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  Lisha Rockmon could easily get to be addictive.

  They rode the rest of the way in silence, but there were many times Lisha would catch his sexy eyes on her or she would feel him looking at her. When she drove into Holtsville and soon turned onto the drive of his father’s home, she parked the car and turned in her seat to stare boldly at him.

  He pressed his back against the seat and eyed her. “What?” he asked, quickly looking over his shoulder.

  She bit her cheek to keep from smiling and kept staring at him.

  “Yes?” he asked, his brows furrowing.

  “Just giving you a full view of me since you were staring,” she said, putting some of her fears of being rejected aside.

  She barely heard the rain pouring around them and soulful music softly playing on the radio over the steady thumping of her heavy heartbeat.

  Kael’s stance relaxed as he eyed her with those eyes that were made to make a woman feel like a woman.

  “Do you deny it?” she asked.

  “No,” he said, shaking his head slightly.

  She took a deep little breath through slightly opened lips and then released it in a huff. This man, this man, this man . . .

  “You’re very easy to look at,” he admitted in his deep voice.

  Another breath. In and then out.

  There was an energy that was almost palpable in the cocoon of the car. It was nothing like Lisha had ever felt before. That scared and excited her all at once.

  Lisha looked away, needing a break from the intensity, but only seconds passed before she was looking back at him. Getting lost in him. “You’re not bad yourself,” she said. “But it’s not like you don’t know that.”

  Kael chuckled. “Nah,” he said.

  “Yeah, right.”

  They fell silent again.

  “Let’s get it on . . .”

  Lisha’s hand shot out as she turned the volume down on the car stereo. It was not a time for Marvin Gaye. Definitely not.

  Things were powerful enough because Lisha the virgin who didn’t even like to kiss on the first date found her eyes on Kael’s lush lips, wanting to know just how they tasted.

  Kael liked being in the car with Lisha, with the rain beating down on the car and feeling like they were lost in their own little cocoon. He liked it too much.

  “I’m not looking for a girlfriend or anything,” he said, needing to break whatever it was that kept him entranced by her and not wanting to leave the comfort of that car and her.

  Her eyes shot up from his mouth to lock on his eyes before she looked away. He saw her disappointment and was surprised when he felt his own.

  “The . . . the . . . the rain is letting up,” she said.

  He could tell the smile she gave him was fake, but she forced it on and faced him as she politely invited him out of her vehicle.

  “Thanks for the ride, Lisha. I appreciate it,” he told her.

  She nodded. “You better get out of those wet clothes,” she said.

  Kael’s hand paused on the door handle. “I’m going. You don’t have to throw me out of your car,” he joked.

  Her shoulders became less tense as she laughed. “I’m not,” she said.

  “You are—in a nice way—but you are.”

  She looked heavenward before she looked at him again. “Okay, I kinda am,” she admitted with a smile that made her eyes twinkle.

  He felt good about making the disappointment he caused her disappear with laughter.

  Darkness settled around them and Kael honestly wasn’t sure how long they had been in the car together. “I’ll talk to Kelli and we’ll try to convince my dad to go into Charleston for the pool therapy,” he told her as he opened the car door.

  “Okay, good. Bye, Kael.”

  He looked over his shoulder at her, loving the way his name sounded on her lips. He didn’t trust himself to say anything and just nodded before leaving the car and closing the door. The rain had settled down to a light mist and he made his way up the drive to the house.

  He thought it was cute and a sign of her good heart that she waited on him—a grown-ass man—to get inside of the house before she reversed out of the yard with a final light blow of her horn.

  “I thought y’all were camping out,” Kelli said.

  Kael turned from looking out the door, closing it behind him. His sister and father were sitting on the leather living room sofa, watching Walter Cronkite deliver the evening news.

  “That was Lisha who dropped you off?” his father asked, looking pleased.

  “My truck broke down when I left the clinic and she happened to be leaving work and offered me a ride home,” he said, hating the need he felt to explain.

  His sister was working overtime to get him married. She was already pushing her friend Bea down his throat. He didn’t want her to add Lisha to the list of possible candidates. He was barely winning at avoiding both his attraction to her and his father’s constant hints about what a good daughter-in-law she would make.

  “Been out there a long time, son,” Logan said, cutting his eye up at Kael before looking back at the television with a grin.

  “Sure was,” Kelli agreed.

  To hell with this shit.

  Kael scooped up his father’s keys from where they always sat on the end table. “My roof needs fixing. I’m going to check and make sure it’s not leaking with all this rain,” he said, before heading straight out the door.

  Lisha stepped out of the shower and wrapped a thick towel around her damp body. She didn’t bother to dry off as she stood at the sink rod-setting her damp hair in the mirror. She paused as Kael’s words came back to her.

  You’re very easy to look at.

  She arched her brow at the sight of her rollers and the dabs of pimple cream on her face. “How about now?” she quipped at her reflection.

  And then her eyes got sad.

  I’m not looking for a girlfriend or anything.

  And just like that, she and Kael were over before anything even began. She did appreciate his honesty, but that didn’t quell the disappointment. Her ego had played with the idea that she had caught Kael’s eye, but none of that mattered.

  If he wasn’t looking for a girlfriend, then marriage was definitely off the table, and that was the end goal for Lisha. She wasn’t in the market for a lover. She wanted to meet the man she was meant to fall in love with and then marry.

  Kael took himself out of the running.

  Rolling the last long strand of hair around a roller, she secured it with a large bobby pin and then tied a large colorful silk scarf around it. “Ain’t this a sight,” she said to her reflection before leaving the bathroom and shutting off the light.

  “You done talking to yourself in there?”

  Lisha started in surprise. Junie was settled on her couch in front of the TV set on the rolling stand. “I don’t use my key to your apartment as much as you use the one to mine,” she called out, heading into her bedroom to drop the damp towel and pull on her thin cotton housecoat.

  “That’s because the last time you did you saw way more of me and my date than you wanted to,” Junie said when she walked back into the living room.

  Lisha paused and frowned at the memory. “You’re right,” she agreed before plopping down on the other end of the sofa and digging her hand inside the torn aluminum foil for a handful of Jiffy Pop popcorn.

  “No need for both of us to be stuck in the house alone with all this rain,” Junie said, flipping through Lisha’s copy of the TV Guide before walking over to the television to turn the channel to Happy Days before plopping back down on the sofa.

  Lisha turned and looked out the window at the rain still coming down outside. The sight of the wetness on the window took her right back to being in her car with Kael. His large frame had made the compact car seem even smaller and there had been no escaping the warm scent of his cologne.

  She shivered a little at how they had stared at each other for the longest moments. Hot e
lectrifying moments.

  “What’s happening with you?”

  Lisha looked over at her. “Huh?” she asked softly.

  She tossed popcorn against Lisha’s forehead. “What’s on your mind?”

  “I had to give Kael a ride from Charleston today when his truck broke down,” she said, picking the popcorn up and tossing it into one of the large glass ashtrays on the coffee table.

  “Kael, the dude you threatened to beat my ass over . . . ON CHURCH GROUNDS?” Junie stressed.

  Lisha held up her hands and shrugged her shoulders. “I did not threaten you,” she began. “I just reminded you of that last fight we had when we were eleven.”

  “Yes, the fight when you punched me in the nose,” she inserted with wide eyes. “And we were only fighting over shoes then, so I can only imagine what you were threatening to do to me over that man.”

  “Anyway . . . he asked me something about ever being in love—”

  “Oooh,” Junie sighed with a wiggle of her thick eyebrows.

  “But then he told me he doesn’t want a girlfriend.”

  “Ew.” Junie frowned.

  “Exactly,” Lisha said, releasing a heavy breath as she twisted her lips in disappointment.

  Brrrnnnggg.

  Lisha hopped up and made her way to the kitchen to answer the telephone. “Hello.”

  “Lisha, hey, this is Shieran.”

  Her surprise at the human resources manager of the clinic calling her was evident. “Hey, Shieran,” she said, her brows puckering as she turned to lean back against the wall.

  As she listened, her scowl deepened. “Okay, that’s fine. See you tomorrow,” she said, very calm and polite even though her heart was pounding away.

  Hanging up the phone she strolled back into the living room. Junie was laughing away at the antics of the Fonz but she looked up and did a double take at Lisha’s expression. “What’s wrong?”

  “I guess Kael wanted to make it clear he wasn’t interested because I just got pulled off his father’s home therapy. Kelli—that’s his daughter—is going to bring him to Charleston for treatment now,” she said. “My job wanted to make sure I came straight to the clinic in the morning.”

  “Well, damn,” Junie said.

  “Well, damn is right,” Lisha agreed, feeling warmth spread through her that was a mix of anger and embarrassment.

  “Passion is the fire that burns from a heart in love.”

  —Unknown

  Interlude

  Present Day

  “Y que sucedió después?”

  The entire Strong clan turned to look at Garcelle and said collectively, “Huh?”

  She threw up her hands. “I said, ‘Well, what happened next?’”

  “Oh,” they all said together.

  “Let me check the turkey,” Lisha said, about to rise from her seat.

  “No, I’ll get it,” Garcelle offered, rising from her seat beside her husband, Kade. “I’ll be right back. Wait on me.”

  As she took steps away from him he held on to her until her the very tips of her fingers stroked his as they pulled apart. She smiled at him and felt all the love she had for the man fill her as she finally turned.

  She sang along to the music playing as she walked down the hall to the large kitchen.

  The island was filled with lid-covered side dishes, various flavors of pies and a huge chocolate cake topped with chopped walnuts. Garcelle already knew from the height that it had to be seven layers. Just like every Christmas, her mother-in-law, whom she adored almost as much as she did her deceased mother, had to cook all of yesterday to have such a feast ready for her large family.

  And family was important especially during the holidays.

  Garcelle was happy to be there with Kade, her stepdaughter, Kadina, her toddler son, Karlos, and the in-laws, but she felt a deep pang that her own family was all together in the Dominican Republic for the holidays. Her father, Carlos, teenaged brother, Paco, and her uncles, Anthony and Raul.

  Maybe next year, Kade, the children and I will travel with my family for the holidays.

  She knew Kade would do it, not because she was vain or demanding, but he was always sure to think of her family as much as she thought of his. She knew he loved her and would understand.

  And she loved him endlessly.

  They had their own story to tell one day, and she was forever in awe that they had to overcome Kade’s grief over the death of his first wife and nearly every woman in Holtsville openly pursuing the handsome and sexy rancher. But it was Garcelle, the woman he hired to take care of his daughter, who had captured his heart again.

  That had been six years ago and never once did he make her feel he’d regretted falling for her. Not once.

  And he always made sure to let her know that he would never forget his first wife, but it was she that filled his heart now. Always.

  She smiled as she opened the oven door and slid on mitts to quickly check the turkey. She moaned in pleasure at the smell of herbs and butter as she basted the turkey before replacing the lid and closing the oven door with her hip.

  “I love those hips.”

  She smiled like a stroked kitten as Kade strolled his six-foot, five-inch muscular frame into the kitchen. The black sweater he wore looked good against his brown complexion and head full of silvery curls.

  Garcelle popped her hip in the opposite direction before raising her hand above her head and doing a back and forth belly dance motion. “‘You know my hips don’t lie,’” she said as she danced toward him.

  “I’ve been watching those hips since you did that dance for me at Kahron and Bianca’s wedding,” he said, placing his hands on her hips and jerking her lower half close as he bent to press a kiss to her neck.

  “Can you believe we hated each other up until then?” she asked him in her sultry Spanish accent, closing her eyes with a moan.

  “I never hated you,” he said, stepping back to twirl her before capturing her around her waist and jerking her body up against him with her feet dangling above the floor.

  Their eyes and lips were leveled as she brought her hands up to rub his scalp. “Te amo, Kade,” she whispered, her eyes flittering over every aspect of his face.

  “I love you more,” he responded before closing the brief distance between them to cover her lips with his own.

  Garcelle deepened the kiss, pulling at his curls as she tasted his tongue with a long sultry purr. She opened her eyes when she felt Kade reach for one of her hands and slide an envelope into it.

  She leaned back from him and looked down at it.

  “Merry Christmas,” he said, looking every bit like Rick Fox.

  Garcelle looked confused. “But you already gave me Sugar,” she said, speaking of the white horse he’d surprised her with that morning.

  “Open it,” Kade said, looking pleased as he rocked on his heels.

  And she did. “Oh, shit,” she exclaimed, stomping her feet before jumping up into his arms again. She began speaking in fluent Spanish that was rapid-fire and Kade just laughed in pleasure.

  Garcelle was a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a registered nurse, a great cook, a spicy lover, a skilled dancer and an even more skilled poker player. The tickets to Vegas for a big-stakes poker tournament? Everything. Absolutely everything.

  She grasped his face and looked deeply into his eyes as she pressed kisses that were hot like fire onto his face. “Cuando llegamos a casa te voy a besar desde la cabeza hasta los dedos de tus pies y no voy a olvidar ninguna parte de tu cuerpo,” she said to him softly in between those kisses that trailed down his body.

  She knew her husband had no clue what she was saying to him, but he knew it boded well for a heated lovemaking session later.

  “I am about to puke with all this lovey-dovey ish,” Kadina said, strolling into the kitchen with Lei close on her heels.

  The two had become the best of friends during Kaitlyn and Quint’s courtship. Now that Kat and Quint were planning
their wedding the teens were about to be family and were even closer.

  “Where are the babies?” Garcelle asked as Kade let her body slide down to rest on her spiked heels.

  “They’re all in the nursery asleep,” Lei said, opening the fridge to pull out two bottles of fruit juice.

  “Give them all kisses for us . . . when you get back upstairs,” Kade said.

  Garcelle chuckled at their expressions as she steered the girls back out of the kitchen and past the living room to the staircase. “Adios,” she sang, watching them both climb the stairs mumbling under their breath.

  Garcelle paused to look down at the tickets in the envelope. Poker in Vegas? She did a little cha-cha step before folding the envelope and sliding it inside her bra as she joined the family. Kade pulled her back against his chest with one arm and she brought both her hands up to grasp it.

  “So . . . I was pissed at this man,” Lisha said, pointing her thumb at Kael as she slid right back into the story.

  “Even after all that chemistry in the car?” Zaria asked.

  “Especially after all that chemistry in the car,” Lisha said, giving Kael a mean side-eye.

  He just chuckled.

  Lisha leaned way back in her chair with a shocked expression.

  Kael feigned innocence, throwing up his hands as his children riled him. “What? Baby, that was forty years ago. We can laugh about it now,” he said, reaching for her hand.

  She slapped it away. “Like I was saying, I had some words for his behind. . . .”

  Chapter 7

  Way back in the day

  Kael pulled the horse’s reins to steer him to the right as he worked along with his part-time ranch hand, Jim, to guide his newly purchased cattle into the corral. Because of his experience and knowledge of ranching, and the fact that he could not afford to hire a large crew, Kael knew most of the work to maintain the ranch would fall on his shoulders. But he was ready.

  Instead of his usual work out of town on other ranches, he accepted a full-time position as a ranch hand for local horse trainer Hank King, right in Holtsville. That kept him closer to home and able to work to keep funding his own cattle ranch. For now he would work his own ranch part-time until he made a substantial profit.