It is what most would call a sex club, only it caters to the wealthy and prides itself on protecting the privacy of its members. They cater to everyone: from kink to casual sexual encounters, even to conversation.
“Mr. Parker! It’s wonderful to see you again,” Christine, one of the owners greets me.
“Thank you, Christine. It’s nice to be back.”
“It’s been a while since we’ve seen you here; I was beginning to think you had found somewhere else to play.”
“No, I’ve just been busy with work.”
“Not too many of our members go five months without visiting—“
“Five months? Are you sure?”
“Yes, I checked myself when security notified me you were here.”
“Ummm, I hadn’t realized it had been that long. I assure you though I haven’t been anywhere else; work has just been really hectic.”
“Good to hear. Please enjoy yourself this evening.”
When I enter the main room and take everything in, I realize it really has been a long time since I’ve been here. Most of the members are the same: I only recognize two new members, but it’s the middle of the work day, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more new members coming later this evening. I make my way over to the bar and order a scotch before taking a seat on one of the bar stools. I try thinking back to the last time I was here, and when I finally recall it, I realize that Christine was right–it has been close to six months since I’ve been here. When I first joined, I was here almost weekly, but eventually it dropped to once or twice a month. The last few months have been especially busy though; it’s the first time since I joined the Blue Moon that I’ve had a personal life, even if it’s a fake personal life.
“Nick, it’s so nice to see you again,” a brunette dressed in an incredibly tight dress stands next to me.
“Bree,” I nod in her direction.
“I haven’t seen you in a while.”
“I’ve been busy.”
“I’ve heard.”
“Something you want to say?” I don’t appreciate the tone that she has.
“No… of course not.”
“Good.”
“I’m here for a little longer if you want to…” She gestures towards the hallway that leads to the private rooms that are available to members.
“Not right now.”
“If you change your mind, I’ll be here.”
As I watch Bree walk away, I can’t help but shake my head at the idea of fucking her again. She’s a sexy woman, don’t get me wrong, but she just looks… as if she’s trying too hard. The dress she is wearing leaves nothing to the imagination. It’s completely see through, making it obvious she’s not wearing anything underneath it. It’s pretty typical of Bree’s attire when she has been here, though I have no idea what she wears outside of the club, as this is the only place I’ve ever seen her. In fact, I don’t even know what she does for a living or really anything about her other than her sexual preferences. That’s all I’ve needed to know. She was a good fuck, but as she walks away from me, the thought of fucking her again does nothing for me.
I finish my scotch while looking around the room, trying to find someone that I can take into one of the back rooms. I don’t fuck women in the main room; some people prefer an audience, but I don’t. I’m not here for an audience; I’m here for privacy.
An hour later, I’ve downed a second scotch before giving up. I don’t know what it is, but today no one here appeals to me. There are a few women here alone today, all very beautiful, yet for some reason I don’t approach any of them. Instead, I leave the bar and head back to the security area where I retrieve my wallet and cell phone.
A few minutes later, I’m back in the warmth of the SUV, heading back to Accord Towers. I scroll through the many text messages from Cara that I received; a few while I was in the club and a few that I saw earlier but can’t stop going back to—like the ‘Pretty Woman’ one. The last picture of Kenzie grabbed my attention: she’s wearing a simple pair of jeans that accentuate her legs and ass. Her hair is pulled back, and she appears to be laughing at something when Cara snapped the picture.
Thanks for letting me steal Kenzie today! We had a great time shopping! –Cara
I keep scrolling through the pictures Cara sent me again on the way back, unable to stop myself from looking at them. I chuckle at a few; I can see the obvious distaste for the outfits in Kenzie’s face as she poses for Cara. By the end, though, she looks like she is having a good time, and there’s even a picture of her and Cara posing together, that I can only assume Hunter or Ben took.
I’m about to put my phone away, when a picture catches my attention. Kenzie is dressed in a long off-white floor length gown that looks absolutely amazing on her. When I see that picture, suddenly everything becomes clear, and I start to formulate a plan. The moment I get back to the condo, I head into my office and start researching everything I need so I can be certain this is a viable option. I don’t know why I didn’t consider this before, but it’s perfect! This will get the press off my back and more importantly, should prove to my employees that they can have confidence in me and that my personal life will not affect my business decisions.
It takes a couple of hours, but I finally manage to put everything together that I think I need. I’ve texted Kenzie, now that I have her cell phone number, and she has agreed to come to my apartment so we can talk. As the time gets closer to Kenzie arriving, I find myself incredibly nervous at the thought of presenting everything to Kenzie. I don’t know how she’s going to feel about a new arrangement, especially one that is this significantly different from what we currently have.
“Mr. Parker, Ms. Rose has arrived,” Carter alerts me just before Kenzie steps into my office.
“Thank you, please come in, Kenzie,” I gesture for her to take a seat in one of the chairs in front of my desk. It’s obvious that she changed after she came back from shopping and was probably relaxing when I texted her. Now she is wearing a pair of tight, black pants with a just as tight light blue shirt that brings out her eyes. The shirt hugs her breasts while the pants highlight her ass. I immediately think back to our kiss the other the night outside her apartment and how it felt to have that beautiful body pressed against mine. I quickly shake my head and walk around the desk taking the seat next to Kenzie.
“Kenzie… we need to talk.”
“Okay…” I can tell by her voice that I’ve caught her off guard.
“I… I…” FUCK this is so much harder than I thought it would be. I need Kenzie to agree to this; I need Kenzie period. Without her, this won’t work, and I could lose everything. “I… I think we need to end our contract with Bridget.”
“Oh,” she immediately looks at the floor, no longer making eye contact with me. I’m trying to figure out the perfect way to say what I want to next, having completely forgotten everything I had previously prepared. “I… I’m sorry you feel that way, Nicholas. I guess I’ll see myself out.”
“What? No, wait, Kenzie!” I quickly grasp her wrist in mine before she has a chance to move more than a couple of feet from me. “I didn’t mean it like that; it came out wrong. Please sit back down.”
“So, you don’t want to end our contract with Bridget?” she asks cautiously sitting on the edge of the chair where she sat comfortably only a few minutes ago. I move my hand from her wrist, that I realized I was still grasping, down to her hand while I try to figure out the right wording for what I need to say next. All afternoon I thought about this moment—I planned exactly what to say, but now my mind is a complete clusterfuck.
“I do want to end our contract with Bridget, but…” I can command an entire board room of strangers, yet as I sit in my office before Kenzie, I’m a fucking, nervous wreck. I don’t recall ever being this nervous before—I’ve never had so much at stake as I do right now. “I’d like to propose a different arrangement; one that is just between us. Bridget would no longer be involved.”
“A different arrangement?”
“Yes… I’d like for us to get married—“
“Married!?!?!”
Chapter 2
Kenzie
“Married!?!?!”
Please tell me I didn’t just hear him correctly: that he did not just tell me he thinks we should get married! What the hell is he thinking? Why does he think this is a good idea? Where is this coming from?
I have so many questions, yet I can’t seem to voice any of them; I’m absolutely speechless. There are so many thoughts going through my head right now that they don’t even make sense to me. I don’t know how I could tell him what I’m thinking or how I feel right now. I’ve gone from expecting him to offer me payment for spending the day with his sister, to thinking he wanted to end our contract with Bridget because I had done something wrong, to now thinking he is absolutely crazy.
“You think we should get married?” I repeat the only words that come to my mind clearly.
“Fuck, this came out completely wrong. I had this planned differently,” he lets go of my hand, which I hadn’t even realized he was holding until now, and runs his hands through his hair. “I know this sounds crazy, Kenzie—“
“Um… yeah, it does.”
“I told you before that I think of you beyond the contract we signed with Bridget. In the few months we’ve been under contract, I’ve come to enjoy our time together. It’s no longer a chore to attend the different events; I no longer mind it as much, because you’re there with me. I enjoy spending time with you, and I’ve come to think of you as a friend—“
“As I have you, but I don’t think that means we should get married—“
“Kenzie, I’m in a bind and I need your help. I know this is an incredible thing to ask of you—“
“You’re in a bind?”
“All the negative publicity that I’ve been experiencing lately is beginning to affect my employees. PFS just conducted their routine employee satisfaction survey and it was determined that my employees’ confidence level in me is at an all-time low—“
“Oh, I’m sorry. Do you really think it’s because of the press? I mean, isn’t it possible—“
“The survey asked employees to cite the reason for their low confidence, and the negative press was the only reason cited. Until now, my employees’ confidence level in me, in the decisions I make, and in PFS as a whole has always been excellent. There has never been a question about my ability. Now, because of the press though, their image of me has changed. They no longer have confidence in me.”
“Surely there’s something else that can be done?”
“The press won’t leave me alone—you’ve seen it. I’m desperately trying to find out who is feeding the press all of this negative information about me, but until we figure that out, I can’t sit back and watch my company fall apart. If my employees don’t have confidence in me, they will leave PFS. Up until now, we have had incredibly low turnover; turnover so low that we use it as a marketing technique when we present proposals to perspective companies. If PFS suddenly experiences high turnover combined with the negative press… I… I’m afraid I could lose everything. It’s not just me I’m worried about it, it’s my employees, my clients…”
“And you think getting married is the solution?”
“Yes,” he sighs and shakes his head almost as if he is in disbelief himself. “The press would have to leave me alone as there would no longer be anything to write about. They wouldn’t be able to question my ability to stay faithful or suggest reasons why women seem to run from me.”
“But why me?” I need to know the reason he is suggesting this with me isn’t just because we have this established history with Bridget. I don’t know why, but I need to know that he isn’t suggesting this with me because the press has already linked us together. What surprises me is that I haven’t walked out yet—I haven’t told him he is out of his mind and left his apartment.
“I’ve never even considered letting another woman into my space, into my apartment, yet with you I no longer feel threatened. You are different than any other woman I’ve ever met, Kenzie; you’re the only one who looks at me and doesn’t see my bank account balance.”
“Nicholas—“
“This isn’t just because of our arrangement with Bridget; I knew you were different from that day on the sidewalk,” he interrupts me before I can say anything. “When you tried to refuse my offer to replace your outfit after we ruined it; I knew you were different. Obviously I’ve gotten to know you a lot better since then… and I… I care for you. There is no one else I would even consider proposing this arrangement with.”
“I don’t know what to think.”
“I know you probably imagined getting married for love—“
“Actually, I never thought I would get married, for love or otherwise. Not after…”
“I would never hurt you and I will never try to control you the way he did,” Nicholas obviously understands why I thought I would never consider marriage again. “This wouldn’t be like that, I swear.”
“What would it be like?” I can’t believe I’m sitting here actually considering this crazy scheme that he is proposing.
“Honestly, I don’t think it would be very different than our current arrangement,” did he really just say that? “Well… I mean there would be some obvious differences. You would need to move in here, of course, since it would look odd that we were married and living in separate apartments. You would have your own bedroom and any other space you needed. I would continue to cover all of your clothing expenses of course…”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“I know this is a lot to take in.” Well that’s an understatement. “If there were any other way...”
“You can’t go after the press? Sue them or something?”
“According to my legal team, no one has breached the definition of slander yet. We have had stories retracted but unfortunately once the story is out there, people already know about it, so retraction does very little. If it was just one reporter, I could go after them; I could make it so they never work in the industry again. Unfortunately, it’s more than one… it’s actually quite a few different reporters publishing the stories or raising the questions about personal life. My lawyers say because they aren’t publishing facts, but simply raising questions, that we can’t do anything yet. I have a feeling someone is pushing things to be published about me, but I can’t prove it.”
“Do you think it’s—“
“I don’t know. We are exploring that option, but she currently isn’t even in the state, however, that doesn’t mean we aren’t watching her.”
“I… I think I need some time to think about this, Nicholas. This is a lot to take in.”
“Of course. I have prepared some documents for you to review—“
“Documents?”
“If you were to agree to this arrangement, we would both need to sign a prenup, which I’ve printed for you. You can have a lawyer review it of course, but it basically says that you are not entitled to the normal 50% split of assets and property—“
“No, of course, I wouldn’t—“
“However, unlike most prenups, this one further outlines what you will receive upon the dissolve of our marriage.”
“What I would receive?”
“If you were to agree to this arrangement, and we remained married until the time it was mutually agreed upon that we dissolve our marriage, you will receive the deed to the condo you are currently staying in—“
“Wait,” I need to process what he just said. “If I agree to this arrangement, you’re going to give me the apartment?”
“Yes. The deed will be put in your name the day we are married, and held until our divorce, at which time, it will be provided to you. The condo would be yours with no strings attached. Whether you choose to live there, or to sell it and move somewhere else, that would be up to you.”
“Why would you give it to me?�
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“Kenzie, I know what I’m asking is a lot; it’s only fair that you receive something in return for helping me. I don’t want you to have to worry about finding a place to live or being able to afford a place that you want when this is all over—“
“I don’t know—“
“It’s the least I could do. I’m asking you to give up so much for me if you agree to this. You would be helping me save my company—I can’t not give you something in return, it wouldn’t be right. If you were to agree to this arrangement, I would also cover your education expenses, if you chose to return to school—“
“You would pay my tuition?”
“If you agree to this arrangement, yes, I would cover the tuition, books and any other expenses for you to return to school to pursue anything you want.”
“Nicholas, I don’t know how I feel about this.”
“You would be doing so much for me by agreeing to this arrangement… I wouldn’t want you to do this and expect nothing in return. This isn’t like when you stayed with me for the weekend because I was sick, Kenzie, this is so much more than that—“
“I know that—“
“I need to give you something in return; I can’t ask you to do this for me and not give you something in return. I can’t… I won’t take advantage of you like that.”
The Arrangement Duet Box Set Page 33
