Hot Like Fire (17 page)

Something was definitely up with Mimi. Definitely.

She started to call Kahron, but she knew he was
in horse heaven at the horse trials in Georgia. Besides, she loved her husband, and she knew that he
adored her, but complications in her friendship
with Mimi definitely were not uppermost in his
mind ... especially this particular weekend.

She sighed as she looked down at her schedule
for the day. It was pretty much clear. Maybe she
would play a little hooky herself.

She called Garcelle's house phone, but it just rang
and rang. For Christmas, she was going to treat the
woman to a cell phone. "Hello. It's 2007, for God's
sake," Bianca muttered as she picked up the phone
and dialed Kaitlyn's cell phone. Now Kaitlyn, on the
other hand, didn't see the necessity of a landline phone, because she never went anywhere without
her bejeweled Sidekick.

Bianca rolled her eyes as Kaitlyn's line went straight
to voice mail. "I am enjoying life to the fullest, and I
know you wouldn't want to disturb that, so leave me
a message, and I'll get back to when my head is out
of the clouds. Holla!"

"Kaitlyn. I got one word for you, heifer. Shopping. Bet that gets you out of the clouds. Call me."
Bianca dropped the phone back on the hook.

Her thoughts went back to Mimi. She bit her lip
and ran her fingers through her fresh straw set
before she snatched up the phone to dial her father.

"King Ranch."

"Dad, uh ... uh, have you talked to Mimi?" she
asked, feeling nervous as she played with her diamond hoop earrings.

"Of course. Why? Haven't you?"

"No, I've been calling her, and she isn't answering or returning my calls."

The line went quiet.

Bianca unsnapped an earring and snapped it back
on. "Okay. Spill. What's going on?"

"I'm not getting into this. You two work it out,"
he said gruffly.

"Work what out?" Bianca snapped.

"This is all I will say. You're my child, and I love
you, but you should be more careful about what you
say, because you never know who can hear you."

"Daddy, what are you talking about ... ?"

I love my friend, but I don't think she's right for my
father. The words she'd spoken in the kitchen to
Garcelle came back to her. But there was no way
Mimi had heard her ... was there?

Bianca winced as she dropped her head into her
hand. "Shit."

"Shit is right, Bianca."

Bianca hung up the phone. How could she fix it
when Mimi wouldn't even talk to her?

Zorrie ran her hands through her hair as she
slammed the phone down. Kade wasn't answering
his house phone or his cell phone. "Damn, damn,
damn, damn," she swore as she banged her fist
against the top of her desk.

This morning she'd received a call and had to
return to work. She hated that she had to cut her
trip short. It couldn't be avoided if she wanted to
remain the vice president of human resources for
one of the largest wireless companies in the country.

She thought of the steam rising between Kade
and Garcelle, and she could literally scream in frustration. She had to get back down there. She didn't
give a damn if she had to fake a major illness and
take long-term sick leave. She would head back to
Holtsville, South Carolina, as soon as possible, and
she was going to claim her ultimate prize ... Kade
Strong. She just had to.

"This little piggy went to the market ... This little
piggy stayed home ... This little piggy had roast
beef... This little piggy had none ... And this little
piggy cried, `Wee! Wee! Wee!' all the way home."

Garcelle laughed as Kade's strong hand tickled
her foot as they sat facing each other in the Jacuzzi
tub filled with frothy bubbles. She tried to free her
foot from his hand. "Quit, Kade. Let the little piggies go. I'm ticklish," she said, slapping her hand against
the water to send some flying in his direction.

"If you get used to my touch, your feet won't be so
ticklish anymore," he told her as he began to massage the soles of her feet. He laughed huskily before
he wiggled his brows and then sucked her toes.

"Is that so?" Garcelle sighed, her heavily hooded
eyes on him as she bit her bottom lip and gasped
for breath.

"Like that?" he asked thickly as he lowered her
other foot to rub up and down the length of his
hard and long erection.

Garcelle panted. "Love ... it."

Kade slid his hands down to her thighs and then
jerked her forward until her knees were on either side
of him, causing water to splash over the tub's sides to
the floor. "I suddenly hate bubbles," he told her,
hating that they covered her nakedness from his eyes.

Garcelle reached beneath the bubbles and drew
his hands toward her, to her open core. "I don't
know. Personally, I like feeling things even more
than I like seeing things sometimes. You know?" she
asked softly and teasingly, with a naughty laugh.

Kade palmed her intimacy. "And some things
feel damn good."

"I know a hands-free way that makes some things
feel even better," she said, climbing onto his lap.

"Great minds think alike."

They laughed huskily together. Then Kade
reached up and drew her head down for a deep
and tender kiss.

Brrrnnnggg.

Lisha and Kael exchanged an exaggerated look at the sound of the phone ringing. Kadina lay on
the floor watching her favorite Barbie DVD on the
television. "If that is Zorrie again, I am going to
scream," Lisha whispered to her husband as she
reached for the cordless phone sitting between
them on a small, round wooden table. "She's been
calling all day, like she's crazy."

Brrrnnnggg.

Lisha looked at the caller ID and shook her head.
"It's her."

"Don't answer it," Kael said in a calm voice as he
read the local paper.

The front door opened and closed, and Kaityln
breezed into the den all short skirts and high heels.
"What's the deal, my people?"

Brrrnnnggg.

Kadina rolled over onto her back. "Hi, Auntie
Kaitlyn. "

"Hey, Li'l Diva," Kaitlyn said, bending over to
tickle Kadina's tummy. Kadina burst into a fit of giggles.

Brrrnnnggg.

"Should Ianswer the phone?" Kaitlyn asked.

"Nope," Kael said as he shook the wrinkles out of
the paper.

"Kaitlyn, did you get another tattoo?" Lisha
asked, rising from her chair, walking over, and lifting up the back of her daughter's shirt.

Brrrnnnggg.

"Me and my girls rode to Savannah yesterday to
get them. We just got back." Kaitlyn pulled down the
waistband of her jean skirt to show the scroll, with
her name in the middle, at the base of her spine.

Lisha's face was filled with disapproval. "You know, if you have kids, you can't give them blood, because
of those things."

Brrrnnnggg.

"Speaking of kids ... I've been dreaming about
fish," said Lisha as she gave her rambunctious
daughter a hard stare.

"Don't look at me," Kaitlyn immediately protested.

It was an old wives' tale in the South that when
someone dreamt of fish, someone in their family
was pregnant.

Brrrnnnggg.

"Kael, remember the last time I dreamt of fish,
our little grandbaby over there came seven months
later," said Lisha.

"Sure did," replied Kael.

Lisha eyed her daughter again.

Brrrnnnggg

"Who is that, and why won't they hang up?" Kaitlyn
asked suddenly, moving over to snatch up the phone.

"Somebody who obviously don't have a bit of
good common sense," Kael drawled as he shifted
his reading glasses.

"Hello," Kaitlyn said, with more than a little attitude.

"Kaitlyn? Hey. This is Zorrie."

"Zorrie, listen. Uh, you know, usually when I call
someone's house and they don't answer after a few
rings, I hang up. You know what I'm saying?"

Kael grunted.

"I wanted to check on Kade after the storm.
That's all," Zorrie said defensively.

Kaityln reached in her juicy Couture bag for a
stick of gum. "Well, Kade is not here, and he will
not be coming here anytime tonight, okay?" Kaitlyn
made a face like "What don't you understand?"

"I've been calling his cell phone, and he isn't answering, so I was worried-"

"I just spoke to him about an hour ago," said
Kaitlyn. "He's fine. The house is fine. Kadina is
fine. We're all fine. So if he's not answering for you,
then he doesn't want to speak to you."

Lisha reached up and snatched the phone from
her daughter. "Zorrie, this is Mrs. Strong. Next time
we speak to Kade, we'll let him know you're trying
to reach him, okay?"

"Now see. I thought y'all wanted it handled, so I
handled it," Kaitlyn said. "Right, Pops?"

"All the time. All the time," said Kael.

Lisha hung up the phone. "Stop being so rude to
people, Kaitlyn."

Kaitlyn kicked off her shoes and dropped down
on the floor, next to her niece. "Rude is calling
someone's house and letting the phone ring a gazillion times like you're going to make them answer
their phone."

Lisha nudged her daughter's backside with her
foot. "You answer your phone at your house the way
you want."

"Grandma, can I have a snack?" Kadina asked.

"Yeah, and bring me one," Kael said, stepping in.

Kadina went running from the room.

"Why is she semi-stalking Kade, anyway?" Kaitlyn
asked.

Lisha shrugged. "She was just concerned. You
know, they've been friends since high school."

"Some friend," Kaitlyn muttered. "I hope none
of my girls put the moves-no matter how slickon my husband after I'm dead."

Garcelle released a nervous breath and smiled at
her reflection as she stood in the bathroom of their
hotel suite in downtown Charleston. She was happy.

Completely and blissfully happy.

They hadn't left the suite all day. Not to eat or
to sightsee or to shop. It had been a Kade and Garcelle felt.

They made love. Talked about their childhoods.
Ordered room service. Made love some more.
Took a bubble bath. Flirted. Made love some more.
Watched television. Shared stories about Kadina.
Made love some more. And some more. And some
more.

The man's appetite for sex was voracious. He was
definitely making up for his celibacy. She shivered
at the fierceness of his delivery. Each and every
time he was as hard as jail time.

They were finally venturing out for dinner, and
she wanted everything to be perfect. She leaned forward in the mirror and double-checked her makeup. Her complexion had never been so vibrant.

As she opened the bathroom door, she took a deep
breath and hoped that she wouldn't regret crossing
that line with Kade. She didn't want to be hurt.

Kade turned away from the night view of the
Charleston skyline. He looked handsome in his
navy tailored suit, with a simple but classic white
shirt. His hair was still damp from his shower and
was brushed back from his square and handsome
face. All of it made his eyes so much more intense
as he stared at her.

Garcelle had taken her time to curl her hair, and
her make-up was dramatic, with smoky eyes and a
clear lip gloss on her lips. The white dress she wore
hugged her small breasts before falling to an empire waist and stopping mid-thigh, showing off her
shapely and thick legs. Four-inch rhinestone sandals
actually brought her closer to his height and worked
with the length of the dress to showcase her legs.

This was a Garcelle she rarely took the time to
display.

"Wow," he said, as if she truly took his breath away.

Bianca arrived in Atlanta in just under four hours.
As she parked in front of Mimi's mini-mansion in the
exclusive gated community where she had once
owned a home, she struggled to get her words
together. Climbing out of the car, she grabbed her
overnight bag.

Because the guards at the gate had alerted Mimi
to her presence, she already stood in the open doorway. She was dressed in pale pink slacks and a silk
shirt. Her face was like stone as she looked at Bianca
as if she were a stranger.

"Are you going to let me in, or did I just drive
from Holtsville for nothing?" said Bianca.

"I love your father, Bianca," Mimi said in a hard
voice.

"I know you do," Bianca answered honestly.

"I wouldn't do anything to hurt him," said Mimi,
with tears rising in her eyes.

Bianca stepped up and squeezed her hand.
"Mimi, do we have to do this in your doorway? Can
I come in?"

Mimi looked anything but happy about stepping back and allowing Bianca to walk into her home.
"You really hurt my feelings, Bianca," she said before
Bianca even reached the stark white leather and
mink living room. "And only people I care about can
hurt me."

"I'm sorry. I love you to death, but to be honest,
with my father's drinking problem and your drinking problem, I worried it was like adding kerosene
to a fire."