Unwanted Heat

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.

“I made grilled chicken sandwiches for lunch,” she gestures to the bag still sitting on the floor.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“You didn’t have to do that but thank you. We can eat at the table over there,” I chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” she asks.

“You realize you’ve been in my office twice now, and both times you’ve brought food with you?”

“I guess you’re right. I hadn’t realized that.”

Things were so different the last time she was here: she had brought muffins and cookies in the day after her apartment had been broken into. We only had a few minutes in between meetings to spend together, but I remember being just as surprised then, as I was today when Kenzie showed up unexpectedly. That day was also the first time we were truly alone with each other. It’s hard to believe how much has changed since that day-how much our arrangement has changed.

“How was your morning?” I ask her.

“Good. I had breakfast with Julie, and then spent some more time going through everything that Ginny had given me yesterday. I’m using your laptop much more than I had expected I would-”

“Your laptop,” I correct her.

“Your laptop,” she argues. “I’m only borrowing it, just like the phone.”

“They’re yours, Kenzie-”

“They’re on loan to me,” she interrupts. “However, I am finding it to be extremely useful right now since Ginny had everything tracked by hand. I’ve already begun a simple spreadsheet to keep track of all her vendors and their current costs. Since all the food is made at the bakery, I think I want to see if we can find any of the ingredients at a lower cost somewhere. I mean, really flour and eggs are flour and eggs, no matter where you buy them, right?”

“I would assume so, but clearly I’m the last person to ask about eggs, seeing as though I couldn’t even make scrambled ones the other day.”

“Good point,” she giggles. “How was your morning? Your last meeting sounded… rough.”

“That’s an understatement,” I chuckle. “It’s been very busy, and really up until that meeting, was going well.”

“Did you fire her?”

“I did. She was a member of my PR team, and I’ve been questioning her advice for some time now. The meeting today was just the last straw-I had to let her go.”

“Is it hard?”

“Is what hard?”

“Firing someone? I’ve never done that before…”

“The first time you do it, it’ll be hard. You’ll put off doing it, keeping the person around much longer than you should because you want to keep giving them chances that they don’t deserve. But eventually, you will do it. It’ll be hard and you’ll probably feel bad afterwards, but then once you get past it, you will realize it was something you should have done a long time ago. I think after that it gets a little easier.”

“I’m not going to look forward to that part of owning the bakery.”

“It was probably one of the hardest things I did when I first started PFS, but it’s a part of business. It’s important not to befriend your employees: it makes firing them, or even disciplining them, much more difficult. That’s probably going to be hard for you though seeing that you were their peer, whereas I hired everyone for PFS from the beginning.”

“I really wasn’t friends with anyone, though, I mean I didn’t hang out with anyone outside of work. We would chat of course, but it was never more than just passing time.”

“Good, try to keep it that way. Many young managers make the mistake of hanging out with their employees outside of work, thinking that if they are liked by their employees, they will do a better job. Part of that is true: you don’t want your employees to hate you, but at the same time, you don’t want such a casual relationship with them that they think they can take advantage of you.”

“Good point.”

“Don’t be surprised if you receive some push back from a few of your employees. I think it’s going to be hard for some of them to look at you as their boss. Be firm in the decisions you make; if you’re uncertain about any decisions, hold off on implementing them until you are sure. I swear some employees can smell uncertainty.”

“Thank you, I really appreciate all your advice, it’s very helpful.”

“If I ever overstep, just tell me. I’m so used being the one in charge of implementing changes and putting in new processes when we sign a new client, that I might forget and get a little too involved in the bakery.”

“I think I’d be more lost if you weren’t involved.”

“Mr. Parker, your one o’clock is here,” Melody alerts me. I’m not sure how an entire hour as passed-it feels like we just sat down to eat.

“I should go, I’m sure Mr. Donnelly is waiting for me as well,” Kenzie begins clearing off the table and I quickly grab the garbage can next to my desk.

“Melody reserved the board room just next to my office for your meeting.”

“Thank you for letting me take some of his time, I’m sure he is very busy with projections for you.”

“It’s nothing, he’s glad to help however he can.”