James, Julie - Love Irresistibly

Cade’s chest squeezed so tight with pride, all he could do was nod.

Noah rested his arms on his knees, the cigarette dangling between his fingers. “So listen. I’ve got a buddy who has two tickets he can’t use to next Sunday’s Bears game. He offered them to me, and I was thinking maybe you’d like to go.”

“With you?” Cade asked.

Noah laughed. “Yeah, with me.”

In his excitement, Cade could barely get the words out. “That’d be great!” He paused, then something inside him, something tentative and awkward and yet hopeful, made him go on. “Thanks, Dad.”

Noah’s expression changed, a momentary falter in his smile, before he nodded. “Sure, kid. No problem.”

On Monday, Cade bragged to his whole fifth-grade class that his father was taking him to the Bears game that weekend. Even Sean, who’d gone to a few Cubs games that summer with his dad and brother, was impressed. By Saturday night he was so excited he could barely sit still through his mother’s bedtime lecture about how he and Noah weren’t allowed to go anywhere—and she meant anywhere—except to the game and back, and how she’d stuck extra quarters in the pocket of his jacket so he could call her from a pay phone “just in case.”

The next morning, he got dressed and wolfed down his breakfast. The game started at noon, so Noah had said he’d pick him up at eleven. At ten forty-five, unable to restrain himself any longer, Cade sat by the living room window to wait.

At eleven fifteen, he was still waiting.

“He was late last time, too. He’ll be here, Mom,” he told her.

By noon, when the game had started, he knew.

Noah Garrity had given him a tryout, Cade’s one and only chance to have a father.

And he’d failed.

* * *

CADE EXHALED, RUNNING his hand over his mouth as he stared out his office window. He’d buried his issues with Noah Garrity a long time ago, and they needed to stay buried.

Luckily, it was Friday evening, which meant he could leave work, pour himself a stiff drink at home, and forget all about—

He suddenly remembered.

Friday evening.

Shit.

Cade checked his watch, and saw that he was ten minutes late for his meeting with Brooke Parker. He thought about sending her a text message to say he couldn’t make it, but she was probably already waiting for him at the restaurant, undoubtedly thinking up all the sweet-as-pie sarcastic barbs she was going to hurl at him when he finally showed up.

He couldn’t decide if that made him more or less eager to go.

He grabbed his briefcase and shoved in a few files he wanted to review that weekend, then headed out the door to grab a cab. Bar Nessuno, one of Sterling’s restaurants, was an Italian pizzeria and wine bar just off of Michigan Avenue. The street was a one-way going the opposite direction, and traffic was as bad as always on a Friday evening, so Cade had the driver drop him off a block away to save time.

He walked briskly to the restaurant and pushed through the door. Against the warm exposed brick décor, the first person he saw was Brooke. She was chatting with the hostess, looking exactly as he’d imagined her that afternoon—sophisticated and all-around sexy in her skirt and heels.

He approached her. “I’m late. I know,” he cut her off the second she opened her mouth. “Sorry. It’s been . . . a strange afternoon.”

She gave him a long once-over. Belatedly, he realized he’d loosened his tie and had yanked open the top button of his shirt while ruminating over everything Zach had dumped on him earlier that day. And he was pretty sure his hair was standing on end from running his fingers through it. Not exactly the way he normally presented himself in a professional setting.

Cade braced himself for the inevitable quip or comment.

“You look like you could use a drink, Morgan.” Then, unexpectedly, her expression softened. She cocked her head in the direction of the tables. “Shall we?”

Out of nowhere, Cade felt a sharp tug in his chest—like a sailboat bobbing around in rocky waters that was suddenly righted by a warm, calm breeze.

As they followed the hostess to their table, he glanced sideways at Brooke. “Thank you.”

She met his gaze with a slight smile. “I’ve had days like that myself, Cade. Plenty of them.”

ALMOST IMMEDIATELY AFTER they’d been seated, undoubtedly having been alerted to Brooke’s presence by the hostess, a waitress stopped by to introduce herself and take their drink orders.

“I’ll have a bourbon and bitters.” Brooke caught Cade’s look of surprise. “House specialty.”

Cade turned to the waitress. “In that case, make it two.” He pushed aside his drink menu, his eyes never leaving Brooke.

Something had changed. She didn’t know if it had anything to do with this “strange afternoon” he’d had, or if it was the simple logistics of their meeting—a cozy bar on a Friday evening—but there was a new undercurrent in the air between them. Something bold in his look that said they were playing a different game now.

And sitting across from him, taking in his strikingly handsome appearance—the finger-raked hair and devil-may-care loosened tie—Brooke wasn’t entirely sure she objected to the new rules.

“Thank you for agreeing to meet with me on such short notice,” she led in.

“This mysterious favor.” Cade stretched an arm across the back of the booth. “What is it you need from me?”

“A name.”

“Whose name?”

Brooke lowered her voice, careful to make sure that none of the restaurant staff could hear her. “The name of an employee who hacked into Sterling’s expense account database.”

That seemed to pique his interest. “I’m listening.”

She filled Cade in on the details, pausing momentarily when the waitress brought their cocktails. He listened without interrupting, occasionally taking a sip of his drink, as she laid out the details of the investigation conducted by Sterling’s VP of security, and then explained how they’d gotten stuck after determining the hacker’s IP address.

“Keith talked to an agent at the FBI office, who said it could take a while before anyone got back to us. I was hoping, maybe, you could speed up the process for us.”

She waited hopefully as Cade considered this.

He set down his glass. “I’m not going to talk to the FBI about this. It’s—”

“—too insignificant of a case,” Brooke finished for him. She continued on, undaunted. “Look, I understand that this is small potatoes in the grand scheme of investigations the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office handles. This jerk—whoever he is—didn’t take any money or steal anyone’s identity or anything.” She leaned in. “But nevertheless, he broke into company records with the sole purpose of humiliating my boss. And yes, I consider Ian a friend so that ticks me off on a personal level, but it’s more than that. This hacker is a bully. Only instead of writing his homophobic crap on the bathroom walls like he probably did in high school, he’s taken the twenty-first-century approach and spewed his insults via an online database.” She locked eyes with Cade. “I’m not expecting you to press charges, or even make an arrest. But I’d at least like the guy’s name so I can fire his ass.”

When she was done with her speech, Cade rested his arms on the table. “If you would’ve let me finish my sentence, the reason I’m not going to bring in the FBI is because I think this is something the Secret Service should handle.”

Brooke sat back in the booth. “Oh. The Secret Service. Of course.” She cocked her head. “Because, in addition to protecting the president, the Secret Service has jurisdiction over . . . something I probably learned in law school but am totally blanking on now.”

“Crimes involving U.S. financial institutions.”

She snapped her fingers. “Yes. That.”

“Your bully hacked into a Citibank database,” Cade said. “It’s not exactly a national security issue, but I’ll ask a Secret Service agent friend of mine to look into it. You said you have the IP address?”

“Yes, right here.” She pulled a piece of paper out of her purse and handed it over.

“Good.” Cade slid the piece of paper into his briefcase. “Give me a few days. You’ll be able to fire his ass soon. And the rest of him, too.”

Brooke smiled at that, pleasantly relieved—and a little surprised—that it had been that easy. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Cade pointed, suddenly changing the subject. “You’ve finished your drink.”

“So have you.”

“Another round? My treat this time.”

As if sensing the nature of their conversation, or perhaps simply attuned to the fact that the—gasp—general counsel was sitting with an empty glass before her, the waitress stepped up to their table. “Can I get you both another drink?”

“We were just discussing that very question,” Cade said, still with his eyes on Brooke.

Just say no. Brooke had gotten what she’d come for that evening, and now it was time to grab her briefcase, get up out of that booth, and walk away.

And from the daring look in Cade’s eyes, she knew he was waiting for her to do just that.

Never one to back down from any challenge, at least not one coming from the mighty Cade Morgan, she turned to the waitress. “Another round would be great, thank you.”

Cade smiled slyly as the waitress hurried off. “You better pace yourself with that bourbon there.”

Brooke eased back in the booth, not the slightest bit concerned. “I wine and dine people for a living, Morgan. You just worry about yourself.”

* * *

OKAY, FINE. SHE may have been a little buzzed.

Just a smidge.

Clearly, that had to be the case, because she felt warm and good and—shockingly—was enjoying being around Cade.

They’d been at the restaurant for over an hour. A while back, the manager had come by to say hello to Brooke and had sent over a complimentary selection of antipasti. Brooke had ordered a glass of wine with that, and Cade had gone with another bourbon, and then somehow they’d just rolled into dinner—a hand-tossed pizza straight out of the restaurant’s wood-burning oven.

“I have to give credit where credit is due,” Cade said, helping himself to another slice. “You guys at Sterling know your way around food.”

She took another piece herself. No disagreement there. “There are far worse places to work than for a restaurant company.”

“Is this the way it is every time you eat at a Sterling restaurant?” Cade asked. “Everyone hopping around, making sure you’re happy?”

“I don’t know if I’d say hopping, exactly.”

He threw her a look. “Please. You know you love it.”

“This coming from a man who brags about having the Secret Service on speed dial.”

“Don’t forget the FBI, DEA, ATF, and IRS, too.” He grinned before taking a bite of pizza.

“I rest my case.” Brooke chewed thoughtfully for a moment. “Actually it’s gotten better when I drop by the restaurants. In the beginning, I think everyone hated me. I was the first GC Ian had ever hired, so when I came on board people didn’t know what to expect. It took me about a year to convince them that I wasn’t looking for problems—that my job is to help them when problems do arise.”

Cade played with his glass, thinking this over. “I’ve been wondering something. Don’t take this the wrong way.”

“Never in the history of humankind has a man ever managed to not say something offensive after that lead-in, but if you want to take your chances, Morgan, be my guest.”

The corners of his mouth curved in a smile. “Why are you single?”

Well, then.

Brooke reached for her wineglass and took a sip, making him wait before she answered. “Who says I’m single?”

“Vaughn. He deduced it from the fact that there aren’t any pictures of a guy or kids in your office.”

“You were talking about me with Agents Huxley and Roberts?”

“You may or may not have come up.”

“I see. And what else did you three scamps say when you were gossiping in your little knitting circle?”

His eyes danced with amusement, but his gaze remained trained on hers. A prosecutor intent on getting his answer. “You didn’t answer my question.”

No, she hadn’t. And while part of Brooke was tempted to move this conversation along to a different topic, there was another part of her that, admittedly, was a little curious herself.