A Perfect Holiday Fling by Farrah Rochon Page A

inevitable. And all she could think to do was escape.
    She set Sandy on the floor and rose, grabbing her coat from where she’d draped it over an armchair.
    Stefan stopped short when he reached the bottom of the stairs. “You’re leaving?”
    “It’s getting late,” Callie said, shrugging into her coat.
    “It’s not even nine o’clock.”
    “Stefan…I—” She shook her head.
    “What?” He caught the hem of her coat and pulled her in close. “Hey,” he said, bringing a finger up to caress her cheek. “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing,” Callie lied. “Really, I’m fine. It’s just been such a long day.” She forced a sly smile that she didn’t really feel. “And, in case you don’t remember, someone kept me up way past my bedtime last night.”
    His naughty smile was just what she’d anticipated, yet it still wrung a laugh out of her.
    She placed a chaste kiss on his cheek. “Good luck at the doctor’s tomorrow.”
    She turned to leave, but Stefan caught her wrist, pulling her back to him. He crushed her mouth to his in a kiss that made everything inside of her go liquid. Callie melted against him, her entire being reverberating with the wicked sensations this man elicited.
    “Sweet dreams,” he whispered against her lips.
    Callie was able to get out in just enough time to leave with her sanity intact. But just barely.
    She sat behind the wheel of her SUV, staring at the soft glow of the Christmas tree lights dancing in the living room window.
    Maybe it was a good thing Stefan’s time here was temporary. If there was any chance that he would be around Maplesville for the long haul, it would make the decision she had ahead of her all that much more difficult.

Chapter Eight
     
     
    Stefan sat on the edge of the hard chair, his skin crawling with anxiety as he waited in the stark, sterile exam room. He swallowed back the nastiness that always seemed to climb up his throat whenever he was at the doctor’s. With so much riding on the outcome of this visit, the revolting taste was worse than usual.
    When the door opened, Stefan practically leapt out of the chair.
    “A little nervous, are we?” Captain Ronald Finch, the ophthalmologist who had been assigned to his case, said in greeting.
    In no mood to beat around the bush, Stefan didn’t even wait for the man to sit before asking, “What’s the verdict? Am I going to fly again?”
    The doctor didn’t have to say a word. The answer was written all over his face.
    Stefan slumped in his chair and threw his head back, a string of curse words flowing from his mouth.
    “I’m sorry, Lieutenant,” Finch said.
    Two hours later, Stefan pulled into the only available spot in the eight car parking lot in front of Maplesville Animal Clinic.
    He shouldn’t be here , he thought as he shut off the engine. His grip tightened on the steering wheel as he debated whether or not to go inside. If the cars cluttering the parking lot were an indication of the number of patients waiting to be seen, Callie was way too busy to listen to him gripe over the end of his naval career.
    It wasn’t her burden to carry anyway. What they had, whether it was a relationship or just a fling, was too new for him to pile a bunch of his crap onto her. He needed to deal with this on his own.
    But he’d been driving around for two hours, and dealing with it on his own just wasn’t cutting it.
    Stefan climbed out of the Jeep.
    If she could spare a minute, fine. If not, he’d drive around some more. Maybe go back to Gauthier and check out some of the shops that had already closed on Main Street by the time they finished their dinner the other night.
    As expected, the waiting room was filled with people accompanied by various pets. Several dogs barked at him as he walked up to the receptionist.
    “Oh, hello, Mr. Sutherland,” she greeted. “Did the cat cough up another hairball?”
    Despite the overall shittiness of his day, her remark drew a smile from him.
    “None that I know