Give Me Fever Read Free

off-hours outdoor adventures into a viable business.
    She smiled a little at how their business friendship had recently blossomed into them casually dating. So far everything was good. She wasn’t looking for a full-blown relationship, but it was nice to have someone to chill and go to the movies or out to dinner with.
    With regret, Jade took one last deep inhale and a leisurely stretch before she rose and left the steam room. She wasted no time dressing in her khaki capris and shirt before throwing her dirty exercise clothes in a bag and heading out the gym.
    “Night, Jade,” the receptionist called out to her.
    Jade waved and smiled. She was a regular—at least twice a week—and she was sure everyone at the small gym knew her well. Outside the gym she tossed her bag into the rear of her brightly colored Jeep Wrangler that she lovingly called Sunshine.
    As she easily shifted the gears of the six-speed manual transmission, the night air breezing against her body felt good and she was glad she had taken the black soft-top off. She had the Wrangler wide open in the wind because she was so ready to get home to the little cottage she rented from the twin brothers who owned Jamison Contractors. The brothers—who both were sexy as all get out and happily married—had completely renovated their grandparents’ cottage and Jade had jumped at the chance to rent it when she decided it was time to move out of her parents’ house.
    As soon as she reached Holtsville’s town limits, Jade slowed her vehicle down, not wanting to get a speeding ticket. Holtsville, South Carolina, was the epitome of small-town America, and Jade loved it. There were under a thousand people living in Holtsville compared to the over five thousand people living in nearby Walterboro. It felt like everyone knew each other or at least knew someone that knew someone else. True, sometimes the gossip of the closely knit townspeople worked her last nerve, but she loved the forest in her backyard, the charm of the small Main Street area, and the fact there was nary a traffic light in the whole town. She loved the laid-back pace. The sound of animals talking in the nighttime. The star-filled nights. The natural smell in the air after rain. Country fairs and festivals.
    She’d take country living over city living in a heartbeat. She was born and raised up in Holtsville. She would enjoy the rest of her years there as well.
    Jade slowed down, making the left by the lone one-pump gas station in Holtsville. Usually if she made it home in time she would stop and sit on the porch with Cyrus Dobbs, the grizzly silver-haired owner who was more false teeth than anything.
    Soon she was turning onto the cement-paved driveway of her little two-bedroom cottage. She paused and smiled at how warm, cozy, and inviting it looked. The porch light was on above the built-in swing. Her colorful flower beds perfectly accentuated the wood of the cottage and the black of the shutters and front door.
    Pulling forward some more to park in the front yard, Jade grabbed her keys and her bag. She was walking up onto the wooden stoop of the cottage when a car whizzed past and the driver tooted its horn. Jade just threw up her hand in greeting, not even bothering to look and see who it was. In the country, everybody greeted each other in passing.
    As she stepped into the house, the scent of her perfumed body spray still hung in the air. She hit the switch to turn on the living room lights and quickly walked around the room lighting the dozens of scented candles she adored.
    She loved the little cottage. It was small and intimate. Just enough room for one.
    Jade had just snuggled into the corner of her caramel microsuede couch to eat the rest of the salad she made last night when there was a solid knock at her front door. Frowning, she eyed the clock above the stone fireplace. It was going on ten o’clock.
    Still chewing, she rose from the chair to walk over to one of the two large windows