Free Tempted by Dr. Morales by Carol Marinelli Page B

a shame he’s leaving.’
    ‘I just don’t get the drifting-around-the-world thing,’ Cate said. ‘He wouldn’t even commit to a three-month contract. I could understand it if he was in his twenties.’
    ‘I don’t need three months with him...’ Louise nudged, and Cate pushed out a smile.
    It was actually a very nice night—at first. The restaurant was set high on Olivers Hill and looked over Port Phillip Bay. The view was stunning and the drink was flowing a bit too freely because Christine’s laughter was getting louder and louder, the stories at the table more outrageous. Cate laughed and joined in but her heart really wasn’t in it. She just wanted to go home, not to be sitting waiting for a sliver of Juan’s attention, not to be like Christine and hanging onto his every word.
    And, yes, it hurt that he hadn’t so much as spoken to her once.
    It was still, at eleven p.m., unbearably warm and Cate blew up her fringe as she let out a long breath. ‘Another sleepless night, tossing and turning...’
    ‘Well, if you insist.’ Juan’s voice from behind her made Cate jump but she managed to answer in her usual dry fashion when she turned round. ‘In your dreams, Juan!’
    He lowered his head and gave her a brief kiss on the cheek, just as a few other colleagues had, but because it was Juan he took the tease one step further. ‘Often.’
    ‘You don’t know when to stop, do you?’ Cate really tried not to take his flirting seriously, for pity the woman who believed that any words that slipped from those velvet lips hadn’t been used many times before.
    ‘I brought you a drink...’ Juan put a glass of champagne on the table.
    ‘It’s very nice of you, but I’m driving.’
    ‘You can have one.’
    ‘I don’t want to have one.’
    ‘I’ll have it.’ Louise smiled.
    ‘Help yourself.’
    He moved into an empty seat beside her—a few of the gathering had gone to dance and once she’d finished her drink Louise drifted off to join them.
    ‘Are you looking forward to Monday?’ Juan asked.
    ‘I don’t know that much will change,’ Cate attempted.
    ‘Of course it will.’
    ‘It might only be temporary,’ Cate pointed out. ‘I might not get the job.’
    ‘You know you will.’ He saw the swallow in her throat. ‘Is it what you want?’
    ‘Of course it is.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘Why wouldn’t I?’ She gave a small shake of her head. She wasn’t about to discuss her career with a man who had turned his back on his.
    ‘Have you thought about doing the sky jump?’
    ‘The places are all taken.’
    ‘You can have mine.’ Juan grinned. ‘I’d happily pay to watch you jump out of a plane. I think it would be very freeing for you.’
    ‘I don’t need freeing.’ Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him. ‘I don’t need a shot of adrenaline from jumping out of a plane to prove that I’m alive...’ It annoyed her that he smiled. ‘I don’t.’
    ‘I’m not arguing.’ Still he smiled. ‘I wish you good luck with your interview. If I come back in a couple of years, I expect you’ll be carrying a clipboard and be the new director of nursing.’
    ‘And what will you be doing in a couple of years?’ Cate asked, because even though he was smiling she felt there was a challenge in his tone. ‘Still roaming the globe, still doing casual shifts and not knowing where you’re going to be each day?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ he admitted. ‘I try not to think that far ahead, but I am thinking ahead now—after you’ve dropped everyone off, come back to mine.’
    ‘Pardon?’
    ‘I would like to have some time to speak with you.’
    ‘We’re speaking now.’
    ‘Okay, I would like to talk to you some more.’ He would. Juan was more than aware that this might be the last time they were together and he cared enough about Cate to prolong the conversation. She clearly didn’t want his career advice, so he switched track to something a little more palatable. ‘I would like to be a bit more hot