Pretty Packages (25 page)

“All right,” Giada conceded, pushing that expense upon a man who was willing and more than able to carry it. She even allowed Fabian to stay and watch her pick at her food, while he heartily consumed a meal of his own.

* * * *

While Giada and Fabian were having dinner together,
Kentucky
was on the phone with Bartley receiving updates. Though it was 2 a.m. in
France
, this was news that he needed to be awakened for.

Kentucky
took the first part of the conversation in stride. Although Bartley claimed he didn’t mention anything about the school, there was no real worry even if he had.

As of the last quarterly report, the school was already starting to stand on its own due to the recent increase in endowments and donations. This meant that
Kentucky
didn’t have to back it financially anymore. Soon the school would have enough leeway in its budget to make the first repayment to its founder.

Once
Kentucky
got that money, he planned to add it to the scholarship fund he created for Giada’s education two months ago. The money he’d made from his last job had been used to create that anonymous fund.

To keep Giada from knowing that it was him funding her education,
Kentucky
arranged for her law school to offer it to her without detailing who the benefactor was. It had worked like a charm.

When Giada shared the good news of her scholarship with him, they’d made love for hours in celebration.
Kentucky
almost thought she figured out the source of that scholarship based on how fervently she went at him that night.

Thinking about that night now,
Kentucky
grew angry instead of turned on. His ire increased after Bartley revealed the second part of his conversation with Fabian—the part about why Fabian had suddenly decided to question Bartley about Giada’s old flame after all this time.

“She’s still with him at the restaurant now?”
Kentucky
asked.

“As far as I know, yes,” Bartley replied. “I thought you said you could handle her.” His tone became mocking at the end.

“It’s easy to be brave over the phone, huh, Bart?”
Kentucky
said in a menacing tone.

“I really don’t mean no harm, but I’m just wondering how long you’re going to hide your head in the sand about Giada. Don’t you know that, no matter how much she tries to change, she’s always going to be a gold digger at heart? Which means she’s always going to gravitate toward the man holding the heavier wallet.”

Kentucky
squeezed the phone so hard that he broke it, instantly disconnecting his call with Bartley.

He cursed under his breath, having realized that all of his preprogrammed numbers were in that phone. Since
Kentucky
didn’t know Giada’s cell phone number by heart, he had to now wait until she got back to his stepmother’s house to call her.

That’s if she even spends the night at Mama’s house.
Kentucky
was very aware of that possibility now that Fabian was back in the picture.

The added frustration was the fact that he couldn’t hop on a plane and fly home tonight. His current assignment didn’t end for another week, which meant Fabian had seven whole days to woo his woman away from him.

Kentucky
cursed again as he lay in bed, watching the clock tick. If only he’d taken the time to memorize Giada’s cell phone number. He definitely would after this.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Giada was barely in bed when
Kentucky
called the house phone. She quickly answered on the first ring so as not to wake Hannah, who was already sleeping down the hall.

Kentucky
let out a sigh of relief when he heard her voice. “Thank God, you’re home.”

“Where else would I be?” Giada asked. “And why aren’t you asleep? It has to be around 5 a.m. over there.”

“Honestly, I’ve been up since two worrying about you.”

“Why? I’m fine.”

“But are
we
still fine?”
Kentucky
asked. “After speaking with Bartley earlier, I wasn’t so sure.”

Giada frowned in distaste. “Don’t even mention
his
name
to me. Did you know that that snake told Fabian that I was a lesbian?”

“Yes, I did,”
Kentucky
admitted.

“You did!” Giada sat upright in bed, livid with him. “And you
let
him?”

“It was the only way to get Fabian off our backs at the time, although I’m starting to think otherwise now. Plus, I didn’t think you’d get this upset about it. Especially since you’ve been called worse than that over the years due to your old lifestyle.”

“Maybe I have been called worse, but I still don’t appreciate my sexuality being attacked like that. Just like lesbians take pride in their preference for women, I take pride in my preference for men. I love being straight.”

“Speaking of your preference for men, how did you manage to be dining at one of
Miami
’s most expensive restaurants with Fabian anyway?”

“I was feeling lonely without you, frustrated with my finances, and so decided to treat myself to a nice meal.”

“You could have gotten a nice meal at Mama’s house,”
Kentucky
countered. “And if you were feeling so lonely, why didn’t you ask Mama to accompany you? Why did you have to look Fabian up?”

“Obviously Bartley didn’t tell you
everything
,” Giada retorted. “Otherwise you would have known that I didn’t look Fabian up at all. He saw me at the restaurant, came over to my table to say hello, and started asking me all kinds of questions about some girlfriend I was supposed to have. That’s when the whole lesbian thing came out. Soon he was on the phone with Bartley. As for inviting your mother along tonight, she only likes home-cooked meals and soul food buffets, remember? The Raven doesn’t have anything close to soul food on the menu.”

“Oh.”
Kentucky
grew quiet now. His anger couldn’t help but abate in the face of such truth.

“Yes, oh,” Giada snapped, livid with him for several other reasons now. “Now I understand why you were so relieved when I answered the phone. You thought I might have gone home with Fabian tonight, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.”

Giada sucked her teeth in irritation. “I guess I see how much you trust me. After all this time, do you actually think I would cheat on you, Kenny?”

“I . . . I wasn’t sure. The whole gold-digging thing is still an issue for me sometimes. And knowing Fabian, he probably offered you the moon to come back to him. I can’t compete with him on that level. Not now. Maybe never, depending on his longevity in the music industry and me continuing to make wise investments.”

“For your information, Fabian
did
offer me the moon tonight. All I would let him pay for was dinner,” Giada replied, being as honest as always with her man.

Kentucky
inhaled sharply. “I don’t want you even letting him do
that
for you,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Well, if
you
took me out every once in a while, I might not have to have other men buy me dinner!”

* * * *

Kentucky
winced at Giada’s stinging reply. It had sliced him deep. So deep.

“I couldn’t take you out before due to restricted finances and the fact that we couldn’t date openly,” he reminded her through a tight mouth.

“Well, that’s no longer the case after tonight,” Giada replied. “Fabian knows about us, and though he’s not cool with it, he is not on some revenge tip. After Bartley spit some nonsense about how letting the world know he lost a woman to you would hurt his sex appeal and thus record sales, Fabian wasn’t about to draw media attention to the situation. As for finances, I know you can squeeze in a fancy dinner every now and then. Even poor people get to eat out at the buffet from time to time if they save up for it. I know, because my grandmother and I did it all the time.”

“In that case, make a reservation at that same restaurant for the night I return. We’re gonna eat in style and then afterward . . .”
Kentucky
deliberately left his last sentence open-ended.

“Afterward what, baby?” Giada purred, seemingly forgetting all about her anger, too.

“Afterward, I’m gonna feast on you,”
Kentucky
whispered as his own body stirred mightily with desire.

Giada moaned. “Hurry home, baby.”

“I will. And, Giada?”

“Yes, baby?”

“Put your engagement ring on the correct hand.”

Giada smiled. “I’m doing it now,” she said, quickly switching the ring to her left hand.

* * * *

Fabian began to pursue Giada with fervor after that night at the restaurant. He sent flowers to her job and expensive gifts to her home. He even gave her an open round-trip ticket to anywhere she wanted to go in the world.

Fabian spared no expense. He was determined to win Giada back. Nothing and nobody would stop him. That engagement ring on her hand wouldn’t stop him. Not even
Kentucky
.

Although Fabian knew he could never stand up against the man physically, the new bodyguard he hired looked like he could. Champ was just as big as
Kentucky
, but not as tall. Fabian made sure he never left home without Champ, especially now that he was going after another man’s woman.

Though Giada promptly returned all the gifts, refusing to even sign for most of them, she did not return the ticket or the flowers. Keeping the flowers was self-explanatory since they would have wilted in the return transport and it would have been a waste of money to do so. But her keeping that ticket gave Fabian all kinds of hope, too much hope, the kind of hope that would make a man do foolish things.

* * * *

Giada was beyond excited to be openly dating
Kentucky
tonight. It showed. She hadn’t stopped smiling since he picked her up.

They almost didn’t make it to the restaurant in time for their reservation because Giada kept trying to initiate sex in the car. She couldn’t seem to help herself.

For one thing, she was glad that
Kentucky
was back in town. For another, the way he looked tonight was a big turn-on for her. Huge.

For their first official night out as a couple,
Kentucky
wore one of his expensive suits. His hair had been freshly trimmed. He’d splashed on his favorite cologne. Actually he’d put on Giada’s favorite cologne for him. She’d gotten it for his last birthday because of how manly it smelled. Every whiff she took of it tonight made her want to make love to
Kentucky
right there on the spot.