Give Me Fever (20 page)

“Don’t leave me.”

He nodded and hugged her closer as he planted a warm kiss to her forehead.

They both looked up as hard footsteps echoed down the hall and then the doorway to the waiting room was suddenly filled with activity. Kaeden knew the tall and curvaceous woman with the waist-length weave, form-fitting jeans, blinged-out T-shirt, and stilettos was Jade’s mother, Deena.

The two women looked like sisters.

“I got here as soon as I could,” Deena said, moving to sit down beside Jade and placed a comforting hand—complete with inch-long acrylic nails—on her thigh.

“Thanks, Ma. I called Daddy and he’s on his way, so please don’t start, this is not about y’all or y’all marriage,” Jade said wearily, her head still on Kaeden’s shoulder.

“How’s your grandfather?” Deena asked as she sat her large gold handbag on the empty chair beside her.

“He’s stable now. It wasn’t his heart. His sugar was too high. They finally got it down and they’re waiting on a private room to move him,” Jade told her mom.

They all fell silent.

“And you must be Kaeden,” Deena said.

“Yes ma’am,” he said, leaning forward slightly to offer Deena his hand.

She accepted it and sized him up. “Oh, okay. Okay,” she said with a nod of her head. “I see it. I’m feeling the sexy nerd thing. All right.”

He took that as her form of approval.

Jade released a very long and very heavy sigh.

Kaeden hugged her closer.

Unlike Deena, the appearance of Jade’s father and stepmother was surprising. Suddenly they were there. A tall and handsome bald-headed man with a silver-flecked goatee and a beautiful woman who was obviously around Jade’s age.

“Careful, Harrison, it might be past her bedtime,” Deena drawled sarcastically.

“Mama,” Jade snapped, sitting up.

“At least she’s acting her age,” Harrison drawled in return, reaching back to take his wife’s hand in his—a decidedly protective move.

“Daddy!” Jade snapped, turning in her chair to eye him.

“What?” he asked in all his over-fifty swagger in his silk shirt, linen shorts, and leather sandals. “This is my father laid up in the hospital, so why does my wife have to be accosted as soon as we walk in the room?”

“I could care less about you and my mini-me wannabe, you played-out eighties reject,” Deena snapped as she jumped to her stilettoed feet.

Kaeden watched Jade’s stepmother step back like she was afraid Deena was going to attack her. Beside him Jade dropped her head in her hands.

“The eighties? Careful, Deena, your age is showing,” Harrison drawled before he twisted his gold watch on his arm and sat down across from Deena’s seat.

His wife eyed Deena carefully as she eased by her and took the seat next to Harrison.

“Are you thirsty, baby? I think I could dig up one of Jade’s old bottles for you,” Deena threw over her shoulder before she reclaimed her seat.

“Pick with someone your own age, Deena. I’m sure there’s a geriatric wing or something.”

Deena hopped to her feet again and Harrison jumped to his until they were nose to nose arguing and name calling.

Jade stood to push them apart. “I’m sick of both of you. When did I become the dang on parent, because both of you acting childish,” she snapped at them both before she stalked out of the waiting room.

The silence following her exit was awkward.

Kaeden gave them a smile and then hurried out of the room. Jade was standing at the end of the hall with her forehead pressed against the glass. Her shoulders shook and he knew she was crying.

He said absolutely nothing as he wrapped his arms around her from behind. It was like she was waiting for him because her body went weak as she turned to press her face into his neck. “Kaeden, you are my rock. My constant. When I’m with you I feel calm and I feel protected. I thank you so much for that. I thank you for being the one piece of sanity in my crazy-ass life,” she whispered to him as her tears wet him.

“And I will be that for you as long as you let me, Jade,” he whispered back to her, hoping to create a separate world for her in his arms. Kaeden placed comforting kisses along the side of her face.

Jade didn’t see her little cottage for two entire days while she waited for her grandfather to be released from the hospital. Everyone else came and went but she was the constant, sleeping on that awful pull-out armchair in his private room and just being there to watch television with him. Mostly she tried to keep his independent mind off going home before it was time.

Kaeden had brought her a change of clothes and kept her free of hospital food for dinner, coming to the hospital as soon as he closed the Strong Accountings offices. And she loved that he and her grandfather had gotten along so quickly and so well. Once she even fell asleep in her chair and woke up to find them still talking.

Kaeden had shown and proven that he was her rock. Just another layer to the man that she was finding to be quite addictive.

For the week following her grandfather’s release, Jade had spent a lot of time at her grandfather’s making sure he was sticking to his diet and taking his pills. Kaeden had been so patient with her and so supportive. He would come and spend time at her grandfather’s with her. When her parents would show up to visit at the same time, he would play the buffer between them and fill one up with random conversation so that they didn’t have time to argue with the other. And when she was exhausted from going on expeditions or tours and still rushing to her grandfather’s, at night he would massage her down, cook her dinner, and just let her sleep in his arms.

Finally her grandfather had sent them all away, wanting his freedom and independence back.

That had been two weeks ago, but Jade clearly remembered a brief but very significant conversation they shared one evening on his porch.

Settled into the passenger seat of Kaeden’s BMW, she turned and looked at him. Was she truly having that loving feeling for Kaeden? Was she that one woman for this one man? Was that why that first night between them was pure chemistry?
Do I love you, Kaeden? It feels like I do
, she thought as her eyes caressed his handsome angular profile.
And better yet, do you love me?

“My grandfather likes you.”

Kaeden looked over at her briefly, looking handsome and unusually casual in a T-shirt and jeans. “I like him too. He’s deep.”

Jade laughed huskily. “Now, you know what happens when the word ‘deep’ is flung around,” Jade said in a husky voice.

Kaeden shivered as Jade ran her hand along his thigh. “Actually, I have a busy day today…but let’s meet up at Grilling and Chilling for lunch.”

“How about we turn around, go back to your house, and reconnect
before
you go to work?” Jade asked as she undid his zipper and slid her hand inside to stroke him.

“You know once I get in I’m never in a rush to get out.”

Jade playfully pouted.

Bzzzzzz.

Kaeden reached to his hip for his BlackBerry. He released an exasperated breath at the sight of Felecia’s number. He sent the call straight to voice mail.

“Who was that?” Jade asked in curiosity as she looked down to see him lengthen in her hand.

“Felecia.”

She released him.

His erection eased.

The mood was killed.

“Hey!” Kaeden said, looking down at his now-limp member lying there.

Jade waved her hand at him dismissively and shifted in her seat to look out the window.

“If I put him up, he’s not coming out later,” Kaeden warned her.

Jade looked over her shoulder at him and shrugged. “I’m not a jealous person, but I am really sick of Felecia, Kaeden. She called your house phone all night until we had to turn off the ringer, and I think I saw her drive through your subdivision this morning. You have a bona fide stalker.”

“Imagine if I had gave her some,” he quipped.

Jade cut her eyes at him. “Not funny.”

“Listen, I don’t want to be with Felecia.”

“I know that. I believe that. I trust that. But I am still sick of her,” Jade emphasized. “The way I feel is not jealousy or fear or insecurity, it is pure annoyance. Now either you handle it or I will. I mean it.”

They fell quiet as they entered the main strip of Holtsville. When Kaeden slowed down at her turnoff, Jade waved her hand. “I’ll just go into the office now. No need to drive two cars when you’re staying with me tonight anyway. Plus I need to talk to Darren about something.”

“Now
I’m
sick of him,” Kaeden muttered as he adjusted slightly in his seat.

“Hell, so am I. I had no idea he would still be holding a grudge. He is really showing me a side of him that I didn’t know was there, and I’m not sure I want to be in business with someone who is vindictive and mean.”

As Kaeden came to a stop sign, they glanced over at each other at the same time. That made them laugh together, and the disjointed mood between them dissipated.

Kaeden slid his keys into his pocket as soon as he walked through the door of his offices. He was glad to get out of the sweltering summer heat and into the air-conditioning. It was a week before July, and the only respite from the heat was air-conditioning and a tall iced glass of sweet tea.

Kaeden jogged upstairs and rushed into the bedroom. He emerged not long after in a navy suit and a crisp French blue shirt that he decided to wear with the top two buttons undone.

As a black man who owned his own business, Kaeden always made sure to present a professional image. He catered to all businesses regardless of who owned them, and unfortunately he was well aware that he couldn’t present himself in the same fashion as his white counterparts.

As he jogged down the wooden stairs, he was able to see the front door open and Darren walk in. His steps paused just a bit before he flexed his shoulders and continued on. “You have some nerve coming here,” Kaeden said coldly as he entered the outer office. “What? You come to write another check your ass can’t cash?”

“Actually, I thought about it and I owe you an apology,” Darren said, sliding his hands into the pockets of his distressed denims. “I shouldn’t have taken out my frustrations with Jade on you.”

Kaeden crossed his arms over his chest as he eyed the man suspiciously from behind his glasses.

“I mean, if I ran around trying to fight every man Jade slept around with…” Darren shrugged.

“Don’t disrespect her like that,” Kaeden warned, fighting the urge to knock the hell out of the man again.

Darren held up his hands. “No disrespect. Just truth. I feel like a fool for trusting her and over and over again when she was lying to me. Man, Jade is a player. Men are constantly trying to get at her, and all that attention is hard for a woman like Jade to ignore. Don’t let her make a fool out of you like she did me.”

Kaeden pierced Darren with his eyes. “You two never slept together.”

Darren looked shocked. “Come on, man, is that what she told you?”

Kaeden said nothing.

“You really think you’re the only man Jade is messing around with?” Darren asked, shaking his head like it was a shame.

Kaeden wiped his mouth with his hand.

“Come on, she cheated on me with you, so you think she not gone do the same to you?”

Kaeden walked to the door. “Listen, man, I heard enough of this.”

Darren nodded as he turned on his heel and walked to the door himself. “I used to be caught up in her just like you, and regardless of what she tells you, she can’t be trusted. She’s real good with the whole ‘I can’t stand jealousy in my man’ kick. Just another way to keep you off her trail.”

Kaeden opened the door wider as his jaw clenched.

Darren stepped through the door. “Oh, and um, I’m sure only someone who’s been that close knows about the mole.” He threw that over his shoulder before he walked out the door.

Kaeden slammed the door shut. The mole was on the inner lip of Jade’s intimacy.
That
would have to be one helluva guess.

He walked into his office and dropped down into the chair behind his desk. He focused his eyes on the rows of trees on both sides of the driveway as he fought the urge to call and confront Jade.

The seeds of doubt had been planted.

Jade looked up from her laptop as Darren strolled into the Wild-n-Out office.

“Hi, Jade,” he said in a friendly voice as he strolled past her office and walked into his.

Jade arched a brow and leaned back in her chair, completely shocked by his sudden change in demeanor. She was pondering the cause for the niceties when he appeared at her doorway. “Listen, I just want to apologize to you for the way I’ve been acting. First and foremost, I should have put the business and our friendship first. I didn’t do that.”

Jade turned her lips down as she rocked in her ergonomic chair and looked at him. “I appreciate your apology, Darren. It has been really hard working with you and I considered selling my share to you and leaving it alone, but I hoped we would be able to get back to business.”

“I’ll tell you what, let’s go catch some lunch,” he offered. “A peace offering on my behalf.”

“Rain check? I already have lunch plans,” she said.

Darren nodded. “With Kaeden?”

Jade started to be vague for the greater good, but maybe the greatest good was being 100 percent honest. “Yes,” she answered him softly.

“I guess the better man won.”

Jade locked her eyes with his. “There wasn’t a competition. I’m a woman, not a prize or a trophy.”

Darren held up his hands. “I better head to my office before I say something and wreck our big makeup scene.”

Jade gave him a genuine smile. “That sounds like a plan.”

He patted her door frame with his hand twice before he turned and walked back to his own office.

Jade picked up her office phone and dialed Kaeden’s office line and then his cell phone. She frowned when she didn’t get an answer on either one. They did have plans to eat lunch.

She grabbed her purse and walked outside to the street to see if she spotted his car. Nothing. Grabbing her cell phone, she dialed his cell and office numbers again with no luck.

Come on, Kaeden. Where are you?

She was just turning to walk back into the office when she spotted his BMW turn the corner and head up the one-way street. Jade smiled as she stepped off the sidewalk just as the car pulled to a stop beside her. She opened the car door and climbed inside. “Hey, baby, I’ve been calling your phone,” she told him as she slipped her seat belt on.

Kaeden said nothing.

Jade looked at him. She frowned a little at his silence and the hard cut of his jaw. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he told her shortly.

“Look, if you’re in a bad mood you could’ve left me at work ’til you cool off, calm down, or get over it,” Jade told him, annoyed at his behavior.

Kaeden said nothing as he drove.

It took Jade a minute to realize he was not headed to their favorite lunchtime restaurant but instead was headed down Highway 17 toward Holtsville. “Where are you taking me?”

“Home to get your car…unless Darren was going to take you home?” he said sarcastically.

“What the hell are you talking about? And why do I need my Jeep when you’re coming to my house anyway?” Jade asked as she turned in her seat to face him.

“I’m not coming to your house. I’m headed home. I have a lot on my mind right now,” he told her coldly.

Jade hated the fear she felt at Kaeden’s attitude. “Like what?” she asked.

He shook his head. “I really don’t feel like talking to you right now, Jade.”

That stung her deeply. “Like. What,” she stressed, even as she felt like the rug was being pulled from underneath her.

Kaeden just sped up like he was really anxious to get away from her.

Jade looked at him like she didn’t know him. Her heart pounded and she felt ill because she was so clueless to the cause for his obvious anger. Clueless and helpless.

Turning forward in her seat, she sat there stunned.

Kaeden suddenly turned in the parking lot of a gas station. He turned angry eyes on her. “I thought you told me you never slept with Darren.”

Jade whirled to stare at him. “What?”

“If you never slept with Darren, then how does he know about your mole?”

“Where is all this coming from?” she asked him.

“All of what?”

“All of these lies?”

Kaeden locked his eyes on her. “Are they lies?”

Jade’s jaw literally dropped. “Kaeden, are you kidding me right now?”

“You slept with me on the first night while you was dating him,” he fed into the silence.

“And I told you that I never slept with Darren. I told you that he’s mad because I didn’t. And I told you that you could trust me the same way I trust you, always up on the phone trying to console Felecia the Fruit Loop.”