A Perfect Holiday Fling by Farrah Rochon Page B

of,” Stefan said. “I was hoping to talk to Dr. Webber if she has a minute. Tell her that I’ll understand if she doesn’t.”
    “Oh, no, I’m sure she can make time for you.” The receptionist bolted from her swivel chair. A few minutes later, Callie entered the waiting room.
    Underneath her lab coat she wore dark brown pants and a light brown sweater that matched the color of her eyes and made them seem even warmer.
    “Hey,” Stefan said.
    “Hi.” She smiled at him. Stefan caught her glancing over his shoulder at the room full of people, and he immediately felt the eyes of everyone in the room burning into his back.
    “Do you mind if we go to your office?” he asked.
    “Sure.” She nodded and he followed her past the exam rooms to a small, but neat office. The minute she shut the door, she stepped up to him and brought his face in for a kiss. Stefan’s eyelids slid closed as he concentrated on the feel of her lips against his. She was like coming home to everything that was right in the world.
    “You look as if you needed that,” she said.
    “That’s exactly what I needed today.”
    Her brows furrowed and then her eyes widened with sympathy and understanding. “You got bad news from the doctor this morning, didn’t you?” She wrapped her arms around him. “Stefan, I’m so sorry.”
    Her simple hug nearly leveled him to the ground.
    The sense of understanding he felt from her, the compassion, the empathy. They were so foreign that Stefan had a hard time remembering how he should react. He could get used to this feeling, to knowing that someone cared.
    Callie released him from the hug, but continued to touch him, rubbing her hands up and down his arms. “So, what will you do now?” she asked.
    “The choice should be easy.” He focused on the framed university degrees on the wall above her desk. “I already have a job waiting for me with Dustin’s company. I sure as hell shouldn’t feel sorry for myself.”
    Callie cupped his jaw and turned his face toward her. “Stefan, you have every right to feel whatever it is you’re feeling. A loss—any loss—has a mourning period. You’re being forced to give up something you love. That isn’t easy.”
    He tucked her hair behind her ear and drew his finger down her cheek. “But at least I have something to look forward to. I’m luckier than most.”
    She nodded, her throat working as she swallowed. “Yes, you are. You have a new career waiting for you. And you have a sister and nephew who love you.”
    “What else?” he urged.
    She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth.
    “Tell me what else I have waiting for me, Callie.”
    “You have me,” she whispered. “If you want me, you have me.”
    “I want you,” he groaned against her lips as he swept in for a deep, decadent kiss. Stefan pulled her in close, astonished at how just being near her, kissing her, could make one of his darkest days in years so much brighter.
    Never in his wildest dreams had he expected to find someone like her when he’d agreed to come to Maplesville to care for Jacob. She was like a rare Christmas treat, a gift he hadn’t realized he wanted until he’d found her.
    His cell phone rang, forcing them to finally break their kiss after untold minutes. Stefan pulled it out of his pocket. It was Trina Jefferson’s number.
    “We’ll talk later,” Callie mouthed as she left him in the office.
    Stefan put a hand up to stop her as he answered the phone, but moments after Trina began speaking he sprinted out of the veterinary clinic.
    Thankfully, Maplesville wasn’t that big of a town, and at two o’clock in the afternoon, traffic was fairly light. Stefan pulled up to the pizza restaurant on Highway 421, and found Trina, Kennedy and Jacob sitting on an outside bench. Jacob’s coat was draped over his back. The remnants of his pizza and more than likely his breakfast, too, were caked to the front of his shirt.
    “I should have known something was wrong,” Trina