* * *
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?”
Brodie turned slowly and sucked in her breath. Kade naked was a revelation, but Kade in a wrinkled tuxedo wasn’t too shabby, either. Too shabby as in freakin’ damn hot. “Uh...”
Kade walked over to her, lifted the cup to her mouth and tipped it. “Coffee, a magical substance that turns ‘uh’ into ‘good morning, honey.’”
Brodie rolled her eyes as he took her cup and sipped from it. “I’d forgotten you were a morning person. It’s okay to kill happy, cheerful morning people, I checked.”
Kade handed her cup back and walked over to the pot and poured his own. He leaned his butt against her counter and sipped. “You need a shower and six hours of sleep.”
“Eight.” Brodie pulled out a wooden chair from the table and dropped into it. “And you’re the one who woke me up so early so it’s your fault.”
Kade grinned. “I didn’t see you fighting me off. Sorry about your panties, by the way.”
“You owe me a new pair,” Brodie told him, both hands wrapped around her cup. Such a nice tuxedo...and it fitted him beautifully. The bow tie was gone and his face was shaded with blond stubble. Then she sat up straighter, remembering why Kade was wearing a tuxedo. “The ball! I’d forgotten... How did it go? Did you manage to raise any money from my donation?”
“Uh, yeah. It sold.”
“You don’t sound too enthusiastic.” Brodie cocked her head. “Didn’t it make any money at all? I’m so sorry.”
“It made quite a bit of money. That’s not the problem.”
“There’s a problem? How can there be a problem with my gift? The guy comes to me, I set him up on three dates and hopefully there’s a happily-ever-after.”
“It all depends on who the guy is.”
Right, now she was confused. “So who is the guy?”
“Me.”
She knew it was early and she wasn’t a 100 percent awake, but she thought, maybe, Kade had said he was the one she would be working with.
“Please tell me you are joking?” Brodie begged. She knew instinctively that Kade hadn’t had anything to do with her donation. So whose stupid idea was this? “Mac? Quinn?”
“Rory.”
So Brodie hadn’t misinterpreted Rory’s mischievous look after all. Rory was very brave, or very stupid, and obviously very determined to get Kade hitched. Pity she hadn’t a clue that Brodie and Kade could spark a wildfire from one kiss.
Damn. She’d just had earth-scorching sex with her client. She’d unwittingly and unknowingly broken her number-one rule. Brodie took a sip of coffee and pushed past the surge of jealousy to work out how, exactly, she was going to do this. Unfortunately there wasn’t a manual dealing with the pesky problem of how to match your one-night stand.
God, this was far too confusing for someone whose blood didn’t start to circulate until she’d had three cups of coffee. Think this through... Sex, ball for him and sleep for her, sex, client.
Brodie lifted her head to glare at him. Kade had come over to her house and seduced her again, knowing her views about dating her clients. Brodie stood up, anger obliterating the last of her sleepiness.
“How dare you! Why didn’t you tell me right away that Rory had bid on my services for you! What the hell, Kade? Did you not think that might have had an impact on my decision to sleep with you again?”
“Whoa, hold on...” Kade lifted his hands.
“You should’ve told me! I had a right to know, you manipulative jerk!”
“That’s not fair.”
Brodie brushed past him and tossed her coffee into the sink. “The hell it’s not. You knew about this and you knew I’d back off from sleeping with you if you told me. So you didn’t say a damn word!”