When it was over, Giada collapsed against Kentucky’s sweat-drenched body and burst into tears. “I love you so much, Kenny,” she said, clinging to him. “I’m so glad I met you. I don’t know what I’d do without you, baby,” she sobbed, still looking in awe of what just happened between them. Fear registered in her eyes about what they stood to lose if they were to ever break up.
“I’m not going anywhere, baby,” Kentucky replied, his voice thick with emotion as he ran his soothing hands up and down her back. She was literally trembling as she cried against him. “I belong to you. You belong to me. Nothing is gonna change that,” Kentucky continued, still using his hands and his voice to soothe her. “Remember we still have those four kids to raise together?”
“I remember,” Giada said, growing increasingly calmer by the second at that reminder of her vision. Her eyes quickly dried.
“All that’s left for us to do now is make it official.” Kentucky chuckled and added, “I don’t know about you, but I think we’ve already had our honeymoon. Tonight was unbelievable.”
Giada chuckled, too. “I think you’re right. Tonight was unbelievable.” She withdrew to look him in the face. “As for making it official, I can hardly wait to be your wife. By the way, did I ever tell you that I want white doves released at my wedding?”
“Yep. Many times,” Kentucky said teasingly, very familiar with Giada’s wish list like all the other men before him. “I even know what kind of wedding dress you want handmade for that special day.”
Giada poked him playfully in the side. “Stop teasing me!”
“Ouch!” Kentucky faked an injury. “Now what I don’t know is what kind of lingerie you intend on wearing underneath that lace-trimmed dress.”
“That’s because I intend on wearing nothing underneath it.” Giada smiled slyly and added, “Well, nothing except for an edible thong.”
Inhaling sharply, Kentucky’s body instantly stirred to life again. “Let’s lie down and talk about this edible thong a little bit more,” he said, moving to carry her over to the bed for round two.
Giada giggled all the way to the bed. The giggling abruptly stopped when the moaning began. Oh no, nothing was funny now.
Chapter Twenty-Five
On Monday night, Kentucky called Giada to tell her about a new assignment he’d just been offered. This assignment entailed him protecting a renowned celebrity photographer named Jamie Benedict who was giving up chasing the rich and famous around for a more meaningful mission.
Jamie was going to various war-torn regions in Africa to document the effects that recent civil wars had had on the land and its people. This assignment also required Kentucky to leave within the week and be gone for a month.
“That sounds too dangerous, baby. I don’t know if you should take this assignment,” Giada said once she’d heard all the details. “Plus, you just got back home from a two-month job. I’m not ready for you to be gone for another month.”
“I know, and I don’t want to leave so soon either, baby, but the pay is too tempting to pass up. With this client offering to pay me triple my regular fee, plus extra for the risk factors, I could afford to give you the wedding you want and take the whole summer off if I wanted to.”
Kentucky left out the fact that he could also afford to compete with Fabian financially after this job. Especially after receiving another piece of news today from the school’s administrator, who told him that the first repayment check was in the mail.
“Wow. That much, huh?” Giada said, sounding very impressed by his earning potential before the deeper emotion of fear stepped back in. “Even still, I’m not comfortable with you putting your life at risk like this. Not for a wedding. Not for anything.”
Kentucky chuckled. “Baby, I put my life at risk all the time for my clients. That’s what bodyguards do.”
“That might be right, but I don’t think you’ve ever put your life this much at risk before. Or have you?”
“This will be my riskiest assignment to date, but I can handle it, baby,” Kentucky said self-confidently. “I’m gonna handle it . . . for us. For our future.” And just that quick, he’d made his decision.
“Kenny—”
“I’ve made my decision, Giada,” Kentucky interrupted. “I’m going to Africa. Now what I need for you to do is pack up three days’ worth of clothes and come over here so we can spend the next few days and nights together.”
“And what if I refuse to come?” Giada countered, revealing a bit of temper in her words.
“That’s your prerogative, baby, but a month is a long time to be without good loving. You might want something to tide you over until I return. I know I could use something to tide me over,” he replied, trying to appeal to her logic, sense of reasoning, and outright sexuality.
“I’ll be there in an hour,” Giada replied, conceding once again to his will.
* * * *
As Giada traveled to Kentucky’s house that night, she couldn’t help but wonder if there would ever come a time in their relationship when she finally got her way. She had also decided to enlist his stepmother’s help with changing his mind about the upcoming trip. Something about it just hadn’t sat right with her.
Unfortunately for Giada, Hannah couldn’t change Kentucky’s mind no more than she could. He was a man who was used to following his own mind, the same way his father had been. Giada just hoped that Kentucky’s strong will didn’t lead to his destruction like it had his father.
Hardy Jones died trying to prove that he could still perform the duty of a wiper with speed and precision, even though he had been promoted to yardmaster years ago. The day Hardy accidentally slipped, fell, and hit his head while packing the internal moving parts of a train’s engine with grease was the day Hannah thought she would die. She honestly hadn’t wanted to live when her husband died.
Giada remembered Hannah’s account of that incident well. That account included the fact that Hardy had been her life, her everything, and how no human love had been greater. That was the main reason Hannah remained a widow to this day, refusing to remarry or even date anyone.
Despite Giada’s best efforts, that same pattern started to manifest in her life during Kentucky’s absence. Though she still got dressed and went to work and school, something about her just wasn’t alive anymore. She only felt alive when the phone rang, often beating Hannah to it in hopes that it was Kentucky calling to check in.
Kentucky called to check in every day during that first week away. The second week only three calls were received. The third week, they only heard from him once. Even then, Hannah only got to speak to him because Giada had class that night and wasn’t home at the time. Attempts to reach his cell phone in those deep regions of Africa were unsuccessful.
Yet it was the fourth week that really put Giada on edge. Even Hannah became worried. That was the week they didn’t receive any calls from Kentucky at all. Calls to his cell phone were just as fruitless as before.
When Kentucky did not return on the fifth week as planned, they knew something was wrong.
That’s when they received . . . the letter.
That same fateful letter almost sent both women over the edge of insanity.
Sadly, that letter was not from Kentucky, but rather about him. It was from Jamie Benedict, stating that Kentucky had been killed trying to protect him during an uprising. Jamie offered his condolences and told the grieving women that he would see about getting Kentucky’s ashes transferred immediately.
“Ashes?” Giada exclaimed after reading the letter aloud.
Hannah had been too emotional to finish it past the word “died.”
“They didn’t wait to contact us first before cremating his body?”
“Us?” Hannah shrieked with wild eyes of pain. “Don’t you mean contact me? I’m his next of kin, not you. He never married you, remember? Matter of fact, it’s because of you that he took that job in the first place. You and your materialism. My son would be home and alive t
oday had he not been trying to give you some fancy life that you don’t even deserve! You’re the reason my Kenny is dead!”
Giada gasped in shock. No words fell from her lips in response as Hannah hurried from the room in tears. What could she say?
Giada was the reason Kentucky had taken this assignment. Her and her need for things, the high life, everything that no longer mattered now that Kentucky was dead.
Dead.
Giada still couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that her beloved Kentucky was gone. Had his giant body really been reduced to mere ashes? Was he never to be held again? Never to be kissed again? Was he truly gone?
Doing the only thing she could think of at the moment, Giada went to the bedroom she occupied, packed up a few things, got Mercedes, and left. She thought about going to a hotel, but since she didn’t want to be alone right now, she called Velicity and asked if she could crash at her place for the night.
Tomorrow . . . well, Giada would deal with that when it came.
* * * *
Kentucky’s funeral was held a week later. It was a simple funeral, held at the small church Hannah was a member of. Yet for all of its simplicity, the funeral was attended by important people not just in Miami, but from all over the world. Some of those people Kentucky had protected over the years. His Georgia and Kentucky relatives were there as well.
Even though Hannah had apologized for her emotional outburst the other day, Giada did not sit by her on the front row of the church. She sat all the way in the back where Velicity was.
In Giada’s mind, she didn’t deserve any position of prestige. She barely deserved to attend the funeral of so wonderful a man. She definitely didn’t deserve the large engagement ring on her finger, which is why Giada sold it and gave the money to Kentucky’s school in his memory.
Giada also sold her house on Wilmington Street for two times what it was worth. She would have liked to have sold it to the nice family who had been renting it for the last year, but they were not prepared to buy yet.
However, Giada did make provisions for her former renters by including a clause in her contract insisting that the new owner honor the current lease agreement she had with the Devines. This gave the tenants at least another year to rent at the current rate.
With that money, Giada was able to move out of Velicity’s place. That was where she’d been staying after moving the rest of her things from the Joneses’ house.
Instead of buying another house, Giada leased a modest apartment and put the rest of her funds in a high-interest-bearing account. She’d learned a hard lesson about the dangers of materialism. Being materialistic had cost her too much. It had cost her everything.
Thankfully, Giada’s specialty business was growing, and her educational expenses were paid for from now until she obtained her law degree. It seemed that the anonymous benefactor of her scholarship was so pleased with her 4.0 grade point average that he/she decided to offer support for her remaining matriculation in law school.
As for her relationship with Hannah, though Giada called to check on Kentucky’s stepmother at least twice a week, she had yet to see her again. She couldn’t. Guilt and shame prevented her from going anywhere near the Jones house ever again.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Three months later
“Giada, are you going to finally put that man out of his misery and go out with him?” Velicity asked over lunch that breezy September day.
Giada shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m just not feeling Fabian that way anymore. I’m really not feeling any man. Not since . . .” Her voice trailed off. Her eyes watered.
“Kentucky,” Velicity finished for her.
Giada nodded and blinked away her tears.
“But wouldn’t Kentucky want you to be happy? From what I can see, Fabian is willing to make you more than happy. He’s sent you flowers every day since . . . since it all happened.” There was no need for Velicity to mention what “it” was. That would only cause Giada to start crying again. She’d cried enough over the last three months.
“Kenny would love for me to be happy,” Giada replied. “But not with Fabian. He despised the man and his effect on me. He particularly hated how Fabian catered to my selfish side.”
“Has Fabian been catering to your selfish side lately? From what you’ve told me, he’s been a great comfort to you over the last few months. How he calls just to check on you and how he’s always willing to listen to you, even if it’s about Kentucky.”
Giada nodded. Velicity had a point there. Fabian had been very understanding about her grieving process. He’d even bought her a special journal so that she could process her feelings about her loss on paper when the need arose.
“Maybe Fabian has turned over a new leaf, too. You certainly have.” Velicity chuckled. “The old Giada and I would have never been friends. Now look at us, going to lunch together and everything. We even stayed together for a little while.”
Giada laughed, too. “What are you, on Fabian’s payroll or something? You sure are trying to sell him pretty hard to me.”
“I wish I was on his payroll.” Velicity smiled. “I’m just trying to get you out of this funk you’ve been in for the last three months. Cutting yourself off from men altogether may have worked for Mrs. Jones, but I don’t think that it’s the best thing for you. You’re supposed to be somebody’s wife, somebody’s mother, Giada. I’m reminded of that every time I see you with Mercedes.”
Giada’s eyes welled up again as she was suddenly reminded of that open-eye vision. She had been somebody’s wife in that vision—Kentucky’s. She had been somebody’s mother—the mother of Kentucky’s offspring.
What happened to that vision?
It perished with Kentucky.
“Will you at least think about it, Giada?” Velicity said, dragging her friend from her deep thoughts.
“Yes,” Giada replied, blinking her eyes free again. “I’ll think about moving on with my life.” Even though I definitely don’t want to, she added to herself.
* * * *
Giada’s first official date with Fabian was far from private. Everywhere they went there were cameras. This was so different from how it had been when they dated the first time. Back then Bartley used to make sure Fabian entered every event alone with Giada showing up later and using side entrances. Now she walked the red carpet alongside Fabian.
Speaking of Bartley, he had been demoted to just manager. After withholding that information about Kentucky and Giada all those months ago, Fabian hired someone else to be his assistant. That new assistant was a gray-haired woman he’d gotten from an agency. Mrs. Williams knew how to do her job well. Most importantly, she knew how to stay out of Fabian’s personal affairs.
Giada actually had fun on her date with Fabian, or as much fun as she could have considering her lingering grief. At the end of the date, she agreed to go out with Fabian again. It was kind of hard to refuse after he presented her with the deed to her old house.
It turned out that Fabian had been behind the sale of Giada’s house on Wilmington Street. He had a real estate agent outbid all other offers on the house to make sure he personally got it.
“Why did you want my house so badly?” Giada asked as they sat in the black limo outside of her apartment that night.
“I bought it out of concern for your financial welfare,” Fabian replied. “I knew you didn’t have any close family. I didn’t want you to suffer any hardship while you were still in school.”
Giada nodded, though she didn’t fully believe that his intentions were that pure. If they were, why hadn’t he presented her with the deed before now? Why wait and use it as a bargaining tool to get another date?
“So I’ll see you next Friday at seven?” Fabian asked, leaning toward her for a goodnight kiss.
“Y . . . Yes.” Giada cleared her throat and then braced herself for a kiss that she absolutely didn’t want. But then again, how could she refuse? The man had just given her the deed to her
Wilmington Street house.
Allowing Fabian’s kiss, Giada determined how far it would go by pursing her lips tightly together. There would be no French kissing of any kind tonight. It was still too soon for her.
As Giada quickly said goodnight to Fabian and prepared to exit the limo, she realized that it would take some more time before she was ready to start fully kissing another man. Kentucky’s brand was still too heavy upon her lips, upon her whole body.
Sometimes in the stillness of the night, Giada could vividly recall how it felt to kiss her deceased fiancé, how it felt to make love to him. Tonight was one of those nights.
Giada thought about making love to Kentucky all through tonight’s shower and even as she prepared for bed. The tips of her bosom became taut at the memory of Kentucky’s lips. She recalled the unique way he had of tasting them, making her hotter than hot and wetter than wet every time.
Giada’s inner muscles clenched with need at the memory of what it felt like to slide down Kentucky’s length. The man had been big everywhere, and she’d loved every tanned inch of his beautiful body. It hadn’t mattered where they made love, in a shed, in a friend’s Jacuzzi, or on a lounge chair on his patio, it had been great every time.
“I miss you so much, Kenny,” Giada whispered into the quiet room.
Hearing her master’s voice, Mercedes lifted her head from her doggy pillow in inquiry.
“Go back to sleep. I’m still not talking to you, young lady,” Giada scolded. Her passion waned as she was reminded of the cell phone Mercedes destroyed tonight.
Thoroughly rebuked, the dog whimpered and put her head back down on her pillow. Fortunately, everything would be right as rain between them again by the morning.
With her mind now free from all erotic thoughts, Giada focused on business matters instead. Tomorrow she would get the house on Wilmington Street officially and legally turned back over to her. From experience she knew that Fabian always acted in Fabian’s best interest, even in his gift-giving. Giada wasn’t about to give him legal room to take the house back just in case she decided to cancel her second date with him.
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