Chapter 13: Chapter Thirteen

“Morning, ladies. Mrs. Wheeler will be here any minute to pick up her order.” Pouring herself a glass of OJ, Kennedi turned to find her friends staring at her. “What?”

Tabitha glanced up at the clock over the door. “Shouldn’t you be at Chase Investments?”

“I thought I’d come in to help you two with the morning rush. Fridays are always crazy, you know that.”

“The tree house came out beautiful. I took it out of the freezer about ten minutes ago.” Evie stepped over to the counter and peered close. “I think the gold sugar fairy dust on the rooftop was a nice touch.”

“Thanks.” Kennedi drank her juice and put the glass into the sink. “Those leaves took forever.”

“I didn’t hear you come in last night. When did you leave here? I hope that man didn’t waste your time,” Tabitha remarked with a scowl. “What did he want that was so important it couldn’t wait?”

Kennedi zeroed in on the metal table and barstool hemmed against the wall, recalling Trenton on his knees with his face buried between her legs. His tongue had worked her sex into a heightened frenzy of madness that almost instantly left her coiling into an orgasmic knot of exquisite pleasure before he plunged that massive part of him inside her. What was she thinking? Having sex with Trenton Shaw had been about the worst thing she could’ve done. But wow, talk about explosive. It’d been good. So good. Too good.

And then to play it off as though it hadn’t affected her? Dear sweet mercy, her legs had turned to jelly. She could barely stand up afterward and had to shake off the euphoria within those short minutes when he’d gone to the bathroom.

True to his word, a car had waited out front to take her home when she’d exited the store a good couple of hours after he’d stalked out with all his pompous attitude.

There was no way she could’ve faced him this morning. Staying away from the office, away from him, gave her time to think. Especially since she still hadn’t recovered from the man’s touch. And to dream about him all night long only to wake with her tank clinging to her fevered skin and the crotch of her panties soaked through—that reminded her: Trenton Shaw kept my panties.

“Kenni?”

She blinked. “Sorry, what?” She went to a rolling cart and brought it over to the prep table. Evie helped her carefully lift the cake onto it.

“I asked what Shaw wanted last night that was so damn important?” Tabitha pushed.

“Nothing. I-I mean, he—”

“What in the world is that?” Evie rushed around the cart and twirled a finger at the side of Kennedi’s face.

“What is what?” Looking between them, Kennedi brushed a hand at her cheek.

“No, not there. Here.” Evie poked her just under the right side of her chin. “You have a bruise.”

Tabitha leaned in, head angled, studying. “Is that…” Her eyes stretched. “Oh my God, is that a hickey?”

Evie gasped. “You got a hickey? How?” She shook her head. “I meant who?”

Kennedi’s hand flew to her neck. Staring back at their wide-eyed gawks, she turned away, needing a minute to assemble her reasoning. No logical thought surfaced. Shit. She turned back. “I can explain.” No, she couldn’t.

“You and Trenton Shaw?” Tabitha looked around. “Here…last night, in our kitchen?” Her brow pinched. “Tell me you didn’t.”

“Oh Tabby, stop acting brand-new.” Evie rolled her eyes and gave a dismissing wave. “What about when I walked in on you and Jeff doing it in Kenni’s office? I was sworn to secrecy, but given the circumstances…” She shrugged.

Kennedi gasped. “You had sex in my office?”

Chagrined, Tabitha folded her arms across her pink Chase Confections T-shirted chest. “Fine. But Kenni, anyone would’ve been better than Shaw. He’s going to tear down our business and you reward him by sleeping with the enemy.”

“I’m not sleeping with him.” She scrubbed anxious fingers at her forehead. “It was the first time…and the last. Things just got out of hand.”

“Hmm, I don’t know.” Evie tapped her chin, and Kennedi could almost see the wheels turning in her head. “Maybe we could use this.”

“How so?” Tabitha leaned a hip against the table.

“If he’s into Kenni, maybe she could continue the course, you know, and persuade him to change his development plans. Kenni, you considered it before.” Another shrug.

“No!” Kennedi drew back in objection, quite shocked to hear Evie take this angle. She was about as straitlaced as they came, or perhaps her wild side had lain dormant under the boot of her soon to be ex-husband. “I’m not going to sleep with Trenton to get him to change his mind. He’s agreed to pay off the balloon note. You two will get your money back and be free from all of my financial crap. Between the loan and using the earnings from the store to keep my father’s company afloat, I’ve strapped you both.”

“The loan was a joint decision,” Tabitha chimed. “Have you talked to your father about the investor funds?”

“Whenever I try, it’s as if that entire part of his life has disappeared. I was sure I’d be able to iron out his situation with the investors once I got involved, but I can’t seem to trace what happened to the funds, and my father never wants to discuss it.”

“Hey Kennedi, your bike is back.”

Their heads turned to Carlos poking his head inside the room. Kennedi frowned. “What do you mean? It was sold.”

“All I know is I went to take out the trash, and there it was.” Carlos retreated.

Kennedi, with her friends behind her, hurried out to find her bike in its usual parking spot at the rear of the store. She whipped out her phone to check PayPal for a transaction dispute.

“Wait, there’s a note.” Tabitha snatched the small envelope off the front headlight and handed it over.

Sticking her phone in her back pocket, Kennedi pulled out the card and read to them, “Thought you might want this. T.” She stared back at her friends in momentary, stunned silence. “Trenton. How on earth—”

Tabitha took the card and gave a look. “He was here that day the couple came for the bike. He asked me why you were selling it. I didn’t say much, but I guess he must’ve bought it off those people you sold it to.” A slow smile surfaced. “Okay, that’s pretty freaking smooth.”

“See, Kenni? I say my idea is a good one. Especially if the sex was good.” Evie’s grin widened. “Was it? Come on, girl, spill the tea.”

Kennedi laughed.

“What? I had mediocre sex for seven years with Patrick, and that was only when I could lead. I don’t think any time lasted more than five minutes. He had a hang-up about mixing body perspiration.”

Both Kennedi and Tabitha blanched. “Are you serious?” Kennedi gaped.

Evie gestured to Tabitha. “You had sex on a desk, and you, Kenni, in the kitchen.” She laughed. “I don’t want to know where. My point is, living through you two is about as much excitement as I’ll vicariously have.”

Tabitha took her hand. “Girl, you’re single now and can date. It’s time you live a little.”

“My divorce isn’t final yet.”

“So what? Do you think Patrick’s pasty little ass is waiting for the papers to be signed?”

They looked at one another and said in concert, on a burst of resounding laughter, “Yes.”

Kennedi’s cell phone chimed a text in her back pocket, cutting into the hilarity of them conjuring up scenarios of Patrick using antiseptic wipes on his companion before and after sex. She hitched a breath at the sight of Trenton’s name before reading: It’s 8:40 and you’re not here.

She looked at her friends, as both their heads hovered over her phone. She stuck it back into her pocket. “I better go get that cake prepared for pickup.”

Tabitha snickered. “You’re not going to the office because you had sex with him.”

Kennedi rubbed her forehead again. “It shouldn’t have happened. Sex always complicates things.”

“Only if you let it,” Evie asserted. “You said he’ll be attending the matchmaker auction tonight. You’ll have to see him. Maybe you could bid on him. You two could slip out and—”

“I’m not sleeping with Trenton Shaw again. Ever. This,” she pointed at the bike, “was really thoughtful and all, but I shouldn’t go there with him.”

The physical attraction she could handle, could control. But his kisses alone had plunged her into a precarious emotional tailspin, the current so strong she’d felt scorched down to her very soul, the intoxication instantaneous. And when their bodies finally joined, limbs easily moving together like a familiar, choreographed dance, the passion, the heady intensity, the wild tide of emotions—too many switches flicked on at once. It was massively unsettling.

The door opened, and they turned to see Amy poking her head out. “Mrs. Wheeler’s here.”

Thinking of Trenton Shaw, Kennedi expelled a low, shaky breath to calm the rush of her heart slamming against her breastbone. “On my way.”

Trenton disconnected on a curse. “I’m here to help bring her father’s company back into the black, while she chooses to ignore my calls.”

“She’s still not picking up?” Dom asked.

Trenton looked at his brother seated on the couch reviewing the company’s historical financial data while sipping the vanilla bean blend coffee Audrey had kindly served him. The assistant had been efficient enough thus far, but Carol would’ve known to have simple black coffee available when Trenton arrived.

Tossing aside the file he’d been going through, Trenton pushed away from the desk and stood facing the wall of windows behind him, hands sliding into the front pockets of his slacks. “That woman will drive me fucking insane.”

Dom flipped open another folder. “If she’s going to be ungrateful, let her business fall. Cancel the agreement. Obviously she doesn’t care enough, or she’d be here.”

Leaning a shoulder against the sun-warmed pane, Trenton folded his arms at his chest. “She’s likely at her store and would probably sleep there if she could.” Staring out at D.C.’s bustling business district, recalling how Kennedi looked dancing about—arms waving in the air, her ponytail whipping, she and Tabitha carefree, appearing as though calling to the gods—he chuckled to himself. And that cake she’d created, the intricacy and detail astonished him. He wouldn’t even bring himself to think about the sex. He could tell the level of passion she’d unleashed on him had only been a mild precursor, a mere taste of what he was sure she’d be capable of. “What would it take to have the plans on the garage shifted by, say, a block or so?”

Dom’s head came up from the file in his hand. “What do you mean?”

Trenton looked at his brother. “Exactly what I said. How much would it set the timetable back to break ground if the plans were altered? Land survey? Permits? Run a cost estimate.”

“Bro, you can’t be considering letting K. Avery Chase keep that heap of rubble, are you? For starters, it’s an eyesore.”

“The exterior could use a facelift.”

“You mean a bulldozer,” Dom scoffed and dropped the file folder on top of the reviewed pile. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “Man, tell me you’re not about to pour more money down the drain fixing up that place. You own that entire retail strip now. Mow that shit down and build the garage. Isn’t it enough you’re here at her father’s office trying to salvage his business, the why of which I still don’t understand? Shit, you got William to hire some writing expert to scrutinize Chase Sr.’s signatures on those contracts.” He flailed a piece of paper. “You have me here combing through three years’ worth of financial crap to draw up a five-year projection for this place, something she should be doing, all while thinking her father stole from his own company and his daughter likely knows it or is in on it somehow.”

Taking his seat, Trenton remained quiet and let his brother vent, then asked, “Are you done?”

“No, I’m not done. Dude, she doesn’t even return your calls. You’re about to make bank on that Hong Kong deal that Chase Investments fucked up and where is she? At that damn bakery.”

“After last night, I’m figuring she doesn’t want to face me.”

Dom’s head angled. “Why? What happened last night?”

“We had sex,” Trenton easily admitted, and his brother sat up ramrod stiff, ice-blue eyes as wide as saucers.

“You did what?” As he shook his head, his hands went up then slammed down hard on his thighs. “I get it now. That’s what all this ‘shifting the garage’ talk is about. She fucked your brain screws loose to persuade you to revise your plan for the garage.”

“Watch your mouth,” Trenton gritted, a warning. “We already came to an agreement that I’d pay off her loan and she’d vacate her store. The sex had nothing to do with it.”

Dominic brought up a hand, palm out. “Okay, I was out of line. But look, bro, I know what you went through with Claudia. Shit, what you’re still going through with that woman. I don’t want to see it happen again.”

Trenton knew his brother meant well on all fronts but hoped the guy was wrong about Kennedi.