Special Forces Rendezvous. Elle Kennedy
and kissed her right now?
She’d probably let him.
Swallowing, she broke eye contact and fiddled with the end of her braid. “Anyway, do you have any more questions? Because, er, I should check on my patients.”
With a knowing smile, Sebastian stood up. He rolled his shoulders for a moment, as if being stuck in that tiny chair had done a number on his back. Hell, it probably had, seeing as the man was built like a linebacker.
“I think we’re all good.” He reached for the tape recorder he’d left on the desk. He clicked it off, then shoved it in his canvas shoulder bag, along with the notebook he’d been scribbling in during the interview.
“So when’s the article coming out?” Julia asked, trying for some casual conversation.
“Not sure yet. I don’t work for a specific publication, remember? So I’ll need to shop the piece around first. I still have your email address, though, so I’ll keep you updated.”
“Thanks, I’d appreciate that.”
They slid out the door and fell into step with each other in the corridor. When they passed two of the volunteers on staff, Julia quickly introduced them to Sebastian, noting how both women cranked their flirt meters up a notch or two in his presence. Apparently she wasn’t the only one affected by the waves of magnetism rolling off that big, strong body of his. And he reeked of confidence, walking in a measured gait that was almost a swagger, offering that charming smile to everyone they encountered on the way out of the clinic.
When they finally stepped onto the pillared porch, Julia stifled a sigh of relief. The clinic wasn’t tiny by any means, but Sebastian seemed larger than life, and it had been getting hard to breathe walking side by side with him in that narrow hallway.
She inhaled the humid, late-afternoon air, her gaze sweeping over the dusty courtyard that housed a few rust-covered pickup trucks, the two vans they used for transporting supplies, and the crappy old moped she rode when she visited the more remote settlements to see patients who were too old or sick to travel, or who refused to come into town.
For the past six months, this had been her life. Waking up in the canvas tent she shared with three other female staff members. Treating the patients who came to the clinic and visiting those who couldn’t. Sitting inside the mosquito tent with her colleagues every evening, listening to Simone’s father strum his guitar, or Kevin Carlisle, the British physician, tell dirty jokes.
At the thought of Kevin, a frown marred her lips, reminding her that the Brit still hadn’t returned from his visit to the north. He’d been gone for several days and was due to return sometime this morning, but he’d yet to make an appearance.
“Everything all right?” Sebastian asked, evidently noticing her frown.
“Yeah, it’s fine,” she said absently. “I’m just making a mental note to radio one of our doctors. He was seeing patients in some neighboring villages, and he was supposed to be back by now.”
“Is there reason to worry?”
“Not yet. Kev notoriously loses track of time, so we usually adjust for his tardiness—we take the time he says he’ll be somewhere, add five hours, and if he exceeds that, then we’re allowed to worry.”
Sebastian chuckled. “Sounds like you Doctors International folks are pretty close.”
“We are. It’s bound to happen when you spend every waking hour with the same group of people. We’re like a family now.”
“I know exactly what you mean.” He paused for a beat. “In my line of work, you tend to run into the same journalists and media folks and a sense of camaraderie develops.”
A short silence descended, during which Julia tried to come up with a way to ask him if he was sticking around for a while, without sounding like she cared if he was sticking around for a while. After a moment, she gave up. Screw it. She hated playing games, or saying anything less than what was on her mind.
So she opened her mouth and said, “Are you sticking around in San Marquez for a while?”
A regretful look entered his eyes. “I’m afraid not. I’m on a nine-o’clock flight back to Ecuador.”
Disappointment skidded through her, but she hoped it didn’t show on her face. She trailed after him toward the older-model Jeep parked a few dozen yards away. She couldn’t help but admire his taut ass, which looked ridiculously good in those cargo pants of his.
Oh, boy. She was totally lusting after this man.
And he was leaving. Just her luck.
Sebastian opened the driver’s door, but didn’t make a move to hop into the Jeep. Instead, he offered an awkward-looking shrug. She got the feeling this man didn’t feel awkward or nervous often, and she fought a smile as she watched him shift his feet.
“Thanks for taking the time to talk to me, Doc.”
“It was no problem at all.”
He cleared his throat. “And if, er, if I find myself in these parts again, maybe I can come see you …”
He trailed off, making it unclear whether that was a question or a statement.
She treated it like the former. “Sure, I’d like that.”
Their gazes collided, and there it was again, the crackle of heat, the sizzle of awareness. Her nipples promptly puckered and strained against her white cotton bra, and that spot between her legs throbbed with anticipation. Jeez. You’d think she hadn’t had sex in two years or something.
Oh, right. She hadn’t had sex in two years.
Pushing aside the sarcastic thoughts, she focused on Sebastian, who looked ready to say more. Julia held her breath, waiting for him to speak, but then an indefinable expression washed over his face. She glimpsed reluctance, regret, even a cloud of torment, and before she could try to make sense of it, he slid into the driver’s seat and shoved a key in the ignition.
“Keep up the good work, Doc.” He raised his voice so she could hear him over the rumble of the engine.
She swallowed another dose of disappointment. “Have a safe flight,” she told him, and then she stepped away from the vehicle and raised her hand in a wave.
The Jeep raised a cloud of brown dust as Sebastian executed a U-turn and sped toward the gravel road that would lead him back to civilization.
“Who was that?”
Julia turned around in time to see Lissa Purdue descending the porch steps and striding in her direction. Out of all the staff at the clinic, she was closest with Lissa, the fun-loving Australian nurse she’d been bunking with for the past six months.
“That was that journalist I told you about,” Julia answered, her eyes still focused on the Jeep, which was slowly disappearing from view.
“For real? Because that was one crazy-hot bloke.”
She sighed. “Yes, he was.”
Lissa’s jaw fell open. “No way. The perpetually professional Dr. Davenport is showing not-so-professional interest in a bloke? Are you ill, love?”
She rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t very well argue. It was true, the opposite sex hadn’t interested her much since she’d arrived on the island. While some of the other women—Lissa included—had no qualms about flirting with the single males in their vicinity, Julia made an effort to keep things professional.
There were several attractive men working at the clinic, including Kevin Carlisle and Simone’s single father, Marcus, but Julia wasn’t one to mess around with a coworker. During her last placement in Ethiopia, she’d watched two colleagues fall in love—and then she’d witnessed the relationship crash and burn, making life downright unbearable for everyone who’d had the misfortune of being around.
Unfortunately,