Hot Like Fire (22 page)

He smiled at her thoughtfulness.

Kadina dragged herself into her bedroom. "Why
can't it still be summer, Daddy?" she asked as she
came to stand in front of where he sat on the edge
of her bed.

He chuckled as he held the jeans for her to step
into. "Because your job is to go to school and get
good grades, so your vacation is over, kiddo," he
told her as he zipped up her pants and buckled her
sparkly belt.

"One day I'm going to work on the ranch with
you, just like Aunt Bianca works with her daddy," she
told him as she raised her arms over her head for
him to put on her pink- and white-striped polo shirt.

"Oh, you are?"

Kadina nodded. "I'm never leaving my daddy,"
she said, with the utmost confidence of a child.

Kade snorted as he handed her her matching
pink sweater jacket. "We'll revisit this when you're
thirteen," he said dryly.

She jumped on the end of the bed, beside him,
and threw her legs onto his lap so that he could pull on her socks and sneakers. "Daddy, can I try to
tie them again?" she asked.

He nodded and watched as she knelt on the
floor and fought like hell to tie the laces herself.
Another Garcelle contribution. Kadina wasn't quite
there, and Kade had to tighten the loops, but she
was on the road to her first bit of independence.

She grabbed her bucket of hair accessories before
she knelt between his legs, with her arms over his
thighs. "One pom-pom, please," she said. "And do it
like Garcelle."

Kade frowned as he loosened the band in her
hair and rubbed her hair with hair grease before he
brushed her edges back up. "I'll do it the best I
can," he said, his face determined as he twisted the
band back around her hair.

She handed him three pink and white balls to
wrap round the curly Afro puff atop her head.

He thought about Garcelle. About leaving for
work in the morning without his belly filled with her
strong and sweet coffee and homemade breakfast
pastries. About the scent of her perfume no longer
lingering round the house. About not coming home
to her in the night. About their argument last night.
About not speaking to her all night.

"Yeah, I miss her, too," he admitted as he felt a literal pang in his heart.

Kadina jumped up and checked her appearance
in her mirror. She nodded in satisfaction before she
turned back to press her forehead against Kade's.
"You're a good daddy," she whispered to him before
puckering her lips.

"Now that's the best compliment I've ever received." He kissed her briefly before rising to his feet. "Let's go have some waffles before the school
bus comes."

"With strawberry syrup?" she asked as she left
the room.

"What else is there?" he joked, grabbing her
rolling book bag as he left her room.

Kade was sitting in front of Garcelle's house
when she walked out the front door. She paused on
the top step of the porch as her eyes locked with his
through his windshield. He was glad to see her,
even though a big piece of him was still annoyed
at the way she'd acted last night.

Garcelle looked away as she closed and locked
the front door before she jogged down the stairs.
She specifically ignored him as she climbed into
her car.

Here he'd thought, after a night of both of them
cooling their heels, she would be ready to have an
adult conversation. Hell with it. He was starting to
wonder if jumping into a relationship with Garcelle
had been the right choice.

"Kade."

He turned his head. His eyes filled with surprise
when he saw Garcelle standing beside his driver's
side window. He lowered the window farther. "Are
we going to argue like we did in the movie theater?"
he asked.

Garcelle stepped forward. "Listen, I should have
come out and said what was bothering me last
night ... what has been bothering me for the last
few weeks. You did ask-"

"Several times," he insisted, with a hard look.

"Kade. I mean seriously. Seriously." Garcelle tilted her head back and shook it before she looked at
him again.

If she acts up again, I'm pulling away and leaving her
here to argue by her damn sef, he thought. "Garcelle-"

"Let me finish apologizing before you give me
one of your speeches."

He swallowed his irritation. "What do you mean
one of my speeches?" he balked.

Garcelle snorted in derision. "Kade, please, you
can get on your little soapbox when you want ...
but can we stay in the moment please?"

Kade smirked. "If you could define what the
moment is exactly, maybe I'd be more successful at
staying in it."

"You are a smart ass," she snapped.

"And you have a bad attitude."

"You're selfish."

"And the way you acted last night was childish."

"Oh, and turning off your phone wasn't."

"No more than you turning off yours, too."

"Why do you love tit for tat?"

"Why do you think you can say whatever and do
whatever whenever you get ready?"

Garcelle sat her hands on her hips as she looked
down at her sneakers and sighed heavily. "Kade ...

"Yeah," he said briefly.

"I don't like feeling like we're sneaking around
like two kids whose parents don't want them to date
or like two married people having an affair."

Kade reached to shut his vehicle off. "Garcelle-"

"No, let me finish," she said as she shook her
head, making her ponytail do a dance. "I mean,
maybe for you it feels like an affair, since you live as
if you're still married, but I'm just curious, Kade
Strong-"

"Oh, I'm back to Kade Strong," he drawled as he
tilted his head back against the headrest and wiped
his eyes with his hands.

"I'm not joking, Kade."

"Garcelle, trust me. I know I'm not married," he
said, unable to deny the tinge of bitterness in his
voice.

"Reema is-"

Kade's face hardened. "Don't go there, Gar-"

Her eyes dulled, and her lips thinned to a line.

Kade couldn't believe they were in the midst of
their second argument. Reema would never act like
this....

"What?" Garcelle asked, stepping closer to him
after witnessing the sudden change of expression
on his face.

Kade released a heavy breath as he looked at her.
The comparison to Reema was completely out of line,
and he just thanked God he'd thought it and hadn't
said it. The taste of that foot would've been bitter.

Garcelle wanted the next step in their relationship. She wanted more from him. What seemed so
simple for her was so very complicated for him, but
then was it fair for her?

"Okay. Listen, Garcelle. Let's take a shortcut," he
said as he opened the car door and turned sideways
in his seat to face her.

She looked a little alarmed but, thankfully, said
nothing as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"One of the things I like about you is how open
and honest you are. You say what you feel. You don't
hide anything." He leaned forward and reached for
her arms to pull her forward. She moved to him
with obvious reluctance. The scent of her flowery
perfume teased him. "Last night was frustrating as hell for me. So I ask that next time you have something on your mind, just come out and tell me.
Don't leave me to guess, and then when I still don't
get it, you get more shitty than ever."

Garcelle squinted like she was 'bout to cuss him
twelve ways to Sunday.

Kade went on. "Now, I admit that I wanted to keep
people out of our business, but now I agree we're
two grown-ass people who shouldn't be sneaking
around town and out of town to see each other. I
promise to do better if you promise not to act up in
public again."

Garcelle placed her hands on his knees. "Good
shortcut," she said, with a hint of a smile.

Kade leaned forward to press his lips to hers.

"I'm sorry," she whispered against his mouth.

He leaned his forehead against hers. "So am I."

"So no more down low?" she asked.

Kade knew his options were simple. To have Garcelle meant a full-blown relationship. Telling
Kadina-who had already dropped enough hints
for him to know this was right up her alley. Family
functions. Public displays of affection. Nosy country people keeping an eye on them and everything
they did. He knew their relationship would be the
talk of Holtsville. There was no turning back.

He didn't want to lose her. He wasn't going to
lose her. Not over this.

"I refuse to even use the words down low ... but,
yes," he finally said, with a laugh.

Garcelle stepped closer to him and wrapped her
arms around his waist. She smiled, and in his heart,
he felt emotions he wasn't quite ready to claim.

It scared and excited him all at once.

Garcelle felt like she was under a microscope as
she shopped at the small store near the mobile
home park. She glanced over her shoulder, and a
few of the women in the store were openly staring
at her. She stared back at them before she turned
back around to place her items on the counter.
The clerk, Keisha, gave Gabrielle a stare filled with
attitude as she scratched her orange short-cropped
weave.

She kept giving Garcelle the once over as she
took her slow and sweet time ringing up the items.
"Six-fifty," Keisha said, with a surly tone.

"Humph. She a slick little something, too. Word
all over Holtsville how she wouldn't let a woman
within five feet of him, and now she dating him. Oh,
that heifer slick."

"Good and slick."

Garcelle turned again to find Rita and Pita looking as scandalous as ever in skirts that were hardly
as long as men's underwear. "Do you ladies have
something you want to say about me to me?" Garcelle asked, with a big, fake grin.

Keisha rudely dropped Garcelle's change on the
wooden counter. One of the quarters spun on its side
before it rolled off the counter and onto the floor.
"Oops, my bad," she said, with not a hint of regret in
her voice.

"No problem. Mistakes happen," said Garcelle.
She laughed a little as she bent over and picked up
the coin. "You know what's funny?" She eyed each
of the three women, even though none of them answered her question.

"Well, I'll tell you what's funny. You all act like I
blocked each of you from getting him." She moved
her index finger in between the sisters. "You two
got like a dozen kids between the two of you. And,
Keisha, most men who know you say you'll screw a
snake. So ... none of y'all had a chance in hell with
him. So I didn't block a damn thing, sweethearts.
And sitting around, thinking I'm the reason you
couldn't get Kade Strong, now that's funny as hell."
Garcelle chuckled as she walked out the door just
as calm as could be.

Garcelle liked how she and Kade blurred the line
between friendship and love: they could get lost in
the heat of lovemaking or just hang out, laughing
and talking as cool-ass friends.

She was turning down the road leading into the
mobile home park when her new cell phone vibrated on the passenger seat.

"Hey, you," she said, already knowing it was Kade.

"What's up?"

"I was just thinking about you," she admitted,
with a soft smile. "I miss you, lover."

"Tell me in Spanish."

Garcelle pulled her car into the front yard of
the trailer. "Te echo de menos, amor," she said in her
huskiest voice.

"And last night on the phone, what did you say
you wanted to do to me?"

Garcelle rolled down the windows as the car got
hotter. "Te quiero lamer de los pies a la cabeza," she
whispered to him, making her Spanish accent more
prominent, because she knew it turned him on
even more.

"Everywhere?" he asked thickly.

"Si," she said, with an arch of her eyebrow and a
tiny bite of her bottom lip.

Kade cleared his throat. "I'm on my way to pick
you up.

Garcelle's heart raced at the thought of seeing
him. "Should I bring the naughty maid costume or
the bunny?" she asked as she climbed out of her car.

"Either one is fine as long as you wear a nice
dress for church over it."

Garcelle froze. "Church? You want me to go to
church with you ... this morning?" she asked.

"That's right."

Garcelle smiled. This would be their first public
appearance. This would really get the gossipmongers on the grind. "I'll be ready when you get
here," she said, her heart swelling with emotion
for him.

"We," he said. "When we get there."

"We?" she asked.

"Kadina and I are on the way."

"That's perfect," she said before she walked into
the house.

Kael was jolted from sleep when his wife nudged
him. He looked around to see if anyone else had
caught him sleeping in church.

"What do you think that means, Kael?" whispered
Lisha.

He followed his wife's line of vision and saw
Kade, Garcelle, and Kadina walking into church together. "Well, well, well," he said low in his throat.
He gave his son a thumbs-up as they took their seats
in a crowded pew in the rear of the church.