Pretty Packages (9 page)

Other things Giada loved about Fabian were the fact that he didn’t allow stardom to go to his head, could be faithful to one woman, and didn’t travel with an entourage. The only people Fabian traveled with were his manager/assistant named Bartley and one bodyguard.

The only downsides to Giada’s relationship with Fabian were his bouts of possessiveness
and . . . their sex life. Though she obviously satisfied him—the man actually shed tears during their first time—Fabian wasn’t able to completely satisfy her in the bedroom.

Giada might have been satisfied with Fabian’s efforts if she’d never had those two nights with
Kentucky
. She might have been content if she’d never been exposed to how great sex really could be between a man and a woman.

That giant of a man had been right about spoiling Giada for other men. He’d been right about her body craving even more of him after they made love. There hadn’t been a night since that incident that Giada hadn’t craved
Kentucky
’s body next to hers,
in
hers.

Yet to hold on to her otherwise great catch, Giada pretended to enjoy her intimate times with Fabian more than she actually did. Trying to get another boy toy was out since she wasn’t about to jeopardize the financial security she now had.

Besides, Giada seriously doubted that any man could ever top
Kentucky
in the bedroom area. As the first man to ever make her scream in ecstasy and secretly entertain thoughts of falling in love, the gentle giant was an extremely hard act to follow.

* * * *

The fourth significant thing that happened after
Kentucky
and Giada’s estrangement proved to be more beneficial to
Kentucky
this time. In fact, this beneficial thing was actually fueled by that estrangement.

After his last night with
Giada
,
Kentucky
threw himself into his boarding school project even more. Instead of just looking at his business plan on paper, he submitted it to several banks and a few other investors. All jumped at the chance to support him in this worthwhile venture.

Encouraged by their response,
Kentucky
applied for all the proper accreditations and then went in search of the perfect location. He searched doggedly, putting all of his pent-up frustrations about Giada to good use.

That fervent search led to the acquisition of some prime real estate in lower
Georgia
in a rural town called
Village Square
. These days
Kentucky
spent every available moment overseeing the renovation of the colonial mansion, which would house the classrooms, library, dining room, and nurse’s office; the building of male and female dormitories; the construction of a gym with an adjoining pool; and the building of independent cottages for the headmistress and other on-site teachers and counselors.
Kentucky
’s stepmother took over the task of interviewing and hiring the academic personnel.

Though the school was stretching his financial portfolio in a major way,
Kentucky
knew that it was for a worthy cause and so didn’t mind all the expense. Plus, with the various endowments he’d gotten recently from wealthy donors and the approval of a government grant, he would be able to recoup what he had put into the project within three years.

Until then, Kentucky had to continue to live modestly, only take on the highest paid protection assignments, and save, save, save since he wasn’t about to dip into the retirement funds he’d set aside for him and his stepmother.

Last, but certainly not least,
Kentucky
also had to stay away from gold-digging women. He especially had to stay away from Giada, no matter how much he still dreamed of her at night.

Chapter Eight

Five months later

Set to accompany Fabian for his upcoming summer tour in the
Caribbean
, Giada learned he was in need of another bodyguard. The old one had opted out of his contract early in order to guard a congressman’s daughter overseas.

In the world of bodyguarding, certain assignments were considered nobler than others. Guarding a politician’s child over an R & B singer was one of them.

What Giada did not know was that Fabian’s new bodyguard would be none other than Kentucky Jones. Up until today, she didn’t even know that he performed bodyguard services.

Giada almost choked on her orange juice when Fabian revealed the name of the new bodyguard his manager hired. She started to cough again when he started listing some of the man’s credentials.

Among
Kentucky
’s clientele were several politicians and dignitaries, singers, movie producers, actors, a
Texas
oilman, and even a few high-profile businessmen traveling overseas.

This could mean only one thing—
Kentucky
was rich.

Rich!

He was probably rich when I met him, too,
Giada thought.

Her suspicions were quickly confirmed when Fabian revealed how much he was going to be paying
Kentucky
for his services. He shared how hard it had been to even secure
Kentucky
’s services in the first place since he was among the top-notch in the business and could pick and choose whom he wanted to work for at will.

No wonder Mrs. Jones never wanted to talk about her son’s profession
, Giada recalled.
Or why he suddenly had to be gone for long stretches of time.

Giada also thought about how the question of
“If
Kentucky
doesn’t really live here with you anymore, where does he live?”
was never answered by his stepmother, and downright avoided every time.

I can’t believe I could have had it all. The money, great sex, and the finest man on the planet.
Grief settled into Giada’s heart.

“Are you all right, baby?” Fabian asked with concern when her coughing had gone on a bit too long for comfort. “You’re not asthmatic, are you?”

Giada cleared her throat once and for all, then blinked rapidly to refocus before answering him. “I’m fine, with no traces of asthma in sight. It’s just that I thought I heard you mention the name of a former neighbor of mine. A neighbor who lived very modestly and whom I thought only did bouncer work at local clubs.”

“Kentucky Jones was your neighbor?” Fabian asked with intrigue.

“First, are we even talking about the same Kentucky Jones here? The one I’m referring to is from
Miami
and looks like a young Arnold Schwarzenegger,” Giada replied.

Fabian chuckled. “That’s the one. Though I have yet to meet the man in person and have only seen a picture of him, is he as mean as he looks?”

Giada chuckled for a whole other reason. Only she knew that
Kentucky
’s bark was often worse than his bite, especially when it came to his stepmother . . . and his lover. Her lower body throbbed with the memory of what it had been like to be
Kentucky
’s lover. The man had been gentle and passionate all at the same time.

“Put it like this,
Kentucky
knows how to be mean to the right people,” Giada replied with a knowing smile. “As for being my neighbor, I was actually neighbors with his
mother
,” she went on to clarify. “
Kentucky
didn’t live with her, but he was over there quite a lot. Either way, they were both very hospitable to me when I lived in the neighborhood.
Kentucky
even helped me out of a crisis once, so I know he’s going to be a great bodyguard for you.”

Fabian smiled. “Now I
know
Bartley made a good choice. I can’t wait to meet this
Kentucky
dude now,” he said, showing that he trusted her judgment.

Fabian had no reason
not
to trust Giada’s opinion in business matters. Not only had she helped him successfully renegotiate the contracts for this tour greatly in his favor, but she’d done so even better than his manager had. That last thing gave Bartley one more reason to hate her, as if he didn’t have enough reasons already.

“When will you meet
Kentucky
?” Giada asked casually, successfully playing down her excitement.

“Any minute now. Bartley asked him to meet us all for breakfast on the yacht.”

The yacht Fabian spoke of was the rental that he would be residing in for the next month and a half of touring. The boat was mobile and able to take him from one island location to the other. It would also keep him at a safe distance from fanatic fans, which he’d acquired over the last year of recording back-to-back hits.

Fabian and Giada had spent their first night on the yacht together last night. It had been romantic and satisfying . . . at least for one of them.

At the thought of suddenly seeing
Kentucky
again after all these months, Giada’s body began to betray her. The tips of her bosom became rigid, her pulse quickened, heat shot through her veins, and her hand shook slightly on her glass.

No other man could do this to Giada sight unseen. She resented Kentucky for this power he seemed to have over her, for making her need a change of underwear, or rather, a change of swimsuit since that was basically all she had on right now.

Giada had barely stood up after excusing herself to their cabin when none other than Kentucky Jones stepped on board. He wore all black as usual. This time it was a black T-shirt tucked into a pair of black jeans. Black boots were upon his large feet, and he walked with that confident stride that dared anybody to cross him. Behind him was blond-haired Bartley.

Giada plopped back down in her seat just as Fabian stood up to greet their guests. She had to sit. Her legs had gone all jelly on her.

Crossing her legs, Giada attempted to squeeze out the ache that the sight of
Kentucky
’s bulging muscles had produced within her body. The way his rippled abs strained against the tight T-shirt he wore and the narrow
V
of his waist had her going through another heat wave. It had her remembering old times between them, fun times.

* * * *

Kentucky
felt his lower body tighten the moment he saw Giada standing near the breakfast table. Her mocha skin looked like a scrumptious chocolate bar from being out in the sun, and the swimsuit she wore was far from modest. While she’d been standing,
Kentucky
saw that the mesh shorts she wore did nothing to hide the thong bottom of her bikini.

This is one time I should have researched my client further.
Kentucky
regretted that he hadn’t dug deeper into Fabian’s personal life before taking this assignment.

Although he’d been very thorough with Fabian’s professional background, the price had been so right and the financial need so great that Kentucky had only performed cursory research on the man’s personal affairs. Plus, he’d been told by Bartley that the singer had no current love interest in his life.

Wonder why he lied?
Kentucky
continued to ponder, also wondering why Giada never appeared in any photos with Fabian.

Suddenly
Kentucky
’s ponderings stopped as he remembered what kind of woman Giada was. No doubt Bartley didn’t count her as a serious love interest due to her gold-digging ways. The manager probably kept her out of all photos for the same reason.