Brodie hit the emergency stop button and rested her forehead against the elevator door. She had to pull back from him, had to put some distance between them. She was being seduced by what-ifs and how-it-might-be’s. She couldn’t afford to think of Kade as anything more than the father of her child. He was her temporary lover but he wasn’t her partner or her significant other.
He definitely would never be her husband.
The last time she’d planned her future she’d had it ripped from her. She’d lost everyone she’d loved in one fell swoop and she refused to take that risk again.
She couldn’t taste love, hold love and lose love again. That was too big a risk to take.
She smacked the emergency button and the elevator lurched upward.
No, she’d had her fun...too much fun. It was time to back the hell away and get a handle on this relationship. She needed to dial it back to a cordial friendship. She could do that. And she would do that before the story broke in the press. Presently the press saw her as nothing more than his matchmaker but they’d soon sniff out the truth. With her spending nights at his place, they’d been lucky to keep it a secret this long.
Luck, as she knew, always ran out.
* * *
Kade walked into his loft, ignored Mac and Rory and Quinn, and walked straight over to Brodie. He picked her up and turned her upside down so her head was facing the floor. She gurgled with laughter and placed her hands on the floor to steady herself.
“Kade, she’s pregnant!” Quinn grabbed his arm. “What are you doing?”
“I’m getting blood to her head, something that was obviously missing when she chose my date,” Kade replied, easily restoring Brodie to her feet. “She’s lucky I didn’t hang her over the balcony.”
Brodie wiped her hands on the seat of her pants and sent him a cocky smile. She hadn’t been remotely scared at being tossed around like a doll, Kade mused. Her eyes were bright and full of mischief. “Really, Stewart?”
Brodie attempted an innocent shrug. “What? She’s a biokinetics engineer and a part-time entertainer.”
“And a full-time loony. She wants to be a freakin’ mermaid.” Kade pointed an accusing finger at Brodie.
“What are we talking about?” Mac asked, mystified.
“The latest date Brodie and Wren sent him on. He had lunch with her today,” Quinn explained. He turned to Kade. “You do know it’s weird that you’re going on these dates while Brodie is pregnant with your child?”
No, the thought hadn’t occurred to him, he sarcastically, silently replied. Brodie and he had an understanding—basically, they both understood they had no idea what they were doing. “Blame Wren. Besides, the dating is done.”
“When did you do date number two?” Mac asked.
“A couple of weeks back. Teacher, triathlete. We had lunch,” Kade answered him. “I am now off the dating hook.”
“Anyway, getting back to today and this date—” he pointed a finger at Brodie “—revenge will be sweet.”
Brodie didn’t seem particularly concerned, so Kade left her to talk to his friends and headed for the kitchen. On the plus side, he’d fulfilled his duties to Wren’s publicity campaign. The public could vote, speculate and talk about his love life until the damn cows came home but the only woman who interested him, on any level, was standing on his balcony, carrying his child.
He opened the fridge, yanked out a beer, saw Quinn behind him and reached for another. Kade handed Quinn a bottle and closed the fridge door with a nudge of his knee. He cracked open the beer and took a long swallow. He looked across the loft to the balcony where Brodie stood. It was a nice evening, his friends were here and he’d ordered Thai for dinner. He’d had a busy, drama-free day and then he’d joined Quinn and Mac on the ice for a workout. While the news had been unexpected, he was going to be a father and he was starting to become excited at the prospect.
Life should be good.
So what was the problem? In a nutshell, it was this half on, half off, up-in-the-air arrangement he had with Brodie. Half friends, sometimes lovers, future parents, both of them wanting, on some level, to run. He was jogging in place but Brodie had her sneakers on and was about to sprint, as hard and as fast as she could.
As soon as she could.
Kade felt he was living the same life he’d lived with his father, not sure how the next move would affect him. Every day was new territory for him and he felt as unsettled as he had when he was a child.
Quinn’s fist smacking into Kade’s biceps rocked him back to the here and now. “What the hell was that for?”