Page 9 of One Night with the Doctor

‘There, see?’ Geri nodded at Callie. ‘Sebastian can give you a lift home. All sorted.’

‘Geri.’ Callie tried really hard not to sound exasperated. ‘This isn’t important. Just go and meet that grandbaby already.’

Geri grinned but was clearly not going to leave without the last word. She turned to face Sebastian. ‘Ask her about the bridge. From today.’

‘Geri.’

Callie really wished her boss hadn’t dobbed her in like that as she hot footed it out of the restaurant leaving her and Sebastian. And the bridge.

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

‘I’m fine.’

‘Do you need to talk about the bridge?’

Callie’s gaze locked on his as she regarded him silently for a moment. ‘No.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes.’ Callie kept her response casual, like Geri was making a mountain out of a molehill because she really, really, really did not want to talk about that bloody bridge.

Damn Geri!

But his eyes held hers determinedly, probing her gaze, seeking answers, his fringe flopping distractingly over his forehead. Her fingers tingled to push it back and she wrapped her hands around her coffee cup as the impulse became more and more urgent.

Because that would be plain weird.

‘My place is ten minutes away.’ His voice was a low burr in the night. ‘I have…’ He looked down and grimaced at his cappuccino. ‘Hot coffee. And I’ve been told I’m a reasonable conversationalist.’

It wasn’t a question, it wasn’t a command. It was just there – an opportunity. The way Callie saw it, she could go home by herself to an empty house and try not to think about the very thing she’d been avoiding all day – that hammered at her skull and tore 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. Sebastian didn’t even switch on a light. Instead, he watched as she strode across his lounge room, dodging boxes, towards the moonlight streaming in through his un-curtained 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.

She frowned as she dragged her gaze from the alabaster river below to look at him, her shoulder brushing his chest. ‘I didn’t notice.’

Sebastian nodded slowly. Yeah… she really needed to talk. ‘Callie… The bridge?’

‘No.’ She shook her head.

‘You know, maybe it’d help if you⁠—’

She kissed him then, leaning in and cutting off his words. It was a fierce kiss. Hard. She didn’t open her mouth, neither did he, but Sebastian felt her kiss right down to his toes.

‘The only therapy I want tonight,’ she said, inching slightly away from his mouth, ‘involves us being horizontal.’

Then she snaked her arms around his neck and pressed her mouth to his again.

Sebastian felt her words this time – all the way down to his groin. And when her tongue lapped against his lips, seeking entrance to his mouth, he felt that in his dick and when he granted her access, her strangled little moan was felt deep, deep inside his balls.

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

He certainly had not expected this outcome when he’d woken in his new apartment this morning.