Love Irresistibly (FBI/US Attorney #4)(64)

“Amateur,” Vaughn said, with a conspiratorial grin.

“Amateur, huh? I’ll be sure to ask Addison tonight if she agrees with that assessment.”

And if his confident smile was any indication, Agent Seth Huxley wasn’t worried about the answer to that one bit.

* * *

“YOU REALLY DO impress me, you know.”

Cade peered down at Brooke, who lay against his chest, curled up in the sheets of her bed. “Thanks. I even impressed myself with that one.”

She chuckled. “I wasn’t referring to that move you threw in at the end there. Although, yes, well done, you.”

“Glad you approve.”

“Actually, I was thinking about our conversation earlier, when you were talking about being out with Vaughn and Huxley.”

“You’re thinking about Vaughn and Huxley while we’re lying in bed together? Not sure I like the sound of that.”

She perked her head up and looked at him. “Oh . . . so that’s not something you would ever consider? The three of you, you know . . . all at once? Because I kind of have this fantasy I was going to talk to you about.”

Cade was about to laugh, but then she held his gaze so unflinchingly that for a split second he wondered if she was actually serious.

Okay . . . this definitely was not a conversation he’d ever expected to have with Brooke Parker of Sterling Restaurants, the Gorgeous Green Eyes, and Holy Shit She’s Into Foursomes.

But then he saw the telltale sparkle in her eyes.

He exhaled. “You suck.”

“Oh my God, you should’ve seen the look on your—” She cut off, laughing when he beaned her with one of the pillows. Then he bonked her two more times for good measure.

She sprawled across the bed when he’d finished, her hair tousled about her shoulders. “So that’s a ‘no,’ then?”

Cade smiled. The woman may have driven him crazy, but he had a grin on his face the whole way. He lay on his side, facing her. “That is definitely a ‘no.’ And you still suck.”

She turned into him, absentmindedly trailing her fingers over his bare chest. “What I was referring to, when I said I was impressed, was the way you’ve managed to have so much balance with your job. You’re obviously very successful. You have a great career at the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Yet you still have time to play football and hang out with Vaughn and Huxley and just . . . have an actual life.” She mused momentarily over this. “I haven’t figured out that trick yet.”

“I get busy, too, especially when I’m on trial.” Cade paused, proceeding cautiously with his next words since he knew it was a sensitive issue. “But you do realize that your work schedule isn’t exactly the norm, right?”

She thought about that. “It’s just because we’re building the company right now,” she said, ready, as always, to defend Sterling. “Ten years ago, Ian owned one restaurant. Now, on top of seven additional restaurants, we’re in ballparks and arenas across the country. Things will quiet down eventually, but for now I just have to keep chugging away.”

“Have to?” Cade asked.

“Ah, I see what you’re trying to do there, counselor. I want to keep chugging away,” she quickly amended. “Look, I know the hours are a little crazy. But I worked hard to end up right where I am now. And when I walk through Sterling’s doors every morning, I feel proud of what I’ve accomplished.”

That brought to mind something Cade had been curious about. “Do you ever go back to Glenwood?”

She tucked her arm under her head. “I haven’t been back there in years. My parents sold our townhome after I graduated from high school. In fact, they put it on the market literally the week after I graduated. After it sold, they moved three hours west of here, to a small town on the Mississippi River. I remember being so perplexed by that at first—my parents had lived in Chicago for years, and then Glenwood, which was a decent-sized suburb. So I kept wondering when the desire to live in a small town had set in.

“They moved just after I started college, so the first time I saw the place was Thanksgiving break. It’s a cute house, a little Victorian, and they have a big yard. On my first visit, my mom took me around the yard and told me about all these plans she had for a garden. I remember laughing a little, and asking her when she’d gotten so into gardening, since the most we’d ever had at our townhome was a few potted plants. And she said to me, half-joking and half-serious, something about being inspired by all the big, fancy gardens she’d had to drive by, every day, when we lived in Glenwood.”

Brooke chewed her lip, thinking about that. “It was this strange moment, because, as a teenager, I’d really only thought about how it felt for me to live in the ‘poor’ part of town, and how much harder I had always had to work for everything. But then I kind of put it together, the fact that my parents had put their place on the market the week after I’d graduated, and realized that they’d probably been wanting to get out of that place for a long time. But they’d stayed for me, so that I could get the education they thought I deserved. That was . . . a little humbling.” She looked at him across the bed. “I just don’t want to let them down. It’s like, sometimes I feel this weight, the pressure of everything everyone in the Parker family, including myself, has done for me to get where I am today.”