Esai leveled his eyes on her before he sat down in one of the rocking chairs and started peeling a tomato with a pocket knife. “The best advice I can give you—even though you’re not asking—is honesty is the best policy. Whatever it is, stay honest to your feelings and you can’t go wrong deciding what to do.”
Jade reached down into the basket and pulled out a long and thick cucumber that was ridiculously similar to Kaeden’s…attribute. Even down to the curve. The bud between her legs swelled with life. Kaeden really is blessed.
Really.
Mmmm…
Jade’s mouth opened a bit as she looked down at the phallic vegetable in her hand. And the things he did to me with that blessing. Have mercy….
“You hear me, Jade?” he asked.
Jade looked up at him with eyes glazed over from the heated memory and a desire to relive it…again…and again…and again. “Huh?” she asked, completely lost in the heated thoughts.
Her grandfather’s eyes squinted as he looked at her. “Something going on between you and Darren?” Esai asked.
Not something. Someone. His name is Kaeden, she thought as she forced a smile to her face. “Nothing I can’t handle, Grandpa.”
They fell silent as she dropped the cucumber back into the basket and pulled out a tomato for her grandfather to peel for her. “Why don’t I cook?” Jade offered, wanting to change the subject. She rose to her feet. “You feel like some grits?”
“That boy likes you more than you like him, Jade,” Esai said simply before easing a slice of tomato into his open mouth.
Jade paused in the doorway. Say what? Say who? She turned and looked down at her grandfather calmly eating his tomato.
“You have him ’round here behind you like a lapdog,” he added for good measure.
“Grandpa, that’s not true,” Jade protested…halfheartedly.
“Sometimes friends should not become lovers.”
“We’re not lovers,” she protested instantly.
“Surprise, surprise,” he drawled.
Jade opened her mouth and then closed it, before she turned and walked into the house. As she made her way to the kitchen, she thought about how easy it had been for her to be with Kaeden when she had known Darren for years and dated him for a few weeks.
Kaeden? Lid off the cookie jar quicker than the snap of fingers.
Darren? Cookie jar closed. And tight too.
Her grandfather said that honesty was the best policy—whether with herself or someone else. She knew he was right. It was time for some honest reflection. It was time to deal with her attraction for Kaeden Strong once and for all.
As she pulled eggs and bacon from the fridge, her cell phone vibrated against her hip. She grabbed it and flipped it open in one fluid motion. “Hello.”
“Hey, Jade. Listen, I need to talk to you.”
She paused in placing the food on the counter. “I’m at my grandfather’s. Can this wait?” she asked. “No.”
Jade closed her eyes and used her now-cold fingertips to squeeze the bridge of her nose. “Darren—”
“I’m sitting in your yard,” he told her, his voice hard.
“A phone call first would have been nice,” she snapped, annoyed at his attitude.
“Well, I’m calling now,” he snapped back.
“Negro, have you lost your mind talking to me like that?”
Silence.
“Listen, Jade, it’s important, okay? Could you just come down here and let’s talk.”
“Fine, Darren, I’m on my way.” She closed the phone and released a deep breath.
Jade left the house. “Can I hold your pickup, Grandpa? I’ll be right back,” she told him not even waiting on an answer as she flew past him and jogged down the stairs to hop into his navy Ford F150.
As she drove the short distance around the curve toward her cottage, Jade knew that this conversation was about Kaeden. She just knew it.
He was leaning against his truck parked off to the side in her front yard as she turned her grandfather’s truck in. She kept her eyes on him as she hopped out and walked over to him. “Morning,” she greeted him as she squinted her almond-shaped eyes against the sun.
Darren shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans as he looked down at her. “What happened between you and Kaeden that night?”
Straight. No chaser.
Jade jiggled her keys in her hand. “You want to go inside?” she asked as she turned from him.
“What happened with you and Kaeden that night, Jade?” he asked again.
She turned to face him. “You don’t have any right to question me, Darren,” she told him in a soft but firm voice.
The look on his face was incredulous. “I have every damn right.”
Jade shook her head slowly. “No. No, you don’t. Are we married? Are we…engaged? Are we exclusive? That’s a no, a no, and another no.”
“I haven’t been seeing anyone else, Jade,” he yelled.
Jade took a step back and looked at him like he was crazy. “I never asked you to do that, Darren. We were just dating, hanging out, chilling, spending time.”
“About to go to Savannah and share a room,” he added sarcastically as he pushed up off the truck.
“Exactly. We were about to go to the next level but hadn’t yet, Darren. You just proved my point that you don’t have any right to question me.”
“What happened that night?” he asked.
Jade released a heavy breath.
“What happened that night?” he asked again, taking a step forward to tower over her.
Honesty is the best policy, Jade.
Not this time Grandpa, she thought, pushing aside his advice. “Darren, just go home,” she told him, turning to walk away from him.
She felt the sudden grip of his hand on her arm and she turned to eye first his offending hand and then his eyes. “Get your hands off me, Darren,” she told him in a tone that could freeze water.
“Did you sleep with him that night, Jade?” he volleyed, just as coldly.
Jade snatched away from his grasp. “Leave, Darren.”
“Yes or no. It’s simple.”
Although Jade knew she’d done nothing wrong, she still felt guilt flush over her. The look on his face changed from angry to incredulous and she knew something that hinted at the truth shone through in her eyes. She reached out to touch his arm. “Darren—”
It was his turn to snatch away from her. “So I’m ’round here with the dry dick syndrome and you giving it up to some fool in the woods? That’s how you get down?”
Jade stiffened. “Don’t disrespect me, Darren.”
He laughed bitterly. “You full of shit,” he muttered before he turned and stormed back to his truck.
“Darren,” she called out.
Seconds later dirt and pebbles flew as he reversed his truck out of the yard.
Chapter 13
A light breeze from the open window at the end of the hall blew across Kaeden’s tall, naked form as he stepped up to the closed door. The sign read:
WELCOME TO PARADISE
Kaeden was more than ready.
He opened the door and his hard and lengthy erection led him inside. He was instantly surrounded by the heady scent of the millions of flowers covering the walls, ceiling, and floors. Nestled among the flowers were plump candles offering a soft glow. And there in the center of it, lying on a bed made entirely of flower petals, was Jade. His Jade.
Divinely nude. Gloriously seductive.
His spectacle-free eyes missed not one detail. Nothing. Smooth deep brown skin. Plump full breasts with her dark and wide nipples pointed to the ceiling. Endless curves. Long legs. Wide hips. And a smile that was taunting and tempting all at once.
Kaeden shook his head to clear it as he felt her allure draw him closer, the softness of the flowers’ petals cushioning his feet. “You have something for me?” he asked as he wrapped his hands around his shaft and massaged the length of it.
He licked his lips before he reached down and grabbed her ankles. “Then give it to me,” he demanded, pulling her to the end of the bed to spread her core out for him like a buffet.
He was ravenous.
Jade kept her eyes locked on his as she shifted her hand down her svelte body and used her fingertips to lightly pat her moist lips before she spread them to expose the fleshy and throbbing bud like a blossoming flower. “Go’ on get it.”
Kaeden felt weakened. He dropped to his knees and pressed his face to her thigh to inhale deeply of her intoxicating womanly scent. A deep moan of pleasure and want came from the back of his throat as he dipped his head and licked a trail from her buttocks to her core, where he twirled his tongue deep inside her, enjoying the feel of her tight ridges and grooves.
Jade gasped hotly and sat up as she pressed her hands to his silver-flecked head. When he shifted his clever mouth up to suck her bud, she trembled visibly, her fingers digging deeply into his broad shoulders as she cried out and arched her back.
Kaeden felt a rush as he closed his arms around her thighs and locked her into place. At his will. A prisoner to his passion. A willing prisoner.
“Suck it,” she demanded hoarsely as she felt the heat of her desire warm her feet and rise to the pit of her belly.
He moaned as he opened his mouth wide and sucked her like he was thirsty.
Jade squeezed her eyes shut as she felt the familiar and sweet anxiousness flood over her body…wanting, craving, needing there lease. “Yes,” she moaned as she bit her bottom lip and panted for air. “Yes.”
Kaeden looked up and pulled his head back just enough to release his tongue and flick the tip quickly against her bud.
Tears filled Jade’s eyes. Her hands balled into fists and pounded his back, then splayed against it to stroke him. She didn’t know whether to hate him or adore him for the sweet torture he wrought on her.
“I’m cumming,” she cried out brokenly. “I’m cumming.”
The room spun.
She felt dizzy.
Her heart pounded wildly.
Her pulse raced.
Her body trembled.
Sweat covered her body in a fine sheen that made her body glow against the candlelight.
She was lost to everything but that moment.
Kaeden felt his dick harden and lengthen against his belly as he watched the pleasure he gave her render her weak and trembling while her juices exploded against his tongue and nourished his soul.
She bucked against his mouth. He sucked harder.
She beat him about his shoulders and head. He licked her bud with the tip of his tongue again.
She tried to fight from the tight grasp of his arms. He held her tighter.
Spent. Dazed. Completely satisfied. Jade enjoyed the ride but also felt relief that it was over. Weakened, she fell back onto the bed of petals, causing some of them to rise up in the air around her.
Kaeden climbed onto the bed beside her, his dick sticking out of his body like a sword. He used his hand to guide it against her open and panting mouth. “My turn,” he told her thickly before he lightly tapped the thick tip against her lips.
Jade smiled softly before she darted out her tongue to lick that tip. Once. Twice. Three times.
Kaeden’s ass cheeks flexed in reaction. His mouth fell open as she captured the tip in her mouth and sucked it deeply. “Ohhh,” he cried out, his lips pursed.
Jade laughed huskily. “You ain’t ready?” She tested before she sucked half of the length into her mouth and then circled it with her tongue before flicking the tip with her agile tongue. Kaeden jerked his hips back, freeing his shaft from her mouth as his thighs quivered and his heart fluttered in his chest. “You gone make me cum, girl,” he told her thickly.
“There’s other ways to get it wet,” she told him before turning over onto her stomach and then climbing up to the head of the bed on her hands and knees.
Kaeden watched her, reaching out to soundly slap her plush chocolate bottom. Whap. The flesh of her buttocks jiggled in a thousand different directions. Kaeden’s dick did a push-up at the sight of it all. “Damn,” he swore, shaking his head and giving his mouth an LL lick.
Jade grabbed the floral headboard and rose up to her knees. She looked over her shoulder at him as she used her muscles to make her buttocks dance. “Come on, let me sit on it,” she told him.
Kaeden moved to her on his knees until he was directly behind her with his rod standing up—willing, waiting, and wanting.
Jade licked her lips and moaned as she reached behind her to grab the base. She shivered at the feel of his hands lightly pressed to her hips as she guided her tight core down onto him with one swift dip of her hips.
He filled her. Completed her.
They both shivered and tensed until they both adjusted to the feel of one another.
Grabbing the headboard, Jade rose and began to work her hips up and down, locking her feet behind his knees as she rode him.
Kaeden leaned back to look down at the sight of his rod, glistening with her juices, as it appeared and disappeared with each lift and dip of her buttocks. “Damn, Jade. Damn,” he swore, flexing his hips.
Feeling playful, Jade slid her core up to the tip and flexed her walls against it before she made the cheeks of her buttocks clap.
“Oh shit,” Kaeden said, his eyes locked on the motion.
Jade moaned as she slid down along the hard inches to bounce back against his thigh—before she slid up to the tip, worked her walls, and then jiggled her buttocks. She laughed and did the wicked up-and-down jiggle move again. And again. And again. And again.
“Do it…do it…do it,” he moaned between sharp hisses of pure pleasure.
“Do it…do it…get it. Hmmm.”
“Kaeden. Kaeden? Kaeden!”
Kaeden froze as he was jostled from his sleep with a shake. He opened one eye and jumped a bit to find Felecia bending down over where he sat behind his desk. And he was grateful for the desk, as it hid the aching erection straining against the zipper of his tailored pants. “Huh? What?”
“What did you just say?” she asked, standing up to cross her arms over her chest.
Nothing I can repeat, he thought as he cleared his throat and straightened his glasses. “Just dreaming,” he told her, his erection pressed between his desk and his stomach.
“About what?” she asked him as she sat the files in her hands on the desk in front of him.
Kaeden shifted his eyes out the window to his right as he squinted. His dreams were of Jade. Always Jade. Would he ever be free of his desire for her?
It wasn’t at all fair to Felecia, but her strong stance on no premarital sex wasn’t helping defeat the dream named Jade.
“Nothing,” he told her, opening the files.
Felecia sat down in the chair before his desk, easing the hem of her white linen sundress down over her knees as she crossed her legs. “You are still going with me to my cousin’s wedding this Saturday?” she asked.
Kaeden nodded as he signed his name to the documents. “That’s the plan. Did you get the dress you wanted to wear?” he asked, happy that the conversation was distracting him enough that his erection had eased.
“Yes, and I found you a nice tie and shirt to match me,” she told him.
Kaeden nodded, his focus really on his work. “Okay.”
“I love going to weddings,” she said. “Maybe we can get ideas for the one we’ll have one day. In fact, I would love a wedding on the beach at sunset with fireworks exploding just as my groom kisses the bride. And then we can do the reception on a boat.”
Kaeden froze with his pen in midair. He frowned. They were nowhere near marriage in his eyes. He finished signing the documents and closed the folders to hand them to Felecia. “Ma
ybe you should be a wedding planner,” he said, trying to change the subject.
Felecia shook her head. “I am saving all my ideas for my own wedding,” she told him.
Kaeden glanced up at her briefly, but he looked up again when he saw the dreamy look in her eyes as she looked out the window. He squinted behind his glasses. “Felecia…”
She smiled a little as she brought her hands up in front of her like…like she was holding something in them.
An imaginary bouquet?
Nah, can’t be.
“What are you doing for lunch?” he asked her before he turned his attention back to his work.
“Actually I have an appointment, but I can bring you something back,” she said, still sounding distracted by her thoughts.
“I’ll just get something from Donnie’s when I leave my parents’ this morning,” he offered as he closed the folders and stood while he slid his BlackBerry into the case attached to his belt.
“I should only be gone for my lunch hour,” she told him, rising to her feet as well, as Kaeden grabbed his keys from the top drawer of his desk.
Kaeden paused beside her, lightly touching her face to press a kiss to her cheek before he walked out of his office. “See you later,” he told her over his shoulder.
“Okay. Bye-bye.”
He left the office and climbed into his BMW. He was soon pulling up to a light when he saw Jade’s yellow Jeep already sitting in the left lane. Kaeden’s heart clutched in his chest as he pulled up beside her. He tried to keep his gaze straight ahead. He didn’t want to know if she was looking at him. He didn’t want to know what her reaction to seeing him was. He didn’t want to know what color she wore or how her hair was fixed.
He wanted to work on getting Jade Prince out of his system once and for all.
The light turned green and Kaeden accelerated forward quickly. He was proud of himself, but he knew he still had a long way to go.
As he made the right turn onto Highway 17 headed toward Holtsville, he finally slowed down. “No need to get a ticket,” he said, flipping the visor down to block the sun.
Give Me Fever Page 12