Pretty Packages (13 page)

Where was Giada going?

To
Kentucky
’s cabin.

Why?

She felt guilty for running Pinky away and wanted to apologize to him. Maybe then her headache would go away.

Kentucky
wasn’t in his cabin tonight. He was in the weight room right next to it. Giada could hear his loud grunts from the narrow hallway. Her core instantly began to clench with need as she recalled a few more times when he’d grunted from exertion.

Entering the weight room, Giada had to take a deep breath to calm herself as her eyes lit upon
Kentucky
’s glistening chest. He was exercising in nothing but a pair of shorts. There weren’t even any shoes or socks on his feet.

“Kenny,” Giada said a bit on the breathless side. She had to take another deep breath, lest she lose all control. As for her headache, it had miraculously disappeared at the sight of him.

Kentucky
paused from his repetition, put the weights down, and gave her his full attention. “What do you want now, Giada?” he said, once again asking a question he likely already knew the answer to. Surely he could see the desire all over her. The sight of her taut peaks straining against her dress had to give him some kind of clue.

I want you
. Giada kept that thought to herself.

She wanted
Kentucky
back, all right, but only on her terms. If she was the first to give in, in any way, everything would be on
his
terms. Giada couldn’t have that. She liked being the one in control of the relationship, or at least the one with the most control.

“I wanted to come and apologize for running Pinky off tonight,” Giada finally replied. “I told a lie on you in the ladies’ room that scared her off. I couldn’t sleep with it on my conscience.”

“What was the lie?”
Kentucky
asked, not looking surprised at all by this news. He knew that Giada lied all the time to get what she wanted.

Giada looked down at her hands. “I told her that you were heavily into S & M. I’m sorry, Kenny.”

Kentucky
shook his head in disgust. “I
knew
you had done something in that bathroom. I just didn’t know what.” He rose from the weight bench. “Now I want to know why. Why would you sabotage my evening with Pinky, or any other woman?”

“What difference does it make? I said I was sorry, didn’t I?” Giada retorted, meeting his gaze head-on.

“Yes, you did, but I don’t believe you,”
Kentucky
fired back, reaching for a nearby blue towel to wipe the sweat off his face. “I don’t believe for a second that you’re sorry about running Pinky off. I think, given the opportunity, you’d do it again.”

Incensed by how perceptive he was of her, Giada turned to leave the room. “Think what you want to think, Kenny,” she said over her shoulder.

“Oh, you don’t want to know what I think,”
Kentucky
said, throwing the towel down. “I think you didn’t come in here to apologize at all. I think you came to get what you kept Pinky from getting tonight.” Talking low, he walked behind her, taunting her with the truth.

Giada stopped midstride and looked back at him. Then she snatched up the back of her dress, smacked a bare cheek, and said, “Kiss my—”

Kentucky
closed the distance between them before she ever got the last word out. “I have already done that, remember?” he whispered. “Matter of fact, I have kissed nearly every square inch of your gorgeous body.”

Giada shuddered with need at that potent reminder. His warm breath fanning across the top of her head made her shudder again. How was it possible to want someone this badly?

“Now if you won’t be truthful with me, Giada, at least be truthful with yourself. I know I’ve been very honest with myself lately,”
Kentucky
continued, “brutally honest.” He let out a deep, husky chuckle.

“Be truthful about what?” Giada nearly panted out.
Kentucky
was closer to her than he’d been in a month. And he still hadn’t touched her yet. He hadn’t even touched the bare right cheek that was still exposed to him. How much willpower did this man have?

“About the way we feel toward each other. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I probably will always be attracted to you.”
Kentucky
moved back a few steps. “You can look at me now and see that. My body can’t seem to help but want you.”

Giada looked down and moaned at the evidence of his desire. It pleased her to know that their argument had stimulated him as much as it had her. Now all
Kentucky
had to do was act on that stimulus. Just one advance toward her and Giada would gladly become his again, regardless of his finances.

“But I’ve also resigned myself to the fact that those two nights we had together were probably all we were meant to have. You belong to Fabian now, and I’ve learned to respect that over the last few weeks. And because I respect your new relationship, I’m going to do
this
for both of our sakes.”

Kentucky
reached over and tugged down her dress.

Giada’s eyes watered. “I don’t know what to say, Kenny.”

“No need to say anything now, Giada. Just go back to your man.”
Kentucky
turned away from her and readjusted his shorts. “My only advice is that, if you’re gonna stay with Fabian, you really need to be more watchful. I caught him pouring
real
champagne in your glass when you were in the ladies’ room. No telling how often he’d done it while I was away from the table dancing.”
Kentucky
went over to the small fridge for a liter of bottled water.

“No wonder those last glasses of the fake champagne tasted so differently.” Giada touched her head. “That’s probably why I had that headache by the time we got back to the boat, too.” She was mad again, at a different man and for a different reason now.

“Probably. Either way, if you two are gonna go the distance, he needs to respect your vow of sobriety. Have you told him why you don’t drink? You know, the whole situation about your mother?”
Kentucky
opened the bottled water and took a long swig, as if he needed the cold liquid to cool his hot body down even faster.

“No. I don’t really share my history with people,” Giada replied, watching his Adam’s apple bob up and down as he drank heartily. She found it sexy.

Surprise was on
Kentucky
’s face as he lowered the bottle from his mouth. “I can’t believe you’ve been living with this man all these months and he doesn’t at least know
that
about your background.” Giada had shared that information with him the second night they were together.

“Maybe it’s time that you told Fabian what happened with your mother. I’m sure he will understand and refrain from repeating what he did tonight.”

“Maybe so.” Giada grew thoughtful. “Well, goodnight, Kenny.”

“Good night, Giada.”
Kentucky
waved good-bye as she turned to leave.

* * * *

When Giada disappeared out of
Kentucky
’s sight, he sagged against the nearest wall. That encounter had taken more out of him than his workout routine.

There would be no soaking in the Jacuzzi for him tonight.
Kentucky
was going to take a super cold shower and then head straight to bed.

* * * *

The whole way back to her own cabin, Giada kept replaying some of
Kentucky
’s words in her mind.
“Be truthful with yourself.”

If the truth really be known, Giada wanted
Kentucky
now more than ever before. The way he’d stood against temptation tonight, how honest he’d been about still wanting her, and even the way he respected her relationship with another man, all made her want him back.

I’m going to get him back, too,
Giada told herself, ready to dump Fabian right now. She was ready to be rid of him even more so now that he’d proven himself untrustworthy by spiking her drink.

Yet Giada wouldn’t break things off with Fabian right away. No, she would bide her time on this ship a little longer just to see if she could get next to Kentucky.

Chapter Twelve

The next morning, Giada complained of an even worse headache than the night before. Today’s headache confined her to bed for most of the day, spoiled her mood for sex, and even a kiss.

Although Giada’s head was actually fine, she wanted to prick Fabian’s conscience for what he’d done to her. She even brought up how her alcoholic mother, who made her despise alcohol altogether, used to have headaches like these all the time just to see if Fabian would confess to spiking her drink.

When a new diamond bracelet came around 4 p.m. instead of a confession, that’s when Giada knew that Fabian really was guilty. The fact that he thought a gift would somehow assuage his guilt and her pain made her heart wax even colder toward him. Now she really didn’t want him anymore, no matter how generous he was.

From that day forward, Giada stopped being so affectionate with Fabian in public. She even slowed down any private affection. Instead of sexing him up four to five times a week, she barely had sex with him once this week. And even that was only a quick get-in-get-out deal.

Fabian complained about the abrupt change in their sex life, but Giada didn’t care. All she cared about now was getting
Kentucky
back—the man she secretly lusted for, the man she secretly loved.

Yes, Giada was in love with
Kentucky
. She’d been in love with him for a while now. It just had taken her this long to truly realize it and admit it to herself.

* * * *

One week later, Giada realized something else—haste was now in order. She really needed to step up her pace if she was ever going to get
Kentucky
back. That realization stemmed from a phone call he got just that morning from a woman named Bev.

Bev was the wife of one of
Kentucky
’s friends. She was also an unapologetic matchmaker since the call mainly centered around her wanting to know why
Kentucky
kept dumping her girlfriends and female associates.

Giada ascertained this information based on
Kentucky
’s responses as he sat at the far end of the rectangular breakfast table. Her ears had never been more alert.

Fabian was at the head of the table. Giada was to his right. Bartley was on the left. The two men nearest her were talking business as usual.

Giada was glad that Fabian was preoccupied with something other than her. It gave her a chance to focus even more on
Kentucky
’s conversation. It was a good thing his deep voice wasn’t made for low whispering. Otherwise she wouldn’t have heard a word he said from where she sat.

Now all Giada needed to do was keep moving her food around on her plate and take a nibble here and there in pretense of eating. No need to mess up what she had with Fabian completely until she knew she had the man she really wanted.