Unwanted Heat

“Not as much as I would like to unfortunately. If it were up to me I would be out here every weekend…”

“What stops you?”

“Work typically; then there are various social events but mostly it’s work.”

“If I could get away from everything, every once in a while, I would take advantage of it, whenever I could. Being out here makes you forget… everything,” she muses wistfully.

Those simple sentences make me realize she truly gets why coming out here means so much to me. She may not know that she gets my reason, but her statement alone tells me she feels the same way I do when she looks out at the water. For some reason it is so easy to lose yourself in the waves when all you see is blue in all directions.

“I put some of the suntan lotion on, but I couldn’t reach my back. Do you mind?” Kenzie asks.

“Sure, of course,” I take the bottle from her as I step closer to her.

“Is it okay if I untie the bottom strap? It might be easier-”

“Sure,” her hands immediately go to the fabric covering her breasts, holding it in place.

Despite the earlier realization, I can’t help but wish she would have let the top fall off. I squirt some of the lotion onto my hand and slowly apply it to her back. She jumps when I first touch her, probably from the coldness but immediately relaxes as I rub the lotion on. As I smooth it down her back, for the first time I see scars. They’re small and light, barely noticeable unless you’re close to her but they are there.

“Kenzie?”

“I scar easily…” She shrugs and I have to force myself to continue what I’m doing rather than focus on the scars. There are a easily two dozen of them, all different sizes and shapes but they cover from the middle of her back to her waistline at least from what I can see.

“Kenzie…” I don’t know what to say, what I should say. I hate the fucker who did this to her and want nothing more than to find a way to destroy him for hurting her. I can’t imagine any man wanting to do something like this to a woman, let alone one that is as beautiful and perfect as Kenzie is.

Perfect?

“Don’t Nicholas… please. It was a long time ago; can we just forget about it?”

Her voice is shaky as she tries portraying the strong image I know she wants me to see. I’m suddenly confronted with an overwhelming need to hold her, to comfort her and to tell her that everything will be okay, that no one would ever hurt her again. But I don’t. Instead I tie her bathing suit back into place and step away.

“Thank you,” her voice is barely above a whisper and I have no doubt that she thanking me for more than putting sun tan lotion on.

“Do you want to swim here or should we move the boat?” I suggest.

“I like it here, if you don’t mind.”

“No, here is perfect.”

We go to the back of the boat where there is a ladder and a small stand to sit on, but Kenzie surprises me and dives right into the water from the deck of the boat. I chuckle as she splashes me with cold water from her jump. She swims out quite a distance before turning around and swimming back to the boat without coming up for a breath of air. “Aren’t you coming in?” she asks.

Feeling the need to lighten things up, I stand up and cannon ball into the water only a few feet from her.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Nicholas!” she giggles and tries to splash water at me but I sink under before it hits me.

We spend the rest of the day just like that, swimming and having fun. Gone are the heavy conversations and the many unanswered questions that remain between us. Instead, we keep things light and current rather than talking about our pasts. We enjoy the chicken salad lunch that Julie prepared for us before heading back to the marina late in the afternoon.

As I stand behind Kenzie, watching her steer the boat back towards the marina, I find myself surprised at how nice today turned out. I was prepared for anything to happen today, anything but this. I pictured her refusing to get on the boat with me, or cursing me out for trying to give her the money, or worse yet, even pictured her ending our arrangement because of what I did. Never did I dare to hope that today would have gone as well as it did. I actually had fun… I can’t remember the last time I could say that. Hell, I can’t remember the last time I spent the entire day with a woman.

It’s weird, but when I think back to being with her, I realize just how off things were between us. I never spend an entire day with her… sure a few hours here and there but that usually was it. She never wanted to come on the boat, claiming the water made her sick. Today, Kenzie and I spent more than six hours on the boat… just the two of us. The only time she and I spent six hours together would be at a function with hundreds of other people around. Although it wasn’t always her fault because I was always busy with PFS. Looking back at it now, I could have made more of an effort to spend time with her… if I had wanted to.

It didn’t take much to spend the day out here with Kenzie; just a few meetings and calls rearranged and some work pushed off until tomorrow. At the time I thought she was just being understanding with how busy I was but now I see that it was all part of the facade that she wanted me to see.

“Nicholas… Nicholas!” Kenzie pulls me from my thoughts as we approach the marina.

“You’re doing fine, we’re going to head into the third row-”

“No! You need to do this! I’m going to hit another boat, or the dock or someone!”

“You’ll do fine, keep your hands firm on the wheel,” I put my hands on the wheel on either side of her body essentially making it impossible for her move. Her body is tense around me but I’m not worried; she has been steering the boat for the last hour, navigating around several other boats with complete ease. Besides, my hands are on the wheel, I can easily correct anything she does before anything were to occur. She may be scared, but I think secretly she is enjoying having this control.

“We’re going to start to turn left just after we pass that boat, do you see it?” I ask.

“Ye… yes,” she’s nervous but I’m not.

“Perfect… yup… just like that.”

“I can’t believe I did that!” She exclaims happily when I cut the engine at the dock.

“I told you that you could do it!”

She turns and throws her hands around my neck pulling me close to her before she rests her face in the crook of my neck. My hands automatically go around her waist, holding her close to me.

“Thank you, Nicholas… thank you for today,” she whispers against my neck so softly that I can feel her lips move against my skin.

“Anytime, Kenzie.”

She pulls back slightly from me until her face is only a couple inches from me, her hands are still wrapped around my neck and mine around her waist. My eyes find hers and immediately I feel like she is looking at me differently. I suddenly feel like she can see right through me, as if she can see deep into me. Suddenly I feel… exposed.

“Nicholas,” Kenzie whispers when I suddenly look away as if I’m afraid if she continues looking at me the way she is right now, she will be able to see it all.

“Thank you… for telling me everything today; thank you for trusting me,” she leans up just enough to place her soft lips against mine. Her eyes close the moment our lips touch, but I can’t bring myself to close mine. Her fingers run through the ends of my hair at my neck; my hands find the bare skin just beneath her shirt on her back. As she becomes more sure of herself, or maybe of what she’s doing, Kenzie moves her lips against mine deepening our kiss changing it from a kiss between two friends to one between…

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

We both immediately pull away from each other at the sound of a boat’s loud horn not far from us. On one hand I want to kill the fucker who stopped Kenzie from kissing me, but on the other hand I know it’s probably for the best. If she had continued to kiss me like that, I don’t know if I would have been able to stop myself. My dick is already stirring with her body pressed up against it.

“Carter will be waiting to drive us back to The Accord unless you need to go somewhere else?”

“No, that’s fine.”

As we head towards the front of the boat, I see Carter waiting for us on the dock and I have no doubt that more than likely just saw what transpired between us. Thankfully, I don’t need to worry about him saying anything-unless I ask Carter for his opinion, he rarely gives it. I tell Kenzie to wait on the deck for me so I can get off the boat first. I toss Carter a rope and he quickly secures the boat to the dock as I step off. Kenzie takes my hand but doesn’t let go as we walk towards the car.

“Mac will see to it?” I ask Carter. “Yes, he is already here and waiting.” “Mac?” Kenzie asks.

“He’s… my boat guy, I guess you could say. He gets the boat ready when I want to take it out and like today, he will see that it’s shut down completely and secure it for the night.”

The ride back to the city is quiet, but Kenzie doesn’t let go of my hand the entire ride and I don’t stop holding hers either. When we get back to The Accord, I walk Kenzie to her apartment door and kiss her on the cheek as has become our tradition after dates. I am beyond tempted to kiss her again. I want nothing more than to feel her body against mine and her lips pressed up against mine again. But in the end I know nothing good could come of that… if my image-changing mission is to be successful, I can’t give her a reason to break the contract. A night with me fucking her would almost guarantee that.