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Sebastian chuckled but his gut tensed. The answer to that one was complicated and a lot closer to home than the ancient history that was his family.

He toyed with her hair, absently enjoying the glide of it through his fingers. ‘I just needed a change of pace.’ Callie was looking at him intently and he averted his gaze to the silken threads of her hair. ‘To try something different for a while.’

She arched an eyebrow at his evasive answer but didn’t say anything. For damn sure she knew that he was evading her question, though. She was just choosing to let it go.

For now. Probably because she understood better than most how hard these things were to share.

Instead, she leaned forward and kissed him, lingering over it, her tongue stroking his lips. Desire squirmed in Sebastian’s belly but she kept it light, easing away far too soon and cuddling into his side again.

‘So,’ Sebastian murmured after the silence had gone on for an eternity. He’d been too wrapped up in the press of her breasts against his ribs and the slow, steady fan of her breath against his chest to make conversation. ‘What I want to know is, how come you aren’t married with a swag of kids by now?’

She laughed. ‘You have to ask that? With my gene pool? Inflict that on some poor innocent child? No way. Absolutely not. And there’s not a lot of guys around who are comfortable with my no-kids stance. Also… I raised Andy’s kid from two through to ten so I’ve done my mothering.’

Sebastian blinked at the ceiling. Well that he hadn’t expected. ‘Raised?’ he asked tentatively because he might have only known her for a day but he was already coming to know she buried her hurts deep. ‘Past tense? Where is he now?’

She rolled to her back and Sebastian felt the absence acutely. She was only a couple of hand spans away but the distance between them yawned like a gaping chasm.

‘Back with his mother,’ she said, her voice a monotone as she stared at the ceiling.

‘She… wasn’t always around?’ he clarified wondering how far he could push.

‘No.’ She rolled her head from side to side. ‘Zack’s mother was a drug addict. And my brother wasn’t capable of looking after him either. Aleisha’s parents raised Zack until Andrew died and then… they couldn’t cope any more. They didn’t know if their daughter was dead or alive from one minute to the next and they were getting older. Too old to cope with an energetic two-year-old-boy. So I took him in.’

The depth of emotion in Callie’s husky voice made Sebastian ache for her. He glanced over to find her eyes were closed. ‘But he’s back with her now?’

‘Yes.’ Her throat bobbed. ‘She’s clean. Has been for two years. She’s married to a good guy. Very stable with a supportive extended family. And she has a great job. She—’ Callie cleared her throat. ‘Wanted her son back.’

The ache grew bigger. Sebastian didn’t have to ask to know that giving her nephew up had been gut-wrenching for Callie. Her soft, tremulous voice said it all. ‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered, rolling up on his elbow and dropping a kiss on her shoulder.

She nodded, squeezing her eyes together tight. ‘It was the right thing to do.’ She drew in a ragged breath. ‘And it’s working really well. He lives nearby, goes to the same school, has the same friends. He adores his stepfather. He’s happy, that’s all that matters.’

Sebastian kissed her shoulder again.

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes, staring directly into his. ‘What about you? Do you have kids? This, by the way, would be a very bad time to tell me you have three. And a wife waiting for you back in Melbourne.’

He chuckled. ‘Oh, no, not me. No wife. No kids. Same reasons as you, really. Another bad gene pool and my parents’ train wreck of a marriage led to my own no-kids policy.’

And he’d seen so much in his life – so much violence and hate and suffering – he wasn’t sure he wanted to bring an innocent child into such a screwed-up world.

‘And let me tell you there aren’t any women out there comfortable with that.’

Except for maybe her…

‘Women, or at least the ones I’ve been involved with anyway, think you’re going to change your mind. That they’ll be the ones to make you see that you actually really do want babies. I guess maybe that is true in a lot of instances. But… I really do think some people weren’t meant to have children, you know? Me included.’

Rolling onto her side, Callie murmured, ‘Amen to that,’ before kissing him – hard and deep – for long cataclysmic moments before she pulled abruptly away. ‘I gotta go. Got an early start.’

She sat and scooted to the side of the bed preparing to perform her time honoured screw and run manoeuvre – she never stayed the night. It was a rule she’d adopted early in her dating life thanks to her poor relationship role models and had only been cemented when an impressionable child came into her care.

And even though Zack was gone, sleeping with a man was an intimacy she didn’t want to invite. Especially not with Sebastian. Having a one night stand with a work colleague was unadvisable at the best of times – staying for breakfast was a definite no-no.

Still, as she rose and searched for her clothes, she was surprised at how hard it was this time. Normally she walked away without a backward glance. But with Sebastian watching her every move through half-open lids as she dressed in the moonlight, the temptation to stay was intense.

He didn’t protest. Or insist. He just watched her and by the time she was dressed she felt thoroughly examined and 100 per cent ready to get back into bed and go again. She looked at him lying amidst the tangle of bedclothes all rumpled and sexy, the sheet just covering his modesty and exposing everything else.

His eyes, hooded in the night, followed her actions like a big old jungle cat, ready to pounce. ‘You sure I couldn’t tempt you to stay a little longer?’

Throwing the sheet back, he grinned when her eyes widened at his readiness, his cock rigidly potent against his belly. How was he even capable of going again? Callie shut her eyes briefly before opening them again and piercing him with her best no-nonsense look. ‘Some of us have to work tomorrow.’