Hot Like Fire

by Niobia Bryant

  Kahron almost dropped his flute to the floor as he crossed the kitchen and pulled Bianca close against him. He picked her up and sat her on the counter and stood between her legs. “I love you so much, Bianca Strong,” he whispered before he captured her lips with his own.

  She was touched by the brightness of his eyes, hinting at tears she knew he wouldn’t let fall. She caressed his silvery stubble with her hand as she smiled into his eyes. Eyes that she hoped their child inherited. They were having a baby, and she’d never loved him more.

  That Sunday afternoon after church, Kade paused as he entered the kitchen, and all conversation came to an immediate halt at the sight of him. Five pairs of female eyes locked on him. His mother’s, his sister’s, his sister-in-law’s, his daughter’s, and his girlfriend’s.

  “Hello, ladies,” he said, throwing them a charming smile.

  “Hello,” they all said in unison, with soft smiles.

  “I, uh, just wanted to grab some beers for me and the fellas.”

  Garcelle cast him a soft smile before she walked over to the refrigerator. “How many would you like?”

  He moved into the kitchen and walked past the ladies to reach Garcelle. He looked down into her laughing eyes. “Were you all talking about me?” he asked her as his eyes dipped down to her lips.

  She nodded as she began to pass him the beers one by one.

  “Good things?” he asked.

  “Great things,” she told him as she reached up to press her fingers to his lips.

  He kissed them softly as he looked down into her eyes. His heart exploded in his chest, and he didn’t think he could stop the words if he tried. “I love you, Garcelle,” he whispered to her fiercely. “I really love you.”

  Her eyes widened and then softened before they smoldered. “Good. Because I love you, too.”

  “Get a room, you two,” Kaitlyn called from across the kitchen, sending Kadina into a fit of giggles.

  “I better go,” he said, bending his head to taste her lips.

  All the ladies sighed.

  “Tell me again,” Garcelle whispered.

  Kade moved his mouth near her ear. “I love you,” he repeated, with ease.

  With one last kiss to the side of her head, Kade turned and strode out of the kitchen, with a wink at his mother.

  “Well, whatever he said to you sure has put a big old Kool-Aid grin on your face,” Bianca teased as she stirred a big bowl of potato salad.

  Garcelle couldn’t stop smiling, but she didn’t share with them what had just passed between her and Kade. She would remember it always. A woman never forgets the first time her man tells her that he loves her.

  “You ladies are discovering something that I have known for nearly forty years,” Lisha said as she smiled warmly at Bianca and Garcelle. “There is nothing—and I do mean nothing—like the love of a Strong man. Take it from the one who has the original. They live up to their names, ladies, they live up to their names.”

  “Doh, Mama,” Kaitlyn joked.

  “I don’t mean just in the bedroom, daughter,” Lisha said as she looked at Kaitlyn. “See a real man . . . a real good man . . . is good in and out of the bed. He got more going for him than what’s below the waist. He got a lot going on in his head and his heart. That’s a Strong man, baby, and I love mine.”

  Bianca grabbed the bottle of wine and topped off everyone’s glass. She gave herself and Kadina more lemonade. “Well, here’s to the Strong men.”

  The women all lifted their glasses.

  “Hear! Hear!” they all said in unison.

  “And to the future generations of Strong men and women,” Lisha said warmly, giving Kadina a hug before she winked at Bianca.

  “Garcelle . . . Garcelle . . . wake up, baby. We’re here.”

  Garcelle stirred in her sleep and sat up in the seat. She looked out the window of Kade’s Expedition. “Where are we?” she asked as she stretched.

  “At the hotel,” he said as he climbed out of the SUV and came around to open her door.

  “The hotel? Why are we at the hotel?” she asked out loud as she slipped her feet into her sandals and grabbed her purse.

  She accepted his outstretched hand. “Kade, Kadina stayed in Walterboro with your grandparents. Why didn’t we just stay at your house?”

  “I thought you would like this better,” he told her as they walked into the hotel lobby.

  Garcelle stopped in her tracks. He turned. She looked at him appraisingly. His eyes shifted from hers. She tugged on his hand. He looked up and locked his eyes with hers. She raised a brow. Kade smiled. She felt a tugging at her heart.

  Love was an amazing thing. She pushed any doubts she had aside and followed him into the hotel lobby.

  Kade carried Garcelle into the unlit suite, using his foot to nudge the door closed. She caressed his face, then bent her head to nuzzle his neck as she talked to him softly in Spanish.

  He swung her onto the bed, and she stood, towering over him. The sliver of light through the crack in the curtain offered just enough illumination to silhouette the curves of her body as she kicked off one shoe and then the other. She reached up to unzip the lavender sundress she wore.

  Kade ran his hands from her ankles to the firm contours of her calves and then to her thighs before massaging her soft buttocks. The dress fell to her waist, and he grabbed the material and jerked it the rest of the way down her body.

  “Yes, Kade,” she gasped as she reached up to release her hair from its ponytail.

  He slid his fingers beneath the lacy rim of her panties to play in her soft curls before he slipped two firm fingers up inside her moistness. She bent her legs to receive them, with a hot gasp, as she rotated her hips against his hand.

  “Garcelle,” he said thickly before he removed the fingers and then slipped them into his mouth, with a deep groan.

  Garcelle kicked her leg high, almost losing her balance, and rested it on his shoulder. He turned his head and pressed his nose and mouth to the soft and warm flesh of her thick thigh as he inhaled deeply of the scent of her intimacy. She laughed softly and freely before she lifted her leg from his shoulder and did a cartwheel across the bed. She eased off her panties and bra before she crawled on her knees toward the middle of the king-sized bed.

  Kade nearly tore the buttons from his shirt as he removed it. His hands fumbled as he removed a condom from his wallet and held it with his teeth as he tore off his belt, pants, and boxers. Naked and hard and ready, he covered as much of his throbbing length as he could as his heart pumped wildly. He crawled on his knees to meet her in the middle of the bed. They came together in a heated rush.

  Kisses. Touches. Strokes. Caresses. Skin to skin. Body to body. Furious heartbeats. Panting breaths. Racing pulses. Urgency. Need. Want. Electricity. Desire. Fire.

  Garcelle put her hands on the hard contours of Kade’s chest and pushed him away. He landed on his back, with his erection pointing up to the ceiling, then watched her shadowy figure move from the bed and climb atop the dresser. Her back was pressed to the mirror above the dresser as she brought her legs up.

  Kade held his hard and throbbing penis in his hands as he got up from the bed and walked over to where she waited for him. Panting and wet. Her fresh feminine scent heavy in the air. With one thrust he entered her swiftly.

  “Ah,” they both gasped.

  Kade put his hands on her knees and pushed her back until she touched the mirror. He wished for more light so that he could see his hardness surrounded by her lips. See the way her thick bud was swollen with want for him. See the way she made the length of him wet.

  He stroked deep inside of her.

  Once. Twice. Three times.

  Again and again and again until she lost count. Each thrust brought a deep, guttural moan from her.

  He bent down, offering her his tongue to suckle, as he shifted his hands to massage her soft breasts and tease her hard nipples until he felt her walls pulsating and pulling him deeper inside of he
r.

  Garcelle sucked his tongue deeply and brought her hands around to grab his buttocks. She enjoyed the way the hard muscles relaxed and then tensed with each delivery of his strokes.

  “I’m coming, Garcelle,” he moaned into her open mouth as that urgency caused a warm sensation to float over his entire body.

  Garcelle let her tears flow as she felt her body free-fall as she came. He tasted her tears as he moved his hips and buttocks until he thought he would break his back. Then his seed shot from him, with a jolt. She clutched his stiff body as he fought to find the strength to continue stroking inside of her.

  “I love you . . . I love you . . . God, I love you,” he chanted as he fought for control of his body.

  “And I love you,” she whispered against his sweaty shoulder as they slumped against each other, exhausted and sated.

  Long into the night, as Kade slept with his arm and leg over her as they lay on their side, Garcelle could not find enough peace to sleep. Her thoughts were heavy. The truth was a bitter pill to swallow.

  In every way imaginable, Kade had given himself to her. They’d spent time together. He’d introduced her as his girlfriend to his family. He’d told her he loved her.

  Yet, not once since they’d become involved had she spent the night or enjoyed more than passing affection inside his home. She had fooled herself into thinking it was because of Kadina. But tonight there had been no excuse. There had been no feasible reason for him to pay for a hotel suite when his home sat empty.

  Correction. His home was anything but empty. It was filled to the brim with the ghost of his dead wife. And she knew tonight that there was still a piece of Kade that he was sheltering from her.

  And that hurt like hell.

  Kade knew something was wrong. Late into the night he had reached for Garcelle, but she had seemed to draw away from his touch. Then she hopped out of bed and dashed into the bathroom. When he heard the shower running, he jumped out of bed to join her, but the door was locked. When she came out fully dressed and suggested that they leave so that he could go home and rest for work the next day, she wouldn’t meet his eyes.

  “Garcelle, what’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Nothing, Kade. Just go and wash so we can go home,” she said, with a light tone, which he didn’t buy for a second.

  He stared at her long and hard. “I don’t read minds, Garcelle, and I don’t play games,” he told her coldly.

  “And I don’t play with people’s heart and make promises I can’t keep,” she returned in a stiff voice.

  Kade sat down on the edge of the bed. “Now you’re giving me riddles?”

  “Can we just leave?”

  Kade laughed sardonically as he snatched up his clothes and started to get dressed. “Since you’re in such a rush, I’ll wash when I get home.”

  Garcelle laughed sarcastically. “Yes, hurry and get back to your precious house, with your precious memories.”

  Kade paused in zipping up his pants. “Oh, okay. I see what you’re getting at that.”

  “Yes, I’m getting at the fact that you lied and said you were ready to move on. I’m here, living and breathing and loving you, but I’m not about to fight with a ghost, because it’s a losing battle.” Garcelle turned away from him, and he saw her shoulders shake with her tears.

  He started to go to her, but he stopped himself. “I love you, Garcelle—”

  “But you love her more,” she said in a soft voice as she looked at him.

  Kade dropped his eyes from hers, and he felt the pain he knew he’d caused her.

  She dropped the cell phone he’d given her and the keys to his house on the dresser as she passed it on her way to the door. “I can’t win against a ghost. I wish you and your memories the very best.”

  Kade strode across the room and grabbed her arm. “Don’t go, Garcelle. Don’t do this.”

  She looked up at him, and her eyes were gorgeous even as they were filled with pain. “I’ll call my father to come pick me up. Good-bye, Kade.”

  She pulled her arm away and walked out of the room. The door closed with the utmost finality, and the sound echoed deep in his soul.

  18

  Two Weeks Later

  “Are you okay, Garcelle?”

  Garcelle looked up from her textbook to find her professor smiling down at her, with dentures almost bigger than her thin mouth could hold. “Yes . . . I’m fine,” she said, slightly stumbling as she sat up straighter in her chair. The eyes of her classmates were upon her.

  “Good,” her professor said before she walked away.

  Garcelle released a heavy breath as she forced herself to focus in class. She had been daydreaming about Kade . . . again.

  She missed him and Kadina. She had only seen him in passing during the last couple of weeks. And each time it had been torture to watch him from a distance and wish things could have been different . . . better.

  She heard that as soon as the word hit the streets that their relationship was over, women were back on the Kade hunt. Maybe one of those dozens of women would be able to make him move past his wife’s death. Obviously, her love wasn’t enough.

  As soon as class was over, Garcelle grabbed her books and put on her leather coat to fight the slight chill in the October air. She headed straight out of the building and to her car to drive off the campus in Walterboro to her job at the small diner on the main road in Holtsville.

  She washed her hands and tied an apron over her long-sleeve fitted T and jeans. The bell rung, signaling new customers had walked through the door.

  “Customers at table six,” Donnie, the owner and cook, called back to her. “Let’s get it moving, Garcelle.”

  She snatched up an order pad and pen as she mentally prepared herself for her four-hour shift. “I’m on it, Donnie,” she said, walking out to the seating area.

  “Welcome to . . . ,” said Garcelle as she looked into Kade’s face. She forced herself to take a deep breath and to keep her composure.

  “Hi, Garcelle,” said Kade.

  She cleared her throat. “Kade,” she said shortly.

  “Garcelle, I didn’t know you were working here.”

  She didn’t even notice the rest of Kade’s brothers or his father until Kahron spoke. Not wanting to run into Kade, she had quit her job at Kahron and Bianca’s. “I just started last week. Uh, what would you like to order?” she said.

  Garcelle didn’t release the breath she was holding until she gave Donnie the orders and ran out the back door of the restaurant. “Keep it cool, Garcelle. Calm down,” she admonished herself as she paced. “I can do this. I can do this.”

  She walked back inside and stood in the kitchen while she looked over at Kade’s table. “I can’t do this,” she admitted softly.

  “Donnie, I need a cheeseburger platter and two specials,” Poochie said as she came into the kitchen.

  Garcelle grabbed her arm. “Poochie, take table six for me, and I’ll take table twelve.”

  “No problem,” Poochie said over her shoulder as she walked back out of the kitchen.

  Garcelle ignored Donnie’s eyes on her as she walked out of the kitchen and headed for table twelve.

  Kade’s heart had been pounding wildly in his chest from the moment he looked up and saw Garcelle. As much as he tried to fight it, his eyes kept drifting to her. Drinking in her presence. Filling his memories with snapshots of her.

  Kade focused his attention back on his steak and potatoes, but he had no appetite. He dropped his fork onto his full plate. In the last two weeks, he hadn’t wanted to do much of anything. He missed Garcelle like crazy.

  “You two have got to be kidding me,” Kahron said.

  Kade shifted his eyes to his brother. “Excuse me?”

  “Kahron,” Kael said, with a warning in his tone.

  “What point are you proving by making yourself into a damn martyr?” Kahron said, obviously ignoring their father’s admonition.

  Kade’s eyes hardened. “What t
he hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “You’re miserable without her, and then you’re making everyone around you miserable because you’d rather live life looking like a sad hound dog than allow yourself to be happy with another woman,” said Kahron.

  Kade looked around the table at his family. “Is Kahron speaking for himself or for all of you?” he asked coolly.

  Their silence was all too telling.

  Kade rose from the table and tossed his napkin onto his plate of untouched food. “I can’t give her what she wants or what she needs, so excuse the hell out of me for giving her a chance to go on with her life and not be led on. If doing that makes me the bad guy, then so be it.”

  He turned and stormed away from the table. He looked up and saw Garcelle standing there, with a pained look on her face. Damn. He knew that she’d heard him. He had spoken nothing but the truth, and he saw by the look in her eyes that the truth hurt her.

  But Garcelle was a remarkable woman. She didn’t go running in the back to cry or rush to him to cuss him out. She waved good-bye to him like he was just another stranger in the street before she tilted her chin up and focused on her customers.

  Kade allowed himself another long look at her before he walked out of the restaurant and climbed into his SUV. He missed Garcelle in his life in every way imaginable. He felt like a piece of him was missing, and that made him feel guilty. Loving Garcelle made him feel like he was forgetting Reema.

  When he thought of Garcelle, it was so easy to picture her in his life as his wife, the mother of his children, and the stepmother to Kadina. Going to bed with her at night and waking to her every single morning for the rest of his life. Garcelle was a picture-perfect fit for his life . . . completely knocking Reema and all the years they’d shared out of the way.

  Those years with Reema were important to him. She was important to him. How in the hell could he just wipe it all away after a few years? Those years were nothing compared to over a decade of being in love with her.