I manage to stop myself from staring at her just as she arrives at our table. Remembering my manners, I quickly stand to greet and kiss her lightly on the lips, while wrapping my arm around her waist. She says hello to everyone before sitting next to me at the table. Cara joins us a few minutes later, having stopped to chat with some people at another table.
“I’d like to make a toast,” Alex says once everyone is seated. A waitress appears out of nowhere, pouring pink champagne in everyone’s glasses. “I told Nicholas earlier today, I never thought I would see the day he would be about to take off for his wedding. I’ve known him a long time, and I’ve never seen him happier than he has been in the last few months. You’ve made him happy, Kenzie, and for that, the staff at PFS thanks you immensely as you have inadvertently made our jobs easier. I haven’t known you for very long, but you must be doing something right if you can manage to make this man happy. If he ever gives you a problem, you call me. I’ve known him and Austin for so long, I have plenty of dirt I can share with you so you can use it against Nicholas—”
“Hey! What did I do?” Austin interrupts.
“I’m sure you’ll do something to piss Kenzie off at some point in the very near future,” Alex laughs.
“I would never!”
“Thank you, Alex,” Kenzie says quietly, and I feel her hand squeeze mine under the table. I have no doubt she is worried about what happens when our marriage is dissolved, but I refuse to focus on that. Right now, this arrangement is the perfect solution to my issue with the press—anything that happens because of the divorce will be dealt with when it happens.
“Stop worrying, I can make Alex’s life a living hell too,” I lean in close to Kenzie and joke with her so no one at the table can hear us. She smiles and giggles softly before turning her attention to Cara who is asking her about wedding details.
I’m surprised that I end up having fun out with Austin, Cara, Alex and Kenzie; I typically try to avoid spending much time in the nightclub portion of The Summit, but tonight it doesn’t bother me at all. We enjoy a great meal, many drinks and chat easily throughout the night. Once again, Kenzie seems to fit right in with everyone, easily jumping in to conversations. It amazes me how different this dinner would have looked three years ago.
“We should do shots!” Cara exclaims.
“I’m game,” I agree. With Carter, Hunter and Ben all here tonight, I know we have more than enough designated drivers to go around.
“I’ve never done a shot, but I’ll try one,” Kenzie says.
“What?”
“How have you never done a shot?”
“How is that possible?”
Everyone is clearly as surprised as I am to learn that Kenzie has never had a shot before. She had mentioned that she has only been drunk once, but I assumed she had at least experimented with alcohol especially since she went to college.
“Sorry, guys,” she blushes this adorable shade of red when she realizes all the attention is on her. “I’ve had beer, wine and mixed drinks, of course but never had a shot.”
“We’ll just have to fix that right now,” I signal for the waitress to bring us over a bottle of liquor and several shot glasses.
“To Kenzie and Nicholas!” Austin raises his shot glass, and everyone mimics him before gulping down his shot.
“Take it all at once, real quick,” I whisper to Kenzie who is sort of eye balling the shot glass full of liquid in her hand. I tap my shot glass to hers, she takes a deep breath and with her eyes never leaving mine she gulps down the shot in one swift move. She grimaces a little, but quickly smiles as she puts the glass down.
“That wasn’t so bad,” she says.
“Let’s do another!” Alex announces.
A couple of shots later, we’re watching Kenzie and Cara on the dance floor. I can tell Kenzie is starting to feel the effects of the shots she has had tonight; it seems when she drinks she tends to relax more. She seems to have let her guard down a little or maybe she is less focused on impressing everyone at the table and more focused on just having a good time. Whatever it is, I like this side of Kenzie. I can barely see the dance the floor from where we are sitting, but I know that Hunter and Carter are watching them.
“I think I’m going to go check on the girls,” I have a sudden urge be near her, even though I know she’s protected.
“You just don’t want to keep your hands off her any longer,” Alex chuckles, clearly also feeling the effects from his many drinks tonight.
I shake my head but don’t necessarily refute what he said: if we were just two people here at the club, I would be all over her. If it wasn’t for the fear of screwing things up between us, I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off of her. If I thought I could just fuck her for one night, I would take her to a hotel nearby for the night. If only I could be what she needed…
“Get the fuck off of her!” Kenzie’s voice pulls me from my thoughts. I run to the dance floor where I find a young guy on his knees and Hunter standing between the guy and Kenzie. Carter is talking to Kenzie, who looks like she is fuming.
“What the fuck happened?” I ask.
“He grabbed my ass!” Cara nods towards the man on the floor.
“She kicked me in the nuts,” the man glares at Kenzie.
“You’re the reason he’s on the ground?” I ask, astonished.
“You got what you deserved. Next time keep your hands to yourself. She told you she wasn’t interested,” Kenzie shrugs.
“Hunter get him out of here, and make sure he is never permitted to enter my club again,” I state.
“You can’t—” the man growls.
“Actually, as the owner of this club, I can and just did. Now unless you want to get yourself banned from every other nightclub in New York, I suggest you quietly get the fuck out of my club!”
“You own this club?” Kenzie asks.
“Of course he does. You didn’t know that?” the surprise in Cara’s voice is evident.
“He… he said he owned a club, I just hadn’t realized it was this club,” Kenzie lies.
“Are you girls okay?” I ask.
“We’re fine. Kenzie saved the day,” Cara giggles. “I’m going to get us another shot. Don’t go anywhere!”
“You okay?” I lean to Kenzie so she can hear me over the music. I’m fucking proud of her for defending Cara, but at the same time I’m fucking pissed that she had to in the first place.
“I’m fine. Hopefully the guy will think twice before trying to feel up a woman after she tells him she’s not interested.”
“Do you want to go back to the table?”
“No, I want to dance. I’m not going to let him ruin my night.”
“Okay, if you’re sure.”
“Will you dance with me?”
“Of course.”
Cara returns with three shots; we all slam them back quickly before the next song comes on. Kenzie and I start dancing; I try to stay a safe distance from her, not wanting to be too close to her. When the dance floor becomes more crowded, though, that becomes impossible. We’re about a foot apart from each other, when Kenzie takes a step back to let someone pass by us. I place my hands firmly on her hips, to ensure she doesn’t lose her balance as someone squeezes between her and the girl in front of us. She barely seems to notice and continues to dance to the beat of the song; her eyes close as she seems to lose herself in the music.
When she wraps her arms around my neck and rests her head on my shoulder, I nearly lose it. Her firm ass is practically grinding against my dick; whether this is on purpose, or only because of the music, I don’t know, but it’s driving me crazy. The more she moves against me, the harder I become. I can easily say what happened next was to keep up the appearance of our relationship, but the reality is that’s not true. Having her so close to mine moving against mine, made it impossible to think about anything else. The only thing on my mind was taking her home and getting her beneath me. Screw the arrangement, screw the risk
of complicating things between us, screw the thought that one night together wouldn’t change everything between us. All I knew was that I wanted her.
Unsure if I was the only one feeling this way, I softly kissed Kenzie’s neck. When she tilts her neck to give me better access, I know that she is feeling the same way. I kiss, lick and nibble at her neck; she moans and even pushed herself harder against my dick. Only a small portion of my brain alerted me to the fact that we were on the middle of a dance floor practically making out. My hands roamed the sides of her body as my lips tease her neck.
“Okay, you love birds. I need to go home,” Cara screams at us.
I can feel the heat rush to Kenzie’s face as she probably becomes embarrassed in the realization of what we were doing. When she tries to take a step away from me, I wrap an arm around her stomach anchoring her to me. Not only do I not want to let her go but if she were to take a few steps from me the entire dance floor would know the effect of her dancing against me.
“Ben will take you home,” I nod towards Carter, who is watching us from the perimeter of the dance floor.
“I’ll see you two Saturday! Thanks for letting us have some fun tonight, Nicholas!” Cara walks off the dance floor heading toward Carter and Hunter.
“Do you want to head home?” I ask.
“If you’re ready to,” she agrees.
“Just give me another minute, I’m not sure I can walk just yet,” I request.
“What? Oh,” she blushes again in the realization of my words.
A few minutes later we are in the SUV that Hunter had gotten from the valet and are heading back to Accord Towers. The ride is quiet, but there’s no denying the sexual tension between us. I have a feeling that if Carter and Hunter weren’t in the car with us, we would be acting very differently. When we finally reach the parking garage, it takes everything in me not to pull Kenzie against me when Carter and Hunter finally exit the SUV. Obviously sensing our need for privacy, Carter says that he will be taking the service elevator up and disappears as the main elevator doors close.
“I don’t think I told you how amazing you look tonight,” I grab Kenzie’s hand and gently pull her toward me.
“Really? It’s really not my style, but Cara insisted it looked good on me.”
“Good? Fuck, Kenzie, you look amazing in this.”
“Thanks,” her voice is barely above a whisper which shreds the last bit of reason I have.
Without giving it a second thought, I wrap my arm around her waist and capture her mouth in mine. She gasps in surprise, which I take advantage of by slipping my tongue into her mouth. She moans, her body softening against mine as her hands grip my arms tightly. Whether the alcohol has given her courage or she loses her own internal battle, her soft tongue finds mine, and I groan loudly as the desire to have her becomes too much. I have no doubt that with her body pressed against me right now, she can feel just how much I want her.
When the elevator dings, I guide us into the foyer, never taking my lips off of hers. All I can think about is getting her beneath me. I pause in the foyer, unsure of where to take her. Do I take her to my bedroom, where no woman has shared a bed with me? Do I take her upstairs where we first slept together the night I learned she too had nightmares? When she sucks on my bottom lip, I know I’m done—I just need her beneath me and quick!
I press her against the wall, desperately needing to feel her against me even more than she already is. My hands roam her body, feeling every curve through the tight, short dress she is wearing. When I find her bare thigh, I slowly move my fingers upwards, gently pushing the hem of the dress up as I go. Her hands move to the buttons on my shirt, her fingers barely touch the bare skin beneath my shirt. I know I need to do something, because if she touches me I won’t be able to hold back. I quickly grasp her wrists and pull them above her head; I hold them in one hand and move my other hand back to her soft leg.
Within seconds Kenzie’s body becomes stiff; she starts wiggling against me, only not in a sensual way. When I lean back, her eyes are filled with absolute fear. She pulls her hands free from my grip and drops to the floor. She wraps her arms around her knees and starts rocking back and forth very slowly. Her eyes are tightly closed.
“Kenzie? Baby? What happened?” I kneel down next to her, but she doesn’t respond. “Kenzie? Please, tell me what just happened…”
She flinches when my hand barely touches hers, and I immediately pull back from her. I have no idea what to do. I try talking to her, reminding her that she is safe here and that no one will hurt her ever again. I don’t know how long we sit on the cool tile floor of the foyer, but eventually Kenzie stops rocking back and forth, although she doesn’t really acknowledge that I’m next to her or talking.
At some point I realize that she must have fallen asleep or passed out, because her breathing has finally become steady and she is more relaxed. While I’m glad that whatever she was reliving has stopped, I’m still left with her sleeping on the floor of my foyer. Knowing that I can’t leave her here, I test the waters by placing my hand on hers. She doesn’t flinch like she did earlier, but her body stiffens just slightly.
“Kenzie, baby, if you can hear me, I’m going to pick you up now. I’m just going to put you to bed; I’m not going to hurt you. No one is going to hurt you ever again,” I whisper and slowly slip my arm under her legs and the other around her back.
I wait for a response, for any indication that I’m making things worse by touching her right now. Thankfully, she doesn’t give me any. I easily lift her off the foyer floor, her body is tense, but as I walk she presses herself into my chest. I don’t give it a second thought; I take her straight to my bedroom. I tell myself it’s because my bedroom is closer to the foyer and that I don’t want to leave her alone tonight. Kicking open my door, I lay her in the center of my bed. I slip her heels off before grabbing a T-shirt from my closet for her to sleep in.
“Kenzie? I’m going to take your dress off now and put a shirt on for you to sleep in. If you’re not okay with this, please tell me,” I beg her, not wanting to risk hurting her more than I already have tonight.
She doesn’t move; I don’t think she even hears me right now. I sigh heavily. I wanted Kenzie in my bed especially after the way her body moved against mine on the dance floor tonight, but I didn’t want her like this. I straddle Kenzie’s legs, careful not to put any weight on her and slowly pull the dress up her body. It takes everything in me not to look at what she is wearing beneath her dress. I focus on the task at hand: getting this dress off of her and getting my shirt on her quickly. Undressing and redressing an unconscious woman is definitely a lot harder than I ever expected it to be, but a few minutes later she is wearing my T-shirt… still fast asleep.
I place a gentle kiss on her cheek before climbing off the bed and covering her with a blanket. I use the attached bathroom to wash up and change my clothes. When I return to my bedroom and see her lying in my bed, the thought of sleeping in another room is gone. I slip into my bed and quickly fall asleep with her warm body next to me. I want so bad to pull her closer to me, just so I can feel her against me again, but I’m petrified of hurting her more than I already did.
Chapter 9
Kenzie
I feel heavy; I can’t breathe. It hurts to breathe; I try to open my mouth but I can’t. Something is holding my mouth shut. I open my eyes and try to scream. He is on top of me. Why is he in my room? Where is my mom? Why isn’t she here? I try to push him away, but I can’t move my hands. He’s holding them over my head; he is stronger than me. I scream against the hand covering my mouth. I try to kick him, but my legs are pinned down by his.
“Shut up, bitch!” he hisses in my ear. “Your mother can’t help you—she’s passed out in our bed and there is no fucking waking her.”
I move my head back and forth, trying to get his hand off of my mouth. I’m struggling to breathe; he is on my chest, pushing me into the bed. He stinks: he smells like the bar I had to get my
mom from the other night. When his leg pushes between mine, I know I need to get him off of me before something happens. I bite down on his hand as hard as I can.
“You fucking BITCH!!!!!!!” He screams and slaps me across the face.
“HELP!!!!!!!!!! GET OFF OF ME!!!!!!!!!” I scream as soon as I get a breath in.
“Baby… what are you doing?” My mom suddenly appears at the entrance to my bedroom. There’s just a sheet covering where the door should be—the door was missing when we moved into this shithole and no one has bothered to fix it since.
“This little bitch just bit me!” he finally releases my hands, and I immediately move away from him. I shrink into the corner of my bed, curling myself in a ball trying to get away from him.
“Come back to bed, sweetie, I’ll take care of you,” she glares at me, like I’m in trouble, even though I didn’t do anything wrong.
“She won’t be able to protect you all the time,” he slips his hand under my ass and squeezes it hard before laughing as he gets out of my bed.
I jump out of bed, run to the bathroom before falling to my knees in front of the toilet and throw up everything in my stomach. When I feel a man’s hand on my back, I jump and instinctively move closer to the wall, assuming he somehow found me.
“Kenzie? It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you,” I hear a soft voice tell me. It takes me a few minutes to work up the nerve to open my eyes; part of me fears that I’m going to wake up in the nightmare again.
“Nicholas?” I whisper when I finally do open my eyes and see him kneeling on the floor next to the toilet.
“I’m going to get you a washcloth and some water, okay?” he asks and I nod in response unable to find the right words to say. When I hear him slowly walk away, I lift my head and for the first time I realize I’m not in the bathroom that’s attached to my bedroom. My quick glance around the room confirms I’m in Nicholas’s bathroom which could only mean that I was in his bed… that I slept in his bedroom.
“Here you go,” he holds out the washcloth and a glass of water, careful not to touch me. “Can I get you anything else?”
The Arrangement Duet Box Set Page 41
