Pretty Packages (24 page)

* * * *

“You got your hands full with that one,” Bartley said when he and
Kentucky
were alone again.

“I can handle her,”
Kentucky
replied confidently, rising to his feet to show his guest out. He had an angry woman to go soothe.

Bartley stood also. “I believe you can. Had that been Fabian, she would have pouted or cajoled him with sex until she got what she wanted.”

Kentucky
frowned. “As you can see, I’m
not
Fabian and don’t ever want to be.” He led the way to the front door. “Now what are you gonna tell him about Giada now that it is clear she has decided to stay with me?”

“I plan on telling him that Giada’s old flame is actually not a man at all, but instead a woman. This way his pride will get all involved and he will leave the matter alone.” Bartley smirked. “After all, no heterosexual man wants the world to know that his woman dropped him for another woman. For a man in Fabian’s high-profile position, especially with all the love songs he’s written this year, that kind of news could cost him big-time in sales.”

Kentucky
’s frown deepened. “Though I don’t appreciate you painting Giada as a lesbian, I do understand why it’s necessary,” he said as they paused at the front door. He gave Bartley a hard look and added, “I also don’t appreciate you taking so much pleasure from it. Especially since you like playing on the same team from time to time yourself. Matter of fact, I bet you wouldn’t mind playing on
Fabian’s
team every now and again.”

Bartley dropped his smirk like a bad habit. “How did you . . . ?”

“It doesn’t matter how I found out. You just need to know that Giada and I aren’t the only ones with something at stake here.”
Kentucky
opened the door. “Call me if anything changes.”

“I will,” Bartley replied nervously.

* * * *

As Bartley exited
Kentucky
’s house, his anxiety increased. He thought he’d come to make the man indebted to him for saving his school and bodyguard career. Now he found himself in
Kentucky
’s debt.

Fabian was as homophobic as they came. Once he found out his manager was bisexual, Bartley would be demoted to just manager instead of manager/assistant. If Fabian ever found out Bartley was secretly in love with him, he would fire him completely.

I’ll make sure Fabian gets over Giada if it’s the last thing I do,
Bartley promised himself now that his own livelihood was at stake.

Chapter Twenty-One

Nine months later

After that encounter with Bartley, Giada found the same pattern repeating itself in her life—her continually giving up something for
Kentucky
.

It was now April, and she was tired of the constant sacrifice.

Giada couldn’t wear her engagement ring on the correct hand because it might harm
Kentucky
’s school and career. She couldn’t be seen in public with him for the same reason.

On the day of the school’s official dedication, Giada even had to sit in the back of the auditorium instead of in a place of honor on the front row with
Kentucky
’s stepmother. And no photos could be taken of them standing anywhere near each other due to all the PR at the event.

To make matters worse,
Kentucky
had taken on several bodyguard assignments back-to-back over the last four months, which meant they hadn’t even been in the same room with each other recently.

They definitely hadn’t been in the same bed.

Giada couldn’t even go shopping to ease her mind, at least not to her favorite stores.
Kentucky
insisted that Giada create a monthly and annual budget and stick to it, the same as he’d done for his finances. This meant no more thousand-dollar suits and no more five-hundred-dollar shoes. She couldn’t even afford a good pair of eighty-dollar stockings.

Thankfully, Giada had an additional source of revenue coming in from her small specialty gift business. She also received an unexpected scholarship two months ago, and so her first year of law school was now paid in full. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have had the funds to get her car fixed after unexpected repairs arose
and
pay her tuition.

On top of that, just this week, Giada saw two old flames while driving back from lunch—her high school teacher and the guy who’d stalked her for a while. Both men had been driving Mercedes—Giada’s dream car. They’d both spotted her in traffic, honked to get her attention, and then smirked before driving away.

Fed up with having to constantly deny herself without being rewarded for her sacrifices, Giada decided to take herself out to dinner at her favorite restaurant. Who cared how expensive The Raven was?

Kentucky was somewhere in France guarding an ambassador’s adult son, no doubt eating like a king in all sorts of fancy places. Why shouldn’t Giada treat herself to a meal fit for a queen?

After ordering the most expensive thing on the menu, Giada sipped on a glass of grape juice and enjoyed the exotic appetizers that had been placed before her. For the moment, life was good again.

Suddenly she heard a male voice ask, “Are you dining alone?”

Giada’s hand snapped to the left and upwards. “F . . . Fabian? What are you doing here?” The last she’d heard, he was on tour. Had it ended early?

Fabian smiled. “Trying to get something to eat, just like you. Are you eating alone tonight or waiting on your girlfriend?”

Giada looked at him in puzzlement. Fabian knew she didn’t have many female friends. He knew she usually went out with a man or by herself.

“I’m eating alone tonight,” Giada replied, still wondering what he meant by “girlfriend.”

Fabian smiled wider. “Perhaps I can join you then?” His eyes looked hopeful.

Giada shook her head. “I don’t think my boyfriend would like that very much.”

Fabian’s eyes bucked. “Did you just say
boyfriend
?”

“Yes.” Now Giada looked at him as if he’d lost his mind.

“But I thought . . .” Fabian paused, sat down without permission, and then tried to regroup his thoughts. “Who did you leave me for, Giada?”

Giada frowned. “Why?” she asked cautiously. “What does it matter anyway?”

“Did you leave me for a
man
or a
woman
?” Fabian persisted, looking as if he was desperate for that answer.

“A
woman
!” Giada’s voice rose before she self-consciously lowered it again. “I left you for a man, of course. I’m not a lesbian by any means. You of all people should know that.”

Fabian’s face reddened with ire. “It appears I’ve been misinformed about a few things. Now I want to know why.” He pulled out his cell phone, pressed the number three, and waited for Bartley to answer.

Giada sat on pins and needles as the inevitable occurred. Bartley squealed like the pig that he was. To his credit, he did not disclose the proposition he’d made with
Kentucky
and Giada or anything about
Kentucky
’s school.

Instead Bartley shouldered all the blame. The reason he gave for withholding the truth was the fact that he thought Fabian’s career would be severely damaged if women knew that an unattractive man like
Kentucky
could take a woman from him. They both knew that sex appeal was a major driving force of Fabian’s career and couldn’t be trifled with.

Though seemingly satisfied with what he’d heard, Fabian hung up the phone a few minutes later with a frown upon his face. He looked over at Giada in silence for the longest time. Finally he asked, “Were you and
Kentucky
lovers before, during, or after that
Caribbean
tour?”

“Before,” Giada replied. She didn’t have the heart to tell him about her and
Kentucky
in that hotel room. “And, of course, after.”

“Did you ever sleep with him on the boat?”

Giada shook her head. “No, Fabian,” she said, keeping her answers short and sweet. She tried hard to concentrate on the meal she’d been served while Fabian was on the phone, but her appetite was all but ruined now.

“Why didn’t you tell me about your history with this man before I hired him?”

“I didn’t know you had hired Kenny until the day you were due to meet him yourself, remember?

Plus, what he and I had was over as far as I was concerned.”

“Obviously not. You’re back with him now,” Fabian quipped.

Giada felt her cheeks get hot. “I didn’t know old feelings were going to stir back up during the tour. When I realized they had, I left and went home so there wouldn’t be any conflict.”

“And you’re sure you two didn’t have sex on the boat? There were a lot of late nights that I woke up and you were gone from the bed, Giada.”

“I said no. What do you take me for, some kind of slut?” Giada hissed with her patience wearing thin. “I never slept with Kenny on that boat or any other boat. Now if you’re done giving me the third degree, please excuse yourself so I can eat my dinner in peace.”

* * * *

Fabian didn’t move an inch. He was too mesmerized by the fire in Giada’s tone to budge. It reminded him of how fiery she could be in the bedroom. He missed that, wanted it back.

“I want you back, Giada,” Fabian said, telling her what was on his mind. “I never stopped loving you.”

Giada took a deep breath and exhaled. “I love Kenny, Fabian. He’s the man I want. Isn’t that obvious by now?”

“But is
Kentucky
the man that can give you any material thing your heart desires? And you know I know how many material things
your
heart desires,” Fabian replied, reminding her of countless conversations they’d had about her ever-growing wish list.

“Kenny means more to me than any of those things,” Giada advocated fervently.

“But for how long?” Fabian asked, unconvinced by her statements. “Look, my last tour was very lucrative, Giada. So lucrative that I can now afford to buy a small island if I wanted to.” He leaned in closer to her and added, “But I’d rather spend that money on you, Giada. Is there anywhere you want to go? Anything you want to own? Just name it, baby, and it’s yours.”

* * * *

Giada inhaled sharply at Fabian’s words. If only they were coming from
Kentucky
’s mouth. But they weren’t. They were coming from another man’s. And thus Giada had to make yet another sacrifice for
Kentucky
.

“No, thank you, Fabian, but it was nice of you to offer,” she said, feeling grieved in the pit of her stomach. Giada absolutely had no appetite now, which made her mad as fire. There was nothing worse than having to pay over a hundred and twenty-five dollars for a meal she didn’t even eat.

“Well, at least let me pay for your dinner,” Fabian insisted.