Pretty Packages (33 page)

Fast.

All were meant to inflame both bodies. They did . . . immensely.

“Yes, Kenny! Love me, baby. Love me, baby,” Giada urged as she received everything he had to offer her.

Kentucky
was insatiable. Even after he went over the edge, he kept going, pausing only briefly to carry her to the bed. Not even breaking the connection, he laid her down and picked back up where he left off. Using the bed as leverage,
Kentucky
handled his business in a major way.

“Kennnny!” Giada said, going over the edge the second time with a loud scream.

Kentucky
didn’t muffle that one. He wanted to hear her scream his name in ecstasy. He dreamed of her doing so for months now. “Yes, baby, let the whole world know who you belong to,” he said, plowing into her even more fervently.

Giada wasted no time doing just that as another scream of ecstasy burst from her throat.

* * * *

“What was
that
?” Malik asked Hannah as they entered the house at the exact moment of Giada’s second scream.

“Based on the extra car parked in the driveway and that puppy running up and down the hallway like he has lost his mind, I’d say my son finally got his woman back,” Hannah replied, unable to suppress her smile of approval. “They just better be ready to get married first thing in the morning for violating one of my main house rules.” She led the way into the den and turned the TV up real loud to drown out the noise coming from
Kentucky
’s bedroom.

“House rules? What are those?” Malik asked, looking very interested in these Western ways and particularly in this beautiful Western woman.

“Things that one is allowed or not allowed to do in my home,” Hannah explained, sitting down on the sofa. By now she was used to the inquisitive man’s constant questions as he strove to learn the American language better and American customs as a whole.

“Which rule is Kenny violating tonight?” Malik sat down beside her.

“No unmarried sex under my roof.”

“Oh, I see.” Malik grew thoughtful. “So that means I would have to marry you to have sex with you here, is that right?”

Hannah’s eyes widened in shock. “You want to have
sex
with me?”

“Very much so. From the moment I laid eyes on you. You are a very beautiful woman. I would have paid many goats for you.”

Hannah smiled at his blunt honesty. “Let’s stick to courting for a little bit longer, shall we? And for the record, you would have to marry me to have sex with me
anywhere
since I don’t practice sex outside of marriage at all. Got that?”

“Got what?” Malik looked confused.

Hannah chuckled. “Did you get the meaning of the words I just said?”

Malik smiled wide. “Yes, yes, I did. We court for a while longer. Then I marry you, and we have lots of sex.”

Hannah roared with laughter that time. “Follow me in the kitchen. I think you need some ice cream or something to cool your hormones down,” she said, rising to her feet.

A few minutes later, Hannah gasped in shock and then clapped her hands excitedly with joy. She’d seen the note
Kentucky
attached to the refrigerator announcing his nuptials. “They got married, Malik. Married!”

Malik smiled. “This is good.”

Yes, it was all good.

* * * *

Back in the bedroom, the lovers still hadn’t taken a break yet. Now it was Giada’s turn to live out a few fantasies. The first thing she did was straddle
Kentucky
and ride him until her body exploded with passion’s release again. Lying upon him while she caught her breath, she kissed every inch of his bare chest. His shirt had been long since removed in the heat of passion.

Giada lingered the most at that scar on
Kentucky
’s chest where the bullet went in before exiting his body through his back. No vital organs were damaged, but being wounded in an area of the world that had no modern medicines had caused complications on its own.

“I am so grateful for this man called Malik,” Giada said, kissing that spot again.

“Don’t forget about God,”
Kentucky
added. “It was
He
that led Malik to me in the first place. It was also He that allowed me to find my way back home to my loved ones.”

“Well, He’s definitely made a believer out of me.” Giada lifted her head to look up into his eyes. “I think I’m going to start attending church with your mother after this.”

“Good, because I’ve been going ever since I returned. Haven’t missed a Sunday yet.”
Kentucky
chuckled. “I have a lot to be thankful for.”

“We both do.” Giada laid her head upon his beating heart and sighed in contentment.

Chapter Thirty

Private investigator Lloyd Graham had gotten a last night call from his most annoying client ever—Fabian Flow. It seemed Fabian couldn’t locate his ladylove again, which was the original reason Lloyd had been hired in the first place. It didn’t take the skilled private investigator long to discover that Giada was at the home of
Kentucky
’s stepmother.

“Her car was a dead giveaway,” Lloyd said, relaying that information to his client as he drove past the Jones house at 10 a.m. Monday morning. He still had all the addresses of Giada’s associates on file and so had driven past each location after being told that she wasn’t at work today. “It looks like she might have spent the night at the Jones property.”

“She mentioned something about going back to her old flame, but Kentucky Jones is supposed to be dead. Find out if that has suddenly changed since I have heard nothing to the contrary in the news,” Fabian instructed. “As usual, I’m willing to pay any price for your services.”

“Sir, if you don’t mind me asking, why would a man like you even
want
a woman that keeps going back to another guy?”

“Because I love her,” Fabian said quietly. “And because nobody takes what’s mine!” he added in a harder tone.

“Maybe it’s not love at all. Matter of fact, it actually sounds more like obsession to me. In which case it’s probably better for you to move on anyway,” Lloyd advised. He was trying to get his client to abandon this search since it was probably going to be a waste of his time and Fabian’s money to continue along this path. Giada was obviously with the man she wanted to be with.

“Just do your job!” Fabian snapped before abruptly concluding the call.

Lloyd frowned. If there was anything he hated more than a stupid client, it was a rude client. Fabian had just proven that he was both.

You’ll get your latest information. After this, I’m closing your case forever
, Lloyd decided with finality.

* * * *

Inside the Jones house, Giada sat at the dining room table with her new family, enjoying her day off.

The word “family” included Malik, too, since
Kentucky
had all but adopted him and based on the amorous way Malik kept looking at Hannah. Mercedes was outside in the fenced backyard enjoying the warm December day.

Although they had finished eating breakfast a while ago, the foursome stayed at the table and conversed. No subject was off-limits.

“Giada, I just want it to be known how sorry I am about not telling you about Kenny still being alive,” Hannah said. “As a mother, I was trying to protect my son from more hurt. Had I known that you still felt so strongly about Kenny, I would have told you the first night I heard the good news.”

Giada reached across the table and held her mother-in-law’s soft hand. “All is forgiven, Mama Jones,” she replied, making use of the new nickname she’d given
Kentucky
’s stepmother. “I probably would have done the same thing if I saw my son’s ex-fiancée all over the media with another man.” Giada squeezed Hannah’s hand fondly before releasing it. “To be honest, even though I know Fabian was doing that as a way to officially stake his claim on me, I didn’t bother to stop him because it served an important purpose for me, too.”

“It helped you get more recognition at your job?”
Kentucky
asked from beside her. Like Giada, he knew how important social status was at the firm she worked for. He knew how the partners protected their status in society almost as much as they protected their freaky private lives.

Giada turned to him and smiled. “No, baby. My work ethic and a few other things”—she paused to glance briefly at her chest—“get me all the recognition I need on the job.”

“I bet.”
Kentucky
chuckled huskily, staring hungrily at her bosom in the long black T-shirt he’d lent her after her morning shower.

Giada felt a rush of heat envelop her at his sizzling perusal, at the way he kept licking his lips. “What was I saying again?” she asked, turning to Hannah again. Giada had lost all train of thought just that quick.

Hannah and Malik laughed.

“You were saying that all that publicity served an important purpose for you,” Hannah prompted.

“Yes,” Giada replied, now firmly back on track. “All that publicity kept other men from trying to pursue me since I was already supposed to be ‘spoken for.’”

Kentucky
pulled her into his lap. “Well, you are definitely spoken for now.”

“Yes, I am. Our marriage license proves that fact forever.” Giada smiled, loving the warmth of his strong body, the feel of him twitching with need beneath her bottom.

“Our marriage license is not the only proof of our union.”
Kentucky
pulled a black ring box out of his left robe pocket and opened it in front of her. “This should prove a few things, too.”

Giada gasped at all the sparkling gems. There was a circle of small diamonds surrounding a very large emerald. “It’s beautiful, Kenny,” she said as he slipped it on the fourth finger of her left hand.

“Just like you,”
Kentucky
replied, giving her a look that shimmered with love and so much passion.

“Oh, Kenny,” Giada said with thick emotion in her voice and then offered her lips to him. That loving kiss soon turned into a prelude to foreplay and total oblivion to the fact that they were not alone.

* * * *

After a full minute had passed, Hannah cleared her throat. Loudly.

It did no good.
Kentucky
and Giada still continued to kiss.

Malik grinned, clearly enjoying the passionate interaction between the newlyweds. He looked pleased to see
Kentucky
so unbelievably happy right now.

Hannah cleared her throat again. She did so even louder this time.

Giada and
Kentucky
finally and reluctantly broke apart. They laughed at how quickly they’d succumbed to passion, how quickly they’d forgotten their surroundings. This was a clear indication that they needed to return to the bedroom soon.