Give Me Fever. Niobia Bryant

it, so I’m leading the tour,” she said as the silver cell phone in her hand vibrated and she looked down at it. “I have to take this. Excuse me.”

      She walked a few feet away and Kaeden’s gut clenched like a bowling ball had connected. Jade was leading the camping trip.

      “A woman going camping. What, is she gay? Well excuse me, K.D. Degeneres,” Felecia drawled under her breath sarcastically.

      Kaeden ignored her as Jade closed her phone and walked back to him. The way that cotton was clinging to her thighs was truly distracting, and Kaeden had to force his eyes to stay locked on her face.

      “I actually have to go, something came up, but either myself or Darren will call and make an appointment to meet with you,” she said, a smile on her full lips.

      Kaeden nodded. “Sounds like a plan,” he said.

      Jade gave Felecia a smile and turned to leave.

      “I guess I’ll see you in the morning,” he called out behind her.

      Jade paused in the doorway.

      Felecia jumped up to her feet.

      “You’re going?” they both asked.

      Am I crazy, he thought. “Oh yes, I wouldn’t miss it for anything,” Kaeden said, sounding far more confident than he felt.

      Jade sighed as she sank lower beneath the steamy and sudsy depths of the cast iron claw-foot tub. The lights were off and the scented candles of various shapes and sizes were lit. The soft sounds of her favorite mix of R&B played softly. A frosted goblet of white sangria sat on a small stool by the tub waiting to be sipped, right alongside her cordless phone, which was ready to be ignored. It was the complete scene for relaxation for one.

      This was Jade’s routine the night before she did a tour and the night after she returned from the tour. It was great for relaxing her physically and mentally.

      She slid one leg down the length of the other, enjoying the silky feel of the almond-scented oil she added to the water. The movement caused the lips of her core to connect and she felt a delicious thrill of awareness shimmy over her body.

      “At least I know my punany still works,” she mumbled to herself as she draped one of her legs over the side of the tub.

      Jade hadn’t indulged in the opposite sex in at least a year and although she enjoyed going out on dates with Darren, she hadn’t discovered the little “do me” urge with him yet. She was far from a prude and she would have never guessed she would slip into the role of the born-again virgin.

      It was sad to admit that her mama was getting more than she was. Jade smirked as she reached over to pick up her goblet of white sangria with slices of green apples, oranges, pears, and peaches. Just one glass to help relax her.

      Jade tilted her head back and used her tongue to wrangle a peach slice into her mouth. “Hmmmm,” she moaned in pure satisfaction.

      Her cordless phone rang, completely breaking her peace and serenity. Opening just one eye, she looked at it sitting up straight on top of the stool. Darren’s cell phone number displayed on the screen. “Not to-night,” she sang, before she closed her eyes and sunk lower into the water.

      Darren flipped his cell phone as he sat in his pickup with his green eyes locked on the soft glow of light from the small window on the side of Jade’s small cottage.

      She was in the bath. He knew it.

      Darren smiled as he reversed his truck out of the yard from behind her parked Wrangler. Ever since he first laid eyes on Jade Prince walking into the factory where he worked, he had been determined to get to know her and to claim her.

      They went from coworkers to friends to business partners over the years. As far as they had progressed in the last three years was “dating.”

      With one last look back at her house, Darren made his way home well aware that patience was a virtue.

      The entire Strong clan was spending the night at the ranch since the men had to be up by three in the morning for Jade to pick them up. Kaeden had to admit he was enjoying everyone being under one roof, especially since there was no chance of getting a spanking for the things they did. The entire clan was lounging over drinks on the porch, but Kaeden had sought the company of his niece and nephew.

      Kaeden smiled broadly as his nephew giggled in glee when he tossed him up into the air and caught him.

      “Did you used to toss me up like that when I was a baby, Uncle Kaeden?” Kadina asked loudly, the earphones from her iPod snugly in place as she lay on the floor also watching television.

      Kaeden straddled chubby KJ on his knees before he reached down and flicked one of the earphones from her ear. “No, because you would cry, but you did like when I would bite your neck.”

      “Bite my neck!” she squealed before she giggled.

      KJ laughed as well before he clapped his hands and leaned forward to press his forehead against Kaeden’s mouth—his signal that he wanted to be kissed there. Kaeden immediately obliged.

      “Thank you, Un-cle Kae-den.”

      Kaeden loved his niece and nephew. In fact, he was usually the one to spoil them (a la Kadina’s iPod). Any time he could spend with them was time well spent as far as he was concerned—especially since Kadina was growing up so quickly before their eyes. Gone was the cute little kid with the curly afro puffs to suddenly be replaced by a blossoming preteen with bangs and a long ponytail who liked boys more than dolls.

      Kadina sat up and removed her other earphone. “Uncle Kaeden, are…you…sure you should go camping?” she asked, her face clouded with doubt.

      He his back a smile as he let a squirming KJ climb down off his lap to the polished hardwood floors. “I’m sure. Why?”

      “Because if you’re bitten by the wrong thing you’ll swell up like a tick about to pop,” Kadina told him, her tone completely dry as she gave him a “you know I’m right” look.

      He definitely been there and done that before. There was the bee sting of 1986, the ant bite of 1992, and the wasp incident in 2001. Kaeden shook his head at the memories. “I’ll be careful,” he promised her.

      Kadina fell silent with her bright eyes locked on him closely, even as KJ waddled over to her and then unceremoniously plopped down onto her lap. “Jade Prince sure is pretty,” Kadina said slyly.

      Kaeden tensed and then forced himself to relax. “Yeah…I guess. She a’ight.”

      “Pee-pee, Dina. Pee,” KJ said, jumping up to his sneakered feet.

      “Kadina, you better get him to the bathroom,” Kaeden warned.

      She sat her iPod on the leather ottoman in front of the big-screen television as she hopped to her feet. She grabbed KJ’s hand. “No chance you like Miss Jade, is it, Uncle Kaeden?” she asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

      “Un-cle Kae-den and Jade,” KJ said, even as he pinched at his zipper and squirmed.

      Kaeden leaned back in the chair to look up at his far too wise—and nosy—niece. “Curiosity killed the cat, little girl,” he told her.

      Kadina swung her little cousin up onto her hip. “Don’t worry, Unc, your secret is safe with me,” she promised with an impish smile before she rushed KJ to the bathroom.

      Felecia bit the gloss from her bottom lip as she hung up her phone and dramatically flung it to the foot of her four-poster bed. Kaeden wasn’t home and his cell phone was going straight to voice mail. “Good heaven,” she said aloud to herself, knowing her scheme to trick Kaeden into skipping the camping trip had just scored a big fail since she couldn’t reach him.

      “What woman in their right mind would send their man in the woods with Jade Prince?” Felecia wrung her hands anxiously. They would be gone from early Thursday and