Garcelle was lying across her bed, on her stomach, reading when there was a knock at her door. She looked over her shoulder to see her little brother, Paco, peek his head inside.
"You awake? Uncle Anthony said you had a call on the other line," said Paco.
"Bring it to me," she said as she turned over and sat up in bed.
Paco brushed his long bangs out of his eyes as he walked into Garcelle's room, with the phone outstretched in his hands. "Uncle Anthony said to hurry up. He's on the other line."
"Surprise, surprise," Garcelle said as she pressed the phone to her ear. "Hello?"
"Garcelle. This is me. You busy?" said Kade.
She felt her body go warm at the sound of Kade's voice. "Hold on one sec."
She clicked the phone and got the other line. "Anthony said he'll call you back," she said, without waiting for an answer. She clicked back over.
Paco was snooping around her dresser. "Tell Uncle Anthony he'll have to call them back. Now come here," said Garcelle.
He walked over to her, and she kissed her two fingers before she pressed them to his forehead. "Good night, Paco."
"Night."
She waited until he had closed the door behind him before she turned out the light and snuggled down under the sheets on her bed. "Okay. I'm back."
"Good," said Kade.
`Where's Kadina?" she asked as she crossed one leg over the other.
"I just put her to bed. She's been grilling me all day about my weekend."
"I don't think there's too much about this weekend that was Grated."
Kade laughed huskily. "Me either."
They fell into a comfortable silence just listening to each other breathe.
14
Six Weeks Later
Garcelle pushed her shades on top of her hair as she leaned against the wooden fence and looked out at Kadina astride a horse, being led around a paddock. In truth, a small girl riding a horse made her nervous, and she didn't have the same enthusiasm Kade had for Kadina learning to ride. Just over two months ago, he'd bruised his own ribs from a hard tumble off a horse, which could've ended much worse. She was learning that the Strongs considered riding a horse as normal as breathing air or walking upright.
"Look, Garcelle, look," Kadina called out to her.
Garcelle clapped her hands as the ranch hand took the horse from a trot to a gallop. "I'm looking," she called back. And praying, she added silently.
Unlike other members of her family, Garcelle had never ridden a horse, and she wasn't looking to change that fact anytime soon. She just felt good lounging outside in the sun as she watched Kadina closely to make sure she was safe.
Garcelle's butt began to vibrate, and she reached into her back pocket for her new cell phone. Kade had insisted she get one, especially when he discovered just how much time her uncles spent on the house phone at night. A couple of nights of not being able to reach her, and he presented her with the gift of the phone.
"Hello," she said into the phone as she dropped her shades back down onto her face.
"I was riding by and saw this sexy Latina. I just had to ask her name."
Garcelle frowned. She recognized Kade's voice, but she was willing to play along. "It's Garcelle. Garcelle Santos. And you are?" she asked as she twirled around to look for him.
"A secret admirer."
She smiled. "Oh, well, I thank you for that, but I only recognize a man who can stand up like a man and let a woman know how he feels."
"I wanted to see if you had a man in your life first."
"Oh." Her eyes darted everywhere, but she didn't see him, and he had to be around. "I don't know if I like a man who worries about the next man before he worries about his interest in me."
"So you do have a man?"
Garcelle turned and leaned her back against the fence. "Oh yes, but he's like an old man," she said very tongue in cheek. "He already has silver hair, and soon he'll need Viagra to keep up with me-"
"Garcelle ! "
"Yes, Kade," she answered in a simple tone.
She heard the hooves pounding against the ground before she saw him racing toward her from the top of the hill. She closed her phone as he galloped around the paddock and approached her.
"Viagra," he stressed as he looked down at her, with a scowl.
Garcelle smiled up at him, with flashing eyes filled with laughter. "Ooh, poor baby," she cooed as she reached up to pat his thigh. "He likes to play on the phone but can't take someone playing with him."
His eyes dropped down to her hand high on his thigh. "Oh, I can take you playing with me," he told her thickly.
Garcelle saw his rod stir to life in his pants, and she felt her entire body warm over as she shifted her gaze up to meet his. "See. You are a dirty old man," she teased, with a husky voice.
"If I'm so dirty, then I need to clean off." He licked his lip a little before he smiled like a rogue. "Know something wet I can get into?"
Garcelle's mouth formed a circle. "Oooh, you are so bad."
"Come ride with me, Daddy," Kadina called out to him from the paddock.
With a lot of reluctance, they broke their hot stare at one another.
Garcelle frowned as Kade held his hand out to her. Kade laughed. "Come on. Ride with me."
She shook her head. "Who me? Oh no. Garcelle don't do horses."
The ranch hand brought Kadina's horse to a stop behind them. "Garcelle doesn't ride, Daddy," Kadina offered, with a giggle.
Kade's hand remained outstretched. "Come on. I'll teach you."
"Please, Garcelle, " Kadina whined behind her.
Garcelle looked at Kadina quickly over her shoulder before she turned back to look up at Kade. A blind man could see she was hesitant.
"Trust me. No horse racing," he joked.
"That's good to know," Garcelle muttered before she took a deep breath and put her hand in his.
As soon as she was settled in the saddle, in front of Kade, he wrapped his arm lightly around her waist. "Kade, nice and slow, okay?" she warned him as he steered the horse around and entered the paddock.
He chuckled. "Oh, I know you like it nice and slow, Garcelle," he reminded her warmly in her ear.
"You're acting like a horny little boy," she scolded him playfully.
"First 'a dirty old man and now a horny little boy?"
Garcelle bit back a smile. "Si"
"Why not just a grown-ass man who finds a grownass woman sexy as hell?"
At the sound of his low and erotic tone, Garcelle shivered and had to force herself not to turn around and see if it was possible to ride him in the saddle.
"People are watching, Kade, so stop being fresh."
He just laughed as he kicked the horse's flanks to trot around the paddock.
"You okay?" he asked.
Garcelle's buttocks were pressed against the top of Kade's thighs, giving her a rather intimate feel of his hardness. "The horse is fine. It's you that's making me nervous. Kade, you're hard."
"Now who's being fresh?" he teased.
Each jostle of the horse brought her buttocks slightly up and then against his steely hardness. That, plus the natural heat of his body, made her forget the damn horse.
"In one of my first dreams of making love to you, we were in the big field, on horseback," he whispered near her ear.
Garcelle's eyes widened as she turned slightly to look at him over her shoulder. "No," she said in shock.
"Yeah."
"I dreamt the same thing."
Now it was Kade's turn to fill with surprise. "No."
"Yes," she told him, with emphasis.
They both looked away, a bit pensive, before their eyes shifted back to each other. "We couldn't," they said in unison.
Garcelle turned back around as Kade steered their horse up beside Kadina's horse.
"See, Garcelle. It's fun, right?" asked Kadina.
Garcelle forced a smile. "Yes, I'm having a ball," she told her. And the bat, she thought, with a
chuckle, as her bottom again rose and fell against his hardness.
It had been a little over a week since they'd had any time alone, and this impromptu horseback ride was really making that hit home for Garcelle. She missed him. During the day, she watched over Kadina, and he worked. At night he watched over Kadina, and she was home.
Kade motioned for the ranch hand to pass him the reins to Kadina's horse.
"Where we going, Daddy?" Kadina asked as Kade led her horse out of the paddock.
"You're going to the house to sit with Grandma while Garcelle and I ride for a little," replied Kade.
Garcelle looked over her shoulder at him in surprise. "We are?" she asked, with a lift of her brow.
"I wanna go, Daddy," Kadina said.
"Next time, baby girl. I want to show Garcelle the ranch," he said, his voice stern.
Garcelle was surprised when Kadina offered no further argument. She had her father wrapped around her finger and knew it. Garcelle did not doubt that Kadina could get Kade to do whatever she wanted. Luckily, she used her powers over her father for good. She's a good kid.
They rode together across the ranch, toward the big house. They moved across the couple hundred yards pretty slowly, and Garcelle was sure Kade took his time as a way to appease Kadina after not allowing her to go along for their ride. He's a good father.
Garcelle actually felt herself relax in the saddle.
"What's black and white and red all over?" Kadina asked them as she braided her horse's jetblack hair.
"What's black and white and red all over?" Kade said slowly as if pondering the question. "Let's see....
"Daddy, this is so easy." Kadina rolled her eyes playfully.
"A zebra with ketchup poured all over it?" asked Kade.
"Nope."
"A panda bear soaked in cherry Kool-Aid?"
"No ... no ... no."
"A cow that fell in tomato soup?"
"Dad-dy."
Garcelle smiled at their lighthearted exchange as they trotted up a small incline. The rays of the sun suddenly intensified, and she dropped her shades back down over her eyes.
"It's a newspaper, Daddy," Kadina drawled.
Kade snapped his finger. "Damn, I was just about to say that."
"Do you believe that, Garcelle?" Kadina asked her.
"I plead the fifth," said Garcelle.
Kadina scrunched up her face. "Huh?"
Kade and Garcelle laughed.
They reached the house, and Garcelle's eyes widened when Kade pressed the reins into her hands before he got down off the horse. "You're not leaving me up here by myself," she screeched as he did just that.
He laughed.
"Kade ... Kade ... Kade!" cried Garcelle.
He tied the reins to Kadina's horse to the long rail running across the left side of the house.
Garcelle cursed him under her breath in Spanish, and he laughed some more as he put his hands on Kadina's waist to help her down off the horse. She prayed her horse didn't decide to go for a run, because she'd be screwed.
"Bye, Daddy. Bye, Garcelle," Kadina hollered to them as she raced up the stairs. She reached the top and turned to look down at them as she cocked her head to the side. "Now don't y'all do anything I wouldn't do."
With that said, she turned and walked into the house before they could even respond. "What am I going to do with her?" Kade asked as he climbed back into the saddle, behind Garcelle, and took the reins from her.
"I have no idea."
"I know what I'm going to do with you," he whispered in her ear.
Garcelle moaned, with an exaggerated shiver.
Kade laughed as he steered the horse back across the ranch. "There's about a thousand acres of this property," he told her as he settled his arm around her waist. "Growing up, I felt the world began and ended on this ranch. If it wasn't for school, we probably would have never left it. Everything was right here."
Garcelle listened to him as she let her hands rest lightly on top of his thighs.
"Ali man, there's nothing better than skinnydipping in a cool pond on a hot summer day or playing hardball in a big, open field where trees can be your bases."
"Sounds like you had a wonderful childhood, Kade," Garcelle told him softly.
"I remember one time my brothers and I went on strike from working the ranch, and uh ... we ran away. We stayed right here, on the property. Just as stupid." He laughed at the memory.
"With a thousand acres, I guess it took your father a long while to find his little boys."
Kade snorted. "My father? Shoot, he left our asses right out there. We lasted about six hours, until that sun went down and that cold starting nipping at us. Kaeden caught a cold just that quick. We were hungry 'cause I ate all the snacks we brought. Wasn't nothing to do but admit defeat and stupidity while we walked back home. Then, when we did get back, he had the door locked, talking 'bout how once we move out, there's no moving back in."
"Aww, poor babies," Garcelle teased.
"Oh, my father was definitely in a Bill Cosby type of fathering mode."
"Did any of you run away again?"
"Six hours in the woods and two hours on the porch before Mama made Daddy let us back in? Shit. Trust me, that was the first and the last time."
Garcelle laughed as she relaxed against Kade's strong chest. "I would run away with you anytime, Kade Strong."
Kade steered the horse past the busy ranch hands, whose eyes drifted to them in open curiosity. "Where would you go with me?Jamaica? Back to the Dominican Republic?" he asked warmly as they rode until they were surrounded by nothing but long stretches of cleared, flat land, which was obviously used for grazing.
Garcelle bit her bottom lip as she shook her head slowly. "If I could close my eyes and make a wish to go anywhere with you in the world, I would find that cool pond you all used to skinny-dip in," she told him, with honesty.
"Hold on."
Garcelle shrieked as the horse suddenly tore off at a full run across the open plain. "Kade ... Kade ... Kade!"
`Just hold on, baby. Hold on."
She shut her eyes and opened her mouth as he steered the horse near a wide road between two groves of trees.
She didn't open her eyes again or stop praying until he brought the horse to a complete stop. Her body relaxed against him, and she let out a very deep and very shaky breath.
"You okay?" he asked.
Hot Like Fire (Dafina Contemporary Romance) Page 16