodded. She looked at Callie as if weighing her up and then looked back at Sebastian. ‘Ask her about the bridge,’ she said, before hustling out of the restaurant.

Not that Callie noticed her friend’s departure, caught up as she was in his stare, her belly tightening, her breasts aching?knowing, now that her safety net had disappeared, there was only one way this night was going to end.

‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ Sebastian murmured.

Callie nodded. ‘I’m fine.’

Sebastian didn’t believe her for a second. ‘Do you need to talk about the bridge?’

Callie regarded him silently for a moment then said, ‘No.’

‘Really?’

Callie nodded, trying to temper the action and not betray how desperately she did not want to talk about the bloody bridge.

Damn Gerri!

He continued to hold her gaze, seeking answers, and she couldn’t bear it. She leaned forward, lifted her hand and gently pushed his floppy fringe back a little. His skin was warm to touch and she heard the quick intake of his breath.

She dropped her hand. ‘Sorry. Couldn’t resist it.’

Sebastian, his forehead tingling, held her gaze for a little longer then nodded. Whether she knew it or not, she did need to talk. ‘My place is ten minutes away. I have…’he looked down and grimaced at his cappuccino ‘…hot coffee.’

It wasn’t a question, it wasn’t a command. It was just there, and the way she saw it she could go home by herself and try not to think about the very thing she’d been avoiding all day. That hammered at her skull even now, tearing at her shields. Or she could go home with him.

But she sure as hell didn’t want coffee and conversation.

Not tonight.

They didn’t speak as Sebastian drove the short distance to his apartment. They didn’t speak in the car park. Or the lift. Or as he opened his front door.

Neither did they touch.

He didn’t even switch on a light.

Instead, he watched as Callie strode across his lounge room, dodging boxes, towards the moonlight streaming in through his uncurtained French doors.

‘Sorry ‘bout the mess,’ he murmured as he drew level with her, his chest close to her back, his lips near her ear.

Callie frowned, dragging her gaze from the alabaster river below, and looked round, her shoulder brushing his chest. She hadn’t even noticed them. ‘I didn’t notice.’

Sebastian nodded slowly. ‘Callie. The bridge?’

She shook her head. ‘No.’

He regarded her quietly. ‘You know, maybe it’d help if you—’

Callie leaned forward and kissed him, cutting off the words she already knew back to front. It was a fierce kiss. Hard. She didn’t open her mouth, neither did he. But she felt it right down to her toes.

‘The only therapy I want tonight,’ she said, inching slightly back from his mouth, ‘involves us being horizontal.’ She snaked her arms around his neck and pressed her mouth to his again.

Sebastian felt her words all the way down to his groin. And when her tongue lapped against his lips, seeking entrance to his mouth, he granted it on a strangled groan, burying his fingers in her hair.

It felt good to be kissing a woman again. To get lost in one. To feel curves pressed against him and suck in all that sweet female aroma with each jerky breath. And not just any woman. A sassy but vulnerable one who had blown his mind on a bridge a mere twelve hours ago and was doing her damnedest to blow it again.

But as the kiss grew increasingly wild—desperate? his conscience pricked at him. Even though he couldn’t think of a time when he’d been this aroused, he knew this was about more than hot stranger sex for Callie.

The psychologist in him knew there were bigger things driving her.

Her fingers had worked three buttons undone by the time he managed to pull himself out of the sexual fire scorching his common sense. He covered her hands.

‘Stop,’ he whispered, kissing her eyelids, her cheeks. ‘Hold on for a moment.’

He ignored her mewed protest and the fascinating sight of her ravaged mouth. ‘Why don’t we get that coffee first?’

Callie, still dazed and weak-kneed, would have slumped to the floor had she not been leaning against him. She returned her ministrations to his neck, feeling the spike of bristles against her tongue. ‘I don’t want a coffee,’ she murmured.

Sebastian shut his eyes as her tongue stroked magic over his skin, whispering illicit promises into his pulse points. He resisted the urge to let his head fall back, give her unlimited access. Just.

‘Callie,’ he groaned, opening his eyes as her lips trekked towards his shoulder. ‘I don’t think this is a wise idea. There’s obviously something troubling you…and using sex to obliterate issues isn’t a very good way to handle things.’

Callie smiled against his collarbone. The poor man was really trying to do the right thing. But pressed into her pelvis she could feel how hard he was for her, and the convulsive clutch of his hands at her hips spoke volumes.

‘Relax,’ she murmured. ‘I promise it won’t hurt.’

Sebastian chuckled. ‘That’s not what I’m worried about.’

Callie smiled again, the rumble of his voice tickling her lips as she returned her mouth to the strong column of his throat.

He pulled back slightly and felt her lips leave his skin. ‘I’d hate you to regret this is the morning.’