Here Comes The Bride (16 page)

As I waited for the water to warm up in the shower, I turned to the mirror.

"I’m going to kill him." My anger boiled, examining the dark bruise at the base of my neck.

Stomping back into the bedroom, I glared at Aidan.  He sat on the bed talking into his cell phone. He looked at me.

"I need to call you back." He dropped his phone to his lap. "What’s wrong?" He eyed me with a worried expression.

"A hickey? Seriously, Aidan, a hickey?" He fought laughing.

"It’s not that –"

"Oh, shut the hell up. It’s completely noticeable. I’ll have to wear turtlenecks for like a month." I half whined and half yelled. He lost his battle to not laugh at me. "It’s not funny, jerk! You don’t have some gross mark on you." I pointed to the offensive bruising.

"I wouldn’t mind." His cocky smirk made it a challenge.

"Oh really?" I cocked my head and darted to the bed. Jumping on his lap, I pinned him down.

My lips captured his neck before he could protest. Once he realized my intentions, his body took over, his hands groping, grinding his erection against me. I worked his neck until I was sure the evidence would be as noticeable as mine.

Channeling my inner Celia Leighe, I pulled back
and climbed off of him. He groaned and tried to hold onto my hips. I slid away.

"Now we’re even." I shrugged and went back to the bathroom.

"Fuck…Lilli….come back to bed. You can’t leave me like –"

"Water’s running." Batting my lashes, I closed the bathroom door.

He had me so worked up, I couldn’t keep my fingers from wandering to the southern regions of my body, extinguishing the intense need throbbing inside me.

Throughout the remainder of my shower I wondered if he would appear in the bathroom. A part of me screamed for him to get in here. The other part of me, my brain, prayed he didn’t show up. I needed to process the past two days.

Knowing our date was tonight intensified my anxiety. He already admitted to not wanting to stop and how could I blame him when I started it. Plus, I hadn’t exactly objected to the other times. Instead I moaned, groaned, and grinded against him. Could I be any more hypocritical? I seriously needed to end the physical…well, maybe not end it, but definitely slow it down. We have to talk tonight, it’s going to be an uncomfortable conversation.

Drying off
, I played out different ways to bring the topic up.

"So, Aidan, I love having sex with you, but do you think we could slow down before I mentally exhaust myself?" Or, how about, "Aidan, you do amazing things with your tongue, but I think we need to slow down on humping like rabbits." Hell
, maybe I could open up with, "So, I know I jumped you like a bitch in heat in the library, but we should take a step back." 

With a frustrated sigh, I mentally slapped myself for being an idiot.
Discussing this stuff shouldn’t be this difficult. We are both adults and talked enough to make this arrangement, so discussing sex should be just a simple.

Yeah right, Lilli. Simple? Sex doesn’t mak
e anything simple.

Silencing my thoughts, I wrapped up in a robe before drying my hair with a towel.
I walked back in the bedroom, Aidan wasn’t there. I did a small happy dance. Literally, I did a dance. Quickly, I slipped into a pair of yoga pants, a sports bra, slid a tank top on, and headed to the workout room.

It was like a recon mission. I looked around corners before continuing down hallways and staircases. I was
a pathetic coward. When I reached the workout room, I shut the door and leaned against it, trying to calm my nerves. Like I said – pathetic.

My nerves had settled from the workout and I wasn’t mentally playing the ‘mission impossible’ theme. There was still no sign of Aidan along the way
to the library. I grabbed the book I’d left on the table and picked up where I’d left off. On the last chapter of the book, Aidan appeared in the doorway.

"There you are." He walked into the room. "I should’ve known." He smiled. Sitting on the lounge with me, he lifted my feet
and placed them on his lap.

"What’s up?"

"It’s almost one and I wanted to let you know we’ll be leaving around four for the evening."

"The whole evening?"

"Well, we’ll return home tonight, if that’s what you are asking." He placed his head back on the couch and closed his eyes, mindlessly rubbing my foot.

"Okay. Um…where are we going?"

"It’s a surprise" He rolled his head over and winked.

"How am I going to know how to dress if you don’t tell me –"

"I don’t care how you dress." He shrugged and smiled.

"Aidan…"

"Okay, okay…we’re going to dinner. It’s a nice place, so just dress for a fancy restaurant. Happy now?" He grumbled.

"Not particularly, but if you insist on us going out to some fancy place –"

"Do you not want to go tonight?" He lifted his head up with a look of concern

"Of course I want to go," he relaxed at my words. "I’m just saying I can eat at McDonalds and be fine with it. I don’t need some fancy restaurant and –"

"I want to take you though, if you don’t mind?" Again, he looked nervous. Like he was a high school boy terrified of the girl he just asked to the prom.

Pulling my feet from his lap and putting myself into a straight sitting position
, I reached over and patted his shoulder.

"It’s fine," I smiled and turned back to my book.

"Lilli?" He leaned in close.

"Hmm?" I kept my eyes on the book, knowing if I looked at him we would once again be naked in the library.

"Are you going to get ready?" He was so close his breath warmed my shoulder.

"It’s only one o’clock." I turned my head to roll my eyes, but his gaze captivated me. "I-I…I think I can spare an hour before getting dressed." Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm down. "It won’t even take me two hours to get ready." I shrugged and quickly turned back to my book.

"So…" His fingers ran along my thigh "You would agree that we have time to kill?" The innuendo was obvious. I shifted a little, trying not to let him get to me. "Hmmm?" He hummed so close to my ear the vibrations of his words ticked.

I was hoping we could have this conversation later, but realized we were going to have to do this now.

"Aidan…" I used a warning tone. His lips grazed the edge of my ear. Then his body shifted closer and his tongue flicked against my lobe. "Aidan." Reluctantly, I pulled away, my vagina screaming in protest.

"What?" He looked confused and rejected. "What’s wrong?"

"I think we need to slow down." I placed the book back in my lap with a sigh.

"Slow down?"

I removed his hand.

"Look, I know I started this, but I mean…it’s just –"

He tensed.

"Don’t tell me it’s wrong or was a mistake, Lilli, because I don’t believe that."

"Not a mistake, just…it’s just a little too much too quickly. Ya know?"

"So, you aren’t opposed to us having sex,
just how often we’re having it?" He raised one eyebrow, a small smile on his lips.

I groaned. "Sort of, it’s just that we agreed not to get this involved, at leas
t not until we had discussed it. Now that it’s happened, it just complicates everything so much more."

"Stop. There’s nothing complicated about this. We’re married and –"

"I know we’re married. I was there."  My words were harsher than I’d meant them to be. "However, it’s an arranged marriage of convenience for both of us. Not because we knew we were meant to be together and wanted to get married."

He sighed and rubbed the back of his head.

"I don’t know what the big deal is." He looked back up at me. "You’re on the pill right?" I nodded. "So, we don’t have to worry about a baby, though we do need to talk about that sooner than later, it’s just a physical release. Are we supposed to set up some damn schedule or something?"

I looked at him – annoyed.

"Of course not," I rolled my eyes.

"Then what
? Because I don’t think I’m getting what you’re saying." He crossed his arms over his chest with a pout.

"I’m saying we need to slow this down."

"Why?"

"Because we’d agreed to no sex, yet here we are going at it
at almost every free moment."

"
I was against the no sex rule."

I pursed my lips at him.

"Hey, I just want to throw that out there."

"You don’t think we should slow down the physical aspect and maybe learn more about each other?"

"We know each other." 

"If there wasn’t the necessity for marriage, would you be married to me right now?"

"I doubt it, but –"

"Why not?"

"Why wouldn’t we be married?  Well, we would probably just be getting to know one…"  He paused for a moment, "Okay, point made."

"Okay, well
now that you understand." I took a breath. "You don’t have to know every detail about me, that’s not what I am asking. I would, however, prefer not being a stranger in your bed." Standing, I left him to think about our discussion. I also needed some alone time.

Wandering, I found myself in the pool room. I changed into a bathing suit
and dove in. Swimming laps, I let my brain take the backseat for a while. When my muscles and lungs started to protest, I got out and went to take another shower.

Entering the bedroom, Aidan was standing at his closet going through his things. He turned to look at me, taking in my wet appearance, and smiled. I smiled back before going to the shower. Maybe things would
n't be so awkward.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Aidan

I
made the arrangements for the night and did some work from my office for a couple hours before I set off to find Lilli. It felt like she was hiding, again. Finding her in the library wasn’t a surprise.

After telling her a little about our arrangements for the evening, I couldn’t help but feel aroused. She’d left me hanging this morning and now just the smell of her skin
was causing a reaction. I didn’t know about her, but it was becoming more and more difficult to keep my hands to myself.

My desire was brought to a halt when she began the conversation I was trying to
avoid. I knew we needed to talk about it, but I just wanted her naked and screaming my name.

When she left me alone in the library I wanted to go after her, but I could tell she wanted some space. Pacing around the room, I thought about what she’d said.

I knew Lilli, but what I knew of her was very limited. As I turned that over in my mind, I formed a plan. I went to the bedroom and got showered. Tonight would be different for us. The last thing I wanted was for her to feel like a stranger in our bed.

While getting my clothing together, Lilli entered the room. She was in a bikini
, damp from the pool. She was making it terribly difficult for me to stick with my plan. I smiled and she returned the smile before disappearing into the bathroom.

For the next hour, I preoccupied myself by m
aking some necessary work calls and going over documents. Once everything was handled I got dressed.

Having been interrupted by a phone call, I paced the floor in my unbuttoned dress pants. Lilli emerged from the bathroom and
I did a double take.

Her hair flowed in large curls down her back,
her makeup simple, yet perfect, and she was wrapped in only a towel. Swallowing hard, I watched her stroll from the bathroom to her closet. I ran my hand through my hair and took a deep breath before finishing up my call.  In my own closet, I leaned against the dresser, trying to calm my desire.

"How much longer?" Eventually, I stepped from the closet, fully dressed
, my jacket over my shoulder.

"Maybe fifteen minutes. Is that okay?" Her voice carried out of her closet.

"That's fine. Meet me downstairs?"

"Okay."

In my study I’d planned on shutting down my laptop, but got caught up in a large email chain regarding a client. I hadn't realized the time until I heard the creak of the door. My head snapped up.

"You coming or did you change your mind about going out?" Lilli walked into the room smirking at me a
nd standing in front of my desk, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Sorry. I got sidetracked
, I guess." I closed my laptop and stood.

"Yeah, I guess," she teased. "If you have things to do, I can go to the library. It's not a big –"

"It is a big deal."

"Well, then let's get going." She smiled and walked out the door.

As she left the room, I took the time to check out her outfit. Lilli was wearing a shimmering chocolate brown dress. It barely made it to the top of her knees and looked like second skin, in a good way. The dress seemed designed specifically for her curves. I had to stifle a laugh when I saw it was a turtleneck.