Unwanted Heat

Kenzie

“It’s hard to believe that tonight we will be back in New York,” I sigh looking out at the ocean one last time.

“I know,” he wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me close to him.

The resort staff just left to take our bags to the small plane before we fly to the main land to board the jet. This week was nothing like what I expected: things have changed so much between us. I try not to think about what all that will mean when our marriage ends in two years, especially after last night. It’s hard to think about how we can go from that, to just being friends. I’m tempted to ask Nicholas if he thinks what happened this week has changed our arrangement at all, but I’m kind of afraid to know the answer. I don’t know if he just thinks of what is physically happening between us as an added perk to our arrangement, or if he thinks of it as something beyond the arrangement. I have to force myself to not think about what will happen two years from now, and instead try to concentrate on the present. In two years when this all ends, if I have to walk away from Nicholas-

“Are you ready to head to the dock?” thankfully, he pulls me from my thoughts.

“Yes,” I take one last look at the ocean before turning around.

“We could come back, you know, or we can go someplace different… anywhere you want.”

I don’t say anything-it’s hard to think about the possibility of only having these two years together. Instead, I reach up and kiss him, closing my eyes so he can’t see the worry in them, as I desperately try to clear my head. Once again, I force my mind to focus on the present: on how Nicholas’s body feels pressed up against mine, how his lips feel against mine, how his hands feel as he rubs my back.

“If we don’t stop, we’ll never get on the plane,” Nicholas whispers in heavy breaths as he pulls away.

We meet Julie and Carter at the dock and the four of us board the small plane to head to the main island. Julie and I immediately start talking about all the different things we’ve done on the trip, while the guys talk about business and security issues after boarding the jet.

“Everything okay?” I ask as Nicholas returns to the seat.

“It seems the press has been camped out in front of Accord Towers and PFS nearly all week-the police have had to remove several of them already.”

“You said it would probably get a little crazier when we got back.”

“I just wished they would leave me the fuck alone already. I don’t understand why they’re so fascinated with me.”

“Like you said, right now, they probably just want to get the first picture of you as a married man. Hopefully in a week or two things will die down.”

“It better.”

“I think I’m going to try to meet with Ginny this week,” I change the subject, hoping it will put Nicholas in a better mood.

“The press doesn’t know that you own the bakery yet. My legal department was able to keep that information from the press, although I suspect eventually someone will dig and figure it out.”

“I’ll probably meet with her once it closes for the day, this way we won’t have to worry about customers alerting anyone that I’m there.”

“That’s a good idea. You can also use space at PFS, if you would rather meet there.”

“I think it’s best if we meet at the bakery so we can go over everything. But, if your offer still stands, I’d like to meet with your financial guy to discuss the books. I really don’t want to continue doing everything by hand.”

“Of course, I’ll have Melody set something up later this week,” he quickly types away on his phone without waiting for my response.

“Thank you, Nicholas, I appreciate it. I’m just so worried about screwing something up. I mean, I know all the recipes by heart, so that part doesn’t worry me. But payroll, taxes, paying vendors… that’s something I’ve never done.”

“Ginny outsources her payroll to a local company. All you need to do is send them an excel file of how many hours each employee worked, and they take care of the rest. They take out the necessary taxes and send them where they need to go. They mail out the check or deposit the money directly into the employee’s bank account. She pays all her vendors directly, but many of them have online bill paying options available; personally, I prefer those since you don’t have to wait for checks to be cleared.”

“How do you know all this?”

“I told you, I had to make sure the business was successful before buying it. I wouldn’t set you up to fail like that.”

“Thank you, Nicholas. It’s still so hard to believe that the bakery is really mine. There are so many things I always said I would change, if given the chance, and now I finally have that chance.”

“What is the first thing you would change?”

“The website-Ginny just has a basic one that looks like a high school kid designed it. I want something modern, but elegant looking. I want it to allow businesses to place orders online for meetings rather than having them call and risk the order being messed up.”

“That’s definitely a plus. I know Melody would prefer to order our meals online when possible.”

We spend the next couple of hours discussing business strategies: with some pushing, he finally shares some of the things he would change if he were managing it. By the time we finish talking, I have begun to formulate a list of different things that I want to jump into after I meet with Ginny. The best part is that many of the things I want to do, don’t require me to be physically present at the bakery, hopefully keeping the press away from it. As much as I love interacting with the customers, I know at least for the foreseeable future that won’t be possible. I don’t want to risk losing customers because the press is hounding them the way they were when it was first revealed that I was “dating” Nicholas. Instead, I think I’ll talk to Ginny about staffing and handle most of the business from her office or from Accord Towers. Hopefully, once things die down with the press, I can get back in front of the counter, but I know that might not be possible while I’m married.

“I’ve asked Carter to look at the security of the bakery itself when we get back,” Nicholas says. “I’m sure the system will need to be upgraded, but Carter will arrange to have people there when the bakery is closed, as to not disrupt business. Additionally, you should probably consider completing background checks on any new employees.”

“What about existing ones?”

“PFS already ran background checks on the current employees, and while we were gone each of them were asked to sign an NDA.”

“They were?”

“I asked Alex to work with Ginny on having it completed. It’s for your own protection: the last thing you want is for an employee to talk to the press and start selling stories about you. People can get greedy when offered money, they might even start making shit up about you just to get more money. The NDA prevents them from doing that.”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought about that.”Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.

“Hunter will remain assigned to you for security, but Ben is on standby in case it is determined that you need two people with you.”

“I’m sure-”

“With the press eager to get pictures, I don’t want to risk anything.”

“That makes sense.”

He goes back to checking his email and looking at spreadsheets, while I read a book that was packed in the overnight bag. Dinner is served on the plane, which tastes like something you would get from a restaurant rather than airline food.

“I think I’m going to take a nap before we land,” I say.

“Actually, I was just thinking the same thing,” Nicholas yawns and closes his laptop.

As we walk back to the bedroom of the plane, I can’t help but think how much has changed since we were in here only a week ago. It was only a week ago that Nicholas reluctantly shared this bed with me, worried that he would hurt me during a nightmare. Now there’s no worry-I still don’t understand why, but he says I keep his nightmares away. Neither of us have mentioned what will happen when we get back to New York, but I hope this part doesn’t change. I don’t know that I can go back to sleeping alone again.

“We have a few hours before the flight crew will notify us that we need to return to our seats to land,” Nicholas slides into bed next to me and pulls the covers over us.

“I had a really nice time in Fiji, thank you again for planning this trip,” I kiss him gently on his lips, intending it as a simple thank you kiss. However, when his arms tighten around me and his tongue slides across my lips, I know that he is thinking otherwise. My body softens around his as he holds me against him. A moan escapes when I feel him hardening between us; he gently rubs himself against my sex, letting me feel how much he wants me.

“I need you,” he whispers against my lips.

“What about…?” I look at the closed door.

“They know better than to come in, besides the room is sound proof,” he smirks.

“It is? Really?”

“When I had the jet redone, I added sound proofing, not only to let anyone in here sleep more comfortably but also so business could be conducted in privacy.”

“Are you sure?” I feel nervous knowing Carter and Julie are just on the other side of the door.

“Positive, but even if the room weren’t sound proof, trust me they wouldn’t dare come in.”

“Still…”

“Shhhh.”