Unwanted Heat

Nicholas

As we walk to the dining room, I’m still in complete disbelief. Disbelief that she agreed to this new arrangement and disbelief that I’m about to give up fucking for the foreseeable future. I see many long nights and cold showers in my future, but it will all be worth it when this saves PFS. I’ll sacrifice anything to not lose everything that I have worked this hard to gain.

“So… how exactly is this going to work?” Kenzie pulls me from my thoughts after Julie sets are plates in front of us.

“Before we can do anything, I need to speak with Bridget to inform her that we are terminating our contract with her. I don’t know if she will want to verify this with you first-”

“That’s fine, if she does.”

“Once our contract is terminated with her, we can move forward with our marriage. I would like to move quickly with the wedding itself; I don’t want to prolong the engagement and give the press more time to print non-sense about us.”

“Sure, that makes sense.”

“We’ll tell my family of the engagement of course, but I think otherwise I would rather just have PFS’s public relations department announce our marriage. If we announce an engagement, the press will hound us more than they do already to find out where the wedding will be and I’m afraid it will be a security nightmare.”

“Where will the wedding be?”

“I don’t know…” I admit I haven’t thought that far yet. “What type of wedding do you want?”

“Something small if possible. I obviously don’t know very many people in New York, so the wedding will mostly be your friends and family.”

“I know you said you never thought you would get married after… what happened. But when you were little, I’m sure you dreamed of a wedding. I know Cara has since she was little and played Barbies.”

“I think every girl had their dream wedding planned out when they were little.”

“What was yours?”

“I wanted to get married on a beach somewhere, barefoot with my feet in the sand. Just a few guests with us, and the ocean waves crashing in the background.”

“Sounds very nice.”

“What about you? What type of a wedding did you see yourself having?”

“I never thought I would get married, so I never considered what my wedding would be like.”

“Your… ex, she didn’t want to get married?”

“Oh, I’m sure that was her ultimate goal, but we never discussed

it.”

“Oh.”

“Assuming I can speak with Bridget tomorrow morning, are you able to come to my parents’ on Sunday for dinner? I thought perhaps we could announce our engagement then?”

“Sure, I’m free all day.”

“I know we have the charity dinner tomorrow night, but we should find a time to move your belongings in here as well. I will have Julie prepare the bedroom you stayed in when you were here for the weekend unless you have any objections to it?”

“No, that room was perfect.”

“Great, I’ll arrange for movers to pack-”

“Ummm, no, I would rather pack my own things.”

“Are you sure? It’s not an issue; we use movers at PFS all the time.”

“I would rather pack my own stuff. I don’t feel comfortable having someone else pack my things.”

“If you’re sure?” she nods. “Do you need much time to pack your things? I’m thinking maybe we should have everything moved in this weekend.”

“No, I don’t have very much as you saw.”

“How’s Sunday then? Ben and Hunter should be able to move everything when we’re at dinner?”

“That will be fine. I can pack up everything tomorrow before dinner.”

“Kenzie… I really can’t thank you enough for agreeing to this. I know this wasn’t an easy decision for you…”

“If this is what it will take to help you save PFS, then it will be worth it. I’m happy I can help you do that.”

“You amaze me sometimes. You could have asked me for anything, any amount of money, and I would have given it to you but you didn’t.”

“Money isn’t everything, Nicholas.”

“It certainly isn’t.”

We fall into a comfortable silence as we eat dinner; I can’t help but watch Kenzie in amazement that she agreed to this whole arrangement. I had hoped she would agree to it, but I kept thinking the worst… that she would say what I knew all along, that what I was asking of her was too much. I wish I knew what was going through her head when she was reading the prenup last night; I was so tempted to bring her down the bottles of wine personally and offer to sit with her while she read the contract. Ultimately though, I knew that she wouldn’t want that; I knew that I had to respect her request for some time alone to process everything and to read through the contract.

“Did you hear me, Nicholas?” Kenzie pulls me from my thoughts that I seem to have been lost in.

“Oh, sorry… what did you say?”

“Don’t you think people will find it odd that we are sleeping in separate bedrooms? I’m not trying to suggest… I just want to make sure we have our bases covered.”

“Anyone who will come in here will know me, Kenzie. I… I have nightmares most nights and therefore I won’t share a bed with anyone. My family is aware of this, so they won’t suspect anything if they notice we are sleeping separately. Julie and Carter are used to it as well; that was the arrangement with… my ex.”

“But you slept with me…”

“I did.”

Neither of us says anything next; the fact that I slept comfortably with her the night she woke up screaming still baffles me. I still don’t know if I had a nightmare when she was in my room the first night I was sick; she hasn’t mentioned it but then again neither have I. Although I’m dreading the first nightmare I have when she is living here…

“So, we have the charity dinner tomorrow and then with your family on Sunday?” she knows the answer to her question, but I get the impression she is trying to change the subject.

“Yes, when we come back here, after dinner on Sunday, everything should be moved into the bedroom upstairs. If you need other space in here, there are plenty of guest bedrooms that can be turned into an office or anything else you want.”

“I don’t need much; the bedroom is fine.”Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

“There’s one other thing we need to discuss…” I purposely waited until the last possible minute to bring this issue up. I don’t know if Kenzie has thought about it yet, but I feel we need to discuss it to make sure we’re both on the same page.

“Okay…” she’s obviously cautious, not knowing what I want to discuss.

“The press… You know they’re a thorn in my side and the entire reason for this new arrangement,” she nods in agreement. “They’re going to need to believe that we’re in love. I know our original agreement with Bridget didn’t include much physical displays of affection, but-”

“I get it, Nicholas, and it’s fine. I already kind of assumed that would be part of this new arrangement. We’ll need to kiss each other in public and spend more time together than we have been, especially lately.”

“If you’re uncomfortable with anything, Kenzie, you have to let me know. The press needs to be convinced we’re in love, but I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable in the process.”

“It’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

I walk her back to her apartment after we finished our drinks, and I realize tomorrow night will be the last time I do this. The idea of a living with a woman full time has me a little anxious, but I don’t think it will be an issue with Kenzie. I’ve never lived with a woman, though; I don’t consider Julie living with me because she and Carter have their own apartment that just happens to be within mine. My ex would spend a few nights a week at my old place but never really long term. It’s definitely going to be an adjustment having someone in my space twenty-four seven. But, it’ll be worth it to save PFS.

“Thank you for dinner. Julie is an amazing cook,” once again Kenzie pulls me from my thoughts.

“I know I said it earlier, but I can’t thank you enough for what you’re doing for me. I truly appreciate you doing this.”

“You need to stop thanking me, it’s really not needed-”

“You really are something,” I shake my head in disbelief that she can’t see what an amazing thing she is doing for me. She doesn’t see what she is giving up just to help me, something I don’t think anyone else who knows me would do.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she stands on her tiptoes and kisses me right on the lips.

On instinct my arms wrap around her waist; my body wanting or maybe needing to feel her against me again. Her kiss is hesitant but soft and gentle at the same time. She doesn’t deepen the kiss and all too soon she pulls back just enough so our eyes can meet. She blushes the cutest shade of pink, the reason for which is a mystery to me. All I can think about is kissing her again, but I know that wouldn’t be a good idea. The last thing we need is to complicate this as we’re about to move into a new arrangement.

“If you need help packing let me know. I’ll have Carter bring you boxes in the morning.”

“Good night,” she kisses me one last time before finally pulling completely away from me.

“Night, Kenzie.”

Sleep finds me easily that night, and for once I don’t have a nightmare. I think knowing that I have found a likely solution to the press issue, and therefore my problems at PFS, has made it much easier to fall asleep tonight than recently. I’m up before my alarm goes off, ready and waiting for Carter in the foyer for our morning run.

“Morning, sir.”

“Carter.”

We take our normal jog around the city, though I’ve noticed it now excludes the bakery since Kenzie stopped working there earlier this week. Prior to that, we would still jog past it despite her living only a few floors below me. I never questioned Carter why it was still on route, nor did I suggest he change it.

“Kenzie’s going to be moving into the penthouse tomorrow,” I announce to him on the elevator ride back from our jog.

“Yes, sir.”

“I need you to arrange boxes to be delivered to her apartment as soon as possible today. As you know she didn’t have much when we moved her in here, so I doubt she will need very many. I would like Hunter and

Ben to move everything while we’re at my parents’ tomorrow night.”

“Of course, sir.”

“And, Carter, I’m… I’m going to try to arrange something for tomorrow, but it’s short notice, so I don’t know if it will pan out. I just want to give you the heads up I may need you for most of the day.”

“Not a problem, sir.”