Pregnant by the Maverick Millionaire (8 page)

“I'm fine, thank you,” Poppy replied.

Mac frowned at Kade. “I'm Mac McCaskill and this is Quinn Rayne.”

God, he was losing his mind along with his manners. “Sorry, Poppy. Guys, this is Poppy Stewart.”

“Stewart?” Quinn asked. “Any relation to Brodie Stewart, the matchmaker?”

“Great-aunt,” Kade briefly explained. He caught his friends' eyes and jerked his head in the direction of the door.

Mac just sat down again and Quinn sat on the edge of the conference table. It would take a bomb to move them, Kade realized, so he stood up. “Let's go to my office, Poppy. We'll have some privacy there.”

“You need privacy from your best friends?” Poppy asked.

Mac lifted an eyebrow. “Yeah, do you?”

“Right now, yeah!” Kade snapped. He rubbed his jaw before gripping the bridge of his nose with his finger and thumb.

“You haven't told them,” Poppy said and he heard the amusement in her voice. Glad she was finding this funny because he sure as hell wasn't.

“Told us what?” Quinn asked, his eyes alight with curiosity.

Poppy's open hand drifted through the air, silently telling him it was his call whether to answer his friends or not. They had to know sometime. If he told them now, then he'd avoid them nagging him to distraction.

Kade looked toward the open door and crossed the floor, slamming it shut. They all knew the signal: closed door meant what was said in the room stayed in the room. Both Mac and Quinn nodded their agreement.

“Brodie is pregnant,” Kade quietly said. He handed Mac a rueful smile. “I'm right behind you in the new-dads line.”

* * *

Kade was grateful that beyond quietly congratulating him, Mac and Quinn didn't make a big song and dance over his announcement. Instead they just left the room, still looking shocked. All their lives were changing at a rapid pace. Just a few months ago they had been the most eligible bachelors in the city. Now Mac was getting married and he and Kade were both going to be fathers.

Then again, none of them ever eased their way into a situation, Kade thought as Mac shut the door behind him. They always jumped into the deep end and swam hard. “They took it rather well,” Poppy said, linking her hands around her knee.

“They were behaving themselves in front of you,” Kade explained. “Trust me, when they get me alone, they'll rip into me.”

Kade dropped his head and rubbed the back of his neck. White-hot pain shot up his spine and bounced off the back of his skull. Hell, he hadn't had a migraine for years and, he recalled, they always started like this. It had been so long since an attack he'd stopped the habit of carrying medicine with him to take the edge off the pain.

“Are you unhappy about this baby, Kade?”

Kade had to concentrate hard for her words to make sense. “Not unhappy. Surprised, getting used to the idea. Wondering how we're going to make it work.”

“You will,” Poppy told him, sounding convinced. “And Brodie being pregnant is the reason I am here.

“I am scheduled to go on a cruise in a week or so. Ordinarily I would cancel the cruise and stay home with Brodie. I'm worried about her. But I am one of the tour leaders and they need me.”

Kade held up a hand and silently cursed when he saw his vision was starting to double. Dammit, he had about fifteen minutes, a half hour at most, before he fell to the floor. “Do you want her to move in with me?”

“Not necessarily, but I am worried about her, Kade. She's sick and stressed and she's not sleeping, not eating. If no one keeps an eye on her, I worry I'll come back to a skeleton that swallowed a pea.”

“How long are you away for?” God, it was getting difficult to concentrate.

“Two months. Are you okay? You look awfully pale.”

That would be a negative. “I'll look after her... I'll keep an eye on her,” Kade muttered, slurring his words.

“Oh, my God, you really don't look well. Can I call someone for you?”

He wanted to shrug off the pain, to act like nothing was wrong, but it felt like there were pickaxes penetrating his skull. “Call Mac, Quinn. Tell them...migraine.”

“I'm on it.” Poppy jumped up so fast the foot of her chair scraped along the floor and the sound sliced through Kade's head as he dropped his head to the desk.

* * *

When Brodie arrived at Kade's loft, Quinn opened the door to let her in. Brodie was surprised when he bent down and dropped a friendly kiss on her cheek. “Hey, pretty girl.”

She couldn't feel offended. Quinn was so damn good-looking he could charm a fence post out of concrete. “Hey, Quinn.” Brodie dropped her bag on the hall table and saw Mac standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows looking out at the incredible views of the city. “Hi, Mac.”

“Hi, Brodie.” He walked over to her and, equally surprisingly, dropped a kiss on her cheek.

“How is he?” she asked, biting her bottom lip.

“He's over the worst of it and this one was bad.” Mac ran a hand through his hair.

“Does he get them often?” Brodie asked.

Quinn shook his head. “No, not anymore. He used to when he first joined the Mavericks but he hasn't had one for years.”

“We think it's stress-induced,” Mac quietly added. He looked at her stomach and back up to her eyes again and Brodie flushed. “He's got quite a bit to be stressed about at the moment.”

“I told him he doesn't have to be! This is my problem. I can deal with it.” Brodie felt sick and sad. It wasn't her fault Kade had endured two days of pain, that he'd been restricted to a darkened room, all because she'd told him she didn't need him.

She didn't need him.

“You don't know Kade at all if you think he'd just walk away from you and his child,” Mac replied, ignoring her flash of temper. “And it's not only your situation causing his stress. He's dealing with a hell of a lot, work-wise, at the moment.”

Brodie folded her arms across her chest and sucked in a calming breath. Mac was right; she didn't really know anything about Kade and she knew even less about what he dealt with on a daily basis.

Brodie looked down at the container of soup in her arms. She'd had a friend in college who suffered from migraines and she knew she battled to eat anything solid for days afterward. Chicken soup had been all her friend could stand. So, Brodie had whipped up a batch and decided to bring it over.

A little get-better-soon gesture from her baby's mommy to her baby's daddy. That was all that this visit was. All it could be. “Is he awake? Would he like something to eat?”

Quinn took the container from her and walked toward the kitchen. “He's still sleeping and likely to be asleep for another hour or two.” Quinn exchanged a look with Mac and spoke again. “Hey, can you do us a favor?”

“Maybe,” Brodie cautiously answered.

Quinn put down the container and placed his hands on the center island separating the dining area from the kitchen. “Can you hang out here for an hour or two and then wake Kade up and try to get him to eat?”

Mac nodded his agreement. “Our new player arrived in the city earlier this afternoon and the three of us were supposed to take him out to dinner. Quinn and I can still do that if you hang around here and feed Kade.”

“Sure.”

“We'll call you later and see how he's doing. If you think he's okay, then we'll go back to our own places.”

“You've been here for two days?” Brodie asked, surprised.

Mac flushed. “We've taken shifts. He's a friggin' miserable patient and we could do with a break.”

Kade had good friends, Brodie realized. Very good friends. There for each other through thick and thin. Brodie ignored her envy and nodded. “Go, I'll be fine.”

“We know you will.” Quinn walked up to her, placed his big hands on her shoulders. He gave her a slow, sweet, genuine smile. “Congratulations on the baby, Brodie. We can't wait to meet him...or her.”

Brodie felt her throat tighten. “Thank you.”

Quinn turned away and Mac bent down to give her a small hug. “Yeah, from me, too, Brodie. I don't know how you two are going to make this work but we're rooting for you. And Rory wants to have lunch. She says the two of you are reasonably smart people and you can figure out the pregnancy thing together.”

“I'd like that,” Brodie murmured.

Quinn pointed at the container. “Make him eat. He'll feel better for it.”

Mac clapped Quinn on the shoulder and steered him to the door. “Stop fussing. Brodie can handle it.”

“I know but he gets all depressed and mopey after a migraine,” Quinn complained.

“Brodie. Will. Handle. It.” With a last eye-roll at Brodie, Mac steered Quinn through the doors. He looked back and flashed Brodie a grin. “I swear after raising these two, having a kid is going to be a breeze.”

Eight

“G
o away, Quinn.”

“Sorry, not Quinn.” Brodie pushed open the door to Kade's bedroom and walked into the darkness to stand at the end of his bed. Her eyes adjusted and she took in his broad back, the yummy butt covered in a pair of loose boxers, the muscled thighs and calves. He was in great shape—long, lean and muscular. Powerful.

“Brodie?” Kade rolled over and leaned on one elbow. He pushed his hair back from his forehead and squinted at her. “What are you doing here?”

Brodie clasped her hands behind her back. “I brought you some chicken soup and your buds asked me to check on you to see if you're not, well, dead.”

“They'd be so lucky,” Kade growled, sitting up and resting his elbows on his bent knees.

“How are you feeling?”

“Horrible.”

“That good, huh?”

Kade lifted a muscular shoulder. “It's a combination of relief that the pain is gone and mental exhaustion. My head is sore.”

“Do you still have headache?”

“Not a migraine...” Kade tried to explain. “It's more like my brain is tired. For a day afterward I feel exhausted, like I have a mental hangover.”

“Are you sure you're not pregnant? Add nausea and vomiting and that's how I feel all the time.”

“Sorry, babe.” Kade patted the mattress next to him. “What are you doing over there? Come here.”

She really shouldn't. If she sat down next to him she wouldn't be able to keep her hands to herself and then she'd get naked and he had a headache. And he needed to date other women—women she'd found for him!—and she was supposed to be keeping a mental and emotional distance so there were like, a hundred reasons why she shouldn't sit down, why she shouldn't even be here...

Despite all that, Brodie walked around the bed to sit on its edge. Kade immediately wound an arm around her waist, pulled her backward and spooned her from behind. His hand covered her breast and she sighed. “Kade...”

“Shhh.” Kade touched his lips to her neck and thumbed her nipple. It bloomed under his touch and she felt heat rushing down, creating a fireball between her legs.

“I need you,” Kade whispered in her ear. “I need to be inside you, touching you, being with you. Say yes, Brodes.”

Brodie rolled over to face him and touched his jaw, his lips. She opened her mouth to speak but Kade placed his fingers over her lips. “I don't want to hear that this is a bad idea, that we shouldn't, that this is madness. I know it is and, right now,
I don't care.
”

Oh, in all honesty, she didn't, either. Wasn't she allowed to step away from the complications and just enjoy his touch, take pleasure in the way he made her feel? Making love to Kade was sheer bliss and, after the weeks she'd endured, wasn't she entitled to some fun? To escape for a little while? It didn't have to mean anything. She wanted him, needed him—in her, filling her, completing her.

“You have too many clothes on, babe.” Kade covered her breast with one hand. She arched into his hand, frustrated at the barriers between him and her skin.

“I'm happy for you to take them off as quickly as you can,” Brodie whispered, curling her hand around the back of his neck.

“Then again, I rather like you like this. All flushed and hot and horny.”

Brodie whimpered when Kade's hard mouth dropped over hers and his tongue tangled with hers. He used his arm to yank her on top of him and her thighs slid over his hips so she was flush against his erection, the heat of which she felt through her loose cotton trousers. His mouth teased and tormented hers—one minute his kisses were demanding and dominating, then he'd ease away. Lust whipped through her as she angled her head to allow him deeper access. His kisses seemed different from anything they'd shared before...there was more heat, more desire, more...of something indefinable.

Unsettled but still incredibly eager, Brodie gripped his shoulders as he undid the buttons on her shirt and exposed her lace-covered breasts to his intense gaze. Kade used one finger to pull down the lace cup and expose her puckered nipple. Then his tongue licked her and sensations swamped her. She moaned when he flicked open the tiny clasp holding her bra together and revealed her torso to his exploring hand. He pulled aside the pale yellow fabric of her bra and swiped his thumb across her peaked nipple. She arched her back, silently asking for more. Kade lowered his head and took one puckered nipple into his mouth, his tongue sliding over her, hot and wet. Kade heard her silent plea for him to touch her and his hand moved to her hip, pushing underneath the waist of her trousers.

“Lift up,” he muttered and Brodie lifted her hips and straightened her legs, allowing him to push the fabric down her thighs.

Kade tapped her bottom. “Move off for a sec.”

She rolled away and he whipped off his boxers. He put his hands on her knees and pulled them apart before dragging his finger over her mound, slipping under the fabric to find her wet and wanting.

“I want you so much.”

“Then
take
me.” Really, did the man need a gilded invitation?

Kade sent her a wicked smile. “Yeah, in a minute.”

“How's your head?”

Kade looked down and lifted an eyebrow. “Just fine and eager to say hi.”

Brodie laughed and slapped his shoulder. “Your other head!”

“Also fine.”

Brodie rubbed her thumb against the two grooves between his eyebrows. “Liar. Do you want to stop?”

Brodie hissed as two fingers slipped into her passage.

“Do I look like I want to stop?”

“Kade!” She reached for him, fumbling in her eagerness to get him inside her. “Please, just... I want you.”

“I want you this way first. I want to watch you come, with my fingers inside you and my mouth kissing yours.” Kade lifted his head and looked into her eyes. “You look good like this, Brodie. You look good anywhere, anyhow.”

She was so close, teetering on the edge.
“Kade!”

“You take my breath away when you lose yourself in me, in the way I make you feel. How do I make you feel, Brodie?”

He was expecting her to speak, to think? How could she answer when she felt like she was surfing a white-hot band of pure, crazy sensation?

“Tell me, Brodie.”

“Free,” Brodie gasped. “Safe. Sexy.”

Cherished
, Brodie silently added as her climax rocked her. All those wonderful, loved-up, fuzzy emotions she had no business experiencing. Brodie cried out, partly in reckless abandon and partly in pain as her heart swelled and cracked the plaster she'd cast around it.

She was being wild but she didn't care. She'd deal with the consequences, and the pain, later. Right now she just wanted to feel.

She wanted to feel alive. Just for a little while.

* * *

Brodie had to open various cupboard doors before she found soup bowls and three drawers before she found a ladle. She placed a bowl of soup in the microwave to heat and while it did its thing, she scratched around until she found place mats and flatware.

Brodie looked up as Kade entered the kitchen and her breath caught in the back of her throat. Kade looked shattered but somehow, just dressed in a pair of straight-legged track pants and a plain red T-shirt, hot. His hair was damp from his shower and his stubble glinted in the bright light of the kitchen.

Kade frowned and walked over to a panel on the wall and dimmed the lights. “Better,” he muttered. He walked back to the island and pulled out a bar stool and sat down.

The microwave dinged. Brodie grabbed a dish towel and pulled out the hot bowl of soup. She put it onto the place mat and pushed the mat, a spoon and the bowl in Kade's direction.

He wrinkled his nose. “I appreciate the offer but I don't think I can eat.”

“Listen, Quinn—who, surprisingly, is a fusser—will call and I need to tell him you ate or else he is going to come over here and make you eat.” Brodie dished some soup for herself. “And frankly, tonight I think he could make you. You look about as tough as overboiled noodles.”

“Thanks.”

“At least I didn't say you look like hell.” Brodie pointed her spoon at him.

Kade winced. “Sorry, but you did. You are looking better. Still tired, but better.”

“I've been living on chicken soup.” Brodie sat down and nodded at his bowl. “It's good, try it.”

Kade dipped his spoon, lifted it to his mouth and Brodie waited. When he smiled slowly and nodded she knew he approved. “It's my mom's recipe. A cure for all ailments.” And, years later, still doing its job.

They ate in comfortable silence until Brodie looked around the loft and sighed. “My dad was a builder. He would've loved this place.”

“You sound uncomfortable when you talk about your parents,” he said. “Why?”

Because she was, because she felt guilt that they'd died and she didn't. Because she still missed them with every breath she took. Kade waited for her explanation and, despite her tight throat, she told him what she was thinking. “It's just hard,” she concluded.

“You're lucky you experienced such love, such acceptance. They sound like they were incredibly good parents.”

Brodie pushed away her plate, looking for an excuse not to talk. But she couldn't keep doing that, not if they were going to co-parent. She needed to learn to open up, just a little. “They were. I was the center of their universe, the reason the sun came up for them every morning.” She rested her chin in the palm of her hand. “That makes me sound like I was spoiled, but I wasn't, not really. They gave me more experiences than things. They gave me attention and time, and, most importantly, roots and wings. I felt...lost when they died. I still feel lost,” Brodie admitted. “And so damn scared.”

Kade took one more sip of soup before standing up. He picked up the bowls and carried them to the sink, leaving them there. On his return trip, he stopped at Brodie's chair and held out his hand. “Let's go sit.”

Brodie put her hand in his and followed him across the room to the mammoth sofa. Kade sat down and pulled Brodie next to him, placing his hand on her knee to keep her there. They looked at the city lights and Brodie finally allowed her head to drop so her temple rested on Kade's shoulder.

“What scares you, Brodie?”

Brodie heard his quiet question and sighed. “Love scares me. Feeling attached and running the risk of losing the person I am attached to scares me. Being a mommy scares the pants off me.”

“Why?”

“I know how quickly life can change. One day I was bright, happy and invincible. The next I'd lost everyone that mattered to me.” She had to continue; she couldn't stop now. “I not only lost my parents in a single swoop, but my two best friends, too. I survived the accident with minor physical injuries and major emotional ones.”

He didn't mutter meaningless words of sympathy. He just put her onto his lap, his arms holding her against his broad chest.

Him holding her was all she needed.

“Tell me about your childhood,” she asked, desperate to change the subject.

Kade stared out the window at the
breathtaking views of False Creek and the city. Brodie wondered if he ever got used to it. Kade, reading her mind, gestured to the window. “I do my best thinking here, looking out of this window. It's never the same, always different depending on the time of day, the month, the season. It's a reminder that nothing stays the same. As a kid my life was nothing
but
change.”

Brodie half turned so she could watch his face as he talked. This was the first time they'd dropped some of their barriers and it was frightening. This was something she'd done with her friends, with Chels and Jay. She was out of practice.

“After my mom died, my dad packed up our house, sold everything and hit the road. He wanted to see the country. He wanted to paint. He couldn't leave me behind and he wouldn't stay so I went along. I went to many, many different schools. Some for months, some for only weeks. In some places I didn't even get to school. My education was—” Kade hesitated “—sporadic.”

Brodie knew if she spoke she'd lose him so she just waited for him to continue talking.

“But while I hated school, I loved to play hockey and I could always make friends on the ice. Especially since I was good and everyone wanted me on their team. But invariably I'd find a team, make some friends, start to feel settled and he'd yank me off to someplace new.”

“I'm sorry.”

“So in a way we're the same, Brodie.”

Brodie frowned, unsure of where he was going with this. “How?”

“You're scared to become emotionally involved because you're scared to lose again. I'm scared for the same reason.” Kade dropped his hand to pat her stomach. “We're going to have to find a way to deal with those fears because this little guy—”

“It could be a girl.”

Kade's smile was soft and sweet. “This baby is going to need us, what we can give her. Or him. Individually or together.”

His words were low and convincing and Brodie finally accepted he wasn't going to change his mind about the baby. He was determined to play his part parenting their child. Okay then, that was something she would have to get used to.

So, how did they deal with their attraction while they learned to navigate the parenting landscape?

“Problem?”

Brodie wiggled her butt against his long length and heard his tortured hiss. “The fact that we are stupidly attracted to each other is a problem.”

“It is?”

“I
am
not falling into a relationship with you just because we are going to be co-parents, Kade.”