James, Julie: Love Irresistibly

Not when that would mean losing his father all over again.

Cade felt the tightness in his throat, his voice coming out hoarse.

“Good-bye, Noah.”

CADE PUSHED THROUGHthe hospital doors and kept walking. He spotted an alley up ahead and turned into it.

Once alone, he pressed his hands against the brick wall of the hospital and closed his eyes.

So much fucking time wasted.

He hit the wall hard with the side of his fist, the pain a welcome distraction from the ache in his chest. He felt angry and lost and so goddamn raw he wanted to climb out of his own skin. No amount of charm or jokes or quips could protect him now—this was real and it was hard and it was rough. His estranged father was dying, and he was furious about that, at Noah for being a dickhead for so much of his life, and for laying all this on him now. But he couldn’t just feel anger, because he’d seen the genuine look of regret in Noah’s eyes, and also the desire to make things right.

Cade did not want to be that man.

If he took one thing from this screwed-up experience, it was that he didn’t want to look back on his life at the end of his days and regret the actions he’d never taken and the words he’d never said.

The hell with his hang-ups. The hell with holding back. He was going for the win on this one.

He was going to find Brooke.

His decision made, he turned away from the wall, not caring if she was at home, at work, or in goddamn Charlotte. As soon as he pulled himself together, he was going to—

He stopped in his tracks.

Brooke stood there, at the end of the alley.

“Hi,” she said softly.

Cade wiped his eyes, not understanding how her being there was possible. “Why—how—are you here?”

“I went to your place and ran into Zach. He told me you were here.” She gestured in the direction he’d just come from. “I was waiting in the lobby, and when I saw you walk out, I thought maybe you—” She stopped, shifting hesitantly, and then walked over to him. “When I heard about Noah, I wanted to be here. With you.”

Cade was trying to process this, wondering what that might mean, when she pointed to his hand.

“You’re bleeding.” She reached out and took his hand in hers, tenderly turning it over.

He looked down and saw that he’d split one of his knuckles. “I punched a wall.”

“I caught that part.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a tissue.

Cade watched as she gently dabbed at the cut, blotting the blood. He felt no pain anymore, just the warmth of her hand around his.

So much he wanted to say to her. But really, it came down to one thing.

“I love you.”

Brooke paused with the tissue and looked up at him with surprise in her eyes. “Cade. You’re obviously having a very intense day. I totally under—”

He pressed his finger to her lips, cutting her off. Maybe she didn’t want to hear it, and maybe he was indeed going to look like a jackass at the end of this. But he was going to say what he needed to say regardless. “I love you. On intense days. On good days. On long, exhausting workdays. On really strange days when I find out that I have a long-lost brother. And most of all, on days when you make me smile, which happens to be every day I’m with you.” He gazed deep into her eyes. “You are not just a big-picture girl for me, Brooke Parker. You’re the only picture.”

She touched his face, her eyes turning misty. “Cade—”

“You’ve got this job offer in Charlotte. I know. But if you want, that’s something we can figure out together. I made a commitment to Cameron, so I need to stay in Chicago until she’s back from maternity leave. But after that, I can—”

“I didn’t take the job in Charlotte.”

“Oh. Right.” He exhaled, trying to catch up to speed. “Well. You should know that I had at least two minutes left on that speech. Really quality stuff.”

“Sorry. I just thought this might be a good time to mention that I love you, too.” She made a rolling gesture. “But, please—carry on.”

He grinned. Sassy as ever . He took her hand, armed with this information, and backed her against the brick wall. “You love me?”

With a smile curling at the edges of her lips, she gazed up at him. “Yes. These past two weeks, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what I want in my life. And somehow, you ended up at the top of that list.”

He lowered his head. “It’s because your subconscious finds my subconscious irresistible,” he said huskily.

“I have no clue what that means,” she murmured against his mouth.

“For starters, it means I’m going to kiss you.”

And that’s exactly what he did.

They kissed for a long time in that alley, the rest of the world bustling by on the sidewalks and streets just a few feet away, but for that moment, pressed against the bricks, it was just the two of them. Nothing else mattered.

Afterward, they walked the five blocks to Brooke’s apartment, where Cade told her about his conversation with Noah.

“Do you want to see him again?” she asked, putting a Band-Aid on his split knuckle.

“No.” Cade sighed, and then nodded. “Yes.”

Later, they lay wrapped around each other on the couch, and Brooke told him about her trip to Charlotte and her subsequent discussion with Ian.

“Afterward, when I was celebrating with Ford, I kept thinking that you should’ve been there, too.” She shifted, sitting up halfway so that she could look him in the eyes. “I missed you these past two weeks. So much.”

It was the heartfelt way she said it, the way her voice turned throaty with emotion. As much as he loved the quips and the inside jokes, it was this moment, when her walls were down and he saw her softer, vulnerable side, when she just melted him.

He reached up and touched her cheek. “Let’s not do that again.”

“Be apart for two weeks?” She slid her arms around his neck. “I agree.”

Well, yes. But he was talking about something more than that. “No, I mean what got us to that point.” He held her gaze. “No more tough-girl or tough-guy routines. At least, not between us. I want to be in the inner circle, Brooke.” He realized what that meant—that he’d be letting her in, too.

And as he lay there with her, he knew there was nothing he’d ever wanted more.

In answer, she took his hand and placed it on her chest. Right over her heart. “You’re in, Cade Morgan. Only you.”

Yep, that pretty much made it official.

When it came to Brooke Parker of Sterling Restaurants, he was a goner.

Three weeks later.

“SO, UNFORTUNATELY, THEconcession stand did not have beef tenderloin, shrimp kabobs, or that fancy Sterling Restaurants dessert cart. But, fret not, because I was able to snag you . . .” With a flourish, Cade pulled two things out from behind his back. “This lukewarm, rubbery hot dog and this Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup—the twin pack. How’s that for fine dining?”

“Yes on the twin pack,” Brooke said. “No on the bun-wrapped trip to the emergency room to get my stomach pumped.”

“My, somebody’s quite a hot-dog snob.”

“An occupational hazard when one is part owner of a premiere restaurant company with a rapidly expanding and increasingly lucrative sports and entertainment division,” Brooke said, with a proud flick of her ponytail.

“Still subtly slipping that in there, I see.”

“You betcha.” She was in a particularly good mood tonight, seeing how, just this afternoon, she’d hired the in-house lawyer who would be taking on some of her responsibilities. He wouldn’t start at Sterling for another two weeks, but change was on the horizon. She’d left work at six o’clock on a Friday night—possibly with a few heart palpitations on her way out the door, but she’d persevered—and now she had the whole night free to spend with Cade.