Unwanted Heat

An hour goes by before I hear from Bridget and I start to panic. How long does it take to fucking call someone and see if she is available tonight? What if she wasn’t available to talk to Bridget? How much longer do I wait before trying to come up with another plan for tonight? My only other option is to go to the dinner alone and if someone asks I make an excuse about Kenzie not feeling well. That could work…

“Parker,” I answer my cell phone without looking at the caller ID.

“Nicholas, its Bridget-”

“About time.”

“I’m sorry, Kenzie needed to see if she could rearrange something before she could commit to dinner tonight-”

“Rearrange? She didn’t have another date did she? Because I specifically required her to sign-”

“Calm down, she did not have another date. She signed the exclusivity clause which you know means I can’t show her profile to anyone else.”

“So, can she do it or what?”

“Yes, she is available for the evening and will meet you at your office by five.”

“Good.”

“And next time, Nicholas, try to give the girl a little notice if possible.”

“I’ll be sure to compensate her for the last minute request in the next transfer I send you.”

“I’ll see that she gets it.”Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.

I sit back in my chair and sigh heavily, relieved that I don’t have to come up with an excuse as to why Kenzie is not with me this evening. Although it’s unlikely the press would have found out that I was at a business dinner alone, I can’t take the risk now that I’m trying to change my public image around. I need to lose the image of being a playboy who is seen with different women all the time. I need the media to think I’m boring and stable so they stop fucking questioning my business practices. “Melody, get me Carter,” I request.

“Yes Mr. Parker.”

Moments later Carter enters my office; as always Melody is very efficient at what she does.

“Melody has informed you of the dinner tonight?” I confirm.

“Yes sir.”

“Ms. Rose will be accompanying me tonight and will arrive here around five. Please meet her in the lobby and escort her to my office when she arrives.”

“Yes, of course, sir.”

“When we are finished with dinner, I want a cab to take her home.”

“Yes sir, I’ll be sure to have one ready before you leave.”

“That will be all.”

I dive into my latest financial reports, finally able to focus on work again now that the issue of tonight’s dinner tonight is resolved. It really is a waste of time to have dedicated the last 90 minutes worrying about a business dinner but I have to remain focused on my goal of turning around my public image: one slip up could ruin everything. Back on track now, I spend the rest of the afternoon diving into numbers and spreadsheets and reviewing the performance of several companies that PFS recently brought on. After signing with PFS, the first six months of financial reporting is absolutely key. After that I make a decision whether to continue their contract or to cut ties completely. As usual, I’m easily lost in my work and remain so until Melody alerts me that Carter is here. I tell her to send him in expecting him to need to discuss plans for the weekend or for dinner tonight.

“Mr. Parker-”

“One moment, Carter,” I interrupt, needing to spend just another minute reviewing this one line to ensure the calculations are correct. If I stop now, I will probably lose my place and it took me hours to find the one line where there appears to be an error.

“Yes Carter?”

“Ms. Rose sir,” I finally look up and realize that not only has Carter been standing there waiting for me to finish looking at my report but that

Kenzie has been there as well.

“I’m sorry, I hadn’t realized the time. Thank you Carter.”

“The car will be ready in ten minutes sir.”

“Kenzie, thank you for agreeing to tonight, especially with the incredibly late notice.”

“It’s not a problem.”

“I understand you had to rearrange your schedule, I hope Bridget let you know that you will be compensated for your troubles.”

“Really, it’s fine.”

“You look very nice.”

Nice is probably the least descriptive word that I could have come up with to describe how she looks. However the only other words that come to mind to describe her look are not appropriate to share with someone that I’m conducting a business relationship with. Kenzie is wearing a black fitted skirt that falls to just above her knee, a light blue button down fitted shirt lays under a black blazer. Her long legs are accentuated by a pair of black heels. My mind immediately pictures her bent over my desk with the skirt pushed up to her waist as I thrust into her.

“Thank you,” she thankfully pulls me from my thoughts which I’m grateful: if I kept picturing her like that, she would be able to tell what I was thinking if she looked below my belt. I can’t keep picturing her like that… thinking of her like that; this is nothing but a business transaction. She would never be interested in anything more with me and I’m not interested in anything more than a fuck with a woman, something I know Kenzie is too good for. She needs someone who would trust her and I’ve learned the hard way that hell is going to freeze over before I trust another woman like that ever again.

“Please have a seat,” I gesture to the small couch against the windows in my office and sit in the chair across from her.

“You have an amazing building here, the lobby was stunning.”

“Thank you. We’ve been in this building for about five years now; before we moved in I had my brother completely remodel it to fit the image

I wanted.”

“He did a wonderful job! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like

it.”

“I’ll never tell him this, but he blew my expectations out of the water on the design.”

“Is there anything I need to know for dinner tonight?” She glances at her watch likely realizing we only have a few minutes before we need to leave. She uncrosses her legs before crossing them again, her skirt riding up just the smallest amount and it takes everything in me not to groan. Her outfit is actually perfect for tonight: it looks very professional but could easily be more casual if she took the blazer off. The skirt isn’t too short but for some reason it’s just the right amount of leg for her to look incredibly sexy.

“We have been working with this shipping company for the last several months now, trying to help them avoid bankruptcy. We’ve made multiple recommendations but they’ve been hesitant in agreeing to them. The contracts are scheduled to be signed Monday, however at the last minute they demanded a meeting with me, refusing to sign the contract unless I met them for dinner tonight.”

“Why?”