Unwanted Heat

“Julie has a very strict schedule she follows when it comes to cleaning various parts of the house. What I learned that day is that every three to four months she pulls all the furniture away from the walls in the spare bedrooms to vacuum behind them. Harper typically used one of the spare bedrooms when she came over… although we didn’t live together, she was there often enough that she had a few items in the closet and the bathroom.

“Anyway, Julie moved the dresser away from the wall and found an envelope containing a thumb drive on it. I suppose Julie was leery of Harper ever since she found her in my office. Julie never voiced her suspicion to me after finding her there, but I think she knew something was going on even then. Anyway, Julie took the thumb drive and brought it to PFS and asked Carter to have it broken into since it was password protected. Carter had Asher break the password and when they discovered what was on it, they decided I needed to be away from PFS when I found out.”

“What did she put on the drive?”

“It seems she was preparing to sell me out. She was writing a book about her time with me, documenting nearly everything we did. She had pictures saved of… when we were together. She gave detailed descriptions of our sex life. If that wasn’t bad enough, she had notes on business decisions I made including formulas I used to determine whether companies were worth taking on or not.”

“How did she find all that out?”Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

“Up til then, I never thought about how much I stored in my home office, so I imagine she learned most of it by snooping on my home computer or through my files there. A few times she was at PFS and Melody let her wait in my office alone if I was running late, so she could have dug then too. Afterward Carter went through our security footage and found her essentially tearing apart my office looking for information. The thumb drive had details about my family and things about me that if leaked could have serious consequences for PFS. We believe she was going to write a tell-all book and sell it.”

“Wow… I can’t believe someone would do anything like that.”

“Neither could I… Well, I guess I could, but I thought those things happened to other people, not to me. When I saw the thumb drive, I lost it which Carter knew would happen and why he insisted I come home before being told about the drive. I got really drunk; I can’t remember the last time I drank so much.

“I called Austin, who has had more than a few issues with women; he came over to drink with me. By the end of the night, we had finished almost every ounce of alcohol we could find in my apartment but we had a plan. When we woke up the next day, with incredible hangovers mind you, we went to see a lawyer and took the evidence of her stealing from me with us. I purposely did not bring the thumb drive; there were pictures on there that one’s family should not see. And while it was an invasion of my privacy, I didn’t want to risk that evidence getting out to the public. Her stealing from me was one thing, but the stuff she had on that thumb drive were things that could seriously damage my career.

“After much discussion with the attorney, we decided the best course of action was to pursue criminal charges for theft. My family has very close ties with the district attorney and managed to keep everything out of the press. We entered into a private agreement with Harper and her attorney which resulted in the records from the preceding being sealed. She agreed to plead guilty to the charges in exchange for a decreased sentence. She served about 18 months in prison, but her parents arranged for her to be sent to one of the nicest ones out there. The type of prison only people with money go, places where you don’t feel like you actually lose anything. She was required to sign legal documents that prohibit her from every speaking about our relationship to anyone and she is banned from ever working in the media industry again.”

“Wow… I know I keep saying that but wow, Nicholas. I can’t believe someone would do something like to you. She took complete advantage of you and then was about to expose you to ruin your business.

Why would someone do something like that?”

“To make an easy buck, Kenzie. A book about my secrets and how I run my business would sell, very quickly, no doubt. She could have probably made a couple hundred thousand dollars from books and then more from talk shows, magazines, etc…”

“Yes, even though I almost didn’t make it here.”

“What do you mean? Did something happen on the way here?”

“I’m surprised Carter didn’t tell you. I’m sure Hunter called him and told him he thought I was going crazy.”

“I doubt Hunter would say something like that and if he did, he knows he would be fired. What happened, Kenzie? Did Hunter do something-”

“No!” she quickly interrupts which relieves me greatly. I trust Hunter nearly as much as I trust Carter. I can’t picture him doing anything unprofessional. “I… I guess you could say I kind of freaked out when I realized we weren’t going to the bakery-”

“Oh, Kenzie… I’m sorry,” FUCK I feel foolish now. “I had no idea… I… you weren’t talking to me, I didn’t know how else to talk to you.”

“You could have come to the apartment,” she points out the obvious solution but I don’t think she realizes that I didn’t want to invade her privacy by doing that.

I may know where she lives now but I refuse to take advantage of that. The stipulation in the contract is there for a reason. Even though we have blurred some of the lines in the contract, I don’t want to take advantage of that one. Her privacy is important her just as mine is to me.

“I nearly had a panic attack in the car with Hunter when he wouldn’t tell me where we were going. I tried to open the car door to jump out, but of course it didn’t open-”

“Kenzie, I’m so sorry. I never thought… I didn’t think… ”

“Why would you? I never told you about my trust issues and it’s not like I didn’t know Hunter; he’s been with me for weeks now. I freaked out and my first thought was that I was at risk. The logical part of my brain must have fallen asleep, because had it been awake, it would have reminded me that I’ve felt comfortable with Hunter before and that he has given me no reason to worry.”

“What happened?”

“Hunter must have seen that I was freaking out because the next thing I knew we were pulled onto the side of the road and he was turned around calling my name. He told me that if I wanted, he would turn the car around and take me back to The Accord. I only began to calm down when he told me he was taking me to you and Carter.”

“I’m sorry. I swear I’ll never do that again. I should have known that it would have frightened you not know where you were going-”

“You had no reason to know, Nicholas. We’ve gone out plenty of times now; sometimes I don’t know all the details of the evenings and I’ve never had an issue with it.”

“Because we were never alone,” I realize.

“Right. And today I was suddenly alone in a car with Hunter.”

“But you had no issues coming aboard the boat today?” I point out.

“I know,” she sighs and looks back out at the water. “And I had no concerns about staying the weekend at your apartment when it was obvious no one was able to. As scary trusting me is, it’s just as scary for me to trust you.”

For the first time since I started talking I look at her, sitting back in her lounge chair and staring out at the water. I can only assume she is taking in everything I just told her. I can’t help but wonder what she is thinking. Does she think I was stupid for allowing her into my life? Does she think less of me because of the decisions I made? Is she wondering what was on the thumb drive that I was so worried about or does she think it was mostly business details that I was worried the most about? I originally planned to leave out the fact that there were pictures on the thumb drive but once I started talking, everything just came out.

“I get it,” Kenzie breaks her silence a few minutes later.

“You get what?” I can’t say I’m not confused by her response.

“I get why you gave me the check last weekend. I get why you thought I expected that in return.”

“You do? Because honestly, Kenzie, I don’t know why I did it. Alex thinks that I was testing you but I’m not sure I buy that-”

“No, I think he’s right. It’s obvious now that Harper was only with you because of your money, and she saw an easy way to make quick money with you. After what you went through, I could see how you could expect people to be like that with you. But Nicholas… you have to know that I would never… never do what she did to you. I don’t know that you will ever be able to trust me, but-”

“Kenzie, that’s what freaked me out the most about last weekend. I started to trust to you, even without knowing it. After everything blew up in my face with Harper, I swore off women. I swore I would never trust another woman-”

“Nicholas, you can’t-”

“Why not? It’s been working for me for the last two years-”

“Has it?”

“Of course it has. I moved out of that apartment, got rid of all the memories of her and moved to The Accord Towers with Carter and Julie. Until last weekend, the only women who stepped foot into my condo besides Julie were my mother and sister. You were the first woman who has ever been there; you were there the entire weekend and… I let my guard down. Honestly, that scared the shit out of me. I worked so hard over the last two and a half years to ensure that my guard was always up so something like that didn’t happen again.”

Kenzie’s gaze is once again on the water; I’m beginning to think she understands why I find being on the boat so relaxing. I don’t know what’s going through her head right now, but I don’t ask. I’m afraid to ask… I don’t know that I want to know what she’s thinking right now. It’s been a long time since I’ve opened myself up to anyone like this. I don’t do vulnerable… I don’t do weak; right now I know this is exactly how I look to her.

“I hadn’t been alone with a man, not really, in more than two years before I walked into your apartment that night,” she finally says, albeit very quietly, almost as if she’s afraid of what she is saying.

“What do you mean? I’m sure we-”

“We haven’t, not really anyway.”

I think back at all the times we’ve met before our dates and realize she is right: each time Carter was present. We spent a few minutes once in my office when she brought muffins and cookies when I moved her into The Accord after her apartment was broken into. That was maybe… ten minutes I think; I had to rush to a meeting so she couldn’t stay very long. Hunter has driven her to the bakery but that’s only a few minutes drive each way.

“Yet you still volunteered to stay the weekend with me.” I’m even more shocked now.

“I did,” she shrugs. “Like you, I swore I would never trust a man again. I swore that I would never put myself at risk again. Our ex’s aren’t that different when you think about it really. They both deceived us into believing they were the person they wanted us to see, but we both ended up finding out that it was all a facade.

“When Bridget approached me about this arrangement, my safety was my number one concern. I let her know that I would never agree to be alone with someone; I would never agree to meet you at your office after hours if no one else was going to be working. Although she mentioned possible business trips, I let her know that would have to be discussed at a much later date because in all honesty, I never thought I would see myself spending days in the same hotel room with a man. I swore I would put myself at risk again, that I would never let my guard down and trust someone again.”

“Yet here we are,” I can’t help but point out the fact that we are entirely alone on a boat in the middle of open water with no one around us for miles.