Strong Heat Page 15

  “Our deal,” he said.

  Her eyes dropped to his mouth. “I’m not trying to make it hard for you,” she said, her eyes moving back up to view his face.

  “I know you’re not,” he said with honesty.

  She leaned her head back with her face still tilted up and puckered her lips for a kiss.

  Kael kissed her once and then again and again and then twice more.

  He could get addicted to the taste of her lips and wondered if her other lips were just as sweet.

  Coming to a glen, he halted Sampson and dismounted. “Hold on to the saddle,” he said, guiding the horse to a tree where he loosely tied the reins before coming to lift Lisha down to her feet.

  She looked on as he retrieved a clean blanket from his saddlebag and stretched it out near the edge of the glen atop a thick patch of green grass almost as soft as a bed itself.

  He sat down on the middle of it and then reached out his hand for her.

  “You’re not making it easy on yourself either,” she said, hesitant to come to him.

  “Come here, girl,” Kael said.

  And she did come to him, taking his hand as she sat down on the blanket beside him. “It’s beautiful here,” she said, lying down to look up in wonder at the haven created by the towering trees overlooking the cleared spot.

  Kael shifted on the blanket to lie on his side. He propped his head in his hand and looked down at her. “You’re beautiful,” he told her truthfully, leaning down to plant kisses on her entire face. Her forehead. Cheeks. Chin. Mouth. And forehead again.

  He shifted on his back and pulled Lisha’s head onto his chest, wrapping his arm around her body as they enjoyed the unique feel of the coolness offered by the shade mingled with the glows of the sun’s rays that beamed through the trees.

  “I always drove by all the trees on the side of the roads and highways and always wondered what it was like deep in the woods,” she said, her eyes drifting closed as she enjoyed the steady up and down movement of Kael’s chest as he breathed. “I never imagined nothing this pretty.”

  Kael wasn’t surprised when soon the sounds of her breathing changed as she fell asleep. He didn’t wake her and selfishly enjoyed having her there secluded in the woods away from the world as she slept in his arms, even as he wrangled with his decision to take a chance on love or risk it all.

  When Kael opened his eyes and saw that darkness surround them, he realized that he’d fallen asleep himself and a couple of hours had passed.

  “Lisha,” he said, gently rousing her.

  She released a heavy breath before her eyes opened and she looked up at him before sitting up. “I fell asleep?” she asked in surprise, covering her mouth in case the little nap made her breath less than fresh.

  “I did too,” he admitted, rising to his feet and holding out his hand to her to pull her up.

  “We gotta get back before it gets too dark,” he said, moving to Sampson to untie his reins.

  Lisha picked up the blanket and folded it, moving over to push it into the saddlebag.

  Kael noticed her initiative and liked it.

  Climbing into the saddle, he helped her mount in front of him again before steering Sampson around to head back onto the path. Lisha just leaned back against his chest the entire time with his arms on either side of her as he held the reins and the horn of the saddle. It took them about twenty minutes or better before they saw the tip of the house in the distance.

  “Thank you for showing me your land, Kael,” she said, as he brought Sampson to a stop near the horse trailer.

  “You’re welcome,” he said, as he dismounted and then reached up to help her down.

  Lisha looked on as he quickly sponged the horse down and then used the hose to rinse out the trough and fill it with enough water for Sampson to drink his fill. “Your door locked?” she asked.

  Kael considered before shaking his head. “I don’t think so.”

  “You got your key?” she asked, already turning to cross the front yard and jog up the steps.

  “Yeah.”

  Lisha opened the door and turned the lock.

  He looked on when she suddenly disappeared in the house and returned a few moments later with his Stetson on her head. That made him smile as he finished loading Sampson in the trailer and then hopped in the driver’s seat of the truck to pull around in the yard and stop in front of the steps for her to hop in.

  “Looks good on you,” he said. “You might have a little cowgirl in you.”

  “Yee-haw,” Lisha joked.

  Kael laughed as he pulled off down the long dirt road. They said nothing as they drove to his father’s for her car, but he held her hand on the center of the bench seat. Just the feel of her supple skin beneath his calloused fingers made him happy.

  But what if it all crashed and burned?

  When he parked the car in his father’s yard, he was reluctant to let her hand go, but he did, and Lisha climbed from the truck. “Tell your dad I’ll see him Wednesday,” she said, before quickly walking around her car and climbing in to crank and reverse quicker than a Nascar driver.

  Kael turned and watched her leave, fighting the urge to stop her and tell her not to go. He watched her car until it disappeared down the road from his sight.

  Someone who would never betray you. Someone who believes that she could really, really love. Like love you hard . . . the way you deserved.

  Kael wondered if maybe, just maybe, he was missing out on something special. He had never even felt so connected to his ex as he did to Lisha. This groove between them was new to him and it worried him because that meant he would put his heart at even more risk.

  “Bea called.”

  Kael turned and found his sister standing on the porch. “All you are doing is setting your friend up to get her feelings hurt,” he said as he strolled up to the house.

  Kelli nodded. “I think you’re doing the same thing with Lisha,” she said.

  He froze. “Excuse me?”

  “After that bullshit with Donna I just don’t want to see you hurt and I think she would hurt. Just from talking to her and being around her while she was here working with Dad, I just don’t think you really see her for who she is,” Kelli said, reaching out to grab his hand. “Let’s be honest. Your judgment sucked for the last woman you spent five years of your life with.”

  Kael flinched.

  “I think you are overlooking a good woman in Bea because your head is clouded with Lisha,” she stressed. “I don’t want to have to come back and say I told you so when you walk in and find her with the next man too.”

  “I’m a grown-ass man, Kelli. Back off,” he warned, staring at her hard. “If you want a man to bully and push around and have jump to your every whim, then maybe you need to go home to your husband.”

  With that he turned and walked back to his truck. “Tell Dad I’m staying at my house tonight,” he called out the window to her before reversing down the drive.

  Chapter 12

  “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Lisha said as she followed Junie into the country club.

  “You always make me out to be the bad guy,” Junie said as she smoothed the turquoise jumpsuit she wore over her hips and looked around at the people milling about in the expansive foyer of the once-exclusive country club. “But it’s never that hard to talk you into it.”

  Lisha ignored her as she looked at the attire of her fellow attendees, hoping the black halter dress she wore was appropriate. She didn’t know how to dress for a charity bachelor auction—especially at a country club that probably wouldn’t have allowed her through the doors ten years ago. “I am not bidding,” she insisted in a whisper to her flamboyant cousin who was too busy waving and greeting many of the people she worked with at the hospital.

  The annual auction was to benefit the hospital’s charity care fund to help those without medical insurance receive care without concern over hefty medical bills. There were women of all races, all sha
des of races, and all socioeconomic backgrounds—that was evident from the clothing.

  It was a cause Lisha could believe in, but to sit back and bid for a date for an eligible bachelor . . . ? Definitely not. I’ll enjoy their food though. I might as well get my five dollars worth.

  “Be right back,” Junie said, walking away and disappearing into the crowd of women.

  Lisha tucked her clutch under her arm and headed for the buffet table along the glass windows overlooking the greens of the golf course. She eyed the selection of finger foods as she picked up a saucer and fork. She decided on fruits, raw vegetables with dip and mini-sandwiches. “It’ll do,” she mumbled, turning up her nose.

  “Ladies, here are our wonderful volunteers for tonight’s bachelor auction,” someone said from behind her.

  Lisha dipped a celery stick into the dip, not even bothering to turn around and see the men that were causing the gathered women’s chatter to become lively. “I’m good,” she said.

  “It’s rude to let everyone know you hate the food.”

  Lisha paused with a piece of broccoli before her opened mouth at the sound of Kael’s deep voice. Instantly on edge, with the hairs on the nape of her neck standing on end, she dropped the crudités and licked the corners of her mouth before finally turning to face him.

  Lisha literally took a step back at the sight of him looking devastatingly good in a suit that was so deep a blue that it could have been black, with a matching open-collared satin shirt. She always thought he looked his very best in blue. Shit.

  She set the plate down as the rattling of the fork against the china revealed her frayed nerves. “Hi, Kael,” she said.

  “You look good, Lisha,” he said, his warm chocolate eyes taking her in from head to toe.

  “I’ve looked good all week,” she said with a smile as she tipped her head to the side as she looked up at him.

  Lisha hadn’t laid eyes on the man since the Friday they spent kissing on the porch, horseback riding and then napping in the woods. Not since the day they made the deal.

  “But your voice sounded good during the phone calls we had all week,” he reminded her with a grin.

  “True,” she admitted, loving their laid-back flirty air. “As brief as they were.”

  He had called her over the last six days, but only for a few moments to say hello or to make sure she got home from work okay or in the fuzzy moments just before he went to bed at night. The call was never for long, but a call did come once a day.

  Kael licked his lips and wiped his smiling lips with his hand as he nodded. “True. I just . . . uh . . . wanted to think over our deal. You remember our deal, right?” he asked, reaching up with his finger to move her hair back from her face and behind her ear.

  Lisha’s skin warmed from the slightest touch of his hand brushing against her cheek. “Oh, I remember it well and I am eagerly awaiting the resolution,” she hinted, lifting her brows as she licked her lips and gave him a look.

  Kael laughed. “I think you’ll like it,” he assured her.

  Lisha’s heart fluttered. “I think I’ll like it even sooner,” she teased, reaching over to hold his wrist and stroke her thumb over his pulse. She liked that it was pounding away. The attraction and chemistry was going in both directions.

  “Gentlemen, every woman here wants a chance to meet you, so please mingle a little.”

  Lisha looked around and a lot of the eyes of the women were on her and Kael. She frowned and looked back at him. “Wait a minute. Why are you here?” she asked, looking around again and noticing the men all had numbers pinned to their shirt.

  Looking back at Kael, her eyes fell on the number eleven pinned onto his wide lapel. She kicked her hip to the side and pressed a hand to it as she looked at him. “Oh, so you’re an eligible bachelor up for sale?” she asked, very tongue in cheek.

  “And you’re one of the women here ready to bid?” he countered.

  “Junie dragged me to this,” she said, setting him straight.

  “And my sister volunteered to be on the committee hosting this auction so she begged me just this morning to do it because they didn’t have enough volunteers,” he explained, reaching to touch her elbow.

  Lisha grunted softly as she looked past his broad shoulders to see several women openly eyeing them. Women she thought may have complained that she was getting all of Kael’s time. “Ooh, and they are hungry for your . . . date,” she said, purposefully looking down at his crotch during the pause.

  “Hey, don’t be that way,” Kael said, his eyes becoming serious. “I’m just helping out my sister, not looking for love.”

  “Oh, trust me, I believe you ain’t looking for love,” she said with a wave of her hand toward herself.

  “Oh, I’m looking right at you,” he said.

  A petite white woman came up to them surrounded by a cloud of strong perfume. “Hello, bachelor. We really need you to mingle with the other ladies a little before the auction officially starts,” she said.

  Lisha raised her hand up and twirled her finger. “Yes, Kael. Do mingle with the ladies. That’s what you came for, right?” she asked.

  He reached out for her hand, but Lisha shifted away from his clasp and moved across the room. She spotted Junie talking to some of her co-workers and decided not to intrude so she took a glass of wine offered by a uniformed waiter circling the room and stood looking at the white woman leading Kael around the room, introducing him.

  Humph, looking more like a slave auction to me right about now.

  Her eyes widened when Bea stepped forward to smile up at him and press a hand to his chest as she laughed.

  “Lisha, I didn’t know you were coming to the event.”

  She shifted her eyes from Kael and Bea to find his sister, Kelli, standing beside her. They shared a hug. “My cousin works for the hospital and she invited me,” she explained.

  “We have some fine brothers in the mix too,” Kelli said, nudging her as she pointed to a thin light-skinned man with an Afro.

  “Oh, I won’t be bidding,” Lisha assured her, taking another sip of her wine as she watched Kael move on from Bea even as the woman’s eyes stayed locked on him.

  “Well, you never know, you might see someone you like . . . but Bea has my brother all wrapped up,” she said. “It’s already arranged, girl.”

  Lisha squinted as she looked at the other woman. “Like I said, I won’t be bidding,” she said again, the softness from her voice gone. “Excuse me.”

  She moved away and followed the gold-trimmed signs directing to the bathroom. Inside she stood at the sink and raked her fingers through her hair before reapplying her lip gloss and adjusting the varying length of gold chains she wore draped across her cleavage.

  It’s already arranged, girl.

  Lisha sucked air between her teeth before she left the restroom. She paused in the doorway to see Kael leaning against the wall. He stood up at the sight of her.

  “I see Bea’s here,” she said with a smile that was far from flirty or real.

  “That’s my sister’s bullshit,” he said, digging his wallet out of his back pocket and removing the cash in it.

  “Yes, I see that now,” she agreed. “But it doesn’t change the fact that you’re going along with the bullshit.”

  Kael shoved the cash in her palm. “Bid on me,” he stressed.

  Lisha pushed the money at him. “Why should I?” she asked with a little attitude.

  “Oh, there you are,” the white woman said, coming up on them quickly. “The auction is about to start.”

  Kael closed her fingers around the money. “Man, just bid on me,” he said again.

  Lisha shook her head. “Oh, no-no-no-no-no. What would you have done if I wasn’t here? I mean, this is why you’re here. To be auctioned off to women, right?” she asked, breezing past him. “Enjoy!”

  “Lisha, stop playing,” he called from behind. “Lisha!”

  She pushed the cash into her purse, not even counting
it as she walked back into the reception. Junie spotted her across the room and came over. “Girl, it’s about to start,” she said, guiding Lisha inside the now-open double doors of the dining room.

  All of the tables and chairs were staged in a circle with a microphone in the center of it. They sat at a table in the second row. Unfortunately it gave Lisha a clear sight of Bea and Kelli sitting in the first row to her immediate right. Their heads were huddled close together as they flipped through the program.

  Lisha stopped the waiter. “Can I have a glass of white wine, please?” she asked.

  “That’ll be two dollars. It’s a cash bar now,” he explained.

  Opening her purse, she moved aside the wad of cash she planned to give back to Kael, and pulled the money for the wine from her wallet. “Two glasses, please,” she said, getting one for Junie.

  The petite white woman moved through the tables to stand before the microphone. “Hello, ladies. As most of you know, I’m Eloise Riley, the chair of the ladies’ board who is having this wonderful bachelor auction to benefit the hospital’s charity care program,” she said.

  The waiter appeared at her shoulder and Lisha turned to set first Junie’s glass of wine and then her own in front of them as the women clapped and some even let out raucous whoops that made the event feel more like a strip show.

  As the first bachelor was introduced, Lisha eyed the tall and handsome man with his reddish brown hair, tanned complexion and green eyes. “Not bad,” she murmured into the glass with a little shrug of her bare shoulder.

  “I think I want some milk in this coffee,” Junie whispered to her.

  “This is Hank Ingrams. This six-foot-one cutie with green eyes is a firefighter who knows how to put out your flame, ladies. And when he’s not busy working his hose, he likes to ski, backpack and play tennis. His idea of a good date is a walk on the beach after the dinner he will cook for you.”

  Lisha sat back and Hank began to walk around the circle as the women raised their cards to bid on him. They were mighty fired up for the red-haired fireman and his hose.

  Even Junie placed a bid for him, but bowed out quickly. A pretty blonde with a curvy figure won the bid for fifty dollars. Hank made his way over to her, looking pleased himself.