Free Single and Searching by Rita Herron

him because he separated his vegetables.
    "Hi, Mike, I'm Casey." She smiled at Mike, intentionally ignoring Gabe's move. That irked him even more.
    "These guys your brothers?" Mike asked, a frown making his dark eyes look beady.
    Gabe bit his jaw. Casey's face paled. Good, she felt uncomfortable, too, Gabe thought. He sure as hell felt awkward, and he didn't want to be in this thing alone.
    "No, friends. And this is my little boy, Henry S."
    Henry S. pointed to the motorcycle. "Wide?"
    Mike shook Henry S.' hand, making the little boy giggle. "That's up to your mom, sport."
    Casey hesitated. If she let Henry S. ride with that maniac, he would have to speak up. The little fellow could get killed!
    "This is my friend, Brick," Casey stammered. "He's watching my son tonight. And this is... Gabe Thornton. He's... he's a reporter."
    Gabe ground his teeth. He wasn't here as a damn reporter and she knew it. She could have at least introduced him as last night's personal ad date. Single and Searching...
    She had to have found this creature, Mike, out of the paper, too. What the hell was she doing? Dating a different guy every night?
    Mike's thick, bushy eyebrows formed a straight line. "You doing a story here, man?"
    "No," Gabe said. "I'm here for Casey."
    Mike's expression hardened as he glanced at Casey. "You've got a date with me tonight, right, baby?"
    A nervous expression flitted across Casey's face. "Right," Casey said in a weak voice.
    "Then come on, let's go." Mike glared at Gabe and took Casey's hand. "You'll have to wait in line, man."
    Gabe grabbed her other hand. "Casey, don't go," he said in a quiet voice.
    Casey pulled her hand free and sighed. "Listen, Gabe, I told you this afternoon—it won't work."
    Henry S. tugged at Casey's skirt. "Mommy, bye-bye?"
    Casey shook Mike's paw off, then leaned down and kissed Henry S. "Yes, little buddy. Now you be good for Brick, okay?"
    "Watch Superman!" Henry S. raced across the yard flapping his arms as if he could fly. Dog trotted by. The toddler grabbed his fur, then attempted to climb on top of him and ride him like a horse.
    The kid was mischievous, but definitely all boy. He wondered if he liked baseball. Would Henry S. like to go to a game?
    "Have fun," Brick said. "I'll have him in bed by two."
    "You'd better not let him stay up that late." Casey wagged a finger at Brick. "And if you let him watch one of those horror shows, you can get up with him during the night."
    Brick's easy laugh made Gabe dig the toe of his shoe into the ground. Was Brick spending the night? Would he have Henry S. all tucked in for the night and be waiting in Casey's bed when she got home?
    Dammit. The two of them were practically flaunting their intimacy in front of him and Casey's date.
    Brick and Casey exchanged hugs. "Thanks, Brick, I owe you."
    Red colored Gabe's vision. How did Casey repay her debts to Brick? Their relationship was too strange for him to even think about.
    Hell. When he got Casey in bed, her relationship with Brick would be finished.
    "If you go somewhere, take my station wagon," Casey told Brick. "It's already got the carseat inside."
    Mike cleared his throat, impatience evident in his rigid stance.
    "Casey?" Gabe's voice thundered with emotion. What could he do? Beg her not to go? Club her over the head and tell her she belonged to him?
    Casey's violet eyes brimmed with sweetness as she glanced at him. Her peaches and cream skin glowed with a faint blush. And he realized at that moment that this woman had an incredible power over him.
    The power to hurt him.
    Never before had anyone affected him this way. Never before had he cared about a female. His past experiences involved fly-by-night kind of women. Although on first appearance, Casey appeared to be flighty, she definitely didn't strike him as a one-night-stand type. But her strange relationship with Brick puzzled him.
    Still she drove a little station wagon and her house screamed of hominess. He was totally