Cade played with his glass, thinking this over. "I've
been wondering something. Don't take this the wrong way."
"Never in the history of humankind has a man ever managed
to not say something offensive after that lead–in, but
if you want to take your chances, Morgan, be my guest."
The corners of his mouth curved in a smile. "Why are you
single?"
Well, then.
Brooke reached for her wineglass and took a sip, making
him wait before she answered. "Who says I'm single?"
"Vaughn. He deduced it from the fact that there aren't
any pictures of a guy or kids in your office."
"You were talking about me with Agents Huxley and Roberts?"
"You may or may not have come up."
"I see. And what else did you three scamps say when you
were gossiping in your little knitting circle?"
His eyes danced with amusement, but his gaze remained
trained on hers. A prosecutor intent on getting his answer.
"You didn't answer my question."
No, she hadn't. And while part of Brooke was tempted to
move this conversation along to a different topic, there was
another part of her that, admittedly, was a little curious
herself.
She sat back in the booth, holding her wineglass with one
hand as she faced off against him. "I'll tell you what. I'll
answer that question if you will."
"How do you know that I'm single?"
"Because no man would ever ask a single woman that kind
of quasi–flirtatious question if he was already seeing
somebody. At least, not somebody he respected." Brooke took
a sip of her wine. "So you're either disrespectful to women,
or single."
The corners of his mouth curved. Touché. "I'm single."
With that admission, he waited for her answer.
Brooke tried to appear nonchalant. "Apparently, I work
too hard. According to the Hot OB, that means I'm not a ‘big
picture kind of girl.'" She saw Cade's jaw tense, but he
said nothing as she continued. "Oh, and dating me is like
being in a relationship with a guy, because I don't complain
about not being taken out enough."
"No offense, but the Hot OB sounds like an asshole."
"He wasn't the first guy with that list of grievances."
Brooke bit her lip, not having meant to admit that last
part. Must've been the wine. "All right. Now it's your turn."
Cade took a sip of his bourbon. "I'm emotionally
unavailable."
Brooke fought back a smile at the
matter–of–fact way he said it. "Is that right?"
"According to my ex–girlfriends, yes. And I use
sarcasm as a defense mechanism."
Brooke pointed to herself. "What do you know? Me, too."
Cade tipped his glass at her. "So if you and I got
together, we could probably go our entire relationship
without ever saying anything meaningful at all."
"Yes, although you and I would never get together since
we don't even like each other."
"True." Cade gazed at her across the candlelit table.
"Good thing we got that straight."
Brooke felt a few flutters in her stomach at the way he
was looking at her right then. "It sure is."