Give Me Fever (8 page)

He hollered out as his head slammed into something hard, and even as he felt his body continue its decline, he also felt himself slip into darkness.

Jade felt anxious.

She didn’t know why. She couldn’t pinpoint the cause for it. She didn’t like it. She couldn’t deny it.

Jade bit her bottom lip.

Of course it could be nothing, but it could also be something…or someone.

I hate when I feel like this.

Jade’s brows furrowed.

“Something wrong, Jade?”

She looked up at Kahron standing beside her as he dropped the fish he caught into the bucket. “Just a little worried about Kaeden,” she admitted.

Kahron laughed. “Kaeden’s fine. Trust me,” he assured her.

“Has he always hated the outdoors?” she asked.

Kahron smiled broadly. “More like the outdoors didn’t agree with him,” he said, shifting his sunglasses on his face.

Jade’s mouth curled up a bit as she looked up at him. “Kaeden always plays with his glasses just like that,” she told him.

Kahron’s smile broadened. “You noticed that about him, huh?”

Jade shrugged. “I’m very observant about everything.
That’s
all,” she stressed.

“Yeah, okay,” he said.

“Trust me, your brother’s cute, nice and all of that, but, he is
not
my type.”

“Soooo…you think he’s cute?”

Jade looked up at him in confusion. “Huh?”

“You said he was cute,” Kahron said frankly.

“Are you a rancher or a lawyer?” she snapped, feeling irritable.

Kahron just chuckled as he walked away to cast his line back into the water with well-practiced ease.

And that chuckle that clearly revealed that Kahron found her amusing irked her some more.

“Kaeden’s not answering his phone.” Kade slipped his cell back in its holster. “I need the lures I left at camp.”

“Those lures ain’t gone help you catching nothing,” Kaleb joked.

Jade jumped to her feet. “I’ll walk back to camp,” she told them, wanting to kill the two birds with one stone: check on Kaeden and get some seriously needed alone time.

“You don’t have to do that, Jade,” Kade told her.

Jade waved her hands. “Not a problem,” she told him as she headed back down the trail.

Me and Kaeden? Humph. How funny is that? He couldn’t even handle all of this if I even
thought
about giving him some. Probably have a dang on asthma attack
.

She would be busy reaching for his dick and he would be reaching for his inhaler. Jade laughed a little at the thought. “Puh-leeze. I’d have his ass grabbing his heart like Fred Sanford.”

Her laughter faded as she reached the edge of the camp and saw no signs of him. “Kaeden,” she called out as she walked down the decline from the trail to his tent. It was empty.

Jade turned around in a circle slowly as she surveyed the campground. “Where could he be?” she asked aloud as she walked down the length of the bank searching for any sign of him.

What if he’s in the midst of one of those “Kaedens” and lying there needing help?

But what if he’s just out exploring?

Jade knew she would feel less concerned if it was
any
of the men except Kaeden.

Feeling concern rise in her quickly, Jade strode across the camp. She grabbed her first aid kit. She slipped it and a blanket inside a small backpack that she slid onto her back.
Just in case
, she thought as she moved up the incline to cross the trail. “Kaeden!” she called out as her heart began to beat more furious than war drums.

She eyed the vast wooded area, but most of it was so dense that she saw nothing but varying shades of green. Her eyes lit on the path and she instantly headed for it. “Kaeden!” she called out at the top of her voice until her throat ached.

Her anxious feelings.

Kaeden not answering Kade’s call.

Kaeden not answering her hollers.

Something was wrong.

Where was he?

Jade placed her hands on her hips, breathing deeply as she forced herself to calm down and think. She circled where she stood but she didn’t see him so she continued along the path, trying to look for any flash of color among the greenery.

She kept calling his name until she was sure she would be hoarse. The sun was beginning to set and she knew she had no choice but to call the park rangers and alert his family.

“Where are you, Kaeden?” she asked aloud, grabbing her cell phone to call Mr. Strong. It rang just once.

“Jade? Where are you two? We’re here at the camp.”

You two?
Disappointment weighed her shoulders down and she clutched the phone tighter. “Actually…I’m…I’m out looking for Kaeden,” she admitted uneasily.

The line went quiet.

“When I got back to the camp he wasn’t there, and I hoped he was back by now,” she said, filling the silence.

“You keep looking, and we’re going to spread out here and look too.”

Jade nodded as she fixed her troubled eyes on a squirrel scurrying past. “I think someone should hang around the camp in case he returns or to alert the rangers if we…if we don’t find him soon.”

“We’re on it.”

Jade slid her phone into the back pocket of her pants and hitched her backpack up higher on her shoulders before she kept on moving through the forest, searching for any sign of Kaeden. The seconds, then minutes, and finally the hour passed. The sun setting wasn’t any help, especially since she’d neglected to bring a flashlight.

Jade was turning to head back when she spotted the last of the sun glinting off the waterfall. She only wished she had time to stop and admire it. She spotted a flash of color down the steep slope. Far in the distance there was just the faintest spot of bright red—the same color of the shirt Kaeden had on that morning.

Without a second thought, Jade carefully worked her way down the rocky and uneven hill, grateful for her hiking boots as she worked to maintain her balance. Her heart slammed into her chest as she made out the outline of Kaeden’s frame partially submerged in the stream.

She rushed over, falling to her knees beside him. She dug in and used all of her strength to drag his body completely onto the bank. His clothes were soaked and clinging to his frame. His glasses were gone from his face and there were several surface scratches marring him. She quickly made sure he was still breathing and then inspected him for any broken bones. She gasped harshly at the gash across his forehead. “Shit,” she swore as she quickly took off the backpack and removed her first aid kit.

“Kaeden,” she called down softly to him as she cleansed the wound carefully. “I knew I shouldn’t have left you behind at camp.”

Jade entwined her fingers with his as she reached for her cell phone with her other hand. She breathed deeply, forcing herself to stay calm. Kaeden needed her.

“No signal. Shit,” she swore again, fighting the urge to fling the cell phone into the stream.

Releasing a heavy breath, she sat back on her heels and looked up at the incline.
Definitely easier to get down it than go up it
, she thought as she squeezed Kaeden’s hand. She felt a shiver race across his body and her eyes shifted down to him.

Do I leave you and go get help?

Do I stay with you and wait it out?

The sun was going, and as usual for South Carolina during the spring, there was a slight bite to the air without it.

Jade bit her full bottom lip as she let her eyes flitter over his face. It wasn’t the time to notice the strong lines of his angular face. But she did. Tilting her head to the side, she still clung tightly to his hand as she dropped her cell phone to the ground and lifted her hand to lightly stroke his square cheek.

He shivered again.

And so did she.

That confused her because
she
wasn’t wet and chilled like him.

Jade released his hand and looked around them as darkness surrounded them. She stood up and walked up the incline, using rocks as leverage, but halfway up her foot slipped. She yelped in pain as she fell and almost rolled down the hill herself.

She steadied herself on her feet and made her way back to Kaeden. She took off her backpack before she knelt down beside him. Jade eyed the length of his tall frame. “I can’t leave you in these wet clothes,” she said to him softly.

Taking a deep breath, Jade removed the blanket from her backpack before she set out undressing Kaeden. “This is
so
clichéd,” she drawled as she removed his boots and wet socks.

Wow. Big feet.

She undid his belt buckle, frowning to see it was Gucci. “Figures.”

Jade grunted as she peeled his jeans down his narrow hips and then stood between his legs to jerk them off. She paused, with her body still slightly bent, when her eyes fell on the outline of his maleness against the damp cotton of his boxers. “Well, who knew?” she joked, even as she felt her cheeks warm at the thickness and length of him as it fell across the top of his thigh.
Humph. Mama said skinny men always got big ones.
“He better not be afraid of snakes,
that’s
for sure.”

Jade diverted her eyes, deciding to risk leaving the boxers on. She worked to free him of his shirt and tee before easing him onto one half of the blanket. Goose bumps raced across his body and she folded the other half of the blanket over his frame—but not before she noticed that although he wasn’t massive in build, his frame was well defined and chiseled.

Her heart fluttered like butterfly wings in her chest as her pulse raced.

She checked his pulse again quickly before she grabbed her cell phone and walked around with it high in the air hoping to catch a hot spot for a signal. No such luck.

Jade wrapped her arms around herself as she looked around. Darkness reigned. The moon was almost full. A chill was in the air.

She looked over at Kaeden and could only hope he would awaken so that they could get back to the camp. She laid his clothes out to dry some before she made her way back over to him to find him still shivering. Jade knew she was going to have to huddle close to him during the night to ward off the chill.

Body heat. Pure and simple.

Jade’s body warmed from her head to her toes. There were several good-looking men that she’d camped with all weekend, but only this one made her remember that she was a woman with needs. Why?

Pushing aside any thoughts but helping him, Jade removed her boots and vest before she lay down beside him. She huddled close to him on her side, even easing her full and shapely thigh over his legs, her arms over his hard stomach, and placed her head on his chest.

As she closed her eyes, Jade let the steady beat of his heart lull her to sleep.

Kaeden winced as he stirred awake. His head was throbbing and his body felt like he’d been beaten with a bag of boulders. Then he remembered he’d fought a battle with a rocky incline and lost.

“Hmmmmmm.”

Kaeden stiffened at the sound of the very feminine moan. He suddenly realized that a warm and soft body was cushioned close to him. Very close.

He let his eyes adjust to the darkness, and although his vision was slightly blurry without his glasses, he was thankful for the bright light of the moon to help illuminate his bedmate.

Sweetly scented hair just beneath his chin.

A warm face against his chest.

A heated hand on his abdomen.

Soft breasts against his side.

A firm leg atop his.

A deeply curved hip.

Jade.

Kaeden licked his lips as his dick stirred to life in a flash. He felt the smooth skin of his hardness slide against his thigh as it took a stretch in his boxers.

Boxers!

Kaeden couldn’t remember how he got from slipping and rolling down a hill to lying in the darkness with Jade cuddled against his side—but he didn’t mind it one damn bit. Not at all.

“Hmmmm.” Jade moaned again, snuggling closer to him.

Never in a million years did Kaeden think lying on the hard ground could ever feel so damn good.

Still, he tensed as Jade’s hands shifted down in her sleep. He swallowed past a lump in his throat with her hand so close to his member. It hardened more, lifting up from his leg to tent the thin blanket.

A cool night wind blew over their bodies. Kaeden tried to shift more of the cover over Jade’s figure. His erection wasn’t helping it.

Jade’s hand shifted again and his heart thundered wildly as it eased onto his dick. He bit his lip and ignored the throbbing of his forehead as he tilted his head back. He had to awaken her or Jade’s innocent touches in her sleep were going to push him over the edge.

He felt her body stiffen against him.

Kaeden looked down at her just as Jade raised her head from his chest to look up at him.

Under the soft, barely there illumination of the moonlight their eyes locked. Their mouths were just inches apart. Their hearts pounded. Something more intensely electric than lightning flashed around them. The slight chill in the air and from the ground they lay upon was beat back by a rising heat. It was unmistakable.

“I’m sorry,” Jade said softly, shifting her hand away from his hard heat.

Kaeden was no fool. He put his hand back on top of hers and shifted her hand back to his stiff tool to tightly close around it.

Jade gasped.

Kaeden brought his hand up to cup her face and tilt it up just enough for him to press his mouth to hers.

“Kaeden, we can’t,” she whispered against his lips, her protest sounding weak even to her own ears.

“Yes, we can,” he assured her in that intimate space between their open mouths before he moaned and stroked her bottom lip with his tongue. She shivered against him and Kaeden fought off his surprise that Jade was feeling him to deepen the kiss.

And nothing ever tasted so good to them. Absolutely nothing.

Jade stroked the throbbing hot length of his erection as she returned his kiss with vigor.

And nothing had ever felt so good to them. Absolutely nothing.

Ignoring the hardness of the ground, the chill in the air, and the throbbing of his forehead, Kaeden shifted his body so that Jade was lying on her back and he on his side. He moaned wildly as Jade gripped his dick tightly and sucked his tongue into her open mouth.

He couldn’t believe any of this. Was it a dream? If so, he didn’t want to wake up.

Jade knew nothing except this man, Kaeden Strong, evoked passion in her that she hadn’t ever felt with anyone. No one. Her entire body felt alive from his kiss and his touch. She felt drugged and she wanted more of her fix.

Kaeden brought trembling hands up to slip with ease under her shirt to take one of her full chocolate globes into his hands. The feel of her thick and taut nipples beneath the delicate lace made his mouth water as she cried out a little at the feel of his hands.

Jade broke the kiss to lick a trail from his chin to the groove of his neck, enjoying the erratic beat of his pulse against her moist tongue. “You’re salty,” she whispered up to him before she shifted down to press her full and plush lips to his chest.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized as he fought to control his want of her. He felt near an explosion.

She shook her head. “I like it.”

Kaeden roughly jerked her shirt up, exposing her smooth lace-covered breasts to him. “I wish I could see more of you.”

Jade gave him one last lick before she sat up and pulled the T-shirt over her head. The chill raced across her body, hardening her nipples further. Kaeden sat up on his elbow, dipping his silver head to hotly pull one of the nipples into his mouth with a deep moan. Jade arched her back and released a gut-wrenching cry of pleasure into the night air.

Her core dictated the night.

She was wet.

She was throbbing.

She was in heat.

It had been
so
long.

She needed this and she was going to get it.

Jade reached behind herself to unclasp her bra, freeing the soft fullness of her breasts for him to do with as he pleased.

Kaeden chose to deeply suck one into his mouth and to massage the other in between twirling her hard nipples between his fingers. He could tell she liked his selection. So did he. “Damn, they soft,” he whispered against the moist trail he made with his tongue.

Jade reached inside his boxers to deeply stroke the length of him. “And this right here is so hard,” she told him, barely hearing her own words over the furious beating of her heart.

Kaeden moved his tongue against her nipple in a flickering motion and he reveled in the way she brought one hand up to press against the back of his head as she shivered uncontrollably.

“Yes, lick my nipples, baby. Lick ’em,” she told him hotly as her core throbbed with a life all its own.

He immediately obliged, going from one to the other in a sweet feast that was more delicious to him than the most decadent chocolate.

Jade released his heat to unbutton her jeans and lifted up her buttocks to ease them down her curved hips.

Kaeden reached out to cup her waist, just needing to keep the physical connection with her…afraid that she would reclaim her senses and end the passion ride before they even
really
began.

He eyed her like she was starved as she straddled his hips in nothing but a lime green lace thong. Kaeden could only shake his head in wonder at the sight of her breasts hanging freely with her small waist and wide hips. She was everything he dreamt she would be and more. “Damn, you beautiful,” he told her in a low and deep voice that only hinted at the desire he had for her.

She smiled as she wrapped her legs around his and then bent down slowly to let her breasts sway lightly against his face. “Will you do that little tongue thing you did before?” she requested, far too politely for such a heated affair.

Kaeden flickered the tip of his tongue against her dark nipples as his shaky hands tightly grasped her fleshy buttocks and he worked his hips to grind his hardness against her moist lips. He could feel her juices through her panties and his boxers. She wanted this just as badly as he did. He felt his confidence go up. “Damn, Jade. Damn.”