Hot Like Fire (Dafina Contemporary Romance)

by Niobia Bryant

  "Let me finish apologizing before you give me one of your speeches."

  He swallowed his irritation. "What do you mean one of my speeches?" he balked.

  Garcelle snorted in derision. "Kade, please, you can get on your little soapbox when you want ... but can we stay in the moment please?"

  Kade smirked. "If you could define what the moment is exactly, maybe I'd be more successful at staying in it."

  "You are a smart ass," she snapped.

  "And you have a bad attitude."

  "You're selfish."

  "And the way you acted last night was childish."

  "Oh, and turning off your phone wasn't."

  "No more than you turning off yours, too."

  "Why do you love tit for tat?"

  "Why do you think you can say whatever and do whatever whenever you get ready?"

  Garcelle sat her hands on her hips as she looked down at her sneakers and sighed heavily. "Kade ...

  "Yeah," he said briefly.

  "I don't like feeling like we're sneaking around like two kids whose parents don't want them to date or like two married people having an affair."

  Kade reached to shut his vehicle off. "Garcelle-"

  "No, let me finish," she said as she shook her head, making her ponytail do a dance. "I mean, maybe for you it feels like an affair, since you live as if you're still married, but I'm just curious, Kade Strong-"

  "Oh, I'm back to Kade Strong," he drawled as he tilted his head back against the headrest and wiped his eyes with his hands.

  "I'm not joking, Kade."

  "Garcelle, trust me. I know I'm not married," he said, unable to deny the tinge of bitterness in his voice.

  "Reema is-"

  Kade's face hardened. "Don't go there, Gar-"

  Her eyes dulled, and her lips thinned to a line.

  Kade couldn't believe they were in the midst of their second argument. Reema would never act like this....

  "What?" Garcelle asked, stepping closer to him after witnessing the sudden change of expression on his face.

  Kade released a heavy breath as he looked at her. The comparison to Reema was completely out of line, and he just thanked God he'd thought it and hadn't said it. The taste of that foot would've been bitter.

  Garcelle wanted the next step in their relationship. She wanted more from him. What seemed so simple for her was so very complicated for him, but then was it fair for her?

  "Okay. Listen, Garcelle. Let's take a shortcut," he said as he opened the car door and turned sideways in his seat to face her.

  She looked a little alarmed but, thankfully, said nothing as she crossed her arms over her chest.

  "One of the things I like about you is how open and honest you are. You say what you feel. You don't hide anything." He leaned forward and reached for her arms to pull her forward. She moved to him with obvious reluctance. The scent of her flowery perfume teased him. "Last night was frustrating as hell for me. So I ask that next time you have something on your mind, just come out and tell me. Don't leave me to guess, and then when I still don't get it, you get more shitty than ever."

  Garcelle squinted like she was 'bout to cuss him twelve ways to Sunday.

  Kade went on. "Now, I admit that I wanted to keep people out of our business, but now I agree we're two grown-ass people who shouldn't be sneaking around town and out of town to see each other. I promise to do better if you promise not to act up in public again."

  Garcelle placed her hands on his knees. "Good shortcut," she said, with a hint of a smile.

  Kade leaned forward to press his lips to hers.

  "I'm sorry," she whispered against his mouth.

  He leaned his forehead against hers. "So am I."

  "So no more down low?" she asked.

  Kade knew his options were simple. To have Garcelle meant a full-blown relationship. Telling Kadina-who had already dropped enough hints for him to know this was right up her alley. Family functions. Public displays of affection. Nosy country people keeping an eye on them and everything they did. He knew their relationship would be the talk of Holtsville. There was no turning back.

  He didn't want to lose her. He wasn't going to lose her. Not over this.

  "I refuse to even use the words down low ... but, yes," he finally said, with a laugh.

  Garcelle stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. She smiled, and in his heart, he felt emotions he wasn't quite ready to claim.

  It scared and excited him all at once.

  16

  Garcelle felt like she was under a microscope as she shopped at the small store near the mobile home park. She glanced over her shoulder, and a few of the women in the store were openly staring at her. She stared back at them before she turned back around to place her items on the counter. The clerk, Keisha, gave Gabrielle a stare filled with attitude as she scratched her orange short-cropped weave.

  She kept giving Garcelle the once over as she took her slow and sweet time ringing up the items. "Six-fifty," Keisha said, with a surly tone.

  "Humph. She a slick little something, too. Word all over Holtsville how she wouldn't let a woman within five feet of him, and now she dating him. Oh, that heifer slick."

  "Good and slick."

  Garcelle turned again to find Rita and Pita looking as scandalous as ever in skirts that were hardly as long as men's underwear. "Do you ladies have something you want to say about me to me?" Garcelle asked, with a big, fake grin.

  Keisha rudely dropped Garcelle's change on the wooden counter. One of the quarters spun on its side before it rolled off the counter and onto the floor. "Oops, my bad," she said, with not a hint of regret in her voice.

  "No problem. Mistakes happen," said Garcelle. She laughed a little as she bent over and picked up the coin. "You know what's funny?" She eyed each of the three women, even though none of them answered her question.

  "Well, I'll tell you what's funny. You all act like I blocked each of you from getting him." She moved her index finger in between the sisters. "You two got like a dozen kids between the two of you. And, Keisha, most men who know you say you'll screw a snake. So ... none of y'all had a chance in hell with him. So I didn't block a damn thing, sweethearts. And sitting around, thinking I'm the reason you couldn't get Kade Strong, now that's funny as hell." Garcelle chuckled as she walked out the door just as calm as could be.

  Garcelle liked how she and Kade blurred the line between friendship and love: they could get lost in the heat of lovemaking or just hang out, laughing and talking as cool-ass friends.

  She was turning down the road leading into the mobile home park when her new cell phone vibrated on the passenger seat.

  "Hey, you," she said, already knowing it was Kade.

  "What's up?"

  "I was just thinking about you," she admitted, with a soft smile. "I miss you, lover."

  "Tell me in Spanish."

  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.

  "Si," 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 y
ou 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 flipflopped 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 Minton 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 watch- ingJade'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 Carlos 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."