He saw the furrow appear between Brodie's eyebrows. Well, tough. His childhood was over. He finally had his brothers in Mac and Quinn and he was content. Sometimes he was even happy.
Kade leaned back in his seat. If he had to answer personal questions, then so did she. "And your parents? Where are they?"
"Dead." Brodie didn't lift her head. "I was twenty."
"I'm sorry, Brodes."
"Thanks. Moving on...what characteristic in a woman is most important to you? Looks, empathy, humor, intelligence?"
"All of them," Kade flippantly answered, wishing he could ask how her parents died, but he could tell the subject was firmly off-limits. "Do you have siblings?"
"No." Brodie tapped her fingernail against the screen of her tablet. "I'm asking the questions, Webb, not you."
"Quid pro quo," Kade replied. "Were you close to your parents?"
He saw the answer in her eyes. Sadness, regret, sheer, unrelenting pain. A glimmer suggesting tears was ruthlessly blinked away. Oh, yeah...they might've passed many years ago, but Brodie was still dealing with losing them.
He was fascinated by this softer, emotional Brodie. She was fiercely intelligent, sexy and independent, but beneath her tough shell she made his protective instincts stand up and pay attention. He wanted to dig deeper, uncover more of those hidden depths.
"Tell me about them, Brodie."
"Where is our food?" Brodie demanded, looking around. "I could eat a horse."
"Why won't you talk about them?" Kade persisted. And why couldn't he move off the topic? He never pushed this hard, was normally not this interested. Maybe he was getting sick? He was definitely sick of this matchmaking crap and he hadn't even started with the dates yet. He just wanted to take Brodie home and make love to her again. Was that too much to ask?
Apparently it was.
Brodie finally, finally looked at him and when she did, her face was pale and bleak. "Because it hurts too damn much! Satisfied?"
Dammit, he hadn't meant to hurt her. Brodie flung herself backward and stared out the window to watch the busy traffic.
"Sorry, sweetheart," he murmured.
"Me, too." Brodie, reluctantly, met his eyes. "Please don't pry, Kade. I don't talk about my past."
Maybe she should. Someone, he realized, needed to hear her story and she definitely needed to tell it. It was a shock to realize he wanted to be the one to hear her tale. He wanted to be her friend, to offer comfort. To find out what made her tick.
Jan approached them with two loaded plates. She set the first one down on the table in front of Brodie and then put a plate in front of him. If the burger tasted as good as it smelled, then he was in for a treat, he thought, as he snagged a crispy fry and shoved it into his mouth.
He reached for the salt and frowned when he saw Brodie's now white face. She stared at her plate and, using one finger, pushed it away.
"What's wrong?" he demanded. "I thought you said you were hungry?"
"I was, not anymore." Brodie swallowed and reached for her water. "I think I am definitely getting sick. I'm hot and feeling light-headed."
Jan narrowed her eyes at her, then silently, and without argument, picked up Brodie's plate. Kade didn't understand the long, knowing look Jan sent Brodie and he didn't give her another thought after she walked away.
He frowned when Brodie picked up her tablet and swiped her finger across the screen. "Just choose three women, Brodie, I'm begging you. Any three."
Brodie, who, he was discovering, could give lessons in stubbornness to mules, just shook her head. "Not happening. So here we go..."
Do you base your life decisions more on feelings or rational thinking?
Are you more extroverted or introverted?
Is your bedroom, right now, messy or neat?
Are you more driven or laid-back in your approach to life?
After twenty-five minutes, Kade had a headache to match hers.
* * *
A week later Brodie tucked her wallet back into her tote bag and stuffed her phone into the back pocket of her oldest, most comfortable Levi's. Slinging her tote over her shoulder, she took a long sip of the bottled water she'd just purchased and ignored the craziness of the airport. Brodie looked up at the arrivals board, thankful Poppy's flight had landed fifteen minutes ago. Brodie really didn't want to spend her Saturday morning hanging around waiting.
As per usual, there were no empty seats.
Brodie shook her head and headed for a small piece of wall next to a bank of phone booths. Propping her tote behind her back, she placed her booted foot up on the wall, leaned her head back and closed her eyes. God, she couldn't remember when last she'd felt this overwhelming tiredness.
She was overworked, run-down, stressed out. Maybe she was flirting with burnout. She'd been working fourteen-and sixteen-hour days for the last few weeks, partly to keep up with her ever increasing client list. The publicity around Kade had resulted in a surge of business. Work was also an excellent way to stop thinking-obsessing-about Kade.
She really didn't like the amount of space he was renting in her brain. And she wished she could just make a decision on who was going to be his first date. She knew she was being ultra picky but she couldn't help it. She wanted pretty but not blow-your-socks-off attractive. She wanted a good conversationalist but not someone who was intriguing. She wanted smart but not too smart.
She didn't want him to date anyone at all.
Which was ludicrous-she had no claim on the man and hadn't she decided they needed some distance? God, maybe she was the source of her own exhaustion. Donating to the charity auction had not been one of her smarter ideas. Sure, it was a good cause, but following up her one-night stand with finding her said ONS someone else to have a one-night stand with left a sour taste in her mouth.
Brodie silently urged her great-aunt to hurry up. Poppy had the energy and enthusiasm of a ten-year-old with a tendency to talk to everyone she encountered. Brodie wondered how long Poppy would be staying in town before the travel bug bit again. She'd visited more countries in three years than most people did in a lifetime and Brodie couldn't help but admire her great-aunt's sense of adventure. It took courage to travel on her own and to make friends along the way.
Just hurry yourself up, Poppy. I really am feeling, well, like hell. And the sooner we get out of here, the happier I'll be.
A cramping stomach accompanied Brodie's nausea. She clenched her jaw and clutched her stomach, frantically thinking about what she had recently eaten that could have given her food poisoning. Cornflakes? Last night's boiled egg?
Brodie took a series of deep breaths, sucked on some more water and felt the nausea recede. When she opened her eyes again she saw Poppy, one hand on her travel case and the other on her hip, a speculative look on her face.
Brodie managed a wan smile. "Hey, you're here. That was quick." She kissed Poppy's cheek and gave her a long hug. "How was Bali?"
"Loved it," Poppy replied. "I was considering staying another month but then I was invited to join a cruise to Alaska leaving in the next month."
"You're leaving again?"
Poppy dropped into a recently vacated empty seat. "You look dreadful. Are you sick?"
"Yeah, so nauseous. I must've eaten something bad last night.
Poppy grinned. "Unless you've discovered sex in the last six weeks and someone has dropped a bun in your oven. But that's not likely since you have the world's most boring sex life."
Brodie stared at her great-aunt while Poppy's words sank in.
No, no... God, no!
"I'm not pregnant." Brodie ground out the words, pushing back her hair. She wasn't even going to consider such a ridiculous scenario. She was on the pill! Brodie scrabbled in her bag for another bottle of water and after trying to open it with a shaking hand, passed it over to Poppy for help twisting off the cap. Brodie felt her body ice up with every drop she swallowed.
"Pregnancy would explain how you are feeling and is a result of sex. So, have you had any lately?"
Admitting to sex made the possibility of her being pregnant terribly real. "One time, weeks ago. The condom split."
"Ah, that would explain it."
"It explains nothing! I'm on the pill!"
"Even the pill can fail sometimes."
Brodie lowered the bottle and started to shake. Could she possibly be pregnant with Kade's baby?
From a universe far away Brodie felt Poppy's hand on her back. "Come on, Mata Hari, let's find you a pregnancy test and you can tell me who, what, where and when."