He stopped her before he went all the way over. “Come up here.”

She slid her hands up his body as she got to her feet. Her eyes widened as he guided her backward until she was trapped against the bed. He turned her around so that she faced it.

“You remember when we met, how you told me off in your office? Ever since then, I’ve wanted something.” He smoothed his hands up her legs and pushed up her skirt. With one sharp tug, he ripped her lacy thong and tossed it to the floor. “You at my mercy.”

He heard the excited catch of her breath and bent his head to murmur in her ear. “Good thing you still have those heels on.” He grabbed his jeans off the floor, and removed a condom from his wallet. He rolled it on, then slid his hand up her legs and pushed up her skirt over her bare ass, exposing her to the cool air.

He palmed one of her butt cheeks, and she gasped and exhaled unsteadily.

She wasn’t being sassy now.

In fact, judging from the quick rise and fall of her chest, Cade would hazard a guess that Brooke Parker of Sterling Restaurants was quite turned on right then. “Put your hands on the bed.”

She did so, the raised bed making it so that she only had to bend a little. He gripped his c**k in his hand and pushed the head into her—the high heels gave her just enough height to make this work—then he grabbed her hips and slowly eased into her.

Cade sucked in his breath as her slick passage clenched tight around him. He heard Brooke gasp and immediately stilled. “I’ll stop if it’s too much.”

She shook her head. “No . . . I’m good.” She arched her hips back. “Really good.”

He clenched his jaw, and began to thrust slowly, moving in and out of her in a smooth glide. After a few strokes, he increased his pace, his fingers gripping her tightly. His hips smacked against her bottom as her moans tangled in the air with his. He looked down, nearly going over the edge as he watched his c**k thrusting in and out of her.

He reached around and slid one hand between her legs. She began to tremble, then she looked over her shoulder, her words a throaty whisper. “Cade. Kiss me.”

With a low growl, he braced one hand against the bed, leaned down, and claimed her mouth in a deep, possessive kiss. Skin to skin, they moved together in a slow, erotic rhythm.

Something made Cade pull back and stare into her eyes. “It’s so f**king perfect with you,” he rasped. He thrust again and they both exploded, together, their loud moans filling the room until they shuddered to a stop and collapsed on the bed.

* * *

“ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY Cade Morgan. That ought to do wonders for your fragile ego.”

Cade gestured magnanimously. “You are allowed to show your awe.”

“And so it begins.”

He laughed, taking a sip of his champagne. Normally, he wasn’t the biggest fan of the stuff, but since Brooke had opened the bottle to celebrate his promotion, he felt rude not drinking it.

They were curled up on her couch, her legs stretched over his lap as she faced him. After their latest round of damn-that-was-some-hot sex, she’d changed into a tank top and pink pajama-looking pants and had snagged a bag of Chips Ahoy! cookies from the kitchen to go with her glass of champagne.

He found the whole combination rather cute.

“So? Tell me how this promotion came about,” she said, looking genuinely interested.

Cade filled Brooke in on his meeting with Cameron, and also his subsequent conversation with Rylann. This last part seemed to particularly intrigue her.

“Hold on. You’re friends with a woman whose fiancé you sent to prison?” Brooke asked, interrupting him.

“What, that doesn’t happen every day?” he joked.

“Um . . . no.” Brooke mused this over. “Do you think you’ll be invited to their wedding?”

Cade blinked. Well, shit. “I hadn’t even thought about that.” He cocked his head. “I wonder if they make a card that says ‘Congratulations and best wishes. So glad we’ve all gotten past the time I called one of you a terrorist in open court.’”

“Sure. I saw two of those at Hallmark last week.”

They looked at each other and laughed.

Cade drained his champagne glass and set it down on the coffee table. Then he reached over and stole a cookie from the bag she held. “What can I say? You met me at a very interesting time in my life.”

The words slipped out before he’d thought about them.

“Yeah? What else is going on in your life these days?” Her tone was casual, the words said between nibbles of her cookie, but her bright green eyes were keen as she studied him.

Cade actually debated for a split second.

I found out that I have a brother.

Then he thought, Nah. They were having a good time; he didn’t want to ruin the mood by dumping his baggage on Brooke.

Luckily, he was saved by the proverbial bell when her cell phone rang.

She frowned, presumably anticipating some sort of work emergency. But when she grabbed her phone off the coffee table and checked the caller ID, her face relaxed.

She answered. “Hey, you.”

Cade had a pretty good idea who the “you” was, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about the guy calling at ten o’clock on a Friday night. He reached over and poured himself another glass of champagne, as if paying no attention to their conversation.

But he was listening, all right.

“Good,” she said next. Her gaze shifted to Cade in response to whatever the caller said next. “Yes.”