Page 31 of Prognosis Temporary

Thankfully they’d arrived back at the hotel, passing the doorman on their way to the lifts. ‘Are you ready for today?’ he asked as he pushed the button a couple of times.

‘Ready as I’ll ever be,’ she replied, concentrating on the day’s programme and not the way his bicep bunched as he gave the button a third push. ‘You?’

‘Yep. Are you on before or after lunch?’

‘Before.’

‘Same here. Maybe we should do lunch afterwards — compare notes?’

Callie hesitated. Lunch was usually a stand-up affair with finger food. A time to network and mingle with other attendees. Not a cosy affair for two. But, oh, with perspiration making his shirt cling to flat abdominals, she was so tempted!

The lift arrived as Sebastian said, ‘It’s just lunch, Callie,’ and she was so grateful for the reprieve of the opening doors, she almost skipped into the lift.

Except it was a little too full for skipping. Sidestepping as they were herded to the back was more accurate, crowded on all sides by bodies but conscious of only one.

‘Eleven please,’ Sebastian asked and Callie tried not to groan at the row of lit buttons she could just see through a gap between arms and bodies.

Like it or not, they’d caught a slow ride. They were going to squashed close like this for way longer than was probably good for her sanity.

The doors closed and several people carried on their conversations while Callie feigned interest in the carpet. But the heat from Sebastian’s arm rubbed against hers and as more people got in and the passengers shifted to accommodate them, she was pushed closer until her breasts were brushing against his side and her nostrils were full of his healthy male scent.

No amount of carpet gazing could negate the fact that she was in an enclosed space squashed up against a sweaty, muscular man she was already way too hot for, at the mercy of her raging hormones.

When they reached their floor Callie pushed through the people in front and practically jumped from the lift. She was almost at her door when Sebastian caught her up.

‘I’ll see you later, then?’ he said.

‘Yep.’ Callie’s lock whirred and clicked and she pushed open the door throwing a, ‘Good luck today,’ over her shoulder as she disappeared inside her room.

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Callie had no ideaif Sebastian was in the audience when she presented her paper on the latest clinical drug trial Jambalyn had been involved in. The lights on the stage were too bright to see anyone from her vantage point and she hadn’t noticed him in the audience prior to the session commencing.

Despite knowing that several other sessions were running concurrently — most way more interesting than hers — she couldn’t quash a streak of disappointment.

None of the audience questions had come from him — not that they would, seeing that he’d been heavily involved in the trial too — and he wasn’t around afterwards either. She felt curiously flat about it as she helped herself to fresh muffins at morning tea and chatted with interested delegates about her paper and the anti-psychotic’s practical applications in a community setting.

And then it was Sebastian’s turn. Brent gestured to her when she entered the room and Callie made her way over, sitting when he patted the seat beside him. It was a few rows back but quite central with a great view of the stage.

Sebastian was busy talking to the tech guys and didn’t see her but it didn’t stop her gaze wandering to him as Brent kept up a running commentary of witty observations on the rest of the audience.

Sebastian crouched down to accept a hand-held microphone from one of the tech crew and she couldn’t help but notice the tempting pull of his trousers across his truly fabulous backside. She sighed.

‘Earth to Callie,’ Brent called.

Callie dragged her gaze away. ‘I’m sorry.’ She smiled to cover her confusion. ‘What were you saying?’

Brent opened his mouth but was interrupted by the chairperson calling the audience to order. He chuckled. ‘Never mind.’

Sebastian was introduced. And an impressive introduction it was. She knew about his work in the prison system and his negotiator role with the police and that, prior to coming to Jambalyn, he’d been seconded to the department of defence and been overseas.

But she’d had no idea he’d spent the last two years counselling defence personnel in Afghanistan. Her heart thudded, thinking about him in such risky environments.

If she’d hadn’t known from that first day on the bridge that he was utterly impressive, she certainly did now. And if that wasn’t extraordinary enough, he smiled and then started to talk and commanded the attention of every single person in the room from the second he opened his delectable mouth.

And not just the women.

His presence dominated the stage and the audience hung on his every word. Like a Shakespearian actor or an ancient Greek orator - captivating, compelling, charismatic.

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