Pretty Packages (27 page)

People walking along the hallway just outside
Kentucky
and Giada’s room must have heard her husky declaration. Unfortunately, Fabian heard it, too. But not out in the hallway. No, he heard it from the hotel room next door to Giada and
Kentucky
on the left.

Now Fabian wished he’d never followed them out of the restaurant. Now he wished he’d saved his money instead of paying off a few people to find out which room Giada was in and a little extra to get a suite right next to it. Now he wished he’d just gone home.

I have to find some way to get rid of that giant. And I need to do it quick, too, before she has a farmload of ugly babies by him,
Fabian thought, bristling with anger as he snatched away from the wall.

As he exited that lonely hotel room, he knew that an equally lonely condo was waiting for him. That place hadn’t felt like home since Giada left. Now Fabian wanted to get her back even more.

Chapter Twenty-Three

“Were you serious about having my babies?”
Kentucky
asked much later on the ride back to his house. Giada was spending the night again.

“Serious as a heart attack,” she replied from the passenger seat.

“But what about school? Your career?” A worried look crossed
Kentucky
’s features before he added, “What about the possibility of having a hard delivery?”

“I can have babies
and
a career in law.” Giada turned to smile reassuringly at him. “As for the delivery of those babies, I’m a lot stronger than I look. I don’t have these childbearing hips for nothing. And haven’t you noticed how much junk I have in my trunk for my size?” she added, referring to her wide hips and thighs and her ample bottom.

Kentucky
smiled at her answer. “You
are
sturdily built. How soon do you want to start?”

“As soon as we get married. One trip to my ob-gyn is all it’ll take for me to be ready to conceive,” Giada replied, referring to the effective birth control device still implanted in her body.

“Let me make some adjustments in my schedule, move a few funds around for that big wedding I know you want, and then we’ll get married and go on a great honeymoon somewhere exotic. How does July sound?”

Giada smiled. “July sounds great. I’ll be on school break and eligible for a vacation at my job.”

“So it’s settled then. We get married in July and use our honeymoon to start our family. By the way, how many kids do you want?”

“Four,” Giada said, remembering her vision. “Definitely four.”

* * * *

At work the next day, Giada found a bouquet of flowers and a gift certificate to her favorite boutique waiting for her when she came from lunch. She didn’t need to read the card to know that Fabian had sent them.
Kentucky
wasn’t flashy with his gift-giving. He preferred to give her things without all the fanfare.

Calling the number on the card, Giada promptly informed Fabian that he was not to send her any more gifts and that she would be returning the things he sent today, including the airline ticket she still had from another gift-giving day.

“I’ll stop sending you gifts under one condition,” Fabian said, fishing for a compromise.

“What condition?”

“That you keep the stuff I sent you today
and
the airline ticket.”

Giada was about to say that Kentucky wouldn’t like that when she saw the paralegal across from her choke on a sob, slam her phone down, and run toward the ladies’ room in tears. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong to make cool, calm, and collected Velicity act like that.

“Fine, whatever, Fabian. I need to go now. Bye,” Giada said, leaving Fabian hanging midsentence when she hung up.

After rushing off the phone, Giada went to see about Velicity. She left the other paralegal and two legal secretaries to handle the phones alone.

Giada found Velicity in the bathroom sobbing hysterically in front of the mirror. Though the two women normally only tolerated each other, seeing the other woman in obvious pain made it impossible for Giada to remain emotionally detached. She’d never been that hard-hearted toward other women, despite how they’d treated her.

“What’s wrong?” Giada asked, going up to her weeping coworker.

“What does it matter to you?” Velicity snapped, looking distrustful of this unexpected offer of compassion.

“It doesn’t. I just thought I could help ease your pain or something.” Giada shrugged. “But if you can handle it on your own, I’ll just go back to my desk.” She turned to walk away.

“My grandmother just died,” Velicity said, looking desperate for comfort from whomever was offering it.

Giada’s eyes instantly welled up with tears. It was like she was back at the moment of losing her own grandmother. “I’m so sorry, Velicity.” Before she knew it, she’d placed her arm around the grief-stricken woman in comfort.

That hug and a half hour of crying and talking together caused Giada to do something completely unexpected, something she never thought she’d do for another woman in her life. Giada gave Velicity the airline ticket
and
the gift certificate. This way her new friend could fly back to her hometown in first class and looking first-rate.

Though Giada’s act of kindness wouldn’t bring either of their grandmothers back, it did make them both feel better inside. They felt a lot better.

Unfortunately, Giada couldn’t share her kind deed with anyone she loved.
Kentucky
and Hannah would probably both scold her for taking those gifts from Fabian in the first place, despite the fact that she used those gifts for good.

I guess it’s going to have to be enough that
I
know about my good deed.
Giada deemed that the best thing for everyone.
At least I can tell them that I finally found a female friend in my own age group.

* * * *

After Giada abruptly ended their call, a frustrated Fabian decided to put a plan in motion that would not only take
Kentucky
out of the picture temporarily, but possibly for good.

One way or the other, Giada is going to be
my
wife, not yours, country bumpkin
. Fabian dialed the number of an ambitious photographer he had met during his recent tour.

* * * *

Since Velicity was still on extended bereavement leave, Giada didn’t get to formally introduce her to
Kentucky
at the firm’s annual spring fundraising masquerade. However, she was able to introduce him to everyone else.

The men at the firm were initially wary of
Kentucky
. They were intimidated by his size. The black-and-white pirate’s costume he wore only magnified his bulk. Plus, many of them were jealous that he’d gotten the hottest female employee at the firm. That tight lady pirate’s costume Giada wore made the men even more jealous of
Kentucky
since it showed off her assets in the most scrumptious of ways.

Surprisingly the men weren’t wary for long. Kentucky was quickly able to melt their resolve with his intellect, tales of past adventures he’d had with the rich and famous—though he made sure not to call any names—and the motivational goals he had concerning the foster kids in his school. Two hours into the evening and he had accumulated no less than ten potential donors for his school.

The women at the firm had a different reaction to
Kentucky
altogether. From the beginning, they welcomed him into their midst. He had not only removed their biggest competitor from the pool of eligible bachelorettes in the firm, but his body reeked of sex appeal.

The long V-neck opening in the shirt of
Kentucky
’s costume showed off that extraordinary chest of his, causing many women to see why Giada was able to look past his ordinary face. Some of those women had subtly flirted with him right in front of her. Some had gone beyond that as the alcohol consumption increased and people became more uninhibited.

“Okay, you can put your claws back in and relax now,”
Kentucky
whispered in Giada’s ear as they slow danced. She was as stiff as a board in his arms.

“I’ll relax when we leave,” Giada replied stubbornly. “Until then, I’m keeping my guard up in case one of these heifers tries to take my man again.”

Kentucky
chuckled. “As I recall, the last one didn’t want to take me from you. She just wanted to
share
me with you for the night,” he said, referring to the whispered offer from one of the senior partner’s wives.

It seemed that this particular wife was one half of a swinging couple. She and her husband, otherwise known as Mr. Kerrigan, had been lusting after
Kentucky
and Giada all night from afar. When Giada briefly left
Kentucky
’s side for a trip to the ladies’ room, Mrs. Kerrigan propositioned him since it was legally and physically safer for her to do so than her husband.

Though
Kentucky
politely turned down that unexpected offer, the persistent woman lingered until Giada returned. Then Mrs. Kerrigan propositioned the both of them. She even went so far as to accidentally call
Kentucky
“Terminator” during their conversation.

Although
Kentucky
found the whole thing funny and downright flattering, it rubbed Giada the wrong way. As a result, he had to take her to the dance floor in order to avoid an unpleasant confrontation between the two women that might affect Giada’s job come Monday morning.

“I don’t care
what
she wanted. I’m
never
sharing you with another woman,” Giada said as they continued to slowly sway together.

Kentucky
noticed how much tighter she hugged his neck as she said that. “What about Mama? Our female offspring?
They
can’t get any of my time?” he teased, deliberately misinterpreting her words.

Giada laughed, despite her bad mood. “You know what I meant, Kenny. I’m not sharing you
sexually
with another woman.”

“And you never will,”
Kentucky
assured her, bending to plant a tender kiss on her forehead. He didn’t have to bend very far tonight due to the six-inch boots she wore.

“Now that’s what I like to hear.” Giada snuggled against him even more.

Kentucky
smiled, pleased that she’d forgotten all about the Kerrigans and her anger just that quick. A comfortable silence blanketed them as they continued to sway to the Latin beat from the live band.

A few short minutes later,
Kentucky
heard Giada moan deep within her throat. He felt her grind against him soon thereafter as things started to heat up rapidly between them. The contagious sensuality of the music and the prolonged proximity of their bodies had him hot and bothered, too.

At Giada’s second grind,
Kentucky
moaned this time. He lowered his right hand to the tight black bell-bottoms of her costume and squeezed her generous rump. He sent his lips on a mission to capture hers as another moan bubbled up from her throat.