On Her Terms (The Arrangement Duet Book 2)

by Madison Quinn

  “It’s fine, Cara,” I giggle. “I know exactly what you mean. Right now, I can’t even go out to lunch without the press bothering me. Ginny is staying on board for a year and will then consult remotely for a couple more years. I’m going to meet with her today, but eventually I figure I’ll hire a manager to oversee the day to day operations, and I will work behind the scenes. As much as I loved interacting with customers, I don’t think I’ll be able to do that at least not until the press dies down. But, I can oversee things from an office there or at the condo.”

  “That’s awesome Kenzie! If you need any help, let me know. I worked at a bakery in San Diego for almost a year—”

  “You did? In San Diego?”

  “I graduated from a culinary school in San Diego and worked at a bakery during my last year of schooling.”

  “Why didn’t you continue working when you came home?”

  “I tried,” she sighs and looks out the window. “The only real places that were hiring were chain restaurants, not something I wanted to do. I prefer the feeling of a mom and pop owned business, somewhere small, where you have a chance to interact with customers. The bakery I worked at in San Diego was perfect—I just wished I could move it here. Eventually, I gave up looking, and figured I needed to find something else to at least until something better came along.”

  “What did you do at the bakery in San Diego?” The wheels are turning in my head processing what Cara has told me.

  “Prepping, baking, customer service, you name it,” she shrugged.

  “I’ll be reviewing staffing today, but if you’re interested and there’s an opening—”

  “Really, Kenzie? You would hire me?”

  “I don’t know how many hours it would be, but we could always use someone when we’re understaffed.”

  “I’d love that! OH, THANK YOU, KENZIE!” She runs around the table and hugs me so tightly that I can barely breathe.

  “Don’t thank me yet. You may not be so happy when you have to get up at four in the morning to head to work.”

  “I opened the bakery in San Diego four days a week—I was used to getting up early. It’ll take me a little while to get back in the habit of waking up early again, but I swear it won’t be a problem. I’m so excited, Kenzie! You have no idea!”

  Cara’s reaction was nothing what I would have expected; I figured after working at a bakery in San Diego, that working at Sweet Dreams would be something she wasn’t interested in. I think the customers will absolutely love her personality! She’s a definite people person, and I love knowing that I can trust her. Even though Nicholas said the other employees at Sweet Dreams signed an NDA, I still worry that they could say something to press.

  “I have to get going, but thank you again for inviting me to lunch.”

  “No, thank you, Kenzie. I’ve always wanted a sister and now I have one!” she hugs me and I have to fight to hold back the tears forming. I always wanted a sister growing up, too. Someone to talk to, someone to be there next to me, when the shit hit the fan and someone who—

  “Will you be coming to dinner on Sunday?” she asks.

  “I’m not sure… I’ll have to check with Nicholas.”

  “I hope so! I’ll let you get to your meeting with Ginny; let me know if you guys can make it on Sunday.”

  “Thanks again.”

  “Mrs. Parker,” Ben is at my side before I even get close to the front door.

  “They still out there?” I ask.

  “Yes, they haven’t left, ma’am. Hunter is waiting to take you to your next destination.”

  “Thank you.”

  Once again, cameras are flashing around me and people are calling my name as soon as the door opens, but this time I don’t respond. The questions are all the same and I just remind myself that everyone is eager to get pictures of the woman who married the Nicholas Parker. Thankfully, Hunter manages to lose the reporters that tried to follow us from the bistro before we reach the bakery. He apparently called ahead and arranged with Ginny for us to enter the bakery through the back door.

  “Kenzie, it’s so wonderful to see you again!” She greets me with a hug as soon as the door closes behind us.

  “It’s so good to see you too,” I hadn’t realized how much I missed seeing Ginny until this moment. She had been an almost daily fixture in my life for more than two years before the press forced me to stop working here. She was the first person in New York who took a chance on me: I had no experience, no ties to the city, nothing… but she was still willing to offer me a job and slowly moved me from cashier to bakery.

  “I hear a congratulations are in order, Mrs. Parker,” she winks at me.

  “Thank you, although I’m still not used to being called Mrs. Parker.”

  “I bet.”

  “Thank you for doing all of this—”

  “Nonsense. If I had to choose someone to hand over the bakery to, you would have been my only choice. You love this place almost as much as I do. I’m so glad that new husband of yours made this possible. You’ll do an amazing job with this place—you’ll find ways to improve things that I never thought of or was too stubborn to do. You’ll be great, Kenzie.”

  “I’m so nervous, Ginny. I don’t know anything about running a business. I know these recipes in and out, hell, I can make any of the muffins by heart now, but I know nothing about bookkeeping and—”

  “Do you think I knew any of that stuff when I started this place twenty-five years ago? Of course not! I was a stupid, naïve young girl who had no idea what she was doing.”

  “You obviously knew something to turn this place into what it is today.”

  “I was determined not to fail—I learned everything I could. Back then, they didn’t have the internet, so I did things the old fashioned way. I talked to people who owned businesses, and I spent hours at the library, reading everything I possibly could about running a business. I’m not going to lie, I made mistakes, a few big ones, but I always learned from my mistakes. I learned not to repeat those mistakes again and eventually I figured out what worked. You’ll do the same thing. Don’t go into this new adventure thinking you won’t make any mistakes because you’re only going to set yourself up for failure. You’ll make a mistake and then you’ll learn from it and never make the same mistake again. And I’ll be here for any questions you might have along the way.”

  “Thank you for agreeing to stay on for a year I know you wanted to move to be closer to your daughter—”

  “And I will. I never expected this place to sell as fast as it did. I knew it would likely be a couple of years before I was able to. With this new plan, I’ll be able to fly out and see my daughter much more often than I could do, while waiting for this place to sell. I was never able to take more than a couple of days off to spend with her in the past because I couldn’t afford to close the bakery for any longer than a day or two over a weekend. But with you here now, once you’re comfortable, I’ll be able to go for a week or maybe even longer without worrying.”

  “Oh, let’s not think about you leaving just yet,” I joke.

  “You’ll be fine. You already know how this place works: you’ve opened and closed this place already. The only thing you don’t know is the paperwork and ordering processes. Mark my words, in a couple of weeks, you will know that stuff in and out as well.”

  “I hope so.”

  “Come, I have everything set up on one of the tables for us to look at.”

  I spend the next couple of hours with Ginny, reviewing everything from paperwork to vendors. I take notes about as many different things as I possibly can, but it’s very overwhelming to keeping track of everything she says. Armed with several folders of paperwork that she had already copied for me, I leave the bakery with Hunter to head back to Accord Towers. There was definitely more to running the bakery than I initially imagined when I thought I would want to open one on my own, but I’m also motivated after our meeting. It was good to hear how she started the business, on
her own, knowing about as much as I do about running a business. Seeing how successful she made the bakery gave me just a little hope that I could do the same on my own. I’m really glad that Nicholas thought ahead and worked out a plan with Ginny to have her stay on with Sweet Dreams for the next three years. I don’t know what I would have done if she were leaving as soon as I returned to New York from our honeymoon.

  “There you are,” Nicholas greets me as soon as I walk into the foyer.

  “I wasn’t expecting you home so early,” I kiss him as soon as he comes close enough to me.

  “My last meeting is via conference call, so I figured I would do the call from here. How was your meeting with Ginny?”

  “It was good, she gave me a ton of information and copies of a bunch of stuff too. I think I’ll just put this stuff in my–in the bedroom upstairs.”

  “I’ll have Carter put a desk in the library for you to use in the next few days.”

  “You don’t need to—”

  “It’ll give you a place to work when you can’t be at the bakery. Somewhere you can keep paperwork, notes or whatever that you don’t want to keep in the office at the bakery.”

  “I suppose that would be a good idea.”

  “He’ll take care of ordering it tomorrow, I’m sure it can be delivered by Friday.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Julie is going to have dinner on the table in a few minutes. I have about thirty minutes before my conference call starts, I thought we could eat dinner together…”

  “Let me put these upstairs and I’ll be right down.”

  Minutes later, Nicholas and I are in the dining room and Julie has placed plates of a delicious smelling chicken meal in front of us.

  “How was your day?” I ask.

  “Busy but not nearly as hectic as I imagined it would be.”

  “Oh, that’s good.”

  “Alex was able to handle most of the issues that came up while we were away so there weren’t too many pressing matters that I had to deal with today. We have a couple new inquiries by some larger clients come through that we’re in the process of preparing proposals for so things might get a little crazy in the upcoming weeks.”

  “At least your first day back wasn’t too hectic.”

  “Not nearly as bad as I had expected. Although, I understand you a had a little excitement of your own today.”

  “I did?”

  “According to my PR team, you were photographed today on your way to lunch—”

  “Oh! With everything Ginny told me, I nearly forgot about lunch. We were followed to lunch by some reporters, but thankfully Hunter managed to lose them on the way to Sweet Dreams. When Cara texted me and invited me to lunch today, I hadn’t expected the press to be so crazy about me leaving.”

  “They followed me to work today too, but once they realized I was alone and didn’t give them anything, I guess they returned here.”

  “Eventually, they’ll grow bored.”

  “I’ll be in my office for the call, but if you need something just come in,” he stands up from the table but pauses just as he reaches the entryway to the dining room. “And, Kenzie… thank you for what you said today… I… I really appreciate it.”

  Chapter 25

  Nicholas

  “Mr. Parker, Ms. Murphy is here to see you,” Melody alerts me.

  “Send her in,” I request.

  Moments later, Ms. Murphy from my PR Department enters my office and takes a seat in the chair across from my desk.

  “What can I do for you, Ms. Murphy?” I ask impatiently. She requested a meeting this morning and Melody managed to squeeze her in, leaving me no time to prepare before my next meeting.

  “I think it would be beneficial for us to schedule a meeting with Mrs. Parker—”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Well… you see, Mr. Parker…”

  “Spit it out. Exactly why do you feel the need to speak to my wife?”

  “We think it would benefit her to meet with someone from our team, to review proper protocols for responding to the press—”

  “I read her statement yesterday, she didn’t do a damn thing wrong!”

  Now I’m getting pissed—Kenzie’s response to the reporters was nothing that I would have expected but it was still a perfect response.

  “This time she didn’t. However, we would have preferred her to say—”

  “No comment, right? You’re saying my wife should have said no comment when reporters insinuated that I married her because she was pregnant? Or she should have said no comment when they insulted both of us by asking her what it was like to be married to a playboy?”

  “We have found it to be best not to respond to the press unless absolutely necessary.”

  “Yes, I know your stance and look where it has gotten us! Unless my wife begins to respond to the press inappropriately or there is a specific issue that requires us to handle things differently, I will not allow her to be coached by your team in her responses! Have you even bothered to read any of the comments on the stories where my wife was quoted yesterday?”

  “Of course, sir—”

  “Yet, you’re sitting here thinking you need to fix my wife? The comments on those articles praised Kenzie for standing up to reporters and defending her husband. Exactly why do you feel the need fix this? Do you really think it would have done anything to squash the rumors about me had she said no comment?”

  “Mr. Parker, with all due respect, your wife has had no experience in dealing with the press. This is the first time she has had to deal with them—”

  “No, it is not. She has been dealing with the press since our love life became a public issue. And before you say anything else, this is not the first time she has come face to face with the press while out on her own.”

  “Yes, but this is the first time she has chosen to respond to the press. Doing so without guidance could have caused more trouble—”

  “I’m sorry, I thought we already covered the fact that my wife didn’t do anything wrong? You would have preferred her to say no comment, which would have looked as if she wasn’t defending her husband or didn’t care about how her husband’s image. Is that what you’re telling me?”

  “Yes… no… er—”

  “You’ve just proven what I’ve suspected for several months now. You don’t have a fucking clue how to do your job,” I press the intercom button. “Melody get me security.”

  “Yes, Mr. Parker.”

  “Ms. Murphy, security will escort you back to your office, you have fifteen minutes to clear your office and leave PFS—”

  “Sir?”

  “Your fired, Ms. Murphy.”

  “But—”

  “Mr. Parker?” Carter opens the door.

  “Carter, please have Brian take Ms. Murphy back to her office and see that he escorts her from the building, collecting all PFS property before she leaves.”

  “Of course, sir.”

  “Mr. Parker?” Melody interrupts me just as I’m sitting back down.

  “What?” I snap. I know it’s not Melody’s fault, but I’m so frustrated with Ms. Murphy’s behavior that I can’t control my anger.

  “Your twelve o’clock is here,” she says.

  “Send them in,” I run my hands through my hair in frustration. I’ve had no time to prepare for my next meeting, which I despise, and Melody knows that. She always leaves me at least ten minutes to review materials before certain meetings, this next one being one of them. Yet, thanks to Ms. Murphy’s stupidity, I have had no time to review my notes on the new client that Alex wanted to meet about. I’m busy skimming my notes in the file, trying to get up to speed so I don’t waste Alex’s time. I don’t look up when I hear the door shut. It’s only when he doesn’t say anything for several minutes, which is very unlike Alex, that I look up. Normally he barrels into my office talking a mile a minute without giving me a chance to catch up.

  “Kenzie?” I can’t hide my surprise when I look
up to find the last person I expected sitting across from me.

  “I brought you lunch,” she lifts a bag from the floor which is only when I realize that my office smells absolutely delicious from whatever she brought.

  “Fuck, I wish I could sit with you but I’m expecting Alex—”

  “Actually, you’re not. Melody just put it in your schedule to hold the spot—”

  “She did? You—”

  “When I mentioned to Hunter this morning that I wanted to come earlier than my meeting today to have lunch with you, he contacted Carter, who worked with Melody, to get me a spot on your schedule. It sounded like you had a… busy morning, so if you have other things that you would rather—“

  “No! You just surprised me, that’s all. I’d love to have lunch with you,” I walk around my desk and grab her hand pulling her close to me, kissing her soft lips.

  “You were gone when I woke up this morning,” she says.

  “I had a really early meeting this morning, I didn’t want to wake you,” although, it was incredibly tempting to do so.

  I woke up this morning with my arms wrapped around Kenzie’s warm body; she had gone to bed before me last night as my conference call ran much later than I expected. When it finally finished, I found her sound asleep in my bed, wearing another one of my T-shirts. The moment I slid into bed, I reached for her and she immediately melted into me. When my alarm went off this morning we were still in the same position as we had been when I came to bed, only the shirt she was wearing had slid up revealing the thong she was wearing underneath. I was so tempted to wake her up by teasing her senseless, but I knew that I didn’t have to the time. The meeting I had this morning was important and not something I could be late for. So, instead of spending the morning buried deep inside of her, I came into the office to review spreadsheets.

  I wasn’t expecting to see Kenzie until later tonight, much later, since unlike yesterday my last meeting today is in person at PFS, so I can’t leave and finish the day from home. But to my surprise, she’s standing in front of me looking absolutely incredible. She’s wearing a simple dark blue dress with a matching blazer, making her look as if she works here, rather than being here as a visitor. Somehow no matter what she’s wearing she always manages to look incredibly sexy.