of her friend’s house.
“Come home with me after the party, Jade,” Angelo coaxed. “Forget about propriety and all the rules you’ve wrapped around your life. Just live for the moment.”
His words made sense, but they were wrong. She couldn’t figure out why they were wrong with his hands touching her waist like that, moving higher. But not high enough. “Can’t do that,” she sighed and let her own hands move up his arms, touching his shoulders while her fingers dove into his soft, black hair.
“You can,” he argued softly and nibbled her collar bone. “It’s only your mind telling you that you won’t. Just finish the argument with your mind and give in to what we both want. You need to stop being afraid.”
She heard her name being called from a distance and that was enough to break the sensuous spell that Angelo continued to weave around the two of them whenever they were close. Jade pulled back, taking a deep breath to try and pull herself together. As she looked around, she realized that anyone could have come by and seen them in such a compromising position. She smoothed down her flowered skirt, straightened her white blouse and adjusted the coordinating cardigan that was draped over her shoulder. Hopefully, she didn’t look like a woman who had just been kissing a man. “I’m not afraid to love a man,” she said defensively, but was unable to look up at him. “But I’m not afraid to shoot him either.” She didn’t stop and wait for her angry words to sink in with him. She carefully stepped away, gently stepping through the grass so the heels of her classic pumps didn’t get mud or grass stains on them.
But she was gritting her teeth as she turned the corner, irritated that Angelo hadn’t taken her threat seriously. As she walked back to the other guests, she could still hear his laughter but she simply picked up another wine glass and pretended like she didn’t have any knowledge of what could have caused Angelo’s mirth.
Looking around, she searched for someone she could talk to before Angelo rounded the corner. The idea was to appear as if she weren’t interested in anything he had to say. Unfortunately, some of the other guests were looking at her strangely.
Her friend Deena came up to stand beside her. “Were you just over there talking to Mr. Donati?” she asked, craning her neck to see the man come around the side of the house.
Jade looked at her, eyes filled with innocence. “Mr. Donati? I can’t imagine what’s gotten into him,” she said just as he stepped up onto the deck. Angelo was instantly surrounded by people. The men vied to talk to him but the women were actually the ones that really irritated her. Molly Montgomery sidled up to Angelo, plastering her breasts against his arm as she hugged him. As if Molly and Angelo would ever be good friends! Pah! Molly was a total fake.
“Even her boobs are probably fake,” Deena said, echoing Jade’s thoughts.
Jade couldn’t help it. The moment Deena said that, Jade had just taken a sip of her wine. It turned out to be a competition between the unexpected laughter versus the sip of wine and she wasn’t sure which won. By the time she got it pulled together, several people were looking at her strangely. But the only person that caught her own eye was Angelo and she mentally cursed him when he stood there, leaning against the railing and looking so sexy and all-knowing. There was no way he could know what Deena had just said to her. Could he?
Jade turned around, fanning her face as she apologized to the group standing nearby, then glared at her friend. Deena simply shrugged her shoulders with a secret smile on her face as she handed Jade a plate. “Dinner is ready,” she said more brightly than was needed.
Jade took the plate, looking around for Dave. But when she couldn’t find him, Jade simply assumed he was inside with the other men. She heard the television going but didn’t recognize which sport was being watched. She hated television anyway so she meandered over to the food table and surveyed the options.
“Oh Jade! I made your favorite,” Patricia said. “Grits! Just like you prefer them, right? Butter, no cream or sugar.”
Jade smiled brightly and took the spoon from the bowl, adding a dab of grits that were swimming in butter to her plate. Keeping her face