Garcelle pulled her car into the front yard of the trailer. “Te echo de menos, amor,” she said in her huskiest voice.
“And last night on the phone, what did you say you wanted to do to me?”
Garcelle rolled down the windows as the car got hotter. “Te quiero lamer de los pies a la cabeza,” she whispered to him, making her Spanish accent more prominent, because she knew it turned him on even more.
“Everywhere?” he asked thickly.
“Sí,” she said, with an arch of her eyebrow and a tiny bite of her bottom lip.
Kade cleared his throat. “I’m on my way to pick you up.”
Garcelle’s heart raced at the thought of seeing him. “Should I bring the naughty maid costume or the bunny?” she asked as she climbed out of her car.
“Either one is fine as long as you wear a nice dress for church over it.”
Garcelle froze. “Church? You want me to go to church with you . . . this morning?” she asked.
“That’s right.”
Garcelle smiled. This would be their first public appearance. This would really get the gossipmongers on the grind. “I’ll be ready when you get here,” she said, her heart swelling with emotion for him.
“We,” he said. “When we get there.”
“We?” she asked.
“Kadina and I are on the way.”
“That’s perfect,” she said before she walked into the house.
Kael was jolted from sleep when his wife nudged him. He looked around to see if anyone else had caught him sleeping in church.
“What do you think that means, Kael?” whispered Lisha.
He followed his wife’s line of vision and saw Kade, Garcelle, and Kadina walking into church together. “Well, well, well,” he said low in his throat. He gave his son a thumbs-up as they took their seats in a crowded pew in the rear of the church.
“Kael,” Lisha whispered to him sharply as she pulled his hand back down to his waist.
“You the one taking my attention off the minister to be nosey.”
Lisha glared at him as she leaned over closer to him. “Well, the minister must have been in your dreams, ’cause in anther minute you would’ve been calling in the hogs,” she whispered.
“Ssshhh.”
They both looked indignant at Sister Ollie, who had turned around in her seat and was giving them the evil eye as the rose on the edge of her hat flip-flopped from right to left. The woman was one of the biggest gossips in Holtsville. She could spread a rumor quicker than the clap ran through a whorehouse.
“She needs to focus on the sermon and stop eavesdropping for some news to carry,” said Kael. He made an odd face at her, and he swore that rose was going to fly right off as she whipped back around in her seat.
Out of the corner of her eye, Portia Klinton looked at Kade as she snuggled closer to him in the pew and then slowly crossed her legs, before hitching the hem of her skirt up higher on her thigh. When that didn’t catch his eye, she dropped her hymnbook and then bent over in her seat to pick it up, giving him a healthy view of the shape of her derriere. When he ignored that, she leaned over to him, with her breast pressed against his arm, and whispered, “You really should call me. . . .”
Kade leaned back and drawled, “You’re here to pick up the Word and not men, Sister Portia.”
Portia was more than surprised when he rose up a little in his seat and switched places with his daughter. “Oh no, he didn’t,” she mouthed as he reached for Garcelle’s hand and held it atop his thigh.
“Are you okay, Sister Portia? You don’t look so good,” whispered Kadina.
Portia scowled as she looked down into Kadina’s perky face. She uncrossed her legs, pushed her skirt back down to her knees, and faced forward to focus on the minister.
Kadina could hardly believe the sight of her father and Garcelle holding hands. Her daddy had said they were dating—which meant boyfriend and girlfriend in her world. She loved it!
She splayed her hands and began ticking off her fingers. They could go to the movies together. And out to eat together. And Garcelle could teach her more Spanish. And they could all go to church together every Sunday. And she would probably have little brothers and sisters one day.
Oh boy, she thought as she let her feet swing back and forth in the pew and looked at her hands again. I love it!
Kaeden tried to pretend that he was not watching Jade’s striking profile from where he sat in the pew behind her in church. He tried and failed miserably. The woman made his palms sweat.
When she happened to glance over her shoulder in his direction, Kaeden hurriedly look over his shoulder so that she didn’t catch him staring at her like a perv. His eyes happened to lock with those of his niece, Kadina. He smiled as she motioned at her father and Garcelle before she gave him the okay signal with her hand.
He was turning back around in his seat when Sister Portia sent him a subtle wink. His mind wasn’t on her and her foolishness.
Garcelle and Kade. First, Kahron and Bianca. Now Kade’s dating Garcelle. What next? Kaleb settling down? Good grief. He was the responsible brother. He was the rational and reasonable one. The one most suited to family life. His brothers had run through more women than he could count. Not that he was a monk.
He stole a quick look at Jade. Suddenly, naughty thoughts of Jade’s voluptuous frame flashed in his head. He cleared his throat and ran his finger around a collar that was suddenly way too tight. Those thoughts certainly weren’t appropriate for church.
All he could do was ask the Lord to forgive him as he fought like hell to keep his eyes off of Jade Prince.
Kahron’s stomach grumbled where he sat between Kaleb and Bianca in church. His wife nudged him, with a wrinkle in her brow, as she eyed him. Kaleb chuckled beside him.
He was starving, and he couldn’t help it if his stomach was reading him the riot act. He noticed his parents turn in their seats, and curiosity made him follow their line of vision. His mouth dropped open.
Small-town talk. Small-town gossip, my ass. Kahron winced. Uh, forgive me Lord.
He nudged Bianca and Kaleb, motioning for them to check out Garcelle and Kade. They looked over their shoulders as well.
Kaleb grunted in laughter as he turned back around in his seat. “Looks like the maid hunt is back on, bro. Another one has bit the dust.”
Kahron was happy for his brother, but Garcelle was his sixteenth housekeeper since he’d moved into his own home. Sixteen in less than five years. Was he cursed? Kahron frowned deeply.
“Aww,” Bianca cooed to him softly as she took his hand in hers, with a soft laugh.
Kade swallowed hard and looked away when he discovered Carlos Santos’s set of coal black eyes staring at him. He crossed his ankle over his knee as he settled back into his seat on the living-room couch. His face warmed when he thought of the first night he ever made love to Garcelle . . . right on that very living-room floor. He cleared his throat.
“So how long have you and my Garcelle been dating?” Carlos asked, his accent pronounced as he leaned forward in his recliner to offer Kade a cigar.
“Close to two months.”
“And this is the first that I know about you two.” Carlos nodded as he frowned. “Interesting.”
“Do you disapprove?” Kade asked, unfolding his leg to lean forward and rest his elbows on his knees.
“Of the relationship . . . no. Of your secrecy . . . yes.”
Kade nodded. He felt like a teenage boy being grilled by his girlfriend’s father. He thought of his own love for and protection of Kadina, and had nothing but patience for this man, whom he respected.
“So is that where she has been staying out all night?” Carlos asked, with a critical eye at Kade.
“Daddy!” Garcelle gasped as she walked into the living room, having changed out of the dress she’d worn to church earlier. “We are not children who need to be supervised.”
Kade was relieved to see her. He honestly didn’t know what Carlo
s was going to ask him next.
Carlos tilted back in his recliner as he lit his cigar. “When Juan wanted to date my Marisol, he came to me first for my permission before they even went on a date. When he wanted to marry her, he came to me first and asked for my permission before he even proposed. There is a way to do things. That is all I’m saying.”
“Papi—”
“No, Garcelle. Your father is talking to me, so I’ll address him,” Kade said, looking Carlos directly in the eyes. “I must be honest that it didn’t cross my mind to ask your permission to date Garcelle. In truth, it’s not something I or anyone I know has ever done. I’m not judging it. I’m just being honest. You see a pretty woman, you want to get to know her better, and you ask her if she wants to spend time with you to get to know you better as well. You date and you see if something serious can or will develop, and then you bring in the whole meeting of the families.”
Carlos nodded as he continued to smoke his cigar. He looked at Kade through the smoke.
“So my way is different from your way. It’s just a simple misunderstanding, and no disrespect was meant at all,” said Kade. He looked up at Garcelle and then back at Carlos. “We’ve known each other for years. I know you’re a good man, just like you know I’m a good man.”
Carlos looked at Kade a long time—man to man. “And your heart is free to love another?” Carlos asked.
The question threw Kade off.
“Papi, we just started dating,” Garcelle said, her words filling the silence. She walked over to Kade and held out her hand to him. “Come on. Let’s go outside.”
Kade rose to his feet. He stepped closer to where Carlos sat and held out his hand to him.
Carlos stuck his cigar between his teeth before he begrudgingly accepted Kade’s hand.
Kade followed Garcelle out the door and to the front yard. “Talk about putting a man’s feet to the fire,” he joked lightly as they sat down on the front steps.
“I’m just glad my two crazy uncles weren’t home.”
Kade just smiled.
Kadina came running into the yard, with Paco hot on her heels. She ran to the bottom step of the porch. “Home base,” she screamed as she panted heavily.
Paco stopped short as he swiped his long bangs out of his eyes. “Okay, this time you’re it,” he said before he knelt down into a runner’s stance and then took off.
“Bye, Daddy. Bye, Garcelle,” Kadina hollered over her shoulder before she flew off the porch and raced behind Paco, toward the rear of the trailer park.
Garcelle laughed at them. “I’m glad you and Kadina came to visit me here at my home,” she told Kade as he massaged her neck beneath the soft layers of her hair.
“Me, too,” he told her, fighting the urge to kiss her nape as she bent over, her head near her open thighs, with a soft moan.
“I miss you when we’re not together,” he admitted freely.
“Me, too, lover.”
He used both his hands to massage her shoulders.
“That feels so good, Kade.”
Just knowing he was making her feel good was making him feel hot. He felt himself harden between his thighs. Would thing ever cool off between them? “It’ll be getting cool soon,” he said, seeking a diversion from his erotic thoughts as he continued to knead her shoulders.
“Hmmm.”
“I was thinking next Saturday we could take the kids to the pond and have that picnic,” he offered.
Garcelle looked over her shoulder at him. “I would love that, especially including Paco. We’re very close. Much closer than either of us is to our older sister.”
Kade shifted on the step and lifted his leg over Garcelle so that she was sitting between his thighs. “You hardly talk about her.”
“I hardly know her. She moved to Texas when I was in high school. She’s a lot older than me. We talk on the phone some, but she has her life, and we have ours.”
Kade frowned at the obvious distance between them, but he said nothing. He focused on putting his hands to work.
“You know, I had no idea you were such a good masseur,” Garcelle said from beneath the layers of her hair. “I can only imagine what you could do if I was stretched out on a bed.”
Kade’s hands paused at the image of Garcelle, nude and gleaming with oil, as she lay on her stomach as he massaged her calves, the backs of her thighs, her buttocks, and her lower back. He would start with his hands but then would use his lips to taste every delicious inch of the soft skin covering the toned muscles of her body. Garcelle had the kind of body that made a Coca-Cola bottle look as straight as a ruler.
Garcelle looked over her shoulder at him again. Their eyes locked, and his heart raced when he saw her eyes were smoldering.
The interior of the SUV was hot and dark as Garcelle lowered the front passenger seat and climbed into the backseat, where Kade sat waiting for her. Being in the backseat of his SUV, surrounded by trees and dense brush on a dark and lonely country road, made everything about this heated moment so intense. Very intense. They giggled. They kissed. They whispered to each other. They bumped into each other as they struggled to remove their clothes.
Down to her panties and bra, Garcelle straddled his hips. There was just enough of the moon’s light to see his handsome face as she unsnapped her lace bra to free her breasts. Instantly, he brought his hands up to massage them. At the feel of his hands and his mouth on her nipples, she gasped hotly and arched her back.
“Kade,” she moaned as she reached down between them to stroke his curved hardness.
Kade pressed the condom into her hands and clenched his jaw as she quickly covered his length. He slid his fingers inside Garcelle’s panties and roughly pushed them to the side. He lifted her slightly, with an arm around her waist, then lowered her.
“What if someone catches us?” she whispered against his chin before she bit it lightly.
“Everyone knows if the SUV is rocking, you don’t come knocking.” Kade planted rushed and heated kisses over her face as he moved his hands down to grab the softness of her buttocks. They both gasped as her warm and wet tightness surrounded him like a sleeve.
They laughed a little before Garcelle began to work her hips. The steam their bodies created rose to coat and fog the windows of the SUV as it rocked gently from left to right.
17
One Month Later
Bianca looked up as Mimi and her father walked into her kitchen, hand in hand. Kahron followed behind them and leaned in the doorway. Bianca’s face filled with surprise. “I didn’t know you were in town, Mimi,” she said, rising to her feet to hug her close.
“I just got in a few minutes ago, sweetie, and we came straight over here.”
The new Mimi—or was it the old Beulah—took a little getting used to. Thank God she’s found a happy medium, Bianca thought as she reclaimed her seat. She had compromised: she was midway between the over-the-top Mimi and the dowdy Beulah. Her hair was in a classic bob, and she wore minimal make-up on her still-beautiful and refined features, but gone were the 1980s Dynasty suits, the bulky jewelry, and the Beverly Hills cowgirl garb, replaced by a simple fitted silk T and linen slacks, with crocodile flats. Mostly, that voice was gone. Her sharp sense of humor had remained, and for that, Bianca was grateful.
“Are you in for the weekend?” asked Bianca as she leaned back against Kahron, who stood behind her.
“No, she’ll be staying for a while,” Hank said vaguely, with a hearty smile, as he sat down on one of the stools.
They looked at each other.
Bianca’s eyes darted from one to the other. “What?” she asked, sensing there was more. She turned slightly to look up at Kahron, but he just shrugged.
Mimi pulled her hand from the pocket of her pants and extended her arm to them. A good-sized solitaire twinkled from her left ring finger.
“Is that an engagement ring?” Bianca asked as she escaped from Kahron’s hold and grabbed Mimi’s smooth hand with both of hers. Her mouth
dropped open as Mimi smiled.
“Congratulations, old man,” Kahron said, stepping around the island to shake Hank’s beefy hand.
“Thank you, Son. Thank you,” said Hank.
“Ms. Mimi, welcome to the family,” said Kahron. He literally picked her up off her feet and twirled her before he planted a kiss on her cheek.
“Oh, come on, Kahron. You have Bianca, and I have Hank. There could never be anything between us,” Mimi joked as she playfully fluttered her lashes at him.
Everyone laughed. Everyone but Bianca. She gave them all a hesitant smile as three sets of eyes turned on her. She met each look.
Her father sought approval. Mimi sought acceptance. Kahron wanted peace.
Mimi and her father were getting married. It took a minute to get used to the idea. The minute was over. She had never seen her father happier, and who was she to block him?
Her father jumped to his feet, with a stern look. “Bianca—”
“Kahron, baby, will you get a bottle of sparkling cider for us? Looks like we have some celebrating to do,” Bianca said, pulling Mimi to her for a tight embrace before she moved over to hug her father.
“That’s my girl,” Hank said as he gave her a big bear hug.
Kahron handed each of them a flute. “Here’s to a life filled with lots of love and happiness for you both.”
“Hear! Hear!” they all said in unison.
Bianca placed a hand on her flat stomach as she smiled into her flute. “Since we’re celebrating, anyway, now is a good time. I’ve been trying to figure out a really cute way to tell you something, Kahron.”
Kahron’s eyes darted to her, over the rim of his flute.
Bianca sat her flute on the island, then picked up her purse and dug into it. “Your mama and her damn fish dreams,” she said softly, holding up the pregnancy stick as she looked into her husband’s loving eyes.
Hank jumped to his feet. “Hot diggity damn!”
Hot Like Fire Page 17
