How is it?
Not bad. Have a taste.
I think I will.
“So tell me more about the job,” Cade said.
Brooke blinked. Right. The job. “I don’t have all the details about the position yet—the CEO wants me to fly down to Charlotte to meet with the rest of the executive team. But we discussed the compensation package, and it’s—wow.” She took a deep breath and exhaled, still unable to believe it.
“That good, huh?” Cade said.
“That good.”
His next question got right to the heart of the matter. “Do you think you’ll take it?”
Brooke rested one hip against the counter. “I don’t know. I’ve been at Sterling for less than two years, and I’ve been so focused on developing the company that I hadn’t given any thought to leaving. And I love the work I do there.”
“But?”
“But . . . I’m not sure I can say ‘no’ to an opportunity like this. Spectrum is an eleven-billion-dollar corporation. To be an executive VP there would really launch my career into a different stratosphere.” She paused. “It just seems weird, though, the idea of leaving Chicago.”
They both fell silent at that.
Brooke set down her glass. “Speaking of which, I was thinking we should probably talk. About what this means for us.”
Cade set his glass down as well. “I had the same thought. Since there’s a good chance you’ll be leaving, I was wondering if we should cool things down.”
Brooke felt a pang of disappointment in her chest. Which was completely silly, obviously, since that was exactly what she wanted, too. “I was just about to say that.”
“You were?” He spoke quickly. “I mean—good. Glad we’re on the same page. Better to end things now, before the situation gets, you know, complicated.”
Brooke nodded, quickly regrouping based on his reaction. “Right. Of course.” Seemingly, she and Cade had not been on the same page—here she’d been thinking things already had gotten complicated—but there was no reason for him to know that now. As it turned out, they didn’t need to have any messy “feelings” talk, after all.
Which was just . . . great. Absolutely. Whew.
She saw him watching her, and felt the need to say more. “I mean, we both knew from the start that this wasn’t a permanent thing, right?”
“Exactly.” He gestured between them. “It’s not like either of us has had a lot of success when it comes to serious relationships.”
“Very true.” That silly pang of disappointment poked at Brooke again, but she ignored it and kept right on going. She even went for a joke. “And hey—there’s always phone sex. Probably all I’ll have time for, from the way Palmer described the job.”
Cade studied her, then stepped closer. “Just tell me one thing, Brooke. You’re sure that this is what you want?”
She assumed he meant the job at Spectrum. And that was an opportunity she just couldn’t walk away from. “Yes.” Her voice came out quieter than she’d expected, so she cleared her throat. “This is what I want.”
He nodded. “So this is good-bye, then.”
She exhaled. “I’m not good at this part.” Especially not with you, she suddenly wanted to add.
But she didn’t.
Cade’s voice turned deeper. “Maybe we shouldn’t say anything, then.”
Falling silent, they looked at each other.
She reached for Cade at the same moment he pulled her closer, her lips parting eagerly as his mouth swooped down on hers. He edged her back against the counter, and she gasped at the feel of his hard, strong body against hers. The sound seemed to ignite him more—his tongue plundered her mouth demandingly as one hand cupped her bottom and pressed her against the hard length of his erection.
Yes. She may not have had the words to say good-bye, but she could have this one last time with him. She yanked his shirt out of his pants and smoothed her hands over the defined muscles of his stomach. She felt him tremble underneath her fingertips, and then he swung her up in his arms and carried her to the bedroom.
They peeled off their clothes and Brooke reached for him, wanting him inside her. Instead, Cade took his time, exploring nearly every inch of her body. He trailed his lips down her stomach, then gripped her thighs and held her open as he lowered his mouth between her legs.
He was relentless. He brought her to the peak, and then pulled back, and then brought her right there again, until she felt stripped bare with need. “Cade,” she begged.
He hovered between her spread legs, rolling a condom on, then moved over her. Bracing himself on his elbows, he cupped her face and looked right into her eyes as he entered her.
“Brooke,” he said, nearly a whisper.
It was the tender way he said her name, his face momentarily so open and unguarded that it literally took her breath away. He began to move inside her, lowering his head to kiss her as he continued his achingly smooth rhythm. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and her legs around his waist, holding on tight as she arched her hips to meet him. They shattered together, and afterward lay intertwined for several moments before she drifted off to sleep with her head on his chest.
* * *
IN THE MORNING, she woke up and saw the sun filtering in through the shades on her windows. Cade was sitting next to her on the bed, dressed in the suit he’d worn the night before.
He reached over and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I need to get going,” he said huskily. “I have to go home and change before heading into work.”