Unwanted Heat

Kenzie

As the door closes, we are almost in complete darkness. The only light is coming from a small candle placed on a table next to a gift box.

“Nicholas?” I turn, reaching out for him; my hand quickly finds his as he moves closer to me.

“Kenzie,” his voice is shakier than I think I’ve ever heard it. “I… I…”

“What’s wrong? You’re scaring me.”

“Fuck… I’m not good at this type of shit,” he mumbles not giving me any idea as to what this might be. “The last few days, have really opened my eyes to a lot of things.”

He’s going to say that it’s not worth keeping up the charade of our marriage. I can’t… I

“The… what happened at the bakery could have turned out very differently. I could have lost you to… her. My life has changed so much since I met you, Kenzie. The moment I saw you on the sidewalk, drenched from the rain puddle, I knew you were different. You changed my life that day and you’ve been changing it ever since. Just like when Carter and I left PFS that day to head home, I had no idea how one simple, brief meeting with Bridget would lead to my life being changed… forever.”

“Nicholas…” I don’t know what to say.

“When I met you, everything changed. You made me trust again, so much so, that for the first time in years, I was comfortable with a woman living with me. You’ve given me a reason to come home at night, to take vacations… hell, you’ve given me a reason to just put my phone down and leave it there at night. And you’ve done all of this… without asking for anything in return. Without intending to, you challenged everything I thought I knew about my life.”

“I…”

“I love you, Kenzie… more than anyone I have ever loved in my entire life. I can’t imagine my life without you, but I’ve been petrified that you didn’t feel the same way I do,” he pauses and I wish like hell I could see his face right now. Unfortunately, the room is so dark that even the little bit of light coming from the small candle isn’t enough.

“Nicholas, I love you,” I wrap my arms around his neck before slowly kissing his soft lips. “My life… nothing has been the same since I met you that day on the sidewalk. I had no idea what to expect, that first night, I walked into the restaurant to meet you. You were the last person I thought would be there, yet deep down, I had hoped it would be you. What I never expected, though, was to fall in love with you, yet I did… I very easily fell in love with the wonderful man that you are.”

“Kenzie,” he whispers my name against my ear as his arms tighten around my waist. “When we turned around at the bakery the other night and saw… my first and only thought was protecting you. Later, I realized how close I came to losing you; that realization rocked me to my core. I don’t want to ever lose you-I don’t want to go back to the way my life was before you. I don’t want to go back to barely living, barely existing. I can’t imagine my life without you and I hope I never have to.”

Without any warning, he drops to his knees in front of me, and I gasp, as my mind immediately starts to piece what’s happening together. I’ve been terrified that he was going to say that he needed to end things between us, that the added attention from the press wasn’t going to have the effect he wanted it to. Yet all this time, he was thinking the opposite. He is just as afraid of losing me as I am of losing him. I-

“Kenzie,” he takes a deep breath and I hear him slowly letting it out. “I think I fell in love with you that day on the sidewalk, but I was too scared to admit it. I’ve loved every moment that we have spent together. I love falling asleep next to you and waking up with your warm, beautiful body pressed up against mine. I love coming home at night and having dinner with you. I love sitting on the couch and doing nothing but watching movies with you. If you let me, I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to show you just how much I love you. Mackenzie, will do me the honor of marrying me… for real this time?”

“Oh God, Nicholas,” I sink to the floor and wrap my arms around him. He immediately catches me as I almost manage to send us both flying backwards. “Yes… Yes, I’ll marry you.”

“Thank fuck,” he mumbles just before his lips find mine. Our kiss is filled with passion and emotion-it’s as if I can truly feel how much he loves me in that moment.

“Shhhh,” Nicholas whispers as he wipes the tears from my cheeks. He takes my hand and I feel him slipping a ring onto my left hand. “I thought about getting you a whole new set, but… it felt wrong to do that. These,” he brings my hand up to his so he can kiss the rings that were already there, “represent where we came from; I want us to build on that.”

He slides the other ring down further so it rests above the others; I don’t need to be able to see it, to know it’s going to be beautiful. But nothing will be as beautiful as his words just were. I kiss him, trying to convey without words how much I love him. I’m at a complete loss for words, so I do the only thing I can think of: I pour my heart into kissing him. We’re both on our knees, our bodies pressed against one another when I feel Nicholas reaching into his pocket and taking out his phone. Just our lips part, the dark room lights up with a soft glow from what I can only assume are hundreds of Christmas lights.

He takes my hand and gently pulls me up so we’re both standing; I gasp when I take in the entire room. Lights outline a large blanket on the floor near us, complete with a bottle of champagne chilling and a small picnic basket instantly reminding me of the picnic together when he proposed. He managed to transform this outbuilding, complete with what looks like four wheelers hidden off to the side, into something completely magical.

“Nicholas… this is…” I stutter. “This is… amazing, beautiful and spectacular. I’ve never seen anything so perfect in my entire life.”

“I have,” he wraps his arms around my back and pulls me to his chest. “You’re perfect, Kenzie, and I swear I’m going to spend every day of the rest of my life trying to show you how much I love you.”

“Nicholas,” the finality of his words truly hitting me.

“Come here,” he leads me over to the small table where the candle and the gift box is sitting. “This is for you.”Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

I look at him puzzled; he just gave me a promise of a new future… what more could he possibly give me? I untie the red bow from the white square box and place it on the table before lifting the cover from the box. Pushing the tissue paper aside, I finally see what the gift is. I look up at Nicholas and find his unsure eyes watching my every move.

“This is my copy of our… arrangement. The only other copy that exists is the one that you have in your safe deposit box. I’d like nothing more than to destroy both copies of our contract, but that needs to be your decision. I’m giving my only copy to you-what you do with it is up to you.”

“I….” wow… talk about everything being completely unexpected today. “I don’t want either copy. Let’s destroy both copies together.”

“You’re sure? If you want to keep it, if you need to-”

“No,” I turn around facing him. “I don’t need to.”

My lips easily find his, as my arms wrap around his neck, he pulls me closer to him so there is no space between us. I can’t even begin to describe how I feel right now-my heart honestly feels like it’s going to burst. I have so many emotions running through me; emotions I can’t even put names on. I was so afraid to let myself think about anything long term because I didn’t think that was something he wanted. I didn’t dare let myself dream that today could ever be a possibility; I’ve learned the hard way not to dream.

“You’re sure?” he whispers, pulling back but still close enough so I can feel his breath against my lips.

“Positive,” I can only hope that the look in my eyes is enough to convey that there isn’t an ounce of doubt in my mind.

“I can have Hunter pick up the paperwork from the bank if you’re sure?” I nod in agreement. “I don’t want to rush you-”

“No, I want to do this. I have no need to keep the contract any longer,” I assure him.

“Me either. I need… I want… I feel like getting rid of the contract is like…”

“Moving forward.”

“Exactly,” his lips are on mine once again as he once again pulls me against his hard body. His hands roam my back, exploring my body as his tongue dances with mine. I run my fingers through his hair, loving the way it feels as I do.

“I love you,” Nicholas lifts me, grasping my ass as I wrap my legs around his waist.

“I… love… you,” I pant as he holds me against his erection, which manages to rub against my clit as he walks us across the room. My lips are on his, my hands gripping his shoulders tightly, although not out of concern that he will drop me.

My eyes flutter open when he lays me down on the soft blanket. He is above me, his body pressed against mine, as he looks down at me with love. His hand slips under my shirt quickly removing my nipple from the bra so he can tease it easily. His lips trail down my neck, nibbling and sucking as he goes. Within seconds, my shirt and bra fall to the floor, my back arches, pushing me closer to him as he sucks gently on my nipple. I tug at his shirt, pulling it over his head, forcing his mouth from me, if only for a split second.

He slowly kisses his way down my stomach, lightly nipping at my stomach as he unbuttons my jeans. I lift my hips so he can slide my jeans down; along with my panties, they join my shirt and bra on the floor leaving me completely bare on the couch.

“You’re beautiful,” he kisses his way back up to my lips.

“Nicholas,” I moan when his denim covered erection rubs against

clit.

He slips an arm underneath me, grasping my ass, as he pulls me closer to him, just as his lips land on mine. I immediately open to him, welcoming him, as I touch him wherever I possibly can. I love that he not only trusts me enough to let me touch him like this, but that I can do so without causing him any discomfort.

With my body practically on fire with need, I reach between us and unbutton his jeans, gently pushing them over his hips and his firm ass. He buries his face in my neck, as he lifts himself slightly above me, allowing me to push his jeans down lower. When they fall to his knees and I can’t reach them any longer, I wrap my legs around his and use my feet to push them the remainder of the way down. He groans when his bare erection rubs against my damp sex.

“I need you,” I can feel my face heat up as I whisper those words to him.

“I’m yours,” with one hand on my ass he slips into me, filling me in the way that only he can.

My legs wrap around his waist, holding him close to me as I meet him thrust for thrust. No other words are spoken, the only sounds in the room are our heavy breathing and the occasional moan that comes from one of us. Yet, it feels as if our bodies are the ones doing all the talking, telling the other how much we love them and how deep those feelings run. The need builds slowly, with each thrust pushing me closer and closer to the edge until my entire body feels like it’s about to burst.

“Nicholas… I…” I beg though not entirely sure what for.

“I know, baby,” he thrusts one final time, holding himself deep inside of me while applying just enough pressure to my clit, to push me right over the edge.

“Nicholas!” I swear I see stars as the orgasm hits me hard, my body shaking as the pleasure rips through me. His arms wrap around, holding me close to him as he pushes even deeper into me, before calling out my name as his warmth fills me. His entire body relaxes against me a few seconds later; he is no longer holding his weight off of me. I run my hands over his back loving, the way his body continues to shudder against me.

“Sorry… let me move-”

“No, stay,” I wrap my arms around him not letting him move.

“I don’t want to hurt you-I’m too heavy.”

“Stay.”

He doesn’t argue but doesn’t move off of me either. I don’t know how long we lay like that, it could be hours or it could be minutes. All time seems to stand still; it’s as if nothing in the world exists outside of the little bubble we’re in right now. As if nothing from the last few days even exists; nothing and no one can pop the bubble we’re in right now.

“I love you,” he kisses me before moving to take a little of the weight off of me.

“I love you, too.”

“When things… are back to normal, I was thinking we could fly somewhere. Have another ceremony on the beach, just the two of us… unless you would want something different? If you do-”

“No, a beach and just us sounds perfect,” I reassure him. “We could do that, though? I mean legally we’re already married…”

“We can have a full ceremony in another country, though I think if we did something in the US it would be more of a vow renewal.” “A beach somewhere sounds perfect,” I sigh.

“As soon as we can, we’ll go.”

“Sounds perfect.”