Modern Arrangements: Complete Trilogy (Modern Arrangements #1-3) (28 page)

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Lying awake for awhile, I thought about
our time on the island and just how easy it was with her. As I started to
wonder about how things would be once we returned to New York, her warm hand
slipped over my chest, her breath in my neck. For a moment I held my breath.
Lilli was pressed against my body and I didn’t want to do anything that would
make her move. Arousal began to flood my lower body.

"Lilli?" I whispered.

"Shh..." was all she said.
Before I could say anything else her mouth was covering mine.

Reflexively, my hands gripped her hair
and pulled her hot, open mouth harder to mine. She moaned and I pulled her
whole body on top of me. No longer worrying about consequences the morning
would bring, my body had taken over.

Her hands grasped my hair and tugged. I
held her hips and ground her against the hard length she created. She gasped
and I moved my mouth over her chin toward her neck. When she growled I flipped
us over, pressing between her legs. Over and over, I provided us the wanted
friction. Panting and moaning loudly, she called out my name.

"Aidan," I pressed into her
harder. "Aidan," she said it louder and I moaned at the sound of my
name falling off her lips. I was so close. "Aidan," she yelled.
"Aidan! Wake up!"

My eyes snapped open and I jolted into a
sitting position, sweat beading on my forehead, my breathing ragged.

"Are you okay?"

Lilli looked at me, confused.

"Huh?"

"You were moaning loudly." She
furrowed her brow at me.

"Oh," falling back onto the
pillows. "I'm sorry...I uh...was having a dream...I guess."

"You guess?" She shifted
around until she was lying on her left side looking at me.

"Yeah," Breathing out, I
rubbed my face. I kept my hands over my face, praying she wouldn't press for
more information. Thankfully she didn't.

When silence fell over us, I peeked out
from under my hand. She was stomach down with her head facing away from me.
Quietly, I took a deep breath and tried to go back to sleep. I was drifting off
when my phone rang.

Growling, I grabbed my phone.
"Hello!"

"Aidan, we have a situation."
Liam's tone confirmed something was wrong.

"What's going...is it the –?" 

"Yes. The venture is going to fall
through with the Regalie Company." He sounded stressed and tired.

"I'll make arrangements
immediately," Sitting up, I looked at the clock on the bedside table.
"I should get home a little after seven o'clock your time, this
evening." I stood from the bed and walked out of the room. "Let me
make some calls and I’ll call you back. You can then brief me on the situation."

"Aidan, you aren't going to like it
when you hear it." Liam paused.

"Spit it out, Liam. I have
arrangements to take care of." I groaned out impatiently.

"Regalie is concerned with the
well-being of AIS...due to the 'conditions'."

"What? I just got married for God’s
sake! How can they..?"

"Not the marriage, the heir. The
link that secures AIS to the Iverson family. Regalie only wants this venture if
they can be sure they will be dealing with the family, not the board."
Liam sighed heavily.

"Jesus, am I supposed to just
produce a child immediately?" Taking a deep breath, I counted silently to
ten. We were going to lose a large venture I’d worked long and hard to secure.
It ticked me off that this would sway them.

"I understand that. You know I do,
we all do. However, that’s their reasoning."

"I don’t mean to take it out on you.
I’m sorry.  How the hell did they get the details of my inheritance
anyway?"  No one in the family would hand over that information, create
such a risk.

"I’m not sure. But, they know a
lot, son."

"I'll call you back. Thank you,
Liam." Softening my tone, I closed the phone.

"Should I start packing? What do
you want me to do first?" Looking up, Lilli was leaning against the wall
across from me. I’d been too distracted to notice her entrance.

"What did you hear?" Concern
filled me.  Would she run now, knowing the pressure we were under to reproduce?

"Enough. What do you want me to
do?"

Running my hand through my hair, I
released a frustrated sigh. What the hell was 'enough' supposed to mean?

"Nothing."

She looked at me confused while I
started calling Jeremy, the pilot for the jet. Listening to the ringing, I
tried to ease her confusion.

"I'm leaving, but I’ll be back in a
couple of days. There’s no reason for you to leave too, unless you want
to?" Part of me hoped she would stay and wait for me to come back. I
wasn't ready for our time on the island to be over.

"Oh...ummm...okay. What do you need
me to help you with?" She walked over and sat on the couch.

When the click of an answer sounded, I
motioned for her to give me one minute.

"Yes, Mr. Iverson?"

"Jeremy, I need the jet to pick me
up. I am taking a boat in a few hours to the mainland and will need to get back
to New York immediately. Can you get it taken care of?"

"Yes, sir. I’ll call you with the
details in a half hour." We hung up and I dialed my receptionist, Amy.

"Lilli, you don't have to do
anything, just go get some sleep. I'll take care of this." She rolled her
eyes at me and sat back on the couch.

"Mr. Iverson?" Amy sounded
confused and groggy.

"I'm sorry to wake you, Amy, but I
need to make sure you are ready for the day ahead of us..." I quickly
explained part of the situation to her and what to be ready for before I hung
up and called for the boat.

Once all the arrangements were made for
my departure, I stood and went to pack my things. Lilli followed me into the
bedroom and climbed onto the bed, stretching out.

Having to leave with her stretched out
on the bed was completely unfair. I just wanted to stretch out over top of her.
Shaking the thoughts off, I threw some clothes into a duffel bag.

I showered, shaved and got dressed.
Coming out of the bathroom, I noticed that Lilli was no longer in bed. I
grabbed my bag and laptop, picked up my cell and dialed Liam.

"Aidan?" Liam answered
quickly.

"I'm preparing to leave now. I’ll
call you from the boat to discuss the issue." We both said goodbye.
Looking up, I saw Lilli had made eggs, toast and coffee.

"Eat up," she said walking by
me towards the bedroom.

Reaching out, I grabbed her arm, stopping
her. I cupped her face and looked into her shocked eyes.

"Thank you," I kissed her
forehead.

"Uh..." She swallowed her
surprise, "you're welcome." She gave me a small smile and started to
move away.

Reluctantly pulling away, I took in her
stained red cheeks. She moved away from me, making an attempt to collect
herself.

"You better eat before it gets any
colder." She nodded towards the food before making her way to the bedroom.

While eating, I heard the boat reach the
dock. I went to the bedroom to tell her goodbye. Lilli wasn’t in bed. The
shower was running.

I knocked.

"You leaving?"

Taking a chance, I turned the knob and
pushed the door open. Leaning in, I lost the ability to speak. There she was,
completely naked, the outline of her body showing through the steamed up glass.
I cast my eyes to the floor.

"Yeah...um...leaving now. I'll call
you, okay? The phone is in the study."

When she didn’t respond, I looked back
to the glass shower. She was frozen, her arms draped over her chest.

"Oh...okay. Travel safe."

"I'll see you in four days, at the
least." She nodded and I reluctantly closed the door.

I was going back to New York, sexually
frustrated, while the only release that I longed for remained on the island.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lilli

I kept my arms wrapped around me tightly
until the bathroom door closed. Exhaling, I leaned against the shower wall.

After throwing on a bikini and pulling
on a sundress, I went to the kitchen. The sun was just coming up. Deciding on a
bagel, fruit, and coffee, I took a tray out to the patio.

Eating and drinking as the sun rose in
the sky was magnificent. I lounged back in a chair, stretched out and closed my
eyes, letting the sun cover my skin.

"Mrs. Iverson?" Groggily, I
struggled to open my eyes. What had felt like only moments must have been
longer. "Mrs. Iverson?" The voice wasn’t familiar.

"What?" Jumping, I sighed in
relief. "Oh God...Devan. You scared me to death." I giggled.

"Sorry," he said bashfully
"I just...well, my brother and I hadn't seen you move in a while and got
worried. I'm really sorry."

"No, it's fine. I should probably
get out of the sun before I fry myself." Standing, I stretched, grabbed all
of the dishes and took them inside the house.

"Where’s Aidan?" Bradley was
standing next to Devan now.

"He got called back to work."
I half smiled.

"On his honeymoon?" Devan
groaned and shook his head.

"He got a call," I shrugged.

"And he went?" It was
Bradley's turn to shake his head.

I shrugged again.

"It's really not a big deal."

"Mrs. Iverson –"

"Please call me Lilli. I mean you
call him Aidan, so please, Lilli." I smiled.

"Of course, Lilli, I would think he
could spare time for a honeymoon and work wouldn't call and bother him."
Devan laughed.

"He was needed. It’s a big deal, so
he had to go. He's supposed to be back in a couple of days." After placing
the dishes in the dishwasher, I turned around. They were still there.

"So, what are you going to
do?" They both looked at me intently.

"Um...was going to go down to the beach
for a while." It had come out sounding more like a question than a
statement.

"Hmmm...how about we grab the
snorkeling gear and go with you?  There is a great place about a mile
down." I nodded excitedly. "Have you ever snorkeled before?"

"No, never." I shook my head.

"Wonderful, this will be
great." Bradley waved for me to follow after them. Hell, it was better
than being bored and alone.

Once we got down the beach they helped
me get the goggles and the flippers on properly. We waded out a little bit
before they showed me what to do with the goggles and the snorkel. After a few
mouthfuls of water and some choking, I finally got a handle on it. They led me
around some rocks and other areas with coral. It was amazing. After, we all sat
on the sand to dry out.

"That was amazing. Thank you so
much!" Leaning back on my hands, I let the sun dry my body.

"You’re so very welcome. It was fun
for us as well" Devan responded.

"Especially with the way you were
taking on water" Bradley laughed.

I tossed my goggles at him and laughed.

We sat on the beach for about forty-five
minutes longer talking about Devan’s fiancée, Gina, and their upcoming wedding.
Bradley talked a great deal about the ocean and his plans to attend college
this upcoming year. Bradley brought up ocean weather trends and that’s when
they mentioned the hurricanes. Nervousness settled in my stomach.

"Don’t look so panicked,
Lilli," Devan laughed.

"Yeah, the hurricane is way out in
the ocean, there isn’t any sign of it heading this way." Bradley patted my
shoulder. "The last they mentioned is was headed toward the USA. Florida,
I believe." He shrugged.

A few moments later we decided to part
ways. They needed to head back and I wanted out of the sun for a while. After
saying goodbye and going into the house, I headed toward the master bathroom to
rinse off. My thoughts returning to the hurricane, I decided to try out the
phone in the study instead.

The phone was on a charging station next
to a laptop. Sitting down, I turned on the computer and dialed Sarah’s number. As
I waited for her to pick up her phone, I browsed the internet for current
weather conditions. My mom didn’t answer, so I left her a message. I also
logged into my email, sending a quick email to her and my father.

Taking the phone with me, I finally made
it to the bathroom and climbed in the shower. Leaving the bikini on, I rinsed
it off too. I slipped back into my sun dress and went to the kitchen for
something to eat. The kitchen was well stocked, which was great, but it would
be heaven if I could get some chocolate covered potato chips right about now.

After grabbing some chocolate ice cream,
potato chips, and my unfinished book, I went out to the hammock. It was in the
shade and looked comfortable. Climbing into the hammock, I ate my snacks and
read my book.