Prognosis Temporary Read online

  ‘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, dragging her gaze from the alabaster river below, to look round, 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 after 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.

  But, as the kiss grew increasingly wild – increasingly desperate - his conscience pricked. He couldn’t remember the last time he was this aroused or hell, if he’d ever been this aroused, but he knew without a doubt this was about more than a quickie with a co-worker for Callie.

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

  Her fingers had worked three buttons undone by the time he managed to pull himself out of the sexual fire scorching his common sense. ‘Hang on,’ he whispered, kissing her eyelids, her nose as he covered her hands. ‘Wait a moment.’ She mewed a protest and the fascinating sight of her ravaged mouth almost brought him to his knees. ‘Why don’t we get that coffee first?’

  ‘I don’t want a coffee,’ she murmured against his throat.

  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, to give her unlimited access. But only just.

  ‘Callie.’ He groaned as he forced his eyes open. Her lips were trekking towards his shoulder and he grabbed her hips convulsively as she started to rub herself against him a little. ‘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.’

  ‘I promise I’ll be gentle.’ Her lips meandered back to his neck.

  Sebastian chuckled. ‘That’s not what I’m worried about.’ Her mouth returned to the column of his throat causing a wave of goose across his scalp. Christ...where was he? ‘I’d hate you to regret this is the morning.’

  She sighed as she lifted her lips from the thick pound of his carotid artery. ‘Your honourable streak is commendable but I’m a big girl, Sebastian. I know what I’m doing.’ She fingered his collar point rubbing it absently between her thumb and forefinger. ‘Or is it that a sexually aggressive woman threatens your masculinity?’

  Sebastian regarded her seriously as she morphed back into Callie from the bridge. Bolshie and defiant. A man could get whiplash trying to keep up with her Jekyll-and-Hyde act.

  Curiouser and curiouser.

  Which one was the real Callie? The woman from the bridge or the woman from the restaurant? The man in him found the conundrum irresistible. And looking down at her moist lips and blazing amber eyes, he had to admit it’d be fun finding out.

  He smiled. ‘Not me. I’m exceedingly evolved. I love sexually aggressive women. In fact – ‘ He pushed a lock of her hair off her shoulder ‘I think they should take over the world.’

  She laughed. ‘Interesting thought.’

  Sebastian joined her. But it was hard to concentrate when their bodies were pressed together so intimately and just her laughter was enough to cause a delicious friction between them. Still...he had to try. ‘I’m all for a little temporary oblivion but I need you to be sure, Callie.’

  ‘I’m sure.’ She smiled. ‘You need me to sign a disclaimer?’

  Sebastian grinned, shaking his head. ‘Let’s just kiss on it, instead.’ And lowered his mouth.

  A flash of heat erupted down low the second his lips touched hers and Callie groaned, raking her fingers into his hair. His ragged breath was loud in her ears and she revelled in his no-holds-barred kiss. Finally he was giving her everything, without reservation. Like she was a full-blooded, passionate woman. Not a fragile one. Not an about-to-fall-apart one.

  And, man, did it feel good!

  She broke off, her head spinning, pulse racing, breathing loud in the silence. They really needed to get horizontal. She looked around at the obviously half-unpacked apartment.

  ‘You have got a bed, right? I’m getting too old for the floor.’

  He smiled, took her hand and led her through a maze of boxes into his bedroom. ‘Ta-da. A bed.’

  Callie grinned. ‘So it is.’ More moonlight streamed through uncurtained glass and she walked in, sidestepping another two boxes. Sitting on the edge, she gave an experimental bounce. ‘This will do very nicely,’ she murmured.

  He was lounging in the doorway, watching her with the same direct gaze from the restaurant. From the bridge. And she wanted him closer.

  ‘You’re too far away. And you’re too dressed.’

  ‘Hmm,’ he said with a rumble Callie felt right between her legs. ‘Whatever can we do about that?’

  He didn’t move from the doorway which gave Callie a better chance to look at him. So she did - for the longest time. Then she leaned back on her elbows and crossed one leg over the other. ‘Take off your clothes.’

  ‘You do like to be in charge, don’t you?’

  Callie rotated her ankle, one strappy black heel dangling from her toes. ‘You’ve got to ask for what you want.’

  ‘I couldn’t agree more.’ He straightened and started on the buttons she hadn’t managed to undo.

  Her breath got shorter as each button revealed glimpses of a magnificent chest, and Callie almost sighed out loud when he shrugged his shoulders and the shirt fell away to reveal the stunning breadth of him. His pecs and abs were taut and flat, framed by broad shoulders and very nice biceps.

  She could almost feel the weight of him crowding on top of her, pushing her into the bed, moving inside her and, just like that, the remaining tentacles still clinging from the events of the day, slithered away.

  Her gaze drifted south, wondering if what was below his zip was as magnificent as the rest of him. She forced her gaze back to his face. She pointed to his jeans using her toes. ‘And those.’

  ‘Yes ma’am.’ He saluted her, a smile playing on his mouth as he reached for his button.

  Ten seconds later he’d kicked free of his jeans and was standing before her, all but naked, and Callie gave her eyes free reign. His thighs. His calves. His crotch.

  ‘Oh, my,’ she murmured, pushing off her elbows into a sitting position and then rising off the bed.

  He looked incredible. She just had to touch him.

  Callie stopped in front of him, a centimetre separating them, his knowing, patient gaze boring into hers, dropping to her mouth then returning to her eyes. His clean male scent wafted towards her and her nostrils flared.

  Lifting a hand, she stroked it down his chest, holding his gaze. Warm muscles shifted beneath her palm, hinting at their leashed potential. Her fingers circled the hollow of his belly button and the powerful contraction of his abdominals was wickedly good.

  Dropping lower still, her hand brushed the hard ridge of his erection and she withdrew slightly before returning to trace the outline of it through his under
wear. Callie smiled as Sebastian shut his eyes briefly. She could hear the ragged intake of his breath, could almost taste it as it mingled with her own.

  Her throat was parched, her lips dry, despite her mouth watering at the thought of kissing him. His lips were so close, all she had to do was move the barest amount and she could taste them again.

  But she had bigger fish to fry.

  Her fingers stopped tracing the thick edge of him and wrapped around, squeezing. His throat bobbed, his eyes fluttered open.

  ‘Nice,’ she murmured, her lips brushing his Adam’s apple and the pulses either side, before their gazes meshed again, her hand continuing its bold grip.

  He panted as she squeezed him some more. ‘You have too many clothes on,’ he rumbled.

  Callie raised an eyebrow. ‘Whatever can we do about that?’ she mimicked.

  He smiled. ‘Your turn to get naked.’

  CHAPTER THREE

  His husky command brushed against Callie’s sensitised skin as if he had actually touched her. She stepped away slightly, swallowing, her hands trembling as she reached for her buttons. Sebastian’s gaze was firmly locked on their action and her stomach clenched, her nipples tightening to painful points, rubbing erotically against her bra as she fumbled with the top button beneath Sebastian’s stare.

  She faltered for a moment. She wasn’t ashamed of her body. Being the tallest female by far growing up may have been a fault to focus on for a normal girl in a normal family, but things had been so far from normal at home that Callie had never had the luxury of worrying about what other people thought about her.

  Including lovers.

  But, undressing before his intent gaze, she felt a moment of doubt. She wasn’t twenty years old and stick thin. Not that she’d ever been stick thin. Unfortunately her large-boned genetics and size eleven feet would never put her in the waif group.

  Nor could she claim to be curvy. She was more straight up and down. Long, strong limbs and athletic torso.

  She’d bet anything he had curvy women throwing themselves at him on a daily basis.

  He frowned at her sudden cessation. ‘Callie?’

  She looked at him, all honed perfect male, then down at herself, avoiding his gaze. ‘I’m...’ Her voice cracked a little and she shook herself.

  This had never mattered before. She was a busy professional woman who was confident in her abilities, sexual and otherwise. She had no problems in asking for - and getting - what she wanted in bed. More than that, she was a take-it-or-leave-it kind of a girl. What you saw was what you got.

  But this felt...different. Something about him, even after such short acquaintance, felt different and that gave her pause. She’d never gone to bed with someone after knowing them for less than a day. How could a man who was essentially a stranger have had such a cataclysmic affect on her?

  For someone who was used to being in control, that was more than a little scary. But perversely she also felt...safe.

  She moistened her lips. ‘I’m not twenty any more, you know?’

  ‘Well, thank goodness for that.’ He smiled. ‘Twenty-year-olds are vastly overrated.’

  She gave a half-smile. ‘Still...’

  ‘Callie?’ he said softly. ‘Does it look like I care?’

  Callie’s gaze dropped to the large bulge in his underwear and she practically salivated. However...‘If you don’t mind me saying so, those things are not known for their fussiness.’

  He gave a half laugh. ‘That’s true but this one is.’ And when Callie hesitated further he asked, ‘Do you need a hand with that?’

  Callie heard the silky challenge and knew she was doomed. She lifted her chin. ‘I think I can manage.’

  Her fingers were sure, now, as they popped each button and then quickly dispensed of her shirt. She wiggled out of her trousers in record time, thankful for the presence of the nearby wall. And then she was standing before him in her underwear, burning up from the heat in the slow, steady sweep of his appreciative gaze.

  He lifted his hand and pointed to her bra. ‘That too.’

  Callie’s eyes locked with his as she reached behind her back for the clasp. Did she push her chest out a little more than necessary? Damn straight she did. The satisfying suck of his harshly indrawn breath made it worthwhile as her breasts swung free. The bottom of her silver pendant brushed the swell of her cleavage as large moonlight-kissed nipples scrunched into tight berries beneath the intensity of his gaze.

  ‘Oh, my,’ Sebastian mimicked, pushing out of the doorway and prowling forward the two paces separating them, his eyes glued to her breasts.

  He placed his hands on her shoulders and Callie shivered, her nipples scrunching harder. Then he turned her slightly, walking her back a pace until she bumped against the wall.

  She gasped a little as the cold paintwork hit her heated flesh but then his mouth descended and latched on to hers and all coherent thought was lost as Callie opened to the demands of his lips. Moaning against his mouth she wound her arms around his neck, revelling in the hard press of the wall behind that sandwiched her against the lean, hard press of his front.

  Callie whimpered in protest as his lips left hers but it died in her throat when his hot mouth closed over one of her nipples a second later. She flung her head back against the wall, dragging in fiery air, twining her fingers into his hair, holding him there.

  Another moan escaped as he sucked hard on the sensitive peak but then he was gone and she mewed her frustration, her eyes seeking his.

  ‘You’re beautiful.’

  The ragged whisper brushed sticky tentacles across her pelvic floor and Callie’s breath hitched. ‘Don’t stop,’ she muttered, yanking him back, her knees almost crumbling when he complied, lavishing attention on her other breast.

  She gripped his shoulders, warm and solid beneath her palms, the action pressing her closer, close enough to feel the virile thickness of his erection.

  God...She had to touch him.

  Callie’s hand drifted lower as he reclaimed her lips with neck-snapping passion. The muscles in his back rippled in response to her touch and when her fingers breeched the band of his underwear to grasp his very fine ass, the muscles there clenched tight.

  And when her hand sought and found the long hard length of him, his groan was soul-deep satisfying. He tore his mouth away, placing his forehead on hers, grabbing in air. Callie squeezed his cock and he growled, ‘I think we need to lie down now.’

  Catching her hand he dragged her towards the bed, somehow managing to step out of his underwear as well. And then they were tumbling onto the mattress and Callie’s underwear was gone until all she was wearing was a silver necklace and two hoop earrings.

  He was on her then, lapping at every inch of her skin like she was covered in honey and he hadn’t eaten for days.

  ‘Now,’ Callie cried, her hips rising off the bed. ‘Condom.’

  He didn’t argue or try to negotiate her out of something that was non-negotiable, just rolled away and Callie watched him roaming around in the buff very efficiently finding his jeans then his wallet. He extracted a condom, rolled it on and was back by her side in twenty seconds flat.

  Callie was liking him more and more.

  Dropping a string of kisses around the base of her throat, his tongue traced the line of her necklace. ‘Now,” he murmured. “Where were we?’

  Heat licked rivers of fire through her veins which all converged at a point between her legs. ‘Here,’ she said, grasping the firm globes of his ass and rubbing herself against his erection.

  He didn’t need any further invitation. He just slid inside, filling her up so damn good it ripped the breath from her lungs. And when she asked for more, he gave it, and when she wanted it faster, he picked up the pace, and when she cried out, his voice joined hers.

  And when she went over the edge, he went with her.

  It was quite some hours later before they finally lay sated in a post-coital drowse among tangled sheets. Callie lay on
her back angled across the bed, Sebastian’s shoulder a perfect pillow. His arm, heavy across her chest was warm and vital and his fingers trailing up and down her bicep kept the hum in her cells, the thrum in her blood on a steady burn.

  ‘So. The bridge?’

  Callie’s eyes snapped open, the malaise invading her bones and infecting her thought processes evaporating in a heartbeat. The hum and the buzz snuffed out.

  ‘Sebastian.’

  ‘Come on, Callie.’ He ran a finger down her arm but he stopped when she flinched. ‘Something happened back at the restaurant. If Geri’s to be believed, I think it has something to do with what happened on the bridge this morning.’

  Callie vaulted up, pulling the sheet with her and leaving Sebastian exposed — not that she cared. She squirmed to the side of the bed, her feet finding the floor. The only person who knew the story was Geri and her heart somersaulted in her chest at the mere thought of confiding in anyone else.

  ‘Geri should mind her own damn business.’

  She heard the slide of limbs against the sheets behind her and was conscious of him coming closer. She should get up and leave but, perversely, she wanted to stay.

  It had been so nice here in Sebastian’s bed.

  So, when his fingers tentatively touched the small of her back, she didn’t flinch and he grew bolder, running his palm up her spine to her shoulder blade. ‘Maybe Geri knows that sometimes talking to someone that you don’t know very well is easier.’

  Callie snorted. ‘That’s a nice euphemism for virtual stranger.’

  He ignored her sarcasm, giving her shoulder a squeeze before dropping his hand to the bed. ‘Okay. How about I guess?’

  Callie shut her eyes. ‘Just leave it, Sebastian.’

  ‘I’m thinking that you lost a client on that bridge. Maybe recently? Maybe someone you were negotiating with at the time who decided to end it all anyway?’

  Sudden tears pricked at her eyes, hot and scalding, as a flash of her brother’s anguished face flickered like an old movie reel in her head.

  ‘Someone you couldn’t help no matter how hard you tried.’