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 her.
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 freefall 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 lon-n 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 the 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.
When Garcelle left him that night at that hotel, he had gone downstairs to watch her from a distance. It had made his soul ache to watch her fight not to cry as she stood in the lobby of the hotel. He wanted to go to her and tell her what she wanted to hear-what she needed to hear-but he couldn't. He would have been lying.
Garcelle's father had once asked him if his heart was free to love her. He remembered pausing, because he was unable to answer that question with honesty. Garcelle deserved more than he could give her. She deserved to be more than a woman living in his dead wife's shadow.
Bianca was so sick and tired of being face-first in a commode. She frowned at the taste in her mouth as she flushed the contents of her stomach. Even after she rose to her feet and rinsed her mouth, she stayed in the bathroom. There was solace in there.
She sighed heavily as she dropped the lid and slumped down onto the commode. Six orseven more months of this?
There was a knock at the door, and she rolled her eyes heavenward.
"Bianca ... baby, you have to come out," Kahron said through the door. "Mimi's here to go over the wedding plans."
She had to swallow back a hysterical giggle. She could literally choke herself for opening her big mouth and talking her father and future stepmother out of eloping to Vegas.
No, have the wedding here at my house. I'll help plan it. Sure, we can put together a nice one in six weeks. Sure, I'm sure.
"What in the hell was I thinking?" she muttered aloud.
Kahron knocked again. "Did you say something, baby?"
Between preparing for Thanksgiving dinner at her house, and the wedding at her house just one week later, and putting up with Lisha, who was driving her crazy with baby talk, Bianca was ready to grab Kahron and fly to Vegas ... forever.
Three Weeks Later
Fate was dealing Garcelle a cruel hand. After seeing Kade and his family in the restaurant where she worked, she kept bumping into Kade. At the Piggly Wiggly when she was grocery shopping. At Bianca's when she dropped her friend and ex-employer off after a day of shopping in Beaufort. At Kahron and Bianca's ranch when she dropped off the fish stew Bianca begged her to make for her. At the menswear store on Main Street in Walterboro when she took her father there to purchase a new suit.
True, Holtsville and Walterboro were small towns, but it was getting to be a bit ridiculous. Over and over and over again, their paths crossed. Each and every time, they would look at each other, wave, and move on in opposite directions to continue living their separate lives.
"Oh God, not again," Garcelle muttered after she looked up and saw Kade and Kadina stroll into WalMart. Her heart hammered as she whipped her buggy around and headed in the other direction.
"Garcelle! Garcelle!" cried Kadina.
She winced at the sound of Kadina's voice. She couldn't dare ignore her, so she plastered a smile on her face and turned just as Kadina came running up to her. Garcelle took a step back after Kadina lunged at her and then wrapped her thin arms around her. "Hola, little girl. How are you?" Garcelle asked as she bent to kiss the top of her head.
"I got all good grades in school, and Daddy's gonna buy me whatever I want," she said, looking up at Garcelle with bright cocoa brown eyes.
"Oh, he is?" Garcelle asked lightly.
"Yup." Kadina looked over her shoulder. "Right, Daddy?"
Garcelle bit the clear gloss from her bottom lip as she finally raised her eyes and looked at Kade. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans as he nodded.
Hot Like Fire (Dafina Contemporary Romance) Page 21