He knew he should look away . . . but he couldn't. Whenever his eyes locked with hers, it felt like no one else existed. Just he and Garcelle. Even across the twenty yards separating them, he felt the same electricity and fire crackle between them.
He hadn't felt that way for a woman since Reema.
Her date, Mr. Rico Suave, stepped in their direct line of vision, and Kade released a shaky breath as if he had been held captive by a spell. "Damn," he swore quietly.
"You two want to get in each other's pants so bad," Kaleb said as he walked up to where his brother stood alone. "Funny thing is ... Everyone here seems to know it except you two."
"You don't know what you're talking about." Kade crushed his empty beer can in his hand.
Kaleb laughed. "Okay. Then maybe Mama, Kaeden, Kahron, and Bianca know what they're talking about, because I've had this same conversation with all of them. I drew the short straw to tell your ass to stop staring so hard or make a move, for God's sake."
Kade directed his eyes toward everythinganything-but Garcelle and Rico Suave. "Why the hell are you so talkative tonight?"
"Can't say I blame you for wanting her," Kaleb said, ignoring Kade's sarcasm. "I would be more than happy to tap that-"
Kade spun and grabbed Kaleb by the front of his shirt. His eyes were filled with anger ... until he saw that his younger brother was laughing at him. Kaleb had goaded him right into a trap.
"You're wearing your heart on your sleeve, big brother," Kaleb said in a slow Southern drawl as he calmly reached over his brother's arm to take a deep sip of his beer.
Kade released him just as roughly as he had jacked him up. "Mind your business," he growled before he walked away from his brother.
From her spot in the front yard, Garcelle watched the scene unfold between Kade and his brother. Kade walked farther in the back and out of her view. When she shifted her eyes to Kaleb, he held up his can of beer in a salute to her before he strolled away, with a smile.
She turned her head again, and she saw Zorrie, Lisha, and Kade's sister, Kaitlyn, talking as they looked in her direction. Lisha's and Kaitlyn's eyes were warm and amused, but if looks could kill, Zorrie would have dropped her in the blink of an eye.
"Something wrong?" Joaquin asked, looking down at her.
"No," she told him, even though her thoughts were full of Kade.
She was with another man and hadn't been within five feet of Kade, and he still sent her pulse racing with one look. "I'll be right back," she told Joaquin, needing a moment to herself.
Garcelle made her way through the crowd and climbed the stairs to the house. She almost walked into Bianca, who was leaving the house.
"Garcelle ... Garcelle ... Garcelle," Bianca said teasingly.
"What?"
Bianca grabbed her hand. "Well, I need to talk to you, Mamasita," she said over her shoulder as she pulled Garcelle behind her and into the kitchen.
"Slow down, Bianca," Garcelle said as she almost tripped over her own feet.
"Okay, so tell me. What kind of spell have you put on my brother-in-law?"
Garcelle walked around the kitchen, pretending she was more interested in the decor than she actually was. "I am so glad your father redecorated in here. It looks much better than that mess your exstepmother had in here. Did you help him pick the new colors?"
"Oh no, Garcelle, you're stalling."
Garcelle sat at the island and stared at her friend. "Is your daddy dating that loca lady Mimi?" she countered, deliberately changing the subject again.
"Touche," Bianca said, with a laugh. "I'm not happy about it all. I love my friend, but I don't think she's right for my father. I just haven't worked up the nerve to tell them how I feel. Okay, so I've said my peace. Your turn."
Garcelle shrugged. "Okay, Ms. Nosy. I think Kade Strong is the sexiest man I have ever laid these eyes on. He makes my heart go really fast, you know."
"I knew it!" Bianca slammed her hand down against the island top.
"But ... he still loves his wife, and there is no chance for us," Garcelle said sadly.
Bianca reached for her hand. "Maybe you can be the woman to pull him out of his mourning. Do you love him?"
Garcelle shook her head. "No, I would be lying if I said I was in love, but I do care about him. He's such a good father to Kadina, and he's really good and fair to his workers. I like him a lot."
"And you want him bad, don't you?"
"I do have naughty dreams of having sex with him in odd places ... like riding him on top of a horse." Garcelle's cheeks warmed at her admission.
Bianca bit on the tip of her index finger as she looked off into the distance, with a reflective expression. "Kahron and I have done some things, but ... on horseback, huh?"
"Si, horseback."
Both women did a high five before they fanned themselves.
Zorrie saw Garcelle's date, sans Garcelle, in the backyard, with the rest of the men. Her heart raced as her eyes sought out Kade. She felt relief when she saw him standing on the sidelines, watching the men play cards. For a moment, she thought he had snuck off with Garcelle.
Everyone at the cookout was buzzing about the obvious attraction between Kade and Garcelle. Zorrie hadn't missed their long stares and clandestine peeks at one another. She knew for sure that Kade was sniffing around Garcelle's hot-blooded skirts.
Zorrie wasn't too concerned. Garcelle was a Latin servant ... good enough to screw, but not to marry. No, in the end, Kade would want a proper woman as his wife. Namely, her. And she planned to see that it happened sooner rather than later.
Kade was quiet for the rest of the night. He had a lot on his mind. Or at least someone was on his mind a lot.
"Damn, Kade. Pay attention, man," Kaleb complained as he counted their tricks. "They got a two."
Kade winced at the score. In whist, there were thirteen tricks up for grabs. With the two teams playing against each other, any trick over six was a win. And then each trick over six was counted as the score. Their opponents ran a two, meaning they had eight tricks to their five.
"My bad, man," said Kade.
"Shit. Not your bad. Our good, baby. Don't sweat that," one of the Jamison twins joked as he reached across the table to give Kahron a dap.
"We just need a one to send them from here. Let's get to work," Kahron added as he pushed his shades up on his head.
Kaleb grumbled as he dealt a new hand. "Pay attention, and get your mind off of you know who," he said, with a hard stare at his older brother.
As Kade arranged his hand, he looked up and saw Carlos Santos walk up and stand behind Kaleb. "Carlos, what does podria enamorarme de ti muy, muy facilmente mean?"
"Man, what the hell are you talking about now?" Kaleb said, with attitude, as he dropped his hand to the table.
Kade ignored him. His body was tense as he looked at the older man.
"It means `I could fall in love with you so very, very easily."'
Kade felt a chill race over his body.
10
Two Weeks Later
Dozens of spotlights filtered through red film shown on the lone figure sitting in the middle of the dance floor. Kade's arms were tied behind his back as he sat completely ... and devastatingly ... nude. His tall and muscular frame seemed to dominate the wooden chair as he calmly waited. Fine silver hair highlighted the strong contours of his chest, dwindling to a fine line through his rigid abdomen and then spreading out to cover and surround the thick root of his dark penis, hanging between his open thighs.
A soft and sultry Spanish song began to play, and the fine hairs on his body stood on end. The muscle between his thighs stirred to life. His heart pounded.
Garcelle came spiraling toward him in that crimson red dress, and their eyes locked when she stopped dramatically before him, with a flirty smile. She bent over to hotly trace his lips with her skillful tongue. She laughed huskily as he jostled about in the chair in an effort to free his tied hands.
His solid penis rose
to attention as she slid her hands from his broad shoulders and down the length of his chest before she moved to stand behind him. She pressed her breasts to the back of his neck as her hand descended and surrounded his steel inches. She stroked upward in a rhythmic motion.
"Please, Garcelle," he begged as he tilted his head back against her bosom.
She jiggled her breasts against him before she stepped back. She loved how he twisted and turned in the chair to get her in his line of vision. She moved back around him as the tempo of the music quickened. She shook her hair free, letting it spill down over her shoulders, before she slid down to the floor in a frontward split.
Kade's eyes burned a hole through her soul as she lifted her voluminous dress skirt to show him how she lightly worked her hips up and down as if riding the floor like a lover. His penis bobbed like a diving board as he clenched the muscles of his abdomen.
Garcelle rose to her feet, releasing the dress skirt, and it floated down around her hips and thighs as she removed the straps of her dress. They fell from her softly rounded shoulders with ease, exposing her small, but firm and plump, breasts to his eager eyes.
His mouth gaped open as his heart pounded wildly in his chest. She swiveled her hips as she used her thumbs to work the dress down her hips. It fell with a whoosh down her thick, shapely legs to the floor.
Kade's penis ached at the sight of her nakedness. "Come ride me," he ordered thickly as sweat covered his body.
Garcelle brought her hands up to play lightly in the soft and neat curls covering her core. She walked to him, with the strength and grace of a panther. "Are you ready for me now?" she asked in a thick Spanish accent.
He tilted his head back to look up at her with heat- and desire filled eyes. "More than ready."
She straddled his hips, shifting forward so that the hard base of his penis pressed against the thick lips of her moist opening. She used her hands to guide one pert breast to his open, eager, and ready mouth.
As Kade's tongue circled her chocolate nipple, Garcelle rose up on her toes and held his heat with her shaking hand as she eased down upon it, with a harsh intake of breath.
He clenched his jaw and furrowed his brow as his hips bucked upward, off the chair, at the feel of her tightly surrounding him. Throbbing against him. Soaking him with her juices. "Garcelle," he roared.
She arched her back, her head nearly reaching the floor, as she worked her hips and rode him. At times she worked his shaft slow and sensual. At other times she was fast and furious.
The muscles in his arms, shoulders, and back tightened as he pulled against the bonds holding him. With one final savage grunt, he tore the material that secured him, and he was free to touch her.
He didn't use those hands to grab at her buttocks or breasts but to pull her upper body to him before he lightly grasped the sides of her face. "Podria enamorarme de ti muy, muy facilmente," he whispered to her tenderly.
Tears filled Garcelle's eyes as she lowered her head to kiss him deeply....
Garcelle eyes fluttered open as she shook off her hot daydream. When she touched her cheeks, she wasn't surprised to find that like in her heated and emotional dream, she was crying. Everything had seemed so real.
The sex. The emotions. His words. She sighed.
In the last two weeks, her relationship with Kade had gone from awkward to distant to near nonexistent. They only saw each other in passing. He had even started leaving her paycheck on the counter in the kitchen. She wouldn't be surprised if he let her go from the job next.
That would probably make Zorrie Kintrell climax all over herself. Somehow the woman's vacation had been extended to a whole month. Didn't she have a job to get back to?
Okay. In truth, what really had her going was the obvious closeness she saw developing between the woman and Kade. Correction. Between Zorrie, Kade, and Kadina.
Thankfully, Zorrie was visiting the house less and less during the day. Just when Garcelle thought the woman had found her life, she discovered Zorrie saved her "visits" for the evening ... when Kade was home. Like clockwork, little Kadina would innocently fill Garcelle in on all the fun the threesome had had the night before ... at dinner, the movies, the local fairs and festivals, the water parks, etc., etc.
To Garcelle, Zorrie was the worst of the worst man hunters, because she was going after the husband of her dead best friend and she was using a sweet, innocent child to do it. "Puta," Garcelle muttered under her breath as she walked over to the window to check on Kadina, who was riding her bike in the front yard.
Kade was blind if he didn't see MANIPULATOR and HORNY MAN HUNTER written all over Zorrie's pretty and vacant face. It frustrated her so much that she felt like climbing to the top of the house and scream down at him, "Get your head out of your ass, Kade Strong."
Then again, maybe Zorrie Kintrell was what Kade wanted. He was pulling further and further away from their newfound friendship and closer to Zorrie. The woman's personality was as flat as paint. If Garcelle had to spend more than an hour in her presence, she felt herself getting sleepy. Seriously.
"Whatever," Garcelle said, with a false nonchalance, as she reached into the double-sided refrigerator for the bowl of chicken salad she'd made earlier to serve for lunch. She was busying herself with making Kadina a sandwich, with sliced fresh fruit for dessert, when she heard the front door open and close.
"I was just about to call you in for lunch, Kadina," she said over her shoulder as she reached in the fridge for one of the little girl's juice boxes.
"I'm not Kadina, but I could go for lunch if you're offering."
At the sound of Kade's voice and the knowledge of his presence, Garcelle closed her eyes and took a deep, steadying breath as she clutched that juice box until the middle caved in. "Right away, Mr. Strong," she said, with an edge in her voice.
"Mr. Strong?"
Garcelle ignored his question and began to fix him a sandwich. "Do you want chicken salad or tuna fish?" she asked. "Or should I call Zorrie and ask her to tell you what you want?"
Kade looked over his shoulder at her as he washed his hands at the sink. He frowned. "Zorrie?"
Garcelle waved her hand dismissively. "Nothing."
Kade dried his hands with a towel as he swaggered over to her. "No, say whatever you have to say. Be a woman about yours."
Garcelle eyed him sharply as he stood beside her, but she chose to say nothing. Kade Strong and Zorrie Kintrell are none of my concern. I just work here.
"Speak up, Garcelle. I've never known you to be so quiet," he said sarcastically as he moved over to the island and jerked one of the stools back to sit on.
"And I've never known you to be so ... so .. . blind," she flipped back at him before she could catch herself.
Kade jumped to his feet and slammed his hand against the top of the island as he pierced her with his eyes. "Say what you gotta say, Garcelle."
She swallowed back everything she wanted to tell him. "I like my job, so eat your sandwich while I go and get Kadina," she told him, flinging the dish towel onto the counter as she walked past him to leave the kitchen.
He reached out and caught her wrist.
Garcelle yanked her wrist free of his grasp, with eyes blazing, as she faced him. "Two weeks ago on your porch, you started to kiss me, and I was woman enough to tell you that you were not ready, Kade Strong. Now you're dating your wife's best friend-"
Hot Like Fire (Dafina Contemporary Romance) Page 11