Pretty Packages (2 page)

Chapter Two

June

Kentucky
saw Giada away from her house for the first time two months later on a hot night that announced that it was indeed summertime in
Florida
. She was among the crowd at a popular nightclub that he still did bouncer work for on occasion.

Kentucky
usually stuck to just bodyguard work. Yet, since the owner of the club had given him his first break into the world of protection services and was very instrumental in getting him high-end clients over the years, he did this favor as needed and whenever his schedule allowed.

Instead of sexy office attire or skimpy around-the-house wear, Giada was dressed in a black catsuit tonight. That racy outfit had cutouts on the sides, in the front, and in the back, which left very little to the imagination.

Kentucky
felt his lower body tighten at all the skin Giada showed tonight. Fortunately, he was able to will his libido down quickly with the self-control techniques he’d practiced over the years in order to keep himself constantly composed.

With his mind clear again,
Kentucky
noticed what he had missed before—Giada was not alone. She was on the arm of a guy who he recognized as an up-and-coming rap artist named Smooth-Tip. The rapper’s large entourage was also with them.

When Giada got close enough to recognize him,
Kentucky
saw surprise in her eyes. They exchanged no words, only the usual brief nod that they often shared whenever they saw one another in passing.

Good.
Kentucky
didn’t mix business with pleasure anyway. Plus, he really didn’t want to associate pleasure with Giada at all.

Talk about danger.
Kentucky
felt sorry for the man she was with tonight. He almost wanted to warn the guy. But since the rapper wasn’t a personal client of his,
Kentucky
decided to let him find out the hard way what kind of woman he had.

After losing a few thousand, he’ll be wiser next time,
Kentucky
thought, shooting Giada a sideways glance as she sensually switched her hips through the doors of the club.
I hope she’s worth parting with all that dough.
Yet he knew women like her seldom were.

* * * *

Giada was surprised to see
Kentucky
standing in front of the nightclub tonight. She had no idea what his profession was until now. Now she understood why his car was never parked outside the Joneses’ house until very late at night. He was working.

With that mean mug and that huge body, this is the best career for him.
Giada suddenly couldn’t help but wonder how much professional bouncers earned. After all, the clothes
Kentucky
had on tonight were far from cheap.

The leather boots he wore had to be tailor-made for his large feet, and his jeans were the most expensive brand in menswear. The only inexpensive thing on
Kentucky
’s body was the black club logo T-shirt he wore over that large chest of his.

Whatever he makes is nothing compared to what Smooth-Tip makes in a day from record sales alone.
Giada returned her attention completely back to the man she was with. This was the same man she intended to charm out of several thousand dollars before she called it quits.

If only Giada could forget how fine
Kentucky
looked in all black with his biceps bulging like mountain ranges.

* * * *

Things did not go as well as Giada thought they would tonight. Her date turned out to be a total dud. She wasn’t too surprised.

What else could I expect from a rapper?
Giada readily lumped all rappers in the same pile, even though there were probably some true gentlemen in the bunch.

Though Giada started her life as a subtle gold digger during high school in order to take care of herself and the elderly grandmother who raised her, she had deliberately stayed away from rappers, wannabe or otherwise. They reminded her too much of the thugs she’d grown up around.

Giada might not have listened to everything her grandmother tried to instill in her growing up, but she had listened to
some
things. One was to stay away from thugs and those involved with illegal activities. As a result, a grown-up Giada had only dated wealthy businessmen, professional athletes, and men with access to trust funds.

Her specialty was men with new money since they were easier prey. Men who’d been accustomed to wealth for years tended to be more suspicious, vigilant about their associates, and more discerning of gold diggers. They were also harder to get gifts from unless they were old as Methuselah and ready to give a twenty-three-year-old woman like Giada anything to make them feel young again.

Tonight Giada gained all the extra incentive she needed to never date another rapper again. First of all, most of them kept too many people around. Every time she tried to work her charm on Smooth-Tip tonight, his entourage would interrupt.

That same entourage seemed to want to start a fight in every room. It was as if they didn’t know how to have peace with anybody. Or perhaps they just wanted to be seen by everybody. Giada still didn’t know what their problem was.

Finally fed up with the whole scene, she asked Smooth-Tip if they could go back to his place for more privacy. Of course he agreed . . . but only if his crew could come with.

Then, when Smooth-Tip started talking about running a gang bang on her and the other ladies that his entourage had picked up in the club, Giada got up and walked out. Sadly, she was the only woman in the group who did.

“I may be a lot of things, but even I know that gangbanging is for sluts,” Giada muttered angrily to herself as she stood outside the club minutes later, waiting for the first available cab. “And I’m definitely not one of those.”

“What
are
you then?” someone with a deep, rural-sounding voice suddenly asked from behind her.

* * * *

After his shift ended,
Kentucky
went to say goodnight to Sal Delfino, the club owner. When he exited the club, he noticed Giada standing outside alone. Since she had not arrived alone, he went over to investigate.

His unexpected question to Giada was not necessarily one of inquiry since
Kentucky
already knew what she was. Rather it was one fit for pondering, a question to get
Giada
thinking about what she was and why.

Kentucky
didn’t mean to startle her with his question and sudden appearance at her side. He didn’t mean for her to nearly jump out of her skin, causing the black purse in her hands to drop to the ground, fly open, and spill its contents everywhere.

Giada’s cell phone went one way. The key ring holding her emergency credit card and home and car keys went another. Various tubes of makeup rolled wherever they liked.
Kentucky
heard her hiss out an expletive. She looked frustrated to the max now.

Guilt instantly singed his soul. “I am so sorry,”
Kentucky
said, immediately bending to help gather her things. He became sorrier when her key ring went sliding into a sewer drain and disappeared below before his swift hands could catch it.

Giada cursed again. “You just ought to be sorry,” she said, turning to glare at him. “Now how am I going to get into my house tonight? And the one emergency credit card I carry with me just went down the drain, too. It’s a good thing Mercedes is at the pet sitter’s tonight. Otherwise I’d really be in a panic.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have left a window open, would you?”
Kentucky
suggested, allowing her anger to roll off his back. He was man enough to take his punishment when he was wrong.

“No. Not with all the recent break-ins in the neighborhood. And don’t even
think
about breaking one of my bay windows,” Giada replied adamantly, refusing to cause any damage to her precious first home. In reality this was the first home she actually bought for herself.

“We can call a locksmith.”
Kentucky
looked down at his watch and winced. It was 3 a.m. No locksmith was going to come out this time of morning. This included the one who he knew personally.

“On second thought, maybe I can put you up at Mama’s place tonight. We can call a locksmith in the morning,”
Kentucky
continued, not about to spend one brown penny on a gold digger, although he was responsible for her current dilemma.

“A locksmith that’s going to come out on a Sunday?” Giada looked doubtful. “Why can’t you just put me up in a hotel instead? Oh wait, that expense is probably not in your bouncer budget,” she said haughtily, snapping her purse closed now that most of her belongings had been salvaged.

“I know a guy who’ll come out on Sunday as a personal favor to me,” he replied, completely ignoring her dig about his part-time job.

“If you know him that well, why can’t he come out tonight?” Giada asked.

“Because he has a wife that he wants to keep.”
Kentucky
chuckled, causing his deep voice to get even deeper.

* * * *

Giada felt her nipples instantly tighten at the deep, husky baritone of
Kentucky
’s chuckle. That had never happened before. Never!

No man had ever turned Giada on with just his laugh before. She was usually turned on by a man’s physical attributes or . . . his money.

Suddenly she didn’t mind spending the night at the Joneses’ house. Suddenly she didn’t care how much smaller it was than her place. Wherever
Kentucky
was, that’s where she suddenly wanted to be tonight.

He’s actually not that ugly when he smiles.
Giada suddenly saw
Kentucky
in a whole new light. And she just loved how white and perfect his teeth were. Plus, his slight country accent was adorable. It was simply adorable.

Maybe
Kentucky
was worthy of her time after all.

Though he still wasn’t boy-toy material yet, Giada could certainly use another good errand boy. The last one had turned into a stalker. She had to take out a restraining order just to get him to leave her alone.

“I’ll be glad to stay at your house tonight,” Giada finally said, looking up at
Kentucky
with a charming smile on her lips.
“Now where is your car parked?” She glanced around the corner toward the parking lot area.

* * * *

Kentucky
narrowed his eyes at Giada’s sudden change in attitude. His guard instantly went up. It went way up.

After a quick review of his words,
Kentucky
wanted to kick himself. Hard. He’d just given himself away. By calling the family home his stepmother’s place, that meant that he had a home of his own.