The Baby Of Their Dreams

‘Is he a friend?’

Cat shook her head.

‘A colleague?’

‘No.’

‘So why not just say no if it’s something that you don’t want to do?’

‘I know that I should. I just feel bad…’

‘Well, don’t—he’s far too busy banging on about his late wife to notice what others are feeling.’

She felt her nostrils tighten. ‘That was mean.’

‘No,’ Dominic refuted. ‘He tried to run the whole sorry story by me yesterday. What’s mean is buttonholing a relative stranger and completely ruining their lunch.’

He shrugged.

He was dismissive.

She didn’t like that and she was about to head off when he halted her in her tracks.

‘Do you want dinner away from the hotel?’

‘I’ve got a conference call to make,’ she said, and gave him a tight smile.

‘Sure?’ he said.

Usually, yes.

She didn’t like his dismissal of Gordon but, apart from that, he was, well, deliciously overwhelming.

Gemma’s words were ringing in her ears. He didn’t have to be perfect, he didn’t have to be anything other than…

God, but she fancied him.

She could have left it there, just walked off and it would have been over. There were no games, no pretence, just his question, which she now answered truthfully. ‘Dinner away from the hotel sounds great,’ she said. ‘I’ll just…’ She held up her bags and was about to suggest that she take them up and meet him back here in…half an hour, or however long it took to get showered and dressed.

But by then she’d have changed her mind, she knew.

Half an hour from now she’d be calling Reception to pass on a message to him.

Or she could just go with how she felt now.

‘I’ll just ask Reception if they can take my bags up.’

The streets were noisy and he navigated them easily and took her to a place that Cat would never have found had she explored on her own—a few streets along from the strip the hotel was on. They walked down a stone stairwell and to an asado restaurant that was noisy and smoky, even with the open area out the back.

‘So, are you pleased your talk is over?’ he asked when they were tucked away at a table.

‘Very,’ Cat said. ‘I can relax now.’

And relax she did, admitting she had no clue about Spanish wine and letting him choose.

‘Are you staying till Monday?’ he asked, and she shook her head.

‘No, I fly out tomorrow evening—I’m back at work on Monday. I wish…’

‘Wish what?’

‘Well, I was really only thinking of my talk when I booked the flights. I wasn’t actually expecting to like Barcelona so much. I should have tagged on a couple of days’ annual leave and done a bit of exploring.’

‘You always could.’

It sounded very tempting but it was a little too late for that now. ‘We’re pretty short on staff at the moment. My colleague Andrew is going on leave and Hamish, he’s the other consultant…’ She rolled her eyes. ‘I’m sure you know how it is.’

‘Remind me,’ he said.

‘Remind you?’ she checked. ‘Where do you work?’

‘Scotland.’

She waited for him to elaborate, which he did but it was vague rather than specific. ‘I work a little bit here and a longer bit there,’ Dominic said, and Cat then felt the scrutiny of his gaze and the message behind his words as he spoke on. ‘I don’t like to be tied to one place.’ And then he elaborated properly. ‘Or one person.’

Well, that certainly told her.

In part, Cat was tempted to simply get up and leave. It wasn’t a meal, they both knew that. This wasn’t two like-minded colleagues sharing a dinner after a busy day at a conference.

This was exactly what the dear Dr Gemma had ordered.

Cat was old enough to know it.

Their knees were nudging and suddenly her lips felt too big for her face without the resting place of his mouth.

She felt his eyes glance down as she reached for her drink and from the sudden weight in her breasts she knew where his glance had been. Only, it wasn’t sleazy. Or, if it was, it came from both of them because she’d been doing the same to his bum a little earlier as he’d walked down the stairs.

No, this wasn’t just dinner.

‘Do you have a problem with that?’ he said, and she blinked as she tried to remember the conversation. Oh, yes, the not-tied-to-one-person thing, he was asking if she had a problem with that.

Did she?

Yes, a part of her did.

Very much so.

A part of her wanted to tell him where he could shove his arrogant, presumptuous offer and head back to her hotel room and bury herself in the grief of today.