by Andrews, Amy
Blake grinned and patted the large metal machine like it was a much loved pet. ‘The waves don’t lie.’
‘That makes you due in September,’ Callie said, helping Ginny adjust her clothes and aiding her into a sitting position.
‘September twentieth,’ Blake confirmed.
Ginny shook her head. ‘I can’t believe it.’
Sebastian crossed to the other side and held out his hand, joining with Callie to help Ginny down off the high couch. ‘You’d better believe it.’ He smiled. ‘You’re going to be a mummy.’
Ginny thanked the sonographer and Sebastian guided her out. Callie raised on her tip toes as the door swung shut behind them and pecked Blake on the cheek. ‘What would I do without you?’
‘I don’t know,’ Blake teased. ‘There’s nobody like me.’
That was true. Blake had only ever been a phone call away and always managed to fit in Callie’s obstetric patients. Always. She smiled and pecked him on the cheek again. ‘Kiss Jen and the kids for me,’ she said as she headed out of the room.
Ginny was on a call when Callie joined them in the corridor. ‘Is that Brad?’ she asked, aware of Sebastian’s brooding gaze and ignoring it.
‘Yes.’ Ginny nodded. ‘He’s almost here.’
‘Okay, tell him to meet us at the cafeteria.’
They spent the next half-hour in the cafeteria, talking to Ginny and Brad about the baby and how to manage the pregnancy and Ginny’s condition without compromising either.
‘I’m worried that I’ll be so anxious about the baby, that it’s...you know...okay that I might have a relapse of my anxiety,’ Ginny admitted.
Callie grabbed her client’s fidgety hands and squeezed, stilling their nervous plucking movements. ‘I’m going to set you up with a community midwife service that’ll see you every week, and if you’re still worried – ever — you can come to Jambalyn. We have a hand-held Doppler there and I even know how to use it.’ Callie grinned. ‘You can listen to the baby’s heartbeat every day if you want.’
Ginny looked at her uncertainly. ‘Really?’
Callie nodded knowing that Ginny was going to require extra support and reassurance and that was what she did. She’d do whatever it took to help Ginny through her pregnancy. ‘Really.’
On that promise, Brad took Ginny home which left just her and Sebastian in the car again for the ride back to Jambalyn. Not that she was paying him much heed as Callie reflected on that strange moment when the sound of the foetal heartbeat had filled the room and tears had threatened.
What had that been about?
‘So, is he an ex-lover?’
‘Hmm?’ she asked distractedly.
‘Blake. I’m guessing he’s an old flame?’
Callie had no desire to carry on mysteriously about her relationship with Blake outside his office. ‘We’re just friends. Old friends. We went to uni together. He married another uni friend of mine. They have three children. I’m their godmother.’
‘Ah.’
It was just one word but it was loaded with relief and smugness neither of which Callie wanted to explore too deeply especially not when all she could think about suddenly was how many of her friend’s had chosen her to be godmother to their kids.
It seemed like she was destined to always be the godmother. Never the mother.
CHAPTER FIVE
The plane hit an air pocket and Callie grabbed convulsively for her armrests. Unfortunately, Sebastian’s arm lay along their shared one and she felt the delicious rub of masculine hair against the pulse point at her wrist before she snatched it away.
‘Nervous flyer?’
Sebastian’s low murmur at her ear almost caused her to jump again. ‘I prefer to be on the ground,’ she said, her jaw tense, her pulse bounding madly. If only she could be sure it was from the turbulence and not the illicit brief contact she’d avoided for the last two months.
‘Relax,’ he urged, stretching out his legs. ‘You know more people by far die in car crashes than plane crashes.’
She rolled her head to the side and regarded his profile. He’d shut his eyes and she looked her fill. Strong jaw cleanly shaven, straight nose, fringe flopping across his forehead. Long blonde-brown eyelashes casting shadows on a prominent cheekbone. And a mouth that still haunted her dreams.
‘I like my chances of surviving a car accident more than I do should this plane suddenly go hurtling to the ground.’
Sebastian chuckled and opened his eyes, rolling his head towards her at the same time and she averted her gaze. Even after a couple of months the thing between them was still there. Sure, they’d both done a passable job of ignoring it but in unguarded moments they both knew it hadn’t gone away. That it was always there, simmering beneath the surface. Just waiting for a moment to erupt. Biding its time.
‘Excuse me, sir, would you like something to drink?’
Callie shifted her attention to the blonde, pixie-faced, well-endowed air hostess batting her eyelashes at Sebastian. He smiled at the very attractive woman offering him a beverage and, if the message in her eyes was correct, a hell of a lot more than that. ‘I’d love a coffee, thank you.’
‘Certainly, sir.’ She poured some percolated coffee into a cup. ‘Are you going to Melbourne for business or pleasure?’
‘Business, I’m afraid. We’re attending a weekend seminar.’
The air hostess, whose name badge proclaimed her to be Meghan, pouted prettily, not even faltering at Sebastian’s we. ‘Oh, what a shame,’ she murmured, passing him his coffee, her gaze firmly trained on him.
Callie rolled her eyes. ‘I’d like one too, thank you,’ she interrupted, a little more tartly than she’d expected.
‘Certainly, madam.’ Megan nodded, reluctantly dragging her flirty gaze from Sebastian to grace Callie with a cool, professional one.
Callie shook her head in disgust as Meghan moved on. ‘Does every woman on earth feel the need to flirt with you?’ she grouched.
He smiled at her annoyed face which was super irritating. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Yeah, right.’ Callie snorted. ‘I thought she was about to offer you the chance to join the mile-high club.’
Chuckling he cocked an eyebrow. ‘How do you now I’m not already a member?’
An image of her and Sebastian going for it in the squashed confines of an aeroplane loo imprinted itself on her brain which was ludicrous! With his height and width and her less than elf-like figure they’d probably maim each other.
Still, the idea fascinated her. ‘Are you?’
A small smile touched his lips. ‘I don’t kiss and tell.’
She watched as he took a calm sip of his coffee and her heartbeat skittered madly at the thought that actually maybe he was. ‘Anyway, as I was saying,’ she continued, desperate to dispel the idea, ‘the woman at the check-in counter practically had her tongue hanging out.’
‘Hey.’ He shrugged. ‘We got upgraded, right?’
Callie blinked. ‘Oh, my God. You always get upgraded, don’t you?’
‘It’s the red hair.’
Yeah...she didn’t think it was just the red hair. But for whatever reason, Callie was miffed. She spent her flying hours shoehorned into an economy-class seat, her legs up around her ears as the person in front invariably reclined their seat, and usually ensconced next to an inconsolable baby or a rotund gent with major sleep apnoea. While Sebastian used his charisma and his glorious hair to swan around in business class!
And what a luxurious experience it was — large comfortable seats of soft leather and enough room for her to completely unfold her long legs and stretch out. Discreet but attentive - perhaps too attentive - service.
And not a crying baby in sight.
‘Well?’ Sebastian asked after a while, draining the dregs of his coffee. ‘Are you nervous about your paper?’
She shook her head, pleased for something else to think about other than quickies in aeroplane bathrooms. ‘No.
I’ve presented a lot of papers over the years most way more interesting than this.’
‘The study findings are important, though. It’ll garner a lot of interest.’
Callie knew he was right but she found presenting facts and figures and reams of stats very dry. ‘Yeah, I know. Yours sounds much more interesting.’
‘Well...let’s hope everyone else will think so, too.’
She frowned. He seemed a little uncertain which was surprising given she’d never seen him anything other than one hundred per cent confident. On the bridge, confronting an oaf in a restaurant, with Ginny and the numerous other clients she’d seen him with.
In bed.
It was the first time she’d seen even the briefest flash of doubt in his usually assured gaze and she almost reached out and put her hand on his sleeve.
Dangerous. Very, very dangerous.
She’d fought hard to put their night of passion behind her and something told her this was not the moment to test her resolve. This wasn’t a dirty weekend away together. It was work. Business.
‘Headphones, sir?’
Megan was back and this time Callie was actually grateful. ‘I will thanks,’ she said, reaching for one.
Anything – anything - to occupy her for the next ninety minutes.
Almost three hours later, Callie was standing in the classically elegant foyer of the Langham Hotel. It was dominated by a grand, sweeping, marble staircase and cascading fountains crowned by magnificent chandeliers. The ambience was one of hushed, timeless luxury.
‘We’d like to check in, please,’ Sebastian requested the elegant older woman behind the check-in desk. ‘We’re attending the C.M.H. conference.’
The woman looked up over half-moon glasses with a fixed pleasant smile that she’d no doubt honed over the years to greet customers. She looked close to retirement age, with steel-grey hair tucked into a sleek chignon. It was obvious she’d in the business for many years and didn’t look like she suffered fools gladly.
‘Oh,’ she said, and stared for a moment or two longer than was decent and Callie swore she actually saw a swathe of red bloom in her cheeks.
Oh, for crying out loud! Was there no end to Sebastian’s effect on the opposite sex?
‘Most certainly, sir.’ She practically preened. ‘Has sir booked a double or maybe a suite?’
‘No!’
The woman glanced at Callie fully for the first time, a little startled by her vehemence which sounded extra loud in the muted marble surroundings where the only noise was the trickle of a nearby fountain. Callie was beyond caring. It was bad enough that Rodney had booked them on the same flight. Same rooms were out of the question.
‘There are two rooms booked,’ she said, a little more controlled this time. She had double — triple — checked.
The woman eyed her for a moment longer, glanced at Sebastian and then back at her. Callie saw a fleeting oh honey why? in the woman’s gaze before she nodded. ‘Certainly, madam. If you would both please fill out a registration form?’
She tapped on her computer keyboard as Callie and Sebastian scribbled their details on the proffered forms. ‘Same floor be okay?’ the woman asked.
Callie opened her mouth to say no. That she wanted to be as geographically distant from Sebastian as possible. Going away with him hadn’t seemed like such a big deal back at her desk at Jambalyn, where their business-as-usual veneers were well practiced. But suddenly, away from the safety net of work, she wasn’t sure it was that simple.
‘That’s fine,’ she said briskly, handing her completed form back. There was no need for Sebastian to know how much his nearness bothered her.
The woman spent a few more minutes completing the formalities and handed them their keys. ‘Eleventh floor.’ She tapped the numbers. ‘They’re opposite each other.’
Sebastian smiled at her. ‘Thank you...’ he paused, reading the woman’s name badge ‘Marion.’
Marion pinked up again and Callie gave a mental eye roll as she turned away, but not before she heard the older woman’s breathy, ‘My pleasure, sir’.
He caught up with her as she entered the lift their eyes locking as the doors shut. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Fine.’
Except she wasn’t. She was...frustrated. She’d spent two months on a relatively even keel after a wonky start with Sebastian and now they’d left home turf her body had taken leave of its senses! Outside Jambalyn it was like he’d lost his ‘off-limits’ force field and she was being dragged into his gravitational pull again.
Along with every other woman in his vicinity.
‘You don’t look fine.’
The lift dinged and Callie almost sagged against the wall in relief to not have to continue this conversation. ‘Saved by the bell,’ he murmured as she strode out ahead of him.
Callie’s heels sank into the luxurious carpet, muffling any sound as she quickly located her room conscious of Sebastian following at a more leisurely pace. Preferring not to be reminded that for the next three nights only the width of a hallway and two doors would be separating them, she turned her back on his door and entered her key-card hoping to be in her room by the time he finally arrived.
Alas, it was not to be, Callie’s card choosing that moment to be recalcitrant. She cursed it under her breath as she jammed it repeatedly in and out, watching desperately for the little green light. It didn’t grace her with its presence although Sebastian did.
He stepped in, his front close to, but not touching, her back as he placed his hand over hers. ‘Allow me.’
Callie wanted to object but the touch of his hand, his clean male smell and the sheer utter breadth of him wrapped her in sticky tentacles. She bit her lip to stop herself from whimpering.
‘Bloody things,’ she said with an unsteady voice. ‘I always get the dodgy ones.’
He chuckled. ‘It’s easy when you know how,’ he murmured. ‘You just have to be patient. Gentle. Slide it in slowly...’
Callie watched mesmerised as he held her hand fast on the card and inched the thin piece of plastic into the slot. Her stomach clenched.
‘Now, wait for a second.’
His breath was warm on her neck and goose bumps prickled along her scalp as the lock clicked and whirred and the little green light flashed.
‘And then slide it slowly out.’
He pushed down on the handle and the door gave a little but neither of them noticed, caught up in their little cocoon. Callie felt as if she was sinking in quicksand and couldn’t break away. This was crazy. She had to do something. Push open the door. Move. Say something.
Establish some boundaries.
She swallowed. ‘I’m not going to sleep with you while we’re here.’
He chuckled and it was low and hot, ruffling the hair near Callie’s ear. ‘I was under no illusion that you would.’
Good. But it worth repeating. She turned so he could see her face, she how serious she was and man...was that a mistake.
She didn’t realise how close they were.
Her pulse tripped as her gaze drifted from the base of his throat to his mouth lingering for much longer than it should have before she remembered why she’d turned in the first place and what she needed to say.
‘Just because I’m across the hall from you does not mean I’m...available.’
He didn’t say anything for long moments, his gaze searching hers before dropping to her mouth and back again. ‘You’re doing it again, Callie,’ Sebastian murmured. ‘Telling me one thing with your mouth - ’ He lifted a hand and rubbed his thumb along her bottom lip ‘And another thing with your eyes.’
Callie clamped down on the whimper that rose in her throat and dropped her eyelids, shuttering the heat she couldn’t disguise. Her eyeballs felt like they were burning two holes in her head.
He dropped his hand and she opened them again in time to see him dragging his gaze from her mouth. ‘I’m not going to play games with you, Callie. We’re both adults here.’ He push
ed her door open behind her and stepped back. ‘I’m just over there.’ He inclined his head at his door. ‘If you change your mind, just knock.’
Callie was damned if she was going to sit around in her hotel room all afternoon until the black-tie fundraiser this evening, replaying Sebastian’s scintillating challenge over and over. She was in Melbourne, for goodness’ sake.
She loved Melbourne!
The Langham was situated along the renowned Southbank Promenade overlooking the tranquil Yarra River. Right outside the hotel’s doors waited a fabulous world of shopping, boutiques and alfresco cafés. She could walk and shop and drink coffee and just enjoy being anonymous in a big vibrant city.
Unfortunately, Sebastian must have had the same idea, practically bumping into her a couple of hours later as she was standing outside an expensive looking boutique.
‘Oh...hey,’ he said as he pulled up short.
Maybe he was faking his surprise at seeing her and had actually been following her but he was very convincing. Or maybe it was just the universe determined to keep throwing them together.
‘Hey,’ she said. ‘You out doing a spot of shopping?’
‘Ah, no. I met an old colleague of mine for lunch.’
Callie instantly wondered whether it was a male or a female colleague and then, just as instantly, castigated herself for her train of thought.
‘What are you doing, standing in the middle of the footpath?’
Callie was pleased for another topic of conversation, tuning quickly to face the shop window again and the most gorgeous dress she’d ever seen. It was so beautiful it had stopped her in her tracks.
‘The dress,’ she murmured.
He turned also until they were standing side by side, their arms almost touching. ‘Well...I don’t pretend to know much about women’s dresses but – ’ He let out a long, low whistle.
Callie smiled. ‘Exactly.’
‘So, are you going to get it?’
She looked at it longingly but the facade of the trendy little shop reeked of money and she knew she’d never be able to afford the price tag. She sighed. ‘No.’