Unwanted Heat

Nicholas

In that moment I realized how little I truly know about Kenzie; I know her ex abused her but I don’t know what her time with him was really like. She is very closed off about her past, although given the little bit I do know, it makes sense that she would have difficulty trusting men. I’m kicking myself for not thinking that having Hunter bring her here today instead of going to the bakery where she expected to go would have upset her. All I wanted to do was to get a chance to talk to her alone; she wasn’t responding to the flowers I sent, so I really didn’t know what else I could do. Alex told me to talk to her alone, to take her somewhere and do something just the two of us… yet he didn’t tell me how the hell to get her attention when she wouldn’t talk to me!

“Can we go swimming?” Kenzie pulls me from my thoughts.

“Of course! Come with me and I’ll show you where everything is,” I stand and take her hand to help her up from the lounge chair where we’ve been sitting for the last couple of hours. I hadn’t realized how much time had passed until I looked at my phone and realized it was well after noon. After the heavy discussion, I think a swim sounds like a great idea. With her hand still in mine, I lead her back through the main area of the boat and down the steps to the bedrooms.

“I’ll give you a quick tour while we’re here,” I offer. “Obviously this is the kitchen; it has all main features of a home kitchen but on a much smaller scale. After we go swimming I’ll bring up the lunch that Julie packed and we can eat if you’re hungry.”

“Sounds good.”Material © of NôvelDrama.Org.

“Through here is a small office, over there is a guest bedroom and bathroom and then this is the master bedroom.”

“Wow, Nicholas, this is amazing! I had no idea so much space was down here. I mean, the boat is obviously big but… wow!”

“In the bag you’ll find a bathing suit, a cover up, a pair of flip flops, shorts and a top-”

“You bought all of this?”

“Yes… well technically a personal shopper at Neiman’s arranged all of this. I gave her your picture and she based the sizes from that, so I’m hoping they fit-”

“Thank you.. You definitely didn’t need to do all of this, but thank you.”

“Kenzie, I just want you to know again how sorry I am-”

“Nicholas, you’ve apologized; you’re forgiven. I overreacted as well and like you, I didn’t know how to fix things. The flowers you sent me, which were absolutely beautiful by the way, were your way of trying to reach out to me. I wanted to call you so many times, but I didn’t know what to say because I don’t think I even understood why it bothered me so much that you thought you needed to pay me.”

“Because you recognized before I did, that this was more than a business arrangement. I don’t know when it happened, but it did.”

“Do you think that’s okay though? I mean… Oh, I don’t know what I mean.”

“Kenzie, I’m sure Bridget has clients who have developed friendships and probably even relationships from these arrangements. I think when two people spend a lot of time together, it’s a natural reaction. It just didn’t take as much time for us.”

“I suppose.”

“I’m going to change in the guest room; how about we meet on the deck in a few minutes? Anything you might need should be in the bathroom just through that door.”

“Thank you Nicholas… again for all of this.”

“You’re welcome.”

I slowly close the door and walk across the small hallway to the guest bedroom, closing myself in the room before I sit on the bed. I never expected to tell Kenzie so much about what happened and thought I could gloss over all the details, just giving her the gist of it. I never thought I would tell her as much as I did. I’m relieved I did though; I may not have realized it at the time but I’m really glad she didn’t accept the money I tried to give her. I wouldn’t have thought any less of her if she did, but when she didn’t, it… it just reinforced what I already knew, that Kenzie was nothing like she was.

When I hear the bedroom door open and shut across the hall I realized I need to hurry up and get changed. I quickly don a pair of swim trunks and T-shirt to swim in; while I hate swimming with a shirt on I’m not about to take the chance that something could happen.

When I make my way up to the deck, I stop dead in my tracks at seeing Kenzie. She is standing at the end of the boat, holding onto the rail and looking out over the water. She’s wearing nothing but the bikini that I purchased for her which, combined with the backdrop of the blue water, makes her looking incredibly beautiful.

FUCK

I should have told Neiman’s to give her a one piece bathing suit. Hell I should have “forgotten” the bathing suit and taken swimming off the agenda for today. My mind immediately goes to all the things that I could do to this gorgeous woman right now. There is no one around for miles, I

could fuck her right now, right where she is standing and no one would ever know. I could walk up to her, pull her bikini bottom to the side, plunge into her and fuck her against the railing of the boat without giving it a second thought.

But I won’t and I can’t. I can’t jeopardize our arrangement and more importantly I would never hurt her. I’m not what she needs, what she deserves and I don’t think I ever could be. She deserves someone who comes without baggage, someone who won’t have issues trusting her completely. The realization that I could never be that man is the equivalent of having a bucket of ice dumped down my swim trunks.

“It’s beautiful out here isn’t it?” I say, approaching Kenzie.

“Absolutely stunning; I see why you enjoy coming out here. Do you spend much time on the water?”