He looked down into her vibrant eyes. "You do know that you work for me, and it's not the other way around," he snapped.
Garcelle licked her lips and looked down at the floor as she tapped her sandaled foot. She looked up at him, with a sigh. "What I do know is your mama's number."
Kade knew he had lost the battle. If he let his mother in his house, she would continue coming on the regular. He loved his mother, and he appreciated everything his parents did for him and Kadina after Reema died, but he needed his space. Giving Garcelle one last scowl, he eased back down onto the bed.
"Ha!" she said mockingly as she bent to position the covers over him.
"When this is over, I can fire you, you know," he told her.
Garcelle paused, with her body still bent over him and her nose just inches away from his. "I could quit before this is over, you know," she countered, her cool and fresh breath lightly fanning his mouth.
"You . . . " Roses. She smells like roses.
"Yes?" she asked, obviously awaiting his words.
Kade turned his head and looked at the adjoining bathroom. "Nothing. Never mind," he groused.
"Perfecto," Garcelle said as she kicked off her shoes and walked around to the opposite side of the bed.
"Where's Kadina?" he asked, his eyes locked on her.
Garcelle reached in her back pocket for a deck of cards and flung it next to him on the bed. "She fell asleep watching Maid in Manhattan. We just love us some Jennifer Lopez."
"What are you doing?" Kade asked as he watched Garcelle climb onto the bed.
She froze, with one knee pressed into the thick and plush mattress, as she looked at him with a critical eye. "What do you think I'm doing, Kade Strong? I know you are not conceited enough to think I'm jumping in bed to have nookie with you."
"Of course not."
"Good." Garcelle carefully climbed on the bed, sat cross-legged, and then shuffled the deck of cards. "I know this room must be driving you crazy, so I'm here to keep you company until your brothers get here after work."
He had to admit that ever since she'd walked into the room, it hadn't felt quite so claustrophobic. "You know how to play whist?" he asked.
"No," she said, handing him the deck. "But teach me. I'm a quick learner."
"Learning how to play whist isn't that easy."
Garcelle shrugged. "My ex told me the same thing about poker, and now he can hardly beat me."
Kade was surprised. "You play poker?"
Garcelle lifted a brow. "A little something," she said, with a saucy grin and a wink.
Bianca washed her hands at the small sink in the tack room of the barn. She dried her hands with disposable towels as she walked out of the metal building. Her full and pouty lips curled into a soft smile as she read the sign on the door:
KING EQUINE SERVICES BIANCA KING VETERINARY CLINIC
A FULL-SERVICE EQUINE FARM
So far every decision she'd made concerning her business, her family, and her love life had been a good one. The equine veterinary practice, which she'd opened right on her father's horse farm, was already thriving and showing a profit. That was mainly because more than a few of her clients from her old Atlanta practice would drive the distance to South Carolina or had highly recommended her to local farmers. The small metal building she erected on the east portion of the property was smaller than her old practice, but she was pleased with the setup and with the fact that she was still able to work with her father daily.
She had had to travel back to Holtsville to snatch the family business from ruin because of her father's alcoholism, but every bit of the success was now his doing. He had been sober for over a year. His divorce to his treacherous wife was finalized. He was in full control of the business and was delivering that special Hank King touch with the horses.
And Kahron. Bianca moaned a bit in pleasure as she thought of her love for her husband. He had once asked her to trust him, and when she finally did give in, she found a love that plenty of folks would give their right hand for.
In fact, she was headed home early for the first time in weeks so that she could spend some quality time with her man. She would warm up one of Garcelle's frozen dinners, take a hot bath, slip into something that was barely there and wait for Kahron to walk through the door for a helluva surprise. "Headed home?"
Bianca turned to find her father, a tall, big, barrelshaped man, walking up behind her. She slowed to a stop and threw her arm around his waist when he caught up to her.
"Yes. Yes. Yes," she said, with emphasis.
He laughed, and his laughter rumbled like a thunderstorm in his chest. "You and Kahron have a special night planned?"
"I'm gonna try my best," she said as they neared the front porch of her father's home.
"Good. Because I have some plans of my own for the weekend," he said, with a chuckle that was decidedly boyish.
"Who?" she asked, surprised. Bianca hadn't even known her father was dating anyone.
"An out-of-town guest," he admitted as they climbed the stairs together.
"Do I know-"
Honk-honk.
Bianca's curly head whipped around and her eyes widened as a gold convertible Jaguar came barreling toward the house. It lurched to a stop just in time to miss hitting the front porch.
"Surprise, surprise, sweetie!"
Bianca forced a smile to her face. "Mimi?" she said, watching as the petite spitfire hopped out of the car in a getup that could only be called urban cowgirl. A jean pantsuit, cowboy hat, and a belt buckle large enough to knock a bull unconscious.
"My daddy's ... dating ... Mimi," Bianca said in a confused voice before her older friend enveloped her in a hug that was all Chanel parfum.
Garcelle and Kadina were in the kitchen, making Kade's favorite double chocolate and walnut brownies. Kadina wanted to do something special for her father, and Garcelle knew he could use a treat after the spanking she'd given him in poker earlier that day. Thank God they'd played for Monopoly money and not clothes, because Kade Strong would have been as naked as the day he was born.
Not that she wanted to see Kade nude.
Garcelle's eyebrow rose and her lips pursed as she envisioned Kade naked and bronzed, with his muscles oiled and well defined. She already knew from seeing him without his shirt that the man's body was sculptured from his long hours of farmwork. He had just the right amount of fine silver hair on his chest. Just enough for a woman to play in as she lay in bed with him.
Garcelle looked down into the bowl of chocolate, and she bit her bottom lip as she clearly pictured herself nude and riding Kade, astride a galloping horse and through a field of flowers. As he rode the horse faster and faster, she rode him harder and harder. Each movement of the horse's hindquarters sent his shaft deeper inside of her as she held on to him for dear life.
Was it possible to ride a man while riding a horse?
The doorbell rang, and Garcelle frowned as the image faded away in her mind. Having a freaky daydream about Kade Strong wasjust plain stupido, and having a freaky daydream about being on a horse with Kade Strong was ridiculous, because she didn't fool with horses at all.
"I'll get it," Kadina said, jumping down off the stool and running out of the kitchen.
Garcelle was spreading the brownie mix into the glass bakeware when she heard Kadina say, "My daddy's sleeping. He don't need no prayer."
Garcelle grabbed the dish towel to clean her hands as she made her way out of the kitchen to the front door. She rolled her eyes heavenward at the woman standing there, holding a bible, but dang near dressed for the club. "Can I help you?" Garcelle asked as she pulled Kadina behind her.
The woman looked Garcelle up and down with a slow thoroughness before she visibly stiffened her spine. "And you are?" she asked, with attitude.
Oh no, she didn't, Garcelle thought, with sistah- girl spunk. "I'm Garcelle Santos, Kadina's ninera. Can I help you?"
"A nina what?" the woman asked.
"She's my nanny,
" Kadina said, moving forward to stand beside Garcelle.
"Oh ... okay then," the woman said, with a big, cheesy grin. "My name is Portia Klinton. I attend church with Kade. Could you let him know I'm here to check on him?"
It was Garcelle's turn to take in the woman's skintight pants and formfitting T-shirt. "Listen, he's asleep. I'll let him know you dropped by."
She started to close the door, but Portia put her foot in the doorway. Garcelle backed up, opened the door wide, and looked at the woman like she was crazy.
Portia went in her bag and pulled out a small pad and pen. "If you're not too busy to take a message?" she said, with false sweetness.
Garcelle held her hand out. "Of course not," she said, with mock sincerity.
Portia pressed the note into Garcelle's hand. Garcelle looked down and immediately recognized both the handwriting and the phone number. It was 555-0000. The woman was the freaky secret admirer. Since that first grotesque dildo, the woman had sent Kade eight other gifts, each more sexually explicit than the last.
"I'll make sure it's properly delivered," Garcelle said, with her heavy accent.
"Please do," said Portia.
"You know, I've been watching reruns of this show called Martin," Garcelle told Portia.
"And?" Portia retorted, with attitude.
"I learned something that I want to show you."
Portia looked confused.
"Step back a little," Garcelle said in a friendly tone.
Portia took a step back. "Now what?"
Garcelle tilted her head to the side. "This," she said sweetly before she stepped back and swung the door closed.
"Now to make sure it's properly delivered, the way I promised," Garcelle said over her shoulder to Kadina as she strolled back into the kitchen. She balled up the paper and threw it up into the air like she was making a free throw. It landed in the trash, with a swoosh.
Kadina covered her mouth with both of her hands as she burst into a fit of giggles.
6
Garcelle tossed and turned in her bed. She flipped from her back onto her stomach and onto her back again. Her smoky brown eyes opened, and she turned her head on the pillow to look at her nightstand clock. 12:15 a.m.
She couldn't sleep.
She pulled back her curtain and looked up at the night sky. The moon was completely full and seemed close enough to touch. It was beautiful and haunting all at once.
Kicking back the covers, Garcelle hopped out of bed in her wifebeater and an old pair of men's boxers. She padded barefoot to the kitchen and headed straight to the fridge for a can of light beer. She popped the tab and took a deep gulp.
"It's a little late for that, isn't it?"
Gabrielle nearly choked on the beer as she whirled around and found her father sitting at the kitchen table, cloaked by darkness. "Papi, what are you doing up?" she asked as she reached over to the wall to turn on the light.
"I sit here sometimes and look at your mother's picture as the moonlight comes through the door." Carlos leaned forward and pushed back the chair at the head of the table. "Bring me one," he told her in Spanish.
Garcelle grabbed another beer before she walked across the small kitchen to take the seat. She passed him the beer before she took another sip of her own. "Papi, you know we wouldn't be upset if you wanted to start dating again," she told him. She hesitated before she said the rest. "I don't think Mami would mind, either."
Carlos took a long swig of his beer before he looked over at his daughter, with his boyishly handsome face. "When you love somebody the way that I loved my Maria and you lose them, your heart is so tied up with trying to heal. You feel like a piece of you-a big piece of you-is gone. So your heart doesn't have room to fill it with love for someone else. It wouldn't be fair to that person. Until the heart heals, you would forever make comparisons. It takes time."
Garcelle used her fingertip to trace the top of the can as she fell silent. She was up at midnight, sipping beer while she talked to her father, because she couldn't sleep. And she couldn't sleep, because with each passing day, her physical attraction to Kade Strong was growing. The man was gorgeous. Temptingly delicious. Devilishly handsome. Devastatingly sexy. Disarmingly charming. Distractingly appealing.
She was a healthy, red-blooded woman, with a healthy libido, when she allowed that door to be opened ... but she didn't want to be attracted to Kade Strong. She didn't want to keep dreaming of making wild and kinky love to him astride a horse. She didn't want to go to sleep and dream of his hands and mouth and tongue ... and other things pleasing to her. She didn't want to wake up to find that just a dream of that man had the bud between her legs visibly pulsating. A wet dream!
Garcelle released a heavy breath.
"Something you want to talk about?" Carlos asked as he rose to pour the rest of his beer down the drain.
She shook her head and took another sip of her beer. His words of undying and unending love for his wife were proof positive that Kade Strong, the handsome and oh so sexy grieving widower, was not a man to even consider catching feelings about. During the last few weeks, they had settled into a platonic friendship that she enjoyed.
He was her friend, and that was all they would be. That was all she wanted them to be. Period.
Carlos tugged on Garcelle's ponytail as he walked out of the kitchen. "Go to bed," he told her, with a yawn.
She drained the last of her beer and then tossed the can into the trash. "Papi, anyone ever tell you that you look like Oscar de La Hoya?" she asked.
Carlos laughed richly and fully as he reached his bedroom door. "That's the beer talking. Good night, Garcelle."
She walked into her bedroom and closed the door behind her before she climbed into bed. Perhaps the beer would put her to sleep so deeply that she wouldn't even dream of Kade Strong.
Kadina climbed out of her bed and made her way across the cool hardwood floor to the pastelcolored curio cabinet in the corner of her room. Her father had said that before she was born, her mother had picked out each and every one of the glass and crystal figurines in the cabinet. Kadina carefully opened the glass door and stood up on her toes to flick a switch in the cabinet. A small light popped on, and a sweet lullaby, like in a music box, began to play.
She closed the cabinet door, with a small click, and stepped back to enjoy the way the figurines seemed to sparkle in the darkness as the music played. She smiled before she climbed back in bed and got under the covers. She turned on her side so that she could look at the curio cabinet from where she lay.
She hadn't told a soul that one night last week, she'd dreamt that she was just a baby in her mother's arms in front of the lit curio cabinet as her mother sung her that same lullaby. It had seemed so real. For the first time in a long time, she'd felt a connection to her mother.
Whenever she couldn't sleep or her new room was just too much for her, she would turn on the curio cabinet and feel her mother's presence there in the room, watching over her.
It wasn't long at all before her eyes drifted closed and she felt the wind coming through the window touch her cheek like a kiss.
Hank kissed the top of Mimi's head, which rested on his chest. It felt good to have her warm body snuggled close to his. Damn good.
Who knew that his daughter's eccentric friend would turn out to be just what he needed when he needed it. A dance at Bianca and Kahron's wedding had turned into nearly six months of phone conversations. Bianca didn't even know that he'd been down to Atlanta twice to spend the weekend with Mimi.
Hot Like Fire (Dafina Contemporary Romance) Page 7