But maybe she was wrong about that.
She’d been wrong about things concerning Kaeden Strong. Like his strength. That seemingly skinny man swept her thick self up in his arms like it was nothing. He wanted to prove he wasn’t weak and he did just that.
Crossing her arms over her chest, Jade made her way over to him. “Hi, Kaeden,” she said softly, clearing her throat.
He looked up at her over his shoulder. “Hey…Hi, Jade.”
She bit back a smile at the way the flames of the fire were reflected in his glasses, completely blocking his eyes from her. “Glad to see you out and not cooped up in that tent.”
Kaeden laughed as he closed the book, holding his spot with his index finger. “The fire and a ton of bug spray help,” he joked.
They fell silent.
“Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?” she asked as she looked out at the scenic view of the lake surrounded by the ebony shadows of lush greenery and towering trees. The sparkle of the moon against the water gave it a glimmer that was almost animated.
“It looks like a screensaver,” Kaeden said.
“Or those puzzles we used to do as kids.”
“As kids?” Kaeden balked.
“Don’t tell me you still do puzzles,” she said.
“Okay, I won’t.”
Oh Lord, he is a nerd, she thought. “There is no way I could still work inside a factory without windows all day and miss being surrounded by all this.”
Kaeden remained silent although his eyes were still locked on the lake.
Jade licked her lips as she glanced over at him and then briefly at the dirt-packed ground. “Listen, I wanted to thank you…for talking to your brother,” she said low enough for just his ears.
Kaeden looked at her in surprise.
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but…but I did overhear your…um…discussion,” she said delicately.
Kaeden looked over at her and Jade looked away, very confused by her sudden nervousness around this man.
“Well, thanks…especially since it worked,” Jade said. “Sometimes men can be very annoying when they assume they can say whatever they want to me because of the way I look. It’s okay to be sexy and feel sexy, but there is more to me than T and A.”
Kaeden thought of his erotic dream and felt guilty.
Jade shrugged and fell quiet. She looked up at Kaeden just as he swung at a gnat flying before his eyes.
“Damn,” he swore as he accidentally knocked his glasses off and sent them flying toward the fire.
Jade reached out and caught them. “See, I thought I needed to keep a close eye on you,” she teased.
Kaeden laughed as he looked up at her. “Now, that’s what got you lifted up the last time.”
Jade’s eyes locked with his, and where the fire’s reflection in his glasses once blocked his eyes from hers, there wasn’t one single, solitary thing to keep her from being absorbed into the startling intensity of his chocolate eyes. Warm mocha eyes framed by lashes that curled so deeply that the fine tips seemed to lightly stroke his lids. Deeply dark eyes that made the silver flecks of his closely shaven head seem to glisten.
As her mouth fell open just a little and her heart raced a bit faster, Jade’s eyes flickered over Kaeden’s slender face. The bronzed caramel complexion made all the more enticing by his prematurely silver hair. The high cheekbones. His strong chin. The supple lips. Just like Kahron…but different. Better. The leanness of his feature only accentuated the strong features they shared. Definitely—although surprisingly—better.
Kaeden Strong.
“Jade? Jade.”
She shook herself and jumped to her feet. “I…um…just wanted to thank you…soooo…um…thanks, Kaeden.”
Jade whirled and headed for her tent. She just wanted—needed—to get away. She wished she had brought along some of her favorite sangria, because she definitely needed a buzz.
“Jade?”
She paused at the sound of Kaeden calling her name. Did he see the momentary lust she felt for him? Did she give out some imaginary clue that in that moment she wondered what his lips tasted like? Taking a deep breath, Jade turned to find him standing behind her.
Jade swallowed past a large lump in her throat as she took a quick step back.
“My glasses,” he told her in that deep voice as he looked down at her and smiled.
Jade flushed with embarassment. “Ooops. Sorry,” she said, handing them out to him. “You probably have to wipe them off. My…palms were a little sweaty.”
“That’s fine.” Kaeden used the hem of his white T-shirt to clean them.
Jade turned and took a few steps, but then she turned suddenly and walked back up to him. “You really should consider wearing contacts,” she told him before turning and walking the short distance to her tent where she hurried to kneel and crawl in.
Kaeden tried to shift to comfort on his sleeping bag. To him only someone who was half-baked would think sleeping on the ground on something as thick as a slice of bread was more fun than rolling around on a king-sized mattress—like the one he had waiting for him in his bedroom.
Just like all the other comforts he was ready to get back to: taking a steamy hot shower in his open shower with the chrome vertical spa complete with oversized showerhead and four body sprays, watching his huge high-def television, kicked back on his plush leather recliner eating takeout from his favorite Chinese restaurant, and finally crawling into his bed in his climate-controlled bedroom for a good night of sleep. Or making love.
Sweet and tender lovemaking.
Fierce and fiery lovemaking.
With Jade.
His hardness sandwiching the soft curves of her frame as his bed supported their bodies during one furious stroke after the other. He felt his body stir in reaction to just the thought of her. Watching her in church with her makeup and dresses had been enough to stir his desire for her, but seeing her with her hair combed flat, no makeup, and in less casual attire fit for camping—his desire had not lessened one bit. If anything, he wanted her more. He was intrigued by her.
She was beautiful and sexy. That he knew.
But she was also clever, funny, and nice. That he’d learned.
You really should consider wearing contacts.
Kaeden frowned a bit. He didn’t exactly get the reason for the advice, but it was nice of her to even care if he wore glasses or not.
Turning on his side, he reached for his Jordan Banks book. But after a minute ticked by and he still couldn’t focus on the main character, Slim Willie, solving another mystery, Kaeden just closed the book and turned off his LED lantern.
Cloaked by semidarkness, Kaeden tossed and turned. His BlackBerry vibrated and the screen lit up but he ignored it because he knew it was Felecia and they had absolutely nothing to talk about at midnight.
Except for the sounds of nature—the hooting of owls, the crickets doing their things, and the loud rustling of leaves as the wood’s critters skittered about—the campsite was quiet. Kaeden couldn’t sleep. He was hungry but he had been so busy packing emergency medical supplies that he’d neglected to bring along any of his favorite nonperishable snacks.
Their supper of fried bass was long gone. And frankly, he was tired of fish. “I would kill for a Twinkie right now,” he muttered in the darkness as his stomach growled.
“Maybe there’s something out there I can snack on,” he said aloud as he grabbed his glasses from their hard case to slip on before he flung back the cover and unzipped his tent.
The cool night breeze blew in and Kaeden shivered from the feel of it even though he was still fully dressed in his jeans and long-sleeved T-shirt.
“I don’t have Twinkies, but I’ll share my s’mores.”
Kaeden whirled around in surprise to find Jade sitting outside her pink tent by the fire with a book in her lap. She smiled and looked up at him as she held a gooey s’more in her outstretched hand.
“I heard you talking to yourse
lf in there but I didn’t want to interrupt,” Jade joked.
Kaeden smiled, flashing his white, even teeth. “As long as I don’t answer myself, I’m not headed to the mental hospital,” he told her as he stepped up and took the sweet treat from her.
Their hands brushed lightly against one another and Kaeden felt an instant spark. As she turned her attention back to her book, he wondered how an attraction he felt so strongly could be so one-sided. “Thanks.”
She looked up from her book again. “I was saving those for the last night, but a little sample a little early won’t hurt.”
Kaeden took a bite of the melted marshmallow and chocolate between two cinnamon-and sugar-coated graham crackers. “Mhan oof ah yawn yoo?” he asked, his mouth filled with the treat.
Jade frowned in confusion. “Huh?”
He swallowed and laughed. “Sorry. I said, mind if I join you?”
Kaeden was reluctant to go back to his tent. The campfire felt good and Jade was awake. Sleeping on the cold, dirt-packed floor. Being attacked by insects. Given up the luxuries he favored. All of that was for him to get close to Jade. There was no way he was going back into that lonely little tent now.
“Actually, I wondered how far along you were in Death by Midnight?”
Kaeden looked down at her in surprise before he grabbed an empty camp chair and sat down by the fire. She held up the book in her lap so that he could see the cover. “You’re reading it too?”
She nodded. “The night I brought you my grandfather’s homemade itch cream, I saw it in your tent. I loves me some Jordan Banks.”
Kaeden held his large hands out to the fire. “I have all his books.”
“Me too,” Jade said excitedly. “I think this one is the best one yet. Slim Willie’s investigative skills are getting better, but he is also growing as a person, and I love great character development in a book.”
Kaeden looked over at her. “And his character’s dialogue is always very realistic.”
Jade reached over and grabbed his wrist. “Yes!” she said enthusiastically.
Goose bumps raced up his arms and his eyes dropped down to look at her touch, but she had already pulled her hand away. He felt the loss.
They fell silent but there was an ease between them. Nothing awkward. Nothing stilted. Just peace.
“What are you two doing up?”
Kaeden looked over his shoulder as his father emerged from his small tent. “Eating s’mores.”
“And talking books,” Jade added.
“A s’more sounds good but I just got up for some water,” Kael said. “I left my canteen out here.”
“I can make you one, Mr. Strong.” Jade rose from her camp chair and walked over to the picnic table to open her small cooler.
“I’m not interrupting?” Kael asked as he peered down to look inside the cooler beside her.
Yes! Kaeden screamed in his mind.
Jade laughed. “Oh goodness no,” she said, as if the very thought was silly.
Kaeden gritted his jaw.
“Did I miss my invite to the party?” Kahron asked as he came out of his tent sans his ever-present aviator shades.
Kaeden actually rolled his eyes heavenward in frustration.
Jade squatted by the fire as she loaded marshmallows onto wooden skewers. “I was saving this little treat for y’all last night of camping, but I guess tonight is good as any other night,” she said in a cheerful mood.
“Hey, Kade. Hey, Kaleb. Get up, fellas. Jade’s making s’mores.”
Awakened by Kahron, Kaeden’s other silver-haired brothers soon exited their own tents. Kaeden finished eating his now-cooled treat thinking, My family is a bunch of blockers.
Jade was glad for the distraction because her new-found awareness of Kaeden was disconcerting to her. When she innocently touched his arm, she had felt a small jolt of electricity.
When I get home I’m going to put on my sexiest lingerie, slip into a pair of “come and get it” pumps, and call Darren on over.
As she roasted the marshmallows, Jade gazed across the flames at Kaeden halfheartedly eating his s’more. He is handsome, she thought. It’s not like I’m crazy to find him attractive…but those glasses, the allergies, the inhaler! I have got to be incredibly horny.
Kaeden looked over at her suddenly. “Your marshmallows are burning.”
Jade jumped up as two white globs fell off the skewer and into the fire. “I did this way better earlier when I didn’t have an audience,” she joked as she slid more marshmallows on the skewer.
“Mine was delicious,” Kaeden assured his family.
Jade smiled over at him just as he took off those glasses to wipe them clean. She looked away quickly.
Maybe I should call Darren and get into some really raunchy phone sex. Or text sex?
Jade shook her head as she slid the melted marshmallows between the layers of chocolate and graham crackers. While the men all talked and laughed as if it wasn’t the middle of the night, Jade focused on making her group members two gooey treats each.
She side-eyed Kaeden as he reached over to pick up her book from her camp chair. Her eyes took in the fine silver hairs. His bronzed complexion. Broad shoulders. Long limbs. Big feet. Very big feet.
Her eyes darted to his crotch between his bent legs. Her cheeks flushed at the noticeable bulge. She jumped to her feet. “Here we go, fellas. S’mores.”
Everyone was sitting around the crackling campfire and Jade circled around them offering them a paper plate holding the treats. She offered the plate to Kaleb. He looked up at her and winked. “Thank you, Miss Prince,” he said, mockingly polite, before shooting Kaeden a “see there” look.
And she came to Kaeden, whose head was buried in her book. “Kaeden, would you like…”
He looked up at her questioningly, kind of squinting his face like he was trying to focus his vision via his glasses. Jade immediately thought of Steve Urkel, Robert Johnson, Bill Gates, and Napoleon Dynamite like a slideshow.
All of her silly notions of wanting to jump Kaeden Strong’s bones disappeared…just…like…that.
“Yes, Jade.”
“Huh?” she said.
He smiled and reached for another s’more from the plate. “Thanks,” he told her.
“No, Kaeden, thank you,” she stressed with a smile.
He looked confused, but it didn’t matter because Jade wasn’t confused any longer.
Chapter 7
“Do you remember the time Kaeden tried to cut his own hair and took a chunk out of his hairline big as an apple?” Kaleb asked, reaching over to muss Kaeden’s head.
“Oh no!” Jade cried out before she laughed.
Kael chuckled as he slapped his knee with one of his beefy hands. “His mama wanted to punish him by sending him to school just like that.” He looked over at his son. “But I couldn’t do it to you, son, so I shaved you bald.”
“I don’t know if I should thank you or not,” Kaeden drawled in his resonant voice.
The men all laughed and Jade tried hard to hold her laughter in with her hand to her mouth as she looked at Kaeden with sympathetic eyes. “How old were you?”
“Twelve,” the men all said in unison.
Kaeden dropped his head into his hands.
“That was about all the mischief Kaeden brought me and my wife.” Kael reminisced with a twinkle in his eyes. “He was usually stuck up under his mother in the house while these other pranksters roamed the farm and found any and everything to get into.”
“I have severe allergies,” he insisted in explanation.
Kade nodded and he leaned forward to brace his elbows on his knees. “That’s very true. I must admit I’m surprised we haven’t had a Kaeden during this trip…yet.”
“A Kaeden?” Jade asked, more than curious.
Kaeden groaned and shook his head, wishing his family could reminisce on something or someone else besides him.
Kahron stretched his long, jean-clad legs out before him. �
��That’s a medical emergency involving insects.”
“There was the bee sting in 1986.”
“The red ant bite in 1992.”
“The wasp incident in 2001.”
“Oh, and the poison ivy in 2006.”
Kaeden winced at each of his brothers adding fuel to the fire. How could he have forgotten the poison ivy he tripped and fell in when he accompanied his brothers and sister on a foolish horse race one Sunday afternoon after church? “Since we’re strolling down memory lane, Kahron, why don’t you tell Jade about the time you set the whole west field of the farm on fire.”
“Whoo-oo-eee. Now that was one helluva whupping,” Kahron admitted.
Jade smiled brightly as she eyed them all. “I wish I grew up in a large family,” she told them.
“You’re an only child?” Kaeden asked, feeling completely mesmerized by the sight of Jade’s warm smile.
“Unfortunately. You all are so lucky.”
“Don’t be so sure,” Kaeden muttered darkly.
She just smiled at him and reached over to reassuringly squeeze his hand quickly.
Jade was very touchy-feely and Kaeden liked it—even if her innocent touches did arouse him. Just do it. Just ask her out, he thought. Step up to the plate.
“I haven’t seen your mama since your parents’ divorce,” Kael said.
“She’s fine. She lives in Summerville, but she’s hardly ever home since she’s a flight attendant.”
Kaeden found himself staring at Jade’s profile and forced himself to look away. What do I say to her? How do I ask?
“You look exactly like your mother,” Kael told her.
“There’s another one of you running around?” Kaleb asked. “What flight is she on?”
Kaeden eyed Kaleb thinking he would cross the line, but thankfully no further jokes came from his lips.
“Well, fellas, this has been a long day,” Jade said, rising to her feet in her lemon sweatsuit. “I am going to leave y’all to this and turn in.”
Jade stretched and Kaeden allowed his eyes to follow the curvy lines of her body. She hasn’t shown me any inclination that she likes me. Why would I put myself out there to be rejected?
Give Me Fever Page 6