Page 43 of One Night with the Doctor

Callie chewed her lip as temptation knocked. Everything about this should be objectionable but, try as she might, she couldn’t rouse even one objection.

Why not indeed?

Her, here in Brisbane, doing what she loved. Still around for Zack and still being there for her clients. Him in Melbourne, doing what he loved. Being famous and important. Then meeting somewhere to do what they both loved together.

The best of both worlds.

The more the thought sat with her the more it excited her. The more alluring it became. The more enticing the possibilities.

But…

Her past experiences made her wary. Too many guys had, at the first sign of seriousness, wanted more and more. Things she just wasn’t prepared to give. She took a deep breath to tackle it head on. ‘I’m never going to want a baby.’

He frowned. ‘I know that.’

She shook her head and blasted him with a steady, serious look. ‘I mean it, Sebastian. I’m not going to change my mind. I’m perfectly happy with my life. I don’t need to experience motherhood to have a fulfilling existence. I’ve had Zack and that was wonderful enough for me. But I’ve been here before. Sooner or later, it always gets down to babies.’

He returned her gaze with a steady one of his own, his hand cradling her jaw, as his fingers speared into her hair. ‘It won’t. Not with me. I’m with you on this, 150 per cent.’ He rubbed his thumb gently back and forth across her ear as he dropped a kiss on her mouth. ‘I promise.’

He’d told her before he didn’t want kids. She’d believed him then and, with sincerity blazing in his eyes, she believed him now.

God… could they really make this happen?

Callie felt both excited and nervous. Like she wanted to throw up but at the same time, her heart felt as big as a basketball in her chest.

She wanted to try it, at least. Take a chance that she could have something wonderful with this man.

‘In that case,’ she whispered against his lips, her hand sliding to the knot of his towel, ‘I’d love to keep this thing going.’

Then she yanked and the towel slid free.

8

The steady, rapid rhythm of a foetal heartbeat filled Sebastian’s office and Callie smiled down at Ginny, who was reclined on the couch, her shirt pulled up to expose the taut drum of her eight-and-a-half-months pregnant belly.

It was a noise that Callie had heard very regularly over the last five months. Luckily it hadn’t affected her again the way it had the first time she’d heard it during the ultrasound.

Ginny’s eyes filled with tears. ‘I’m so sorry to be a bother.’

Callie smiled at her client who was wiping at an escaping tear. ‘It’s no bother,’ she reassured as she switched off the hand-held Doppler.

‘It’s just that I’ve been so busy getting everything ready for the baby since I finished work and now everything’s done and I have too much time to think about all the things that can go wrong. I saw this documentary the other day about ana… anaceph… oh, I don’t know how to pronounce it.’

‘Anacephaly?’

Ginny nodded vigorously. ‘That’s it.’

‘But, Ginny, your little girl has a perfectly formed head. You’ve had three ultrasounds – one of them 3D – and she has a beautiful, normal head.’

Ginny sighed. ‘I know. I know that. I guess I’m just… What if I’m… going nuts again, Callie?’

Callie reached for a tissue on the nearby coffee table and wiped at the gel she’d applied low down on Ginny’s belly then she took her client’s hand.

‘You are going through exactly the same thing that thousands of pregnant women go through towards the end. You’re anxious.’

‘Other women are like this? Not just me?’

Callie smiled and squeezed Ginny’s hand. ‘A lot of mothers-to-be are anxious. What you’re going through is normal.’ She squeezed again. ‘You are perfectly normal.’