“Someone I met through work,” Brooke said. “He asked me to have dinner with him tonight. I haven’t said yes. Yet.”
“But you’re going to?”
She smiled coyly at that. “Perhaps. After making him wait another”—she checked her watch—“two hours and six minutes.”
Ford looked confused. “Why two hours and six minutes? I don’t get it.”
“Sorry. Just an inside joke.”
Brooke paused in surprise as soon as the words came out. Ford raised an eyebrow. For twenty years, he had been the guy she had inside jokes with.
“Interesting,” he said.
“It’s not a big deal,” Brooke said quickly. “It’s just dinner.”
“Got it.” Ford took a sip of his Diet Coke. He set it down, giving her a knowing look.
“Really, Ford. Just dinner.” She watched as he simply nodded, still with the smug look. “I don’t like you sometimes.”
He laughed that off, having heard it for years. “I love you, too, Parker.”
* * *
“SOMEWHERE ELSE YOU need to be?”
Cade glanced over at Vaughn, who’d caught him checking his watch. “Just debating whether I want to grab another beer now or wait until the next inning.”
“Nice excuse. Except that’s the second time you’ve checked your watch since we got here.”
Huxley chimed in from the seat on Vaughn’s left. “The third time. He also checked when you were flagging down the hot-dog vendor.”
Cade grumbled under his breath. Damn FBI agents—they didn’t miss a trick. “It must be so exhausting for you two to have these amazing powers of perception that you can never turn off,” he said sarcastically.
Vaughn grinned. “Yes. But it also makes us unbelievably cool.”
“I’m okay with it, too,” Huxley agreed matter-of-factly.
More grumbling ensued.
Admittedly, Cade was already a little on the prickly side. In just twenty minutes—not that he was counting—his dinner offer to Brooke would expire and he hadn’t heard so much as a peep from her. Was she really not interested? He didn’t buy it. Beneath all the quips, there was chemistry between them—he felt it, and she did, too.
Time would soon tell just how right he was about that.
Their professional relationship was over. The Sanderson case, the hacker at Sterling she’d asked him to track down—all of that had been resolved. They had no reason to see each other again unless, simply, they wanted to. He’d made his interest clear and now the ball was in her court.
Cade noticed Huxley and Vaughn looking at him expectantly, waiting for an answer. “I’ve got an offer on the table that expires soon. Just waiting to hear back from the other side,” he said by way of explanation.
Vaughn seemed satisfied with that answer. Underneath the jokes, he was as committed to his job as Cade was to his. “Guess there’s not much else you can do except sit back and enjoy the game, then.” He gestured to the lush green outfield that stretched out before them, flanked by Wrigley Field’s distinctive ivy-covered walls. Eighty degrees and clear blue skies made it the perfect day for baseball—although for today, the day that pitted Chicago brother against brother, the stadium would’ve been packed even in inclement weather.
Cade had scored tickets to the Cubs/Sox game months ago, and Vaughn was right—he needed to forget about Brooke and enjoy the afternoon. They had good-quality man stuff going on: baseball on a sunny day, cold beers, and hot dogs. With that thought, he flagged down a beer vendor and bought another round for all three of them. Huxley and Vaughn were off duty and unarmed that day—FBI policy prohibited agents from consuming alcohol while carrying—which meant they all could relax and bask in the pure, feel-good fun of America’s pastime.
The inning was an exciting one, first with a base hit and then a two-run homer that made the crowd go wild. Cade was on his feet amidst the screaming and cheering, beer in one hand and high-fiving Vaughn and Huxley and the perfect strangers sitting in the row in front of them, when his cell phone vibrated in the front pocket of his shorts.
He pulled out the phone and saw he had a new text message from Brooke Parker. One word.
YES.
Cade noticed the time of the message and realized she’d conveniently accepted his dinner invitation one minute before it expired. He couldn’t decide if that made him want to laugh out loud or throttle his cell phone—perhaps both—but he did know one thing.
This woman drove him crazy.
Standing beside him, Vaughn tapped him on the shoulder. “So?” He raised his voice over the crowd’s roar and gestured to Cade’s phone. “Good news?”
Cade tucked the phone back into his pocket. “She said yes.”
Vaughn blinked—clearly having expected Cade to say something else—then threw out his hands. He had no clue what they were talking about, but right then everything was a cause for celebration. “She said yes! Hell, yeah!” He grabbed Huxley and pointed to Cade, shouting over the crowd. “She said yes.”
“Sweet,” Huxley said, tapping his beer to Cade’s. “Who said yes?”
“Brooke Parker. I’m seeing her tonight.”
“Fuck you,” Vaughn said, somewhat in awe. “I knew it. You’ve been digging her from the moment she told you to shove your obstruction of justice threats up your ass.”