by Amy Andrews
But just for a moment.
‘Cade.’ She hissed it this time, pushing more firmly at his shoulders.
‘Wha—?’ he asked, pulling away, and he looked as dazed and lust-drunk as she felt.
She kissed him for long sloppy moments, water from the shower lubricating the kiss to sweet slippery perfection. She pulled back when his erection kicked against her. ‘This,’ she said, holding up the condom. ‘On. Now.’
She was incapable of stringing too many words together. Certainly incapable of putting it on herself. But Cade nodded and she bit her lip as he fumbled, holding her and wrestling it on, but finally, finally managing it all, and then she said, ‘Now,’ kissing him again and again. ‘Now, now, hurry.’
And then he was inside her in one easy movement and she cried out, her head falling forward onto his shoulder, her fingers gripping his biceps at the heat and the burn and the stretch.
Cade stilled as Callie’s nails dug into his arms. ‘You okay?’ he asked, biting back a deep guttural groan.
Callie lifted her head, dazed. She frowned as the delicious fullness inside her sat high and hard. ‘Of course,’ she gasped. ‘Don’t stop.’
Cade let out a ragged breath but did exactly as he was told, claiming her mouth in a rough kiss as he set the rhythm between them, cranking it up, kiss by kiss, thrust by thrust. Every thrust took them a little higher, her cries driving him on, the bite of her nails edging him closer.
It didn’t take long for the simmer in his loins to get to full boil and as the edges of his world started to fray he slipped his hand between them where they were joined and found exactly what he was looking for.
Callie gasped, her eyes springing open as the direct stimulus threw her build-up into warp speed. Part of her wanted to push it away, to make it last, but the woman who had fought hard for her sexual liberation wanted it now. Wanted the pleasure and release right now.
So she relaxed into it, let herself go. And then everything clenched tight and she threw her head back and called his name as she bucked hard in his arms. Wave after wave swamped her, stoked by Cade as he rocked and rocked and rocked into her, finding his own release, calling her name, too.
Callie didn’t know how long pleasure rained down on her, she just rode it to the end. Till the last ripple had died off and he’d stopped moving. She opened her eyes and looked down to find his forehead resting on her chest right above the unsteady pounding of her heart. His shoulders heaved as if breathing wasn’t easy and she shifted against him, her legs still twined round him, his hardness still inside her.
‘Thank you,’ she said, lifting her hand to push his hair off his forehead. ‘You have no idea how much I needed that.’
Cade lifted his head off her chest, pleased to see that sexual satisfaction had melded the blue and green of her eyes into one. He smiled then reached behind him and flicked off the taps.
‘Oh, I’m not finished with you yet.’
CHAPTER FIVE
CADE WAS HUMMING when He entered the empty hospital lift on Monday morning. He shook his head and smiled as the doors slid shut. Humming? He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this…light.
He’d forgotten what fun sex was. For too long he’d associated it with the screw-up with Sophie and had tried hard to ignore how much he needed it, how much he’d missed it, setting himself the punishing task of forgoing it in preference to his career.
Yes, it had been a one-off, but man, oh, man, he felt like a million bucks.
The lift stopped and the door opened to admit Natalie Alberts. And not even that could put a damper on his mood.
‘Oh, hi, Cade,’ she said, giving him a big smile.
‘Morning, Natalie.’ He smiled back as the doors whispered shut again, his normal wariness around her lost in his happy haze. ‘You off to Outpatients, as well?’
She nodded. ‘Baby clinic this morning. My favourite part of the week.’
Cade laughed. ‘It’s nice seeing healthy babies for a change, isn’t it?’
They made general conversation to the eighth floor and as they made their way along the corridors to the rooms they’d been allocated for their outpatient days.
‘Well, have a good clinic,’ Cade said as they reached his room.
Natalie smiled again. ‘Look, Cade…I heard you’re on a panel at the symposium on Friday night and I was wondering…Would you like to get a drink and a bite to eat afterwards? My shout.’
Cade felt his smile slip and his mood deflate a little. Hell. Natalie Alberts was nothing if not persistent. And, really, prior to Sophie, he would have been totally up for a little dating and some hot sex. Natalie was, after all, very beautiful. But there was a fragility to her that set Cade’s Spidey-sense into hyperdrive. Natalie was Sophie mark two and that was to be avoided at all costs.
Now, if she was Callie…Women like Callie knew the score.
Or at least he hoped she did.
Cade searched around for a suitable reply. He knew he should just come out and say, I’m sorry, I’m not interested. But that hadn’t worked out so well with Sophie and he didn’t need any more guilt on his conscience.
But then Callie appeared in his vision, striding down the corridor towards them and looking a lot like salvation to him.
‘I’m really sorry, Natalie,’ he said, ‘but you know the date that Callie bought at the fundraiser? Well, she’s calling it in that night,’ he lied. A part of him felt bad but he hadn’t had a good experience with telling women the truth. ‘She’s on the panel, too, so we’re heading out after the symposium.’
He was pleased to see that Callie was almost level with them now and he smiled at the woman he’d been nude on a beach with not even twenty-four hours ago and said, ‘Isn’t that right, Callie?’
Callie pulled up beside them feeling completely naked as Cade looked at her with eyes that said, I know just how to make you come. ‘Isn’t what right?’
‘You’re calling in that date you bought. Friday night. After the symposium.’
Now his eyes were saying, Back me up.
Callie read the situation loud and clear and was just too damn happy to tease him. ‘Yep, that’s right. He’d better be paying, too, for five thousand bucks,’ she joked to Natalie. ‘I want my money’s worth.’
She glanced at Cade and caught the slight eyebrow rise. A sudden tingle between her legs reminded her that she’d most definitely got her pound of flesh. And then some.
‘Oh, right,’ Natalie said, looking like she wanted the floor to swallow her whole. ‘Well, I hope you have a good night. I’m really looking forward to the panel.’ She looked at her watch. ‘Better fly, first patient in ten minutes.’
They watched her depart for a moment before Callie turned and batted her eyelashes at Cade. ‘I’m really looking forward to the panel, Dr Coleman,’ she said breathily.
Cade rolled his eyes. ‘Shut up.’
Callie grinned. It seemed nothing could wipe the smile off her face this morning. She felt alive, invigorated, rejuvenated. There was just something about a spot of energetic sex with a skilled lover that ironed out all the kinks.
And dinner with her parents had kinked her up a lot.
Yes, she shouldn’t have done it with him. And maybe she should be all remorseful this morning and awkward about facing him, especially after she’d upped and left in the middle of the night. But what was done was done and Callie had learned a long time ago to not apologise for her choices.
Sleeping with a colleague wasn’t recommended but, then, it had worked out well for her and Alex. Maybe she and Cade were destined to be best friends, as well?
Her smile faltered at the unwelcome thought, although she wasn’t entirely sure why. ‘For crying out loud,’ she said, the teasing note gone from her voice. ‘Why don’t you just put her out of her misery and tell the poor woman you’re not interested?’
Cade shuddered at the thought of having that conversation with a woman again. He’d avoided romantic entanglements just
so he didn’t have to have those types of conversations. ‘No, thanks.’ He opened his door. ‘But thanks for covering for me. I owe you, yet again.’
A rush of memories from last night assailed her and Callie stood in his doorway, blushing. ‘Oh, I think you’ve more than paid your debt.’
Cade grinned as he sat at his desk. When he’d woken up alone that morning he hadn’t been sure if he’d been relieved or not. But he had determined that he and Callie needed to have a chat to ensure they were both on the same page.
It was a conversation he didn’t mind having with Callie because he knew that Callie wasn’t a Natalie. Or a Sophie. Callie was a woman who knew how things were. She’d already told him she didn’t date because she preferred to cut to the chase with men. So she wasn’t likely to make a voodoo doll in his image.
Or take a handful of pills and wind up in hospital.
‘About that…Last night…’ he said, swinging his chair a little. ‘Should we talk about it?’
Callie rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest. ‘You Americans are such talkers.’
He grinned. ‘What can I say? We’re comfortable with therapy.’
‘Well, you’ve no need to worry,’ she said. ‘Last night was great—’
‘Just great?’ he interrupted, with a wounded look.
Callie rolled her eyes. ‘Amazingly great,’ she amended, and then grinned when he nodded his approval. ‘But I don’t want to marry you and have your babies, Cade. I don’t even want to date you. I just wanted to have sex with you. Hell, after a meal with my mother, I needed to have sex with you. But that’s done now.’
Callie faltered at the slightly depressing thought. Cade’s brand of sex had been spectacular. Not knowing it ever again would be a real shame.
She gave herself a mental shake at the lament. For crying out loud, it was just sex. She could get that anywhere. ‘So,’ she said, picking up the thread of conversation, ‘let’s just move on.’
Callie remembered telling Alex something very similar. Let’s move on. Except for some reason saying it to Cade had been a lot harder.
‘Okay.’ He nodded. ‘So…we’re good?’
Cade sought the clarification absently. She was wearing a pencil skirt that came to just above her knee and a blouse that buttoned all the way down the front, and the way her arms were crossed enhanced her cleavage nicely. One part of him was relieved that Callie wanted nothing other than sex from him but faced with the reality of ‘moving on’, of not getting into that blouse again, he wasn’t so sure.
‘Absolutely,’ she agreed, her gaze falling to the way he wore his tie all pulled loose. She had a vision of walking over and fixing it for him, walking between his legs right into his personal space as she leaned over and lowly slid the knot into place.
And then another vision took over. Her stripping it off him altogether, tying him to the chair with it, climbing onto his lap, straddling him…She jumped when the phone on his desk rang, and blinked rapidly to dispel the inappropriate sexual fantasy.
‘I’ll see you later,’ she said briskly, giving a little wave at him before hightailing it away from the temptation of Cade and his tie.
Friday rolled around quickly. Callie only caught glimpses of Cade for the rest of the week, for which her sanity was entirely grateful. She didn’t usually fantasise about men she’d slept with—she just moved on—but Cade was in her head a lot.
And then, with only a few hours to go until she was due to sit on the panel, he appeared by her side. She was on the NICU re-intubating a thirty-weeker who had failed extubation. He’d struggled for the first two hours after coming off support and had continued to struggle with four hours of non-invasive CPAP. A chest X-ray had revealed a left-sided collapse.
Callie was aware of Cade the second he neared her but she was focused on the view of the vocal cords down the laryngoscope and wasn’t taking her eyes off them for a second. ‘Tube, please,’ she said, tuning out the noise of shrieking alarms and the palpable tension all around her.
A nurse beside her handed the endotracheal tube and within seconds Callie had it in place. ‘I’m in,’ she said, withdrawing the blade and the introducer from inside the tube. She held the tube in place while another nurse connected the re-breather bag to the end of the tube and puffed in some gentle breaths.
With her free hand, Callie placed the earpieces of her stethoscope into her ears and placed the bell on the baby’s chest, listening all over for equal air entry.
‘Okay, let’s get it secured and get an X-ray,’ she said.
Only then did she turn her head to look at Cade. The first thing she noticed was that damn crooked tie. ‘You bored, Dr Coleman?’ she asked, her fingers still firmly holding the unsecured tube while a nurse stuck tape to the baby’s face, preparing to anchor the tube. Their sleeves touched and Callie’s arm tingled in response. ‘Needed a little excitement?’
Cade chuckled. ‘No, thanks, I can do without that kind of excitement.’ The unconscious baby was looking nice and pink now that oxygen was being adequately exchanged but hadn’t looked so good a few moments ago.
‘All in a day’s work,’ Callie said, as she shifted her fingers slightly to avoid getting them taped to the tube.
‘I have a case I want to talk to you about,’ he said.
‘Okay, I’ll probably be half an hour.’
Cade nodded. ‘Page me when you’re done.’
It was actually an hour before she and Cade got together in his office. She’d had to pull the tube back half a centimetre and retape it, put in another IV then talk to the parents.
And he hadn’t even managed to straighten his damn tie.
‘What have you got?’ she asked, determined to be all business and not think about his tie or straddling him in his chair.
‘Twenty-three-week spina bifida,’ he said, pointing to the monitor on his desk.
Callie was careful to keep to her side as she inspected the image on the screen. ‘Myelomeningocele?’
Cade nodded. ‘A large one.’
‘Yes,’ she said, as she looked at the large sac-like lesion protruding out of the baby’s back from where the neural tube had failed to close during earlier foetal development. Inside it was the spinal cord and nerves, which were getting progressively more damaged.
‘Trudy, the mother, is young and healthy—it’s her first baby. She and Elliot, the baby’s father, have been researching their options since diagnosis on the nineteen-week scan. They’ve rung several doctors in the US and finally spoke with Alex, who passed on my name. I think, if everything else plays out, she’s a good candidate for foetal repair.’
Callie looked at him, the enormity of what he was asking finally making her forget his tie. All babies with spina bifida who required surgical correction were operated on immediately after birth to repair their spinal defect, but by then the damage was already done, affecting muscle, organs and bodily function below the level of the lesion.
But it was possible now to operate prenatally, to correct the lesion while the baby was still in the womb to try and prevent the ongoing damage that occurred due to exposure of nerve tissue in utero. They couldn’t correct the damage that had already been done, but they could prevent further damage.
It had been performed countless times and for many years in the US. It would be a first at the Gold Coast City Hospital.
‘Right.’
‘Are you freaking out?’ he asked.
Callie shook her head. ‘No.’ In fact she could feel a tiny little trill of anticipation. ‘That’s why you’re part of our team. That’s why I recommended you to the board.’
‘Oh, I thought it was because Alex asked you,’ he teased.
She glanced up from the screen. ‘It was. But you being a prenatal surgeon made my decision a lot easier.’
Callie straightened, her mind racing ahead to what was involved. ‘What do we do first?’
‘We need to get a whole raft of diagnostic tests done. A detailed ultra
sound, for a start. We’ll need to know the exact size of the lesion, the segments of the spine that are involved, degree of hydrocephalus and any evidence of paralysis. I’ll need a foetal MRI and a foetal echocardiogram.’
Callie nodded. ‘We’ll get Sam Webster involved.’ Sam was the chief paediatric cardiologist. ‘And Diane Coulter can handle the lesion.’ She was the top paediatric neurosurgeon at the hospital and had performed countless myelomeningocele repairs on newborns in her stellar career.
‘What have you told the mother…It’s Trudy, right?’
He nodded. ‘Trudy and Elliot are both here. Mainly we’ve talked about what the condition is and the pros and cons of foetal surgery. They’re very keen to go ahead with it but they know a whole stack of tests need to be done first before they’re deemed to be good candidates for prenatal surgical intervention. I’ve arranged for them to come in on Monday and have all the imaging done.’
‘You stressed we won’t know for sure until we have those results?’
Cade nodded. ‘Don’t worry. I’m not going to give them any false hope, Callie.’
‘And from there, if the imaging is supportive of operating in utero, where do you want to go?’
‘I’ll get all my ducks in a row with the different specialist teams and we’ll set up a multi-disciplinary meeting with Trudy and Elliot Monday afternoon. If they still want to go ahead, we’ll do it.’
‘How soon could it all be set up, do you think?’
‘We’ll need to move quickly on this. Hopefully by the end of next week,’ he said. ‘The baby will be twenty-four weeks by then and viable if delivery becomes necessary.’
Callie sat on the nearby chair. ‘Wow,’ she said, looking at him swivelling calmly in his chair and exuding absolute confidence.
Cade grinned. ‘Something for us to discuss on the panel tonight, I think.’
Callie nodded. ‘I think it will fit quite nicely into the topic.’
Which was a massive understatement if ever there was one. The panel, called Twenty-First Century Foetal Medicine, seemed purpose-built for the proposed surgery. Certainly the audience of specialists was fascinated by the idea, and the panel ran over time by twenty minutes as Cade answered question after question.