by Joss Wood
Well, that was a relief and a less awkward conversation than she’d thought it would be. When Kade grabbed her shirt and pulled her toward him all thoughts of pregnancy and STDs evaporated. He kissed her, long and slow. “You have too many clothes on.”
Man, how was she supposed to resist when he made her feel all squirmy and hot? “You don’t have any condoms left.”
“You do. I saw some in your bathroom cabinet.”
Brodie pulled a face. She’d bought them years ago, during her sleeping-with-the-IT-guy phase. “They’ve been in there for years.”
“I checked the expiration date, we’re good to go.” Kade’s lips nibbled her jaw. “You good to go?”
“Bed this time?” Brodie asked.
“And in the shower the next.”
Brodie glanced at the clock on her kitchen wall. Twice more in an hour and fifteen minutes?
Well, she’d heard about Kade Webb’s ambition, but she’d never thought she’d see it in action.
* * *
Kade walked out of her bathroom dressed in his tuxedo pants, his white dress shirt hanging loose. While he was showering she’d run a brush through her hair, pulled on a loose cotton sweater and a pair of yoga pants and was now sitting cross-legged on her bed, trying to act like it was an everyday occurrence for Kade to be in her apartment, showering in her bathroom.
“Why aren’t you going to the ball? Surely it’s a good place to promote your business?” Kade asked as he sat down next to her to pull on his black socks. “After all, you came to the lunch.”
“I came as a sponsor, not to tout for business.” Brodie placed her elbows on her knees and her face in her hands. “I’ve got to be careful how I network. It’s not like I can work the room, handing out business cards. My business is based on discretion and most of my clients come to me via word of mouth. Our website and contact numbers are on the program—if someone wants to talk to us they’ll call. I only match guys and I can practically guarantee no man there will talk business to me at the ball, not when they can be overheard.”
“Would I know any of your clients?”
“More than a couple.” Brodie held up her hand. “And no, I’ll never tell so don’t bother asking.”
Kade sent her a quick, assessing look. “I bet a lot of the guys hit on you.”
Brodie cocked her head at him. “Why would you think that?”
“So they do, I can see it in your eyes. As for how I know...?” He shrugged. “Say I’m a guy and I’m looking for someone. Then I meet you and think, hey, she’s gorgeous and nice, I don’t need to look any further. Men are lazy.”
“It happens,” Brodie admitted.
“How do you deal with them?” Kade pulled on his dress shoes—hand-tooled black leather, Brodie noticed as she scooted off the bed and walked over to her dressing table. She picked up her diamond-and-emerald ring and threw it in his direction.
“Nice ring,” he commented and threw it back at her. “Except it’s fake.”
“As fake as the fiancés I invent every week so I have a good excuse not to date,” Brodie replied.
“Ah.” Kade bent over to tie his laces and turned his head to look at her. “You’ve never been tempted?”
Brodie took a moment to consider his question. She was surprised when Kade’s eyes narrowed. With jealousy? Not possible.
“My clients are successful, frequently really nice, quite rich men. They drive expensive cars, have gorgeous homes and are intelligent. All very eligible.”
Kade scowled.
“But they are also men who are looking to settle down and I am not.” Brodie placed her ring back in the shallow bowl holding the jewelry she most often wore. “Besides, becoming involved with a client, in any way, is very unprofessional.”
“Good thing I’m not your client, nor will I ever be.” Kade sat up and reached for the two sides of his shirt. “I’d rather shoot myself than allow a matchmaker, you or anyone else, to set me up.”
Brodie silently admitted she’d rather walk on molten lava than have him as a client.
Kade cocked his head. “So why don’t you date?”
Brodie flushed. “Because there are two types of dating. People either date for sex or date for a relationship. I don’t do relationships, as a rule. And I very rarely do—” she waved her hand at her bed “—this. I’m as virulently anticommitment as you think you are.”
“As I think I am?”
Brodie shrugged. She’d seen him with his friends, seen how much he enjoyed his connection with them. He’d be a great husband, a stunning father—if he ever moved out of his party-hearty lifestyle.
Kade held her eyes for a long moment before making a production of looking at his watch. He sent her a crooked grin. “I’m only in it for the hot sex, thanks.”
Brodie smiled back. “Then don’t win the bid on my auction.”
Kade reached into his bag for his bow tie and draped it around his neck, quickly tying it without the use of a mirror. “I very definitely won’t,” he promised her. “I’ve got to move or else Wren will have my head.”
“Have fun.”
Kade picked up his bag and jacket and walked over to her. He dropped a kiss on her temple, then her mouth. “I’d much rather be having fun with you.”
Brodie made herself smile. She was pretty sure he said that to all the girls. “’Bye. See you.”
“See you,” Kade said, walking out of her bedroom. Within seconds she heard her front door open and close and two minutes later, heard the roar of his sports car.
So that was that. She’d had the fantastic sex she’d been craving. But she’d forgotten how much she enjoyed talking to Kade, how easily they slid into intimate conversation. It was as if there were no barriers and it felt way more intimate than post-sex conversation should be. So why on earth was she craving more?
Four
Kade reached for his glass and took a long sip of whiskey. How much longer could this damn ball last?
It was eleven now. If Quinn would move the auction along, Kade could be out of here by midnight. Was it too late to phone Brodie? Was she exhausted? Would he come across as desperate if he called her again so soon? If she was in bed, what was she wearing? A slinky negligee or a tank top and boxer shorts or just her golden skin?
He loved her skin. He loved everything about her body and when he’d held her earlier he’d felt... How had he felt?
Kade cursed the action in his pants. He needed more than a whiskey on ice, he needed a plunge into an ice-fishing hole. At this rate, when he got Brodie where he wanted her—under him—he’d last about two seconds. His reaction to her was ridiculous, insane... There had to be some sort of scientific explanation for why they wanted to rip each other’s clothes off at the drop of a hat. Shouldn’t the amazing sex they’d shared earlier have taken the edge off? Was it pheromones? Biological instinct? But why her and not one of the many, many good-looking women—many of them Mavericks groupies—scattered throughout the ballroom? None of this made sense.
All he was certain of was that he wanted Brodie again. Urgently. Immediately. Tonight.
Move the hell on, Rayne!
“And now, one of our more interesting donations,” Quinn announced. Kade turned his attention back to the stage. “Ms. Brodie Stewart, one of the city’s best matchmakers, is offering the opportunity to bid on her matchmaking services. So if you are a guy and are looking for a good woman, Brodie can find one for you.” Quinn looked at the Mavericks who occupied the back tables and nodded. “I know one or two, or ten, of my men who should bid.”
“I’ll bid on a date with Ms. Stewart!” someone shouted from the back. Kade looked down at the photograph of Brodie on the program and couldn’t blame the guy for trying his luck. She was gorgeous...
But, for the immediate futur
e, she was his.
“She’s too smart to date you, Higgins,” Quinn warned. “A reminder, this is a matchmaking service for men looking for their perfect woman. So, who is going to give me a hundred dollars?”
Immediately a couple of hands shot up and Kade watched, astounded, as the bids flew up to a thousand dollars, then two. Bids were still bouncing around the room when a cool female voice cut across the hubbub. “Three thousand dollars.”
Quinn spun around and his genial smile turned to a scowl. Rory had her paddle raised and was holding his intense stare.
“On whose behalf are you bidding, Rory?” Quinn asked, his frown clearly stating her bidding had better not have anything to do with him.
Kade leaned back in his chair and grinned. Oh, this was going to be fun. Rory had been nagging Quinn about his ability to jump from woman to woman and hobby to hobby—skydiving, white-water rafting, and his obsession with superfast motorcycles—and was determined to nag him into settling down with a wife and two-point-four kids.
She didn’t have a hope in hell of changing Quinn. He was even more entrenched in his bachelor lifestyle than Kade. But Kade would enjoy watching her try. He was also damn grateful she was nagging Quinn and not him...
He liked Rory, loved her even, but he wouldn’t tolerate her interfering in his life.
Rory’s smile was stolen straight from an imp. “Are you taking my bid or not, Rayne?”
Quinn held up two fingers, turned them to his eyes and flipped them around in her direction. “I’m watching you. McCaskill, make sure your woman behaves.”
“Yeah, right.” Mac leaned back and folded his arms against his chest. “This has nothing to do with me.”
“Three-five.” A voice from the back got the auction back on track.
“Three-seven,” Rory countered.
“Three-eight,” Wren calmly stated. She was bidding on behalf of the silent bidders, those who didn’t want the room to know they wanted to use a matchmaker.
“Four.” Rory waved her paddle in the air.
Four grand? Wow, not bad. The audience obviously loved the notion of being professionally set up.
The bids climbed and Rory matched every one. As the bids went higher, Quinn’s face darkened. Oh, yeah, he knew exactly what she was up to. She was buying Brodie’s services to find Quinn a woman who would stick around for more than a nanosecond. She was playing with fire, Kade thought, but he couldn’t help admiring her moxie.
“Rory,” Quinn warned after her bid topped five thousand dollars.
“Quinn,” Rory drawled and added another hundred dollars onto her bid.
“You can’t bid against yourself,” Quinn snapped.
“I just did.” Rory’s face was alight with laughter. “Oh, I am so going to enjoy this, Rayne. And so will you. So, be a darling. Bang your gavel and tell me I’ve won.”
Quinn looked at Mac. “Doesn’t she drive you crazy?”
Mac dropped a kiss on Rory’s temple and smiled. “All the time.”
Quinn smacked the gavel and told her she’d won the bid before pointing the gavel in her direction. “I won’t use it. You can’t blackmail me into doing this, Rory.”
Rory placed her hand on her heart and batted her eyelashes in his direction. “Quinn, you wound me. I would never dare to set you up.” Kade, along with the rest of the guests, leaned forward in their chairs, eager to hear more. “You keep telling me you’re not ready for a relationship and I respect that. I do. Besides, wait your turn.”
Huh? If this wasn’t for Quinn who was she setting up?
“It won’t be my turn. Ever.” Quinn looked relieved and perplexed at the same time. “So then, pray tell, who is the sacrificial lamb to be led to slaughter?”
Kade smiled at his description as Rory stood up and walked around the table to his side. Oh, crap, oh double crap, he thought as she placed a hand on his shoulder. Kade felt his teeth slam together.
She wouldn’t dare. She wasn’t that brave.
“Why, who else but one of my favorite people in the whole world? I bought this for my very good friend, Kade Webb.” Rory sent Kade a huge smile. As if she could charm him into changing his mind about tossing her from the nearest balcony.
“I just know Brodie will find Kade a stunning woman. I’m counting on her to find someone who’ll make him supremely happy.”
Dammit, hell, crap.
The room erupted into hoots of laughter and excited chatter. Dammit, hell, crap multiplied.
Kade met Mac’s eyes and scowled when his friend raised his glass in a mocking toast. “Welcome to my crazy world, dude.”
* * *
Kade really liked his best friend’s fiancée and thought it wonderful they were having a baby, but his anger over her stunt hadn’t disappeared.
What the hell was she thinking? Had she been thinking at all? He didn’t need anyone to find him a woman! And he certainly didn’t need his current lover to find him a new love!
If he could get past Mac, he had very strong words for Rory. He didn’t allow anyone to play fast and loose with his life and he allowed no interference when it came to his sex life. Rory hadn’t just stepped over the line, she’d eradicated it.
From his seat in his low-slung German sports car Kade stared at the still dark windows of Brodie’s apartment and ran a hand over his jaw. It had taken all his acting skills to breeze through the rest of the evening, to bat away the wisecracks, to laugh at the admittedly good-hearted banter. Well, everyone’s banter except his partners’ had been good-natured. Mac and Quinn had teased him mercilessly.
For that they would pay...
Kade was perfectly capable of finding his own woman and he didn’t want to be in a relationship. Damned women and their meddling. He refused to have anything to do with Rory’s scheme and he refused to feel guilty about her wasting her money. She shouldn’t have pulled such an asinine trick in the first place!
And if he found out Mac had anything to do with this, then he and McCaskill would go a couple of rounds in the ring, no holds barred.
Kade massaged his temples. It was past 6:00 a.m. He’d had no sleep. He hadn’t changed out of his tux. His head was pounding and he wanted nothing more than to climb into bed with Brodie and lose himself in her. He’d done that last night, he remembered. With Brodie the world had disappeared, and for the few hours they were together, he’d relaxed and forgotten. Forgotten about his responsibilities, his past. He’d stopped worrying about his future. With her he’d lived in the moment, something he usually couldn’t do.
He wouldn’t start to rely on her to feel like that, wouldn’t enjoy what they had more than he should. He’d keep it light, he promised himself. This was a one-time, short-term thing. He wasn’t looking for long term and neither was she.
All well and good, he thought, but how was he going to handle this stupid situation Rory had placed him in? He had to tell Brodie. That was why he was sitting in front of her apartment complex at the butt crack of dawn.
Brodie had said this—whatever it was between them—would probably be just be one night. And she’d also said something about sleeping with clients being unprofessional.
But if he didn’t take up Rory’s offer and didn’t allow Brodie to set him up, then he wouldn’t be her client. He knew their chemistry was combustible enough for more than one night. So everything would be fine. Either way, he had to tell her.
Rory Kydd, if you weren’t a woman and if my best friend didn’t love you so much, I would kick your very nice ass all over Vancouver.
Maybe he was overthinking this. Brodie was sensible. Kade felt a bit of his panic recede. There was no way she’d accept the challenge to match him. She’d just laugh off Rory’s bid and the money would go to charity...no harm, no foul.
He’d call Brodie later, he thought, when he wa
s rested and clearheaded. He lifted his hand to touch the ignition button. His finger hovered there but instead of allowing the powerful engine to roar to life, he instructed his onboard computer to call Brodie.
What are you doing, idiot?
Yet he allowed the cell to ring and eventually he heard Brodie’s sleep roughened, sexy voice. “’Lo.”
“I’m outside. Let me come up.”
“Kade? What time is it?”
“Early.” Kade opened the door and climbed out of his expensive car.
He started walking to the front door and his heart jumped when a light snapped on in a corner room on the top floor. She was awake.
Kade flew up the stairs. As he reached her apartment the door opened and Brodie stood in the dark hall, her hair mussed, wearing nothing more than a hockey jersey. His number. Lust and warmth and relief pumped through him. Rory and her machinations were instantly forgotten; his world was comprised of this woman and how desperately he wanted her.
“What’s wron—”
Kade cut off Brodie’s words by covering her mouth with his. Without ending the kiss, he picked her up, kicked the door shut with his foot and carried her to her bedroom.
* * *
They were being perfectly adult about this, Brodie decided as she poured coffee into two mugs. Civilized. So far they’d managed to avoid the awkwardness that normally accompanied the morning after the night before.
He hadn’t faked any emotion he didn’t feel and she hadn’t felt like she was being used. They’d made love, slept a little, made love again and then Kade asked if he could use her shower. She offered to make him breakfast. He declined but said he’d take a cup of coffee.
As extended one-night stands went, it was practically perfect. Then why did she feel like she didn’t want it to end?
She was just being silly; she was tired and not thinking straight. After she’d had a solid eight hours of sleep, she’d be grateful Kade was so good at this. Brodie frowned. He’d obviously had a lot of practice.
“Are you going to drink it or just stare at it?”