* * * *
“Did I do something wrong?” Giada asked Kentucky once they were alone. “Your mother was kinda cold toward me this morning. She’s usually much friendlier.”
“Mama’s change in behavior is because of me,” Kentucky admitted, returning to his seat after pouring himself more orange juice. “To keep her from trying to play matchmaker between us, I told her that I was way out of your league. That there was no hope for us because you liked pretty packages.”
“Pretty packages?” Giada frowned, not liking the sound of that at all.
“Yeah, men with prettier faces and fatter wallets than mine. Much fatter wallets,” Kentucky said, clearly pulling no punches with her.
Springing to her feet, Giada slapped him hard across the face. “How dare you tell your mother I’m a gold digger!”
“That’s what you are, aren’t you?” Kentucky said, looking unaffected by her blow. He hadn’t even spilled the orange juice in his right hand.
Giada felt her cheeks grow hot. “It’s none of your business what I am!”
“It is when what you are tries to spill over into my life!” Kentucky retorted, putting down his juice.
“Why you . . .” Giada began, raising her hand to strike him again.
Kentucky caught her wrist with ease. “I let you have that first blow because I still feel guilty about making you lose your keys last night, but I’m not gonna stand for another one. So unless you want to get hit back, I suggest you sit back down and eat the rest of your breakfast while we wait for Newton to arrive.”
Giada trembled at the menacing look on his face. She’d never seen him look uglier. “You would really hit a woman?”
“Keep swinging on me, and you’ll find out. Now sit!” he ordered, finally releasing her wrist.
Giada plopped down in her seat. Her eyes were wide. She was scared out of her wits. She began to take deep breaths to bring her breathing back under control.
Where was the gentle giant from last night? Where was the man who had given her that tender forehead kiss?
Unable to sit still after a long, torturous minute of silence, Giada said, “On second thought, I think I’ll wait for your friend on my porch.” Then she got up and fled to her home.
* * * *
Kentucky chuckled when the door slammed behind her. Though he knew he would never hit a woman unless it was a matter of life or death, he didn’t want Giada to know that. He wanted her scared of him. Maybe then she wouldn’t try to snoop into his business and then come after him for his money, especially since that money had already been slated for worthy causes.
* * * *
“Okay, there is something seriously wrong with me,” Giada muttered to herself as she sat on her front stoop. “The man practically threatened to physically abuse me, and all I can think about is how much I want to sex him up.”
Maybe she was so turned on because Kentucky was the first man who had stood up to her in years.
He was certainly the first man to refuse her sexual advances.
Maybe it was also because, now that she’d had a little time to think, Giada really didn’t believe that he would hit her or any other woman. After all, men who abused women didn’t usually have so much respect and reverence for their mothers, especially not their stepmothers.
And Kentucky had the ultimate respect for his stepmother. Giada could still recall his “yes, ma’ams” and “no, ma’ams” now.
So why would he deliberately scare me like that? she asked herself. Because I’m a gold digger. Giada answered her own question with blunt truth.
Suddenly, for the first time in years, she actually felt ashamed of herself. Unfortunately, it was not enough to make her change her ways. Giada had too much stuff she still wanted in life, too many places she still wanted to see to let a temporary emotion like shame stand in the way.
Chapter Four
September
Giada didn’t speak to either of the Joneses again for the rest of the summer. She was too embarrassed to say anything to Hannah. She was also still too angry with Kentucky to say anything else to him.
She finally broke her silence one starry Wednesday night. It was a night when Hannah was late getting home from Bible study and Kentucky was at work.
Giada was just getting out of the shower after a long day at work when she heard glass breaking. She sighed with relief when she realized that the sound was too far away to be one of her window panes.
But then whose windows were being broken?
Was it the Jones house? The sounds had resonated from that direction.
Curious, Giada tiptoed to her bedroom window. She turned off the light in the process, having learned from her years in the hood not to draw attention to herself at times like these. Slowly, she peeked through the window blinds.
Sure enough, the Jones house was being invaded. It had been invaded not by one thief, but two.
Both were men, based on their muscular builds. They moved swiftly into the house, as if it was second nature to them.
Career criminals, Giada surmised. She could spot professionals a mile away. No first-timers would know exactly where to break a window in order to best reach the latch. No first-timers would move that fast, either. Hannah’s nineteen-inch den television set was already being handed out the window from one thief to the other.
In the hood, Giada might not have called the cops. Snitching was heavily frowned upon there. It was also dangerous since the thieves just might be your next door neighbors or some relatives of theirs.
In the suburbs, one tended to look out for one’s neighbors more. Some did so out of the goodness of their hearts. Others did so because they simply didn’t want their property values to go down due to rampant crime. In Giada’s case it was a little of the former, most of the latter.
She retrieved her cell phone from her purse and called the police. She told them in great detail what was going on across the street. With her keen eye for fashion, she even described what the thieves had on, down to the expensive white sneakers on their feet.
Unlike the hood, the police were there within five minutes. They didn’t catch the thieves in the Jones house since they’d left the scene by then, but they did catch them trying to leave the neighborhood in a car they had parked up the street. The stolen merchandise was with them.
Giada followed through with her Good Samaritan act by going down to the police station, pointing the guys out in a lineup, and giving an official statement. She was assured that her identity would be protected and so feared no retaliation from the thieves. She was also told that the owner of the house had been contacted.
Later that night, the Joneses showed up at Giada’s home to thank her for her good deed. Hannah had a cake in her hand, a smile of gratitude upon her lips, and glossy eyes full of emotion. Kentucky had something else altogether in his eyes—respect.
Before tonight, his chocolate pools had held passion, lust, and an abundance of desire when he looked upon Giada. They had never held respect for her.
Giada found herself highly turned on by that new look. When that look was followed by heartfelt words of gratitude from Kentucky’s own mouth, she actually felt heady. Yet it was when he stayed behind to humbly apologize for misjudging her as shallow and self-centered that Giada nearly had an orgasm right there on the spot.
Seeing Kentucky so meek made Giada feel powerful. It was the greatest aphrodisiac. Even Mercedes seemed to be mesmerized by Kentucky as she sat silently in the corner, looking up at his tall frame in awe.
“I will gladly accept your apology, if you will finally give me that rain check,” Giada said, taking full advantage of this opportunity now that Hannah had gone back across the street to oversee the work the carpenters were doing to her den windows.
Kentucky’s eyes bucked.
Giada smiled. She knew she had surprised him yet again . . . and turned him on . . . immensely. Now she had to keep the flames burning hot in order to finally get what she wanted—his body.
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* * * *
Kentucky’s eyes instantly lowered to Giada’s swaying bottom as she turned around and walked farther into the living room with the cake in her hands. That red tank dress she wore was formfitting and hugged every curve she had. No visible panty line meant that she was either wearing a thong or no panties at all.
Kentucky was on fire now.
“This ain’t what you want, Giada,” Kentucky replied, refusing to budge from by the front door. He had to fight this attraction, lest it and she reduce him to a nothing with nothing.
“Oh, but it is,” Giada replied, licking her full lips as she looked back over her shoulder at him. Her eyes seemed to devour him. Looking away for a second, she fondly instructed Mercedes to go upstairs. The obedient dog quickly obeyed.
“I’m out of your league, remember?” Kentucky reminded her.
“Not sexually. Sexually, I think you just might be in a league of your own.” Giada placed the cake on the coffee table and sat down on the brown sofa nearby. “Come have a sit down, Kenny.” She patted the seat beside her. “Let me play in your league tonight.” Again, she licked her lips and devoured him with her eyes.
Kentucky took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, feeling himself weakening already. “Giada—”
“Look, I probably put my life on the line tonight by pointing those bad guys out,” Giada interrupted. “Don’t I have the right to request how I want gratitude to be shown to me for my act of bravery?”
“Can’t I write you a check instead?” Kentucky offered, trying to appeal to her sense of greed even though everything in him wanted to take her up on her offer. Like Giada, he remembered their heated night vividly, too.
“You and I both know you can’t afford my price on your salary.”
Kentucky could have refuted that statement, but he didn’t. That would surely spark her interest in him on a whole other level. He silently cursed the desire surging through his veins, the weakness he obviously had for Giada in order to even consider her request at all. Had this request been made by any other woman, he would have walked out a long time ago, despite her good deed to his family.
“What’s your fascination with me, Giada?” Kentucky asked, still trying to avoid the inevitable. “I’m sure you can find plenty of men to have sex with you. Richer men. Handsomer men.”
“I’ve had richer men and handsomer men. What I haven’t had is you,” Giada replied, giving his muscular body a slow perusal.
Kentucky felt heat everywhere her gaze fell. His body was hard beyond anything he’d ever known before. Even his baggy jeans couldn’t hide his prominent arousal.
“Unless you want a quickie, I’m gonna have to come back later. I have to make sure things are in order with Mama and the house.” Inside Kentucky hoped that his absence would give Giada time to come to her senses. He needed time to come to his as well.
Giada nodded in understanding. “You can come back later. In the meantime, come get a little taste of this.” She leaned forward, scooped up a thick patch of icing from the side of the cake, and held it out for him.
“I already know how Mama’s red velvet cakes taste.”
“Not on me you don’t.” Giada lowered the top of her tank dress and smeared the icing across her generous bosom.
Kentucky involuntarily licked his lips at the sight of her beautiful icing-covered breasts. Though he could tell that they’d been augmented, he didn’t care. Most men didn’t care about such things as long as they felt natural.
“Come taste me, Kenny,” Giada prompted in a sensual purr.
Oh, the woman was ruthless in her pursuits. She should have been a lawyer because she’d definitely just won her case with this man.
Kentucky’s feet seemed to move of their own accord. Soon he was kneeling beside Giada. Licking from south to north, north to east, then from east to west, the ravenous man removed every trace of icing off her globes. He got his greedy hands involved by gently squeezing and kneading her.
* * * *
Giada moaned at Kentucky’s thoroughness. Amazement filled her heart as she watched him do his thing. She couldn’t believe she was getting so hot so fast. She was even more amazed about getting this excited for a Plain-Jim man like him.
Suddenly Giada let out a loud gasp as Kentucky cupped both melons together and descended upon her twin peaks. She moaned just as loudly as she watched him work that beautiful mouth of his to both of their satisfactions.
“Yes!” Giada whispered, arching her body even closer to him. Her legs seemed to have a mind of their own as they opened in invitation.
As if he was fully aware of her sensual invitation, Kentucky sent one of his hands below. She gasped again when he took a dip in her core and found her dripping with liquid passion. She was ready for him. So ready.
Kentucky moaned this time, which was music to Giada’s ears. “Get that, Kenny,” she urged, grinding against his hand. “Get it now, baby.”
Instead of getting anything, Kentucky suddenly withdrew from her. “I’ll be back later,” he said, swiftly standing. He immediately headed toward the door.
Giada’s eyes were wide in disbelief. “You’re leaving? Now? Surely there’s time to squeeze in a little something.”
Kentucky paused and looked back, giving her a feral look that made her literally tremble with need.
“If I so much as touch you right now, Giada, you will have more than a little something in you, and there will be more than a little something done to you. Since Mama is probably wondering what’s taking me so long over here as it is, I need to go before she comes back to investigate.”
Disappointment settled into Giada’s soul. “Are you really coming back later? If not, I’ll take that quickie now.” She pulled up her dress even higher and spread her legs wider in invitation.
Kentucky let out a low growl of need as his eyes zoomed into her intimate landscaping. It was beautifully maintained and trimmed to perfection.
“I gave you my word, and I always keep that,” he said, dragging his eyes upward again. Turning toward the door, Kentucky paused and looked back again. “By the way, I’m disease-free. Are you?”
“Of course.” Giada felt the heat of offense in her cheeks. She immediately snapped her legs closed. “I just got the results of my latest checkup on Monday. I’m definitely disease-free, and I have an IUD to prevent pregnancy.”
“Good, I’ll need to see those test results when I return. I have mine in my wallet if you want to do the same.”
“I sure do,” Giada retorted, angry because he’d led the way in common sense. She usually brought up protection issues with her sexual partners first. So why hadn’t she done so with Kentucky?
Had Giada actually been about to have unprotected sex with him a few minutes ago? If so, why him? Did she trust Kentucky that much already?
Giada continued to ponder those things as the fine giant of a man took a temporary leave of her.
* * * *
Outside, Kentucky was disappointed that Giada hadn’t used her offense at his health question to call the whole thing off. Well . . . most of him was disappointed. A smaller part of Kentucky wanted to see this night through to the delicious end.
Chapter Five
Giada found Kentucky to be a man of his word. Around 2 a.m., he returned to her home just like he said he would.
Giada was ready for him. She was more than ready.
She was newly showered and wearing one of her skimpiest black teddies. The living room was romantically lit with scented candles. Soft jazz music played in the background. Her sofa bed had been pulled out and groomed with red satin sheets. Her recent test results were on the end table in the corner for his review.
As for her dog, Giada put Mercedes to bed upstairs. She pulled the door closed so that the canine wouldn’t wander out at the wrong time and be a distraction to them downstairs.
Giada thought about taking Kentucky up to her bedroom. Yet, when she reminded herself that only boyfriends were allowed up there,
she prepared the living room instead. Boy toys were restricted to the first floor.
In contrast, Giada noted that Kentucky had barely prepared for their night at all. Yes, he’d showered and even shaved, but the clothes he wore were so . . . unromantic. Instead of the all-black attire that he had on before and usually wore to work, he now had on a gray T-shirt, a pair of sweatpants, and black sneakers.
Most men went out of their way to dress up for Giada, but not Kentucky. He didn’t even have on any socks with his sneakers. It was as if he’d gone to bed, then suddenly remembered his word to her and threw something on right quick to come across the street.
I’m no afterthought! Giada raged inwardly, determined to put something on Kentucky tonight that would make him never forget her again.
After they shared test results and briefly discussed her birth control device, they proceeded to share a long kiss.
Giada’s mind emptied as she became swept away in that fantastic kiss. She was entranced by the hardness of Kentucky’s muscular frame. Was every part of this man granite?
Oooh . . . I can’t wait to see him naked. Giada might have to turn every light on in the room. The candlelight they’d used to read the results may not be enough for her hungry eyes.
“You ready for me, baby?” Kentucky asked after reluctantly breaking the kiss.
“Been ready,” Giada panted out, already trembling with need.
“Let’s go see.” Kentucky lifted her effortlessly into his strong arms and carried her over to the sofa bed.
“You’re so strong,” Giada noted, feeling like she was on a honeymoon or something as he carried her. “But I guess you have to be for your job, huh?” She planted kisses upon his thick neck. She ran her tongue along the path of one of the throbbing veins there.
Kentucky moaned. “Baby, I’ve been strong since I was thirteen. My father was a big man. It’s in the genes.”
Pretty Packages Page 3
