Strong Heat Page 17

  “What’s wrong, Ma?” Meena asked, coming over to squeeze onto the love seat beside her as she played with her mother’s hair.

  “You enjoyed your Christmas?” she asked, picking up the locket she and Kaleb gave both twins.

  “So far, good. We gotta see what Dad got for us at his house,” she said.

  “Y’all ’bout to go?” Kaleb said, turning to look at his stepdaughter.

  “Yeah,” Neema said, walking up to them. “We promised our dad we’d eat with him and the stepmama.”

  Zaria’s eyes scolded them. “Don’t call her that,” she said.

  “Do you call me the stepdad behind my back?” Kaleb asked.

  “No, but we love you,” Meena said.

  “It’s not right,” he told them.

  “Okay,” they said in unison.

  It forever amazed her that there was less than a ten-year age difference between her daughters and her husband but the respect they showed him belied that. When Kael spoke they listened. Period.

  He stood up. “Let me check them tires again before y’all get on the road,” he said, moving across the living room to grab his coat and leave the house.

  And it was things he did that built up the respect for him.

  “Twins, y’all leaving?” Kael asked, addressing them as one unit as he always did affectionately.

  Meena nodded.

  Neema spoke. “We just stopped by before we head to our father’s house,” she said.

  Kael waved them over and they each kissed his cheek before turning to give Lisha hugs.

  “Drive careful,” she said.

  Neema nodded.

  Meena spoke. “Yes, ma’am. And thanks for our iPads.”

  “You’re welcome,” Kael said.

  And that’s why Zaria loved her in-laws. They loved her children because they loved Kaleb and they included them in with all the other grandkids—even if they were in their twenties. Her girls got the same birthday cards, gifts, random phone calls, hugs and kisses as all the rest.

  Following the twins out the door, she didn’t bother with a coat as she stood on the porch. “Y’all drive careful, please,” she said, accepting a hug, squeeze and rock from each one.

  Kaleb jogged up onto the porch and offered each one his fist for their customary pound. “You should be good, but stop and fill up on gas first,” he admonished them. “You got your gas card?”

  Meena nodded.

  Neema tapped her small red Coach crossover bag.

  “Hey, before you go I have another Christmas present for everybody,” Zaria said.

  Three sets of eyes fell on her.

  “Uhmmm . . . remember I was going to go back to school to take some business classes so we can expand the dairy store,” she said.

  “Aw, Ma, that’s good,” Neema said.

  Zaria shook her head and looked at each of them.

  “No school?” Meena asked.

  Kaleb just looked on with an ever-growing more serious expression.

  “Maybe in another nine months or so,” she said gingerly, her eyes darting from face to face to face.

  They all looked confused.

  “Twins,” she said, pointing to her belly.

  Three sets of eyes widened in understanding.

  “Oh, shit,” Kaleb exclaimed, stepping up to lift Zaria into his arms.

  He twirled her and then stopped. “It’s not hurting the babies, is it?”

  She massaged his muscular upper arms and shook her head, loving his happiness. For the news. “No, not at all. This is good?” she asked, her eyes unsure.

  “Yeah, baby, we love each other. This is good,” he said. “The more the merrier. As long as you’re healthy and happy then hell, I’m good.”

  Zaria looked over her shoulder at her girls.

  They shared a long look. “We’re good,” Meena said. “But this is it, right? I mean you’re forty-four—”

  “Hey,” Zaria hollered.

  “Well, at least we don’t have to worry about another delivery on your wedding day,” Neema said, pressing a hand to her mom’s belly. “But this is it, right?”

  Zaria just laughed. “You two get on the road. Come by the house when you get back. We should be home by seven or eight,” she said.

  With one final wave the twins moved down the stairs and into the car.

  “It’s cold, let’s get back inside.”

  Kael set her on her feet in the hall and closed the door.

  “Twins, huh?” Kaleb asked, still holding her in his arms.

  “Twins,” she agreed. “Heaven help us.”

  “Heaven blessed us,” he stressed.

  “Uhm, let’s not tell the family yet,” she said, reaching for his hand. “Jade told me she and Kaeden are trying and nothing yet so I don’t want—”

  Kaleb nodded in immediate understanding. One Strong for all and all for one. That was the way they were born and bred. He would never hurt one intentionally, and just like his wife, Jade was a Strong.

  Zaria frowned when she spotted a movement in the den. Walking down the hall to the right, she caught Kadina and Lei just as they were about to scurry across the room to hide behind the leather sectional.

  “Girls, aren’t you supposed to be—”

  Kadina held up her hands. “Upstairs. Yes, Aunt Zaria. We know,” she conceded.

  “Good, now make it happen,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest with a fake stern expression that she dropped as soon as they left the room.

  Pressing her hands to her belly, she closed her eyes. “Lord, I thank you for our gifts, but please bless Jade and Kaeden as well,” she mouthed for His ears alone.

  Zaria let her hands drop and headed back into the living room to reclaim her seat.

  “Merry, merry, merry Christmas . . . to you.”

  “So what next?” Kaitlyn asked, removing a peppermint cane from the tree.

  “We fell in love,” Kael said.

  Lisha nodded. “That we did. . . .”

  Chapter 13

  Way back in the day

  Lisha checked her makeup in the mirror, but she was unable to apply her red lip gloss because she was too busy smiling like crazy. She was happy. Without question. Without fears. Without equivocation. She was boldly happy.

  Being in love was everything she’d ever dreamt and much more.

  “I love Kael,” she said softly to her reflection, lightly touching her hands to her lips as she smiled. “I love him.”

  The last three months had passed so quickly and she knew three months was nothing compared to three years or definitely thirty years but after so many years fearing she would never find the man willing to wait, she couldn’t help but feel . . . happy. Just simply happy.

  Knock-knock.

  After tousling her hair she left the bathroom and made her way to the front door, opening it with a smile. A smile that faded at the sight of Junie.

  “It’s good to see you too,” Junie said, looking offended. “I did knock.”

  “That’s because I took your key,” Lisha reminded her.

  “Kael here?” she asked, twisting her lips as she looked around.

  Lisha hid her smile as she closed the door. Her relationship with Kael had cut into the time she spent with her cousin. Although Lisha had always fallen back to allow Junie all of her little adventures, her cousin was having a problem doing the same for Lisha. She was happy for her but didn’t like the intrusion of Kael on her “Lisha-Junie” time.

  “No, but he’s on his way,” Lisha said. “I cooked him some oxtail stew.”

  “Didn’t you say he has a big old house, so why cook here?” she asked, strolling into the kitchen and washing her hands in the sink before she grabbed a bowl and fixed herself some food.

  Lisha straightened the cushions on the sofa and adjusted the tilted lamp shade. “Yes, but I don’t want to scare him off, thinking I’m trying to get him to propose so soon,” she said, coming into the kitchen and checking that the beer Kael lik
ed was cold. “He’s not pressuring me too hard for sex and the last thing I want to do is have him think I’m invading his home. I got my own place and we can visit each other.”

  Knock-knock.

  Junie added splashes of hot sauce to her bowl. “I’ll get it on my way out,” she said, pausing to grab a bottle of strawberry Crush soda from the fridge.

  “Bye, Junie,” she called behind her, turning the pilot light under the stove higher to make sure the food was warm.

  “Bye, Lisha. Bye, Kael,” she said with emphasis.

  Moments later the door closed and Kael’s energy filled the room before he eventually stepped into the kitchen. Wiping her hands on a towel, Lisha turned and smiled at him, looking real fine in a ribbed navy turtleneck and bell-bottom jeans.

  “She still mad at me?” he asked with a smile as he leaned in the doorway.

  Lisha finished stirring the pot and set the large spoon on the saucer on the stovetop. “She’ll be fine,” she said, coming to him. “I have sat home alone many a night when she has a friend. And I mean many a night.”

  Kael reached out for her when she was close enough and pulled her the rest of the way to press several kisses to her mouth.

  She leaned back in his arms and looked up at him. “Hungry?” she asked.

  “What you got for me?” he asked, wiggling his brow as he playfully swatted her buttocks in her snug-fitting jeans.

  Lisha eyed him. “Are you sure you’re okay with the no-sex thing?” she asked, her insecurity showing.

  They had enjoyed plenty of kissing and even some heaving petting, but nothing even close to the passionate things they did to each other the night of the auction.

  “Do I want to make love to you? Hell, yes,” he stressed. “But is it a deal breaker for me? Hell, no.”

  “You are too good to be true, Kael Strong,” Lisha said, feeling all the love she had yet to reveal explode in her chest and warm her soul.

  Kael took her fingertips in his hand, holding them even as he moved to the stove to turn the fire down under the pot. He then led her into the living room to pull her down onto the sofa beside him. “How was your day?” he asked around a yawn that he covered with his hand.

  “My day was good,” she said. “And yours?”

  “Not good. Not good at all,” he said.

  Lisha kicked off the satin slippers she wore and climbed on the back of the sofa to straddle his back. “What happened?” she asked, deeply kneading away some of the tension she felt in his neck and shoulders.

  “Oh my God, that feels good,” he moaned, leaning forward to pull his shirt up around his neck. At the first feel of her hands against his skin, goose bumps raced across his back.

  He closed his eyes and enjoyed the special treatment. “The roof of the new barn has a leak. One of the cows had a miscarriage and we had to quarantine her and have the vet come to make sure it wasn’t caused by a contagious disease. Jim is sick and couldn’t work this week so I’ve been handling the ranch alone. I’m still waiting on my disaster check from Farm Service for the heat this summer destroying some of my lands. Shit, what else? You want it? I got it.”

  Lisha leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his nape. “You’ll figure it all out; you just have to put it in God’s hands and think it through,” she reassured him, massaging his lower back.

  “I know. It’s just hell when a ton of shit comes down on you at one time.”

  “Just relax. I got you,” she said.

  Kael pulled his shirt off completely and tossed it onto the armchair in front of the living room window. He pushed his worries aside and focused on the feel of her hands on his back and just feeling confident that she had his back. In the months since they welcomed each other into their lives he had no regrets.

  “My sister and her husband are coming home for Christmas,” he said.

  He hollered out when Lisha’s nails dug in and almost broke his skin. “Hey,” he protested, looking over his shoulder at her.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, leaning down to press her lips to each of his shoulders where she’d pained him.

  Kael eyed her and saw something in her eyes. Standing up, he turned and stood before her, reaching to dig his fingers through the loose waves of her hair to stroke her scalp the way he’d learned she liked. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  She pressed her lips together and shook her head, not meeting his eyes.

  He remained quiet, having made a point to learn more about her in the last three months. She wasn’t one to be pushed to talk.

  “You’re having dinner at your house and I just think your sister wants you with Bea, so is she gonna be sitting there with us Christmas Day?” Lisha snapped. “Is she gonna make a pan of her nasty-ass chicken wings to bring?”

  Kael wiped his mouth to keep from laughing. “I will make it clear that if Kelli wants to see her friend for Christmas then she needs to go to Bea’s house to eat her nasty-ass wings,” he said, bracing his hands on her knees.

  Lisha nodded in agreement as he spoke. “Yes,” she said enthusiastically.

  Kael playfully opened and closed her legs by her knees. “I want you there with me for the holidays.”

  “But what about your sister?” Lisha insisted. “I’ve always been nice to her. I thought we were friends, so I don’t know what she has against me.”

  There was truth to what Lisha said, but Kael wanted her to have a good relationship with his sister. “I don’t think she even knew we liked each other, Lisha,” he said.

  She just shrugged.

  His heart tugged. “If my sister says something to you that is wrong, just let me know and I’ll take care of it,” he promised her, pressing her cheeks with his hand to cause her lips to pucker like a fish until she finally swatted his hand away and laughed.

  Hours later Lisha and Kael lay on the floor together with their heads propped on pillows as they watched the ABC Movie of the Week Get Christie Love! They both were caught up in the made-for-TV movie about a black female undercover cop battling a ring of drug dealers.

  “You want something from the kitchen?” Kael asked, easily rising to his feet.

  “No, baby. I’m good,” she said, biting the side of her nail as Christie fired her gun.

  Lisha looked up when Kael returned with a can of beer. He sat down on the floor, leaning back against the sofa as he took a deep swig from the can of Pabst beer. She liked that he was comfortable enough in her home to move about without asking. She moved about the same way at his house.

  Reaching over to tug at one of his toes, she looked back at the television. “You feel better?” she asked.

  “Yeah, I’m cool,” he said, before taking another sip.

  At the sound of his voice she looked over at him before she rose up to go and straddle the top of his thighs. “You don’t ever have to put on a strong front for me,” she told him. “I swear to God you can be as strong or as weak as you need to be with me. ’Cause see, right here in this little world of yours and mine, we made it safe.”

  Kael studied her with his eyes for a long time. “I am scared shitless that the ranch is gonna fail,” he admitted, setting the beer down on the edge of the coffee table and reaching for one of her hands to hold. “I’m scared I don’t know what I’m doing. That I don’t know how to be a boss and run a business and make decisions and take the weight all on my shoulders.”

  Lisha nodded in understanding.

  “I put all my money—and it wasn’t much—into that ranch. Loans. Grants,” Kael said, releasing a long, heavy breath.

  “I think you can do whatever you set your mind to. I believe in you because I see that you are a hardworking man with plenty of sense. I believe in you because you’re young and your focus is building a future for yourself and the family you’ll have one day. I believe in you because you are the strongest man I know. You live up to your name, Kael Strong.”

  “I can’t fail,” he said, his face serious as he reached up and stroked her cheek with his hand.<
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  “And you won’t,” she said with confidence, reaching down to massage his thighs.

  “Because you said so, huh?” he teased.

  Lisha smiled brightly. “Of course,” she told him. “And your daddy thinks so too. He’s so proud of you.”

  Kael looked surprised. “He told you that?”

  Lisha reached for his can of beer and sipped it. “You were just about all we talked about during his therapy. ‘Kael was so good in sports in school. Kael was so mischievous when he was little. Kael can shoot a rifle blindfolded better than most men can with two sets of eyes,’” she said, imitating Logan’s gruff voice and stern expression.

  Kael looked even more surprised.

  “I knew plenty about you before we even spoke,” she said.

  “I don’t want to let him down,” he admitted, his voice low as he looked down at his hand entwined with hers.

  Lisha’s heart tugged at the insecurity he was willing to show her. It was her turn to reach out and lift his head by his chin. “Trust me . . . you can’t.”

  Kael reached for her and pulled her body up his thighs to settle her head in the crook of his neck as his hands massaged her back. “Thank you,” he said warmly.

  She pressed a kiss to the hot pulsing spot there and inhaled the scent of him. The love she felt for this man and in such little time filled her until she thought she would burst. She raised her head and opened her mouth to whisper her feelings to him, but she just kissed his earlobe instead. The fear of discovering without certainty that he didn’t feel the same was too heavy to bear.

  Kael raised the hem of Lisha’s shirt and pressed his fingers against the small of her back. He didn’t say any words but his thoughts were full . . . and so was his heart. He loved her. He was in love with her.

  And he was afraid.

  The success of his ranch wasn’t the only thing he doubted or questioned.

  Loving her the way he did so soon was not a part of his plan. With love comes the ability for the one you love to hurt you. Break you. Destroy you.

  Even in the few and far between moments they argued, his anger would momentarily fade and be replaced by a need to kiss the irritation away from her to see a smile on her face. Lisha was by no means perfect. She had a fiery temper. She was slow to admit she was wrong and she was openly defiant. Yet, with every passing day he believed she was perfect for him.