Pretty Packages (32 page)

“Why, Kenny?” Giada whispered in an anguished tone.

“If I let you in, if I so much as
touch
you, I’m gonna forget that you didn’t wait for me,”
Kentucky
replied. “I’m gonna forget that you went back to a man that I despise. I’m gonna forget a lot of things that I need to remember in order to keep my sanity, to keep moving on with my own life.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t wait longer for you, Kenny.” Giada pressed up against the screen door in desperation. Who cared that it was broad daylight and that anyone walking past could see her humbled to the core?

“I will always regret listening to the advice of others by stepping back into the dating pool too soon after your supposed death,” Giada continued. “But that’s all I’ve done is step back in. I haven’t swum in that pool at all. The only thing I’ve done is go out with Fabian, exchange a few kisses here and there, but nothing else. I haven’t even allowed the man to get in a quick feel, and I definitely don’t love him. I love you, Kenny. You!” She banged on the screen door with high emotion at the end.

“Giada, please—”
Kentucky
began. His felt his own eyes fill with moisture now as unbridled love filled his heart.

“No, let me finish,” Giada interrupted in a lower tone this time. “I know it doesn’t seem like I waited on you, but I actually did. My heart and my body have been temporarily on hold until the man that owns them both came to reclaim them. You’re that man, Kenny. I have never stopped loving you. I have never stopped wanting you inside of me.” Giada licked her lips and whispered, “I want you inside of me so bad right now that it hurts, baby. It hurts.”

Kentucky
moaned with need. His body was stiff and on fire with desire. He ran a hand from his forehand to his chin, trying to regain some composure. “I can’t share you, Giada. I never could.”

His voice was a deep, husky whisper. “Besides, the world thinks you’re his.
He
thinks you’re his.”

“I could care less what the world thinks,” Giada snapped, wiping her face free of tears. “As for Fabian . . .” She took a step back from the screen, snatched open her purse, and pulled out her new cell phone. Within seconds she had dialed Fabian’s number and pressed the speaker so that
Kentucky
could hear the conversation, too.

“Hey, baby,” Fabian said, obviously recognizing her number on his caller ID.

“Listen, Fabian, I just called to say I’m not going to be going out with you anymore, so please don’t send me any gifts, cards, or anything else to try to change my mind. It’s over between us, for good this time,” Giada said, speaking into the phone, but looking right at
Kentucky
.

“Can you at least tell me why? What did I do wrong?” Fabian asked, sounding very upset.

“Kenny’s back, and if he’ll have me, I’m going to spend the rest of my life with him,” Giada concluded before hanging up the call. “Does that prove where my heart is? Where I want my body to be?” she asked
Kentucky
.

Before he could get a word out, her cell phone rang. It was Fabian calling back.

“Move out the way, Mercedes,” Giada told her dog, who’d long since settled upon the porch to watch the humans interact.

When the obedient pup moved to the left,
Kentucky
watched as Giada threw the cell phone down on the porch and began to stomp on it with all of her might. Every stomp healed another section of his broken heart. The stomping didn’t end until the phone made no sound at all. Even the lighted panel was destroyed.

“Well, are you going to answer my questions or not?” a breathless Giada asked, looking at Kentucky again as her large bosom moved up and down from her emotional and physical exertion.

In response,
Kentucky
unlocked the screen door and snatched Giada into his arms. “I love you so much,” he whispered, lifting her upon his waist.

“I love you, too,” Giada whispered back and then literally attacked his lips right there on the front porch.

As
Kentucky
melted into that scorching kiss, Mercedes darted inside the house through the open door and began to leap happily upon the familiar furniture she encountered.

Meanwhile, the kissing couple started to grind against each other with ferocious need. With two large handfuls of Giada’s plump bottom,
Kentucky
squeezed and pressed her closer still. He wanted, needed her as close as possible.

They were abruptly reminded of where they were when Mrs. Connors blew her car horn in passing.

“Let’s go to my room, baby,” a breathless
Kentucky
suggested after reluctantly breaking the kiss.

“Under the circumstances, I think we might have to break Mama’s rule today.”

Giada shook her head. “No, let’s go get married first. If I’ve learned nothing else all these months, it’s that life is too short to waste one minute of it with the wrong person and on the pursuit of material things. I want to be your wife the next time we make love. I don’t care if we have to fly all the way to Vegas to do it. My treat.”

Kentucky
smiled at her answer. “We won’t have to travel any farther than Judge Beasley’s house,” he replied, calling the name of a former client of his whose life he’d protected once during a high-profile drug lord case.

Giada grinned. “It pays to have friends in high places, huh?”

“Definitely.”
Kentucky
chuckled, feeling like a new man already.

Then, after retrieving Mercedes and locking the house up, they went to Judge Beasley’s home and got married right there in the man’s living room. All waiting periods and fees were waived in light of what
Kentucky
had done for the judge and considering what he’d been through recently. It didn’t even matter that today was Sunday. Nor did it matter that there was no exchange of rings. Only uniting in love and by law mattered today.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Upon tying the knot of matrimony,
Kentucky
brought Giada back to his stepmother’s house. It was closer, stood no chance of Fabian dropping over, and was more private than a hotel, where someone would recognize Giada from her appearances with Fabian.

After making sure Mercedes had a nice bowl of water and her favorite play toy from Giada’s purse, the newlyweds disappeared into
Kentucky
’s bedroom. The guest room was where Malik resided ever since he was brought over from
Africa
two months ago. He and Hannah hit it off from the start and were actually out on a date right now.

The door had barely closed behind them and the light had barely been turned on before
Kentucky
commenced to removing Giada’s clothes with hasty fingers. She gasped as her shirt was suddenly yanked apart, causing buttons to fly everywhere. Instead of being angry about the ruining of her expensive garment, she smiled at his aggression.

“Do you know that it was your name on my lips that signaled to Malik that I was alive among that pile of corpses?”
Kentucky
shared as his hands continued to disrobe her.

“Was it?”

“Yes.”
Kentucky
bent to lick her taut peaks through her black, lacy bra, causing her to moan.

“Malik thought I was saying Da-Da over and over again. He saw it as a sign from God that he’d been given another son to replace the one that had died in a past war.” As he spoke, he unhooked her bra and flung it away.

Giada’s moans increased in volume when he began to cater to her breasts just the way she liked. Oh, the man was so talented with his mouth, with his everything.

“It wasn’t until months later that Malik overheard me talking in my sleep,”
Kentucky
continued, moving his hands down to unfasten her pants. “It was then that he heard your name pronounced the right way. When he told me about it the next day, my memory instantly started to return. Within a week, I had it all back.”

“Amazing!” Giada panted out as he reached inside her pants and stroked her through her thong.

“Yes, it was. I can’t tell you how often I thought about
this
since I got my memory back.” His probing fingers dipped inside at the word “this.”

Giada moaned and spread her legs wide to give him more access. “So my name helped you get rescued
and
to get your memory back?” She was literally trembling with need now.

“Yes,”
Kentucky
whispered huskily as he strummed her guitar. As if on cue, her hips immediately began to move to the rhythm he started. “I should have known then that I was meant to have a future with you,” he continued. “My faith in us wavered when I returned to find you back with
him
.”

“Now
that’s
something I wish you could forget,” Giada replied. To help him along, she pushed her pants downward and stepped out of them. She’d long since stepped out of her shoes.

Kentucky
chuckled. “I will once I’m inside of you again. But first I need to do a few things that I’ve been dreaming about for months.”

“What’s th—” Giada started before her words were overshadowed by a loud rip.

Kentucky
had torn her thong off. Completely off!

Giada’s body was on fire for sure now. Leaping upon him, she wrapped her arms and legs possessively around his neck and waist. She attacked his mouth with her lips. It was time to get down to the business at hand.

* * * *

Kentucky
welcomed Giada’s probing tongue into his mouth. He lowered his hands to possessively squeeze her bottom. He allowed a few fingers to return to her playground and frolic, doing everything they could to make her head spin with desire like a merry-go-round.

That kiss lingered for the longest time as their tongues entwined. “I love you’s” were sprinkled intermittently.

“Mmm . . . you smell just like I remembered,”
Kentucky
said, inhaling deeply of her scent as they paused the kiss to catch their breaths. “You feel the same too.” He squeezed her bottom again and then her breasts. “I wonder if you still taste the same.”

“You’ve already tasted me,” Giada said as he lifted her higher. “But I don’t mind if you get another taste,” she added, looking down expectedly at her bosom.

Kentucky
gave her a heated look. “I haven’t tasted you nearly enough,” he replied and then descended upon her breasts again.

The ravenous man didn’t stop there, though. He lifted Giada higher until her legs were about his neck and her head nearly touching the ceiling. Then he proceeded to sample every fruit in her garden.

Giada’s eyes rolled in the back of her head at his delightful deeds. That was
Kentucky
’s intent. He wanted his squeezing, kneading, and feasting to drive her wild. He wanted to make her shudder with release within a few short minutes.

With her body still trembling with liberation,
Kentucky
lowered Giada upon his waist again, pushed his sweatpants and briefs down, and joined her to the hilt. They both cried out in bliss.

He began a myriad of thrusts.

Slow.

Long.

Hard.