Modern Arrangements: Complete Trilogy (Modern Arrangements #1-3) (29 page)

A sudden movement on my cheek pulled me
away from the best dream sex I’d ever experienced. Aidan’s fingers were
ferociously slipping in and out of me while his tongue worked magic on my
nipples.

Opening my eyes, there was a small
lizard stuck over my face. I screamed and shot up in the hammock. The sudden
movement caused the hammock to rock back and forth too violently, resulting in
me landing on my ass in the sand. Completely stunned, I laid there for a moment
before bursting into laughter.

"Damn lizard," Growling, I
looked around for the little wet-dream blocker. Even if it was only a dream, it
was amazing.

After the lizard incident, I went inside
to watch a movie.  Just as Mystery Inc. unveiled Alicia Silverstone, the
satellite phone rang.

"Everything okay?" Aidan asked
with concern.

"Well, hello to you too."  I
laughed.

"Sorry, hello.  How are
things?"

"Everything’s good."

"What did you do today?"

"Um...Devan and Bradley came today
–"

"Yeah, it’s one of the days they
show up. They didn’t bother you did they?"

"No, they were actually great
company for a while." I laughed lightly.

"Company?" His tone rose.

"Uh…yeah, they showed me where the
snorkeling stuff was and –"

"You shouldn’t snorkel alone
–"

"I didn’t."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, umm…they stuck around and
showed me how to snorkel. We went a few miles down the beach." I paused.
"Then afterwards we talked about Devan’s fiancée and Bradley’s college
plans." I confessed, hoping the topics of discussion would keep him from
acting like a caveman.

He was silent.

"Aidan?"

"Yeah," his voice was quiet.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," his response clipped.

"Oh-kay," I took a breath.
"Well, I guess I’ll let you get ready for work or whatever." The
phone call was just uncomfortable now.

"Why, got plans with the
boys?" he snorted.

"Excuse me?" My tone rose a
few octaves.

He sighed.  "I’m sorry. I
just….this was supposed to be us there, not you and the help," he growled.

"Hey…I offered to pack my stuff
–"

"No. I’m sorry. Really, I am."
It sounded like he was sincere. "I’m glad you aren’t bored out of your
mind."

"Thanks," I furrowed my brow.

We talked for a few more minutes before
hanging up. I fell asleep on the couch watching a movie: The sound of rocks
smacking off of glass woke me.

The room had fallen dark, not nighttime
dark. It was thunderstorm dark. Looking at the windows, hail like rain beat off
the glass. Sighing, I went to get something to eat from the kitchen.

The rain continued for the entire day,
barely easing up. I tried the laptop, but the satellite was out due to the
storm. The TV barely got a local news channel. Turns out the hurricane had
shifted its route. It wasn’t going to come on land or to the island. However,
there would be storms as a result.
Great!

Turning off the fuzzy TV, I started to
charge up my IPod and my extra laptop battery. The rain resulted in me watching
movies and reading for most of the afternoon. I snuck a nap in too.

When I woke from my nap the rain wasn’t
as rough, so I decided to grab my camera and go down to the beach. After doing
a ghetto-wrap-job with plastic wrap on my camera, I walked to the beach. I took
some great pictures of the angry ocean as lightening streaked in the horizon.
The clouds swirled dramatically as if they were dancing. It was breathtaking.

The rest of the evening and the next day
went pretty much the same, though at the end of the following night I lost all
power in the house. The only thing still running was the fridge, since it was
connected to a small generator. Lighting candles, I found some battery operated
lanterns in the storage/laundry room and set them up in the bedroom.

Sitting on the bed, I powered up my
laptop and connected the digital camera. While the pictures transferred, I
started to feel nauseous. I saved the pictures, shut down the laptop, and decided
to lie down.

Waking the next morning I discovered
what was wrong with me. Cramps were consuming my abdomen and back.  It was the
tell-tale sign of my cycle. My first trip was to the bathroom and to my
necessities bag. I pulled out my pill case and became instantly annoyed. I
wasn’t supposed to start yet. Resolving to the fact that the change in
environment daily activities brought this on, I tossed out my pills and planned
to restart them when this was over.

The rain continued throughout the
morning but lightened up by late afternoon. The power was still out.
Exploration around the house revealed that a large branch had landed on some
lines leading into the house. Assuming these were the power lines from the main
generators and solar panels, I sighed, knowing I wouldn’t be able to get the
branch moved on my own.

Humidity began wreaking havoc on the
island. Even as the sun set, my body only found rare relief in the ocean or
showering with ice cold water.

That evening, when I stepped out of my
fourth cold shower, I looked at the pajamas I’d laid out. My towel was already
starting to stick to my back, sweat beads dripping between my breasts. There
was no way I was putting pajamas on.  Tossing the clothes back into my trunk, I
slid on my boy short underwear and a small cami.

After opening the bedrooms French doors,
I could tell there was no relief from the heat. Leaving the doors open and
knowing Aidan wasn’t due back for another day, I slipped off my cami and
climbed into bed face down, no blankets.

A light breeze caressed my skin, warmth
and a soft caress grazed my right side. Wrenching from sleep and into the less
humid, light filled room, I looked to my right and screamed.

"What?" Aidan jerked up, wide
eyed next to me.

His hand was now flat on my lower back.
I didn’t want to admit how good the contact felt. He looked down. I
instinctively curled my arms to my sides. Thank God I was still laying stomach
down. My body heated in embarrassment and I buried my head in the mattress.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Aidan

Her being on the island alone ate away
at me. I hated it and, even more, hated that she was spending time with other
men on our honeymoon. Yes, it was ridiculous. But, hell, I was sexually
frustrated and irritated by the Regalie Company.

Once I found out about the storm, I
tried to contact her but the call wouldn’t go through. It made me worry even
more. Making damn sure the Regalie situation was taken care of the next day, I
made arrangements to return to the island, to Lilli.

There were a few weather delays in my return
but I finally got back a day earlier than planned. When I saw all the branches
and debris from the storm, I couldn’t help but be concerned.

Upon entering the house, I called out
for Lilli. Realizing she was most likely sleeping, I went to the bedroom.

Dropping my bag to the floor and wiping
the sweat away from my forehead, I turned to the bed. I could barely make out
her body in the darkness but could hear her breathing.

Grabbing a flashlight, I walked out the
French doors to the generators. After a couple of attempts, I pulled the large
branch off the wires. Luckily, they were simple plug in connectors. I got them
back in and flipped the breaker switch. A gentle hum filled the air.

I made sure everything was working again
and went back to the bedroom. My flashlight grazed over Lilli’s form and
immediately went back to her.  Jesus Christ! Is she trying to kill me? Dear God,
give me the strength to not molest my wife.

Lilli lay before me, stomach down, in
nothing but underwear. The sweat on her back was glistening on her skin. My
dick went from flaccid to throbbing in a mere second. If I were to lie next to
her I wouldn’t be able to control myself. Desperate to contain myself, I
showered with cold water.

Feeling cooled down and calmer, I slid
on some boxers and checked the air conditioning. It wasn’t working. At least
the fans would now come on. Turning all the ceiling fans on, I climbed into
bed.

Without thinking, I trailed my finger
down her spine, stopping just above ass. My breathing hitched and I bit my lip,
trying to stop myself from going any further.

Lilli shifted, moaning in her sleep. It
went straight to my groin. I pulled ,y hand away, threw myself back onto the
pillow and covered my head with my arms. I’m not sure how long I laid there
battling with my erection before falling asleep. Lilli’s scream woke me up.

"What?" I jerked away and
looked down. Then it all came back to me. She was basically naked and didn’t
expect me.

"I thought you weren’t going to back
till tomorrow?" Her voice was muffled from the mattress, her arms curled
to her sides, hiding herself as much as possible.

"Um…sorry. I heard about the storm
and wanted to make sure everything was alright." Fully aware of the fact
that I hadn’t moved my hand from her back, I licked my lips and took her
daylight revealed body in. Perfection.

"Can you uh….grab my clothes
please?" She stretched her left hand down the bed until she found the
sheet and pulled it up. "Nevermind," she wrapped it around her. 

Sitting up, her face was red as a tomato.
I couldn’t help but laugh at her.

"Shut up," she glared, but the
hard line of her lips started to curve. "I didn’t expect you back and it
was hot." She whined, hiding her face again.

"Did I complain?"

"Of course not, but still…its
embarrassing," she groaned.

"You can sleep like that every night.
In fact, I insist you do." I chuckled.

"Shut it, Iverson," she
laughed and got out of bed. Grabbing the sheet quickly, she jolted back.
Spinning around she looked at my smiling face.

"Stop it," she reluctantly laughed.
"It’s not funny," she tried to be mad, but my laughter kept messing
up her game.

"Come on, Mrs. Iverson. If you
wanted to consummate the marriage all you had to do was ask. You don’t have to
try to seduce me."

Her face hardened. Uh oh…maybe I went
too far. Relief passed through me when her face softened.

"Trust me, seduction was not my
intent." She yanked the sheet out of my hand and went to her trunk.

"I’m not so sure," Chuckling,
I leaned against the headboard.

"Oh, trust me."

"You know you want me," She
swung around looking like she was going to laugh in my face.

"Listen, Mother Nature has you cock
blocked buddy." She snorted and shut the bathroom door behind her.

Mother Nature has me what?  Shit!
Perfect…so that meant it was definitely not an option now.  Sighing, I got out
of bed and headed to the kitchen.

The rest of the time on the island went
by quickly. We snorkeled, went to the hot springs, hiked around the island, I
took her fishing and we spent time at the beach as well as back at the house.
We talked a lot about ourselves and also about the college classes she would be
signing up for after we returned.

Even though intimate interaction was not
planned for the trip, especially with the most recent development of her
period, I still couldn’t help fantasizing and hoping something would happen. I
wanted her to crack. We’d woken up tangled in each other a few times but always
pulled away.  Her period was not a deterrent for my dick.  He knew what he
wanted. 

At the end of our final day, we packed
our things. Carmen arrived, along with Devan and Bradley, to help close the
beach house. They even helped us to the docks with our bags. The boat crew
handled it from there. Lilli fell asleep quickly on the couch.  Desperate to
touch her, I slid next to her on the couch and carefully pulled her to my
chest. She stirred but didn't wake up. Wrapping my arms around her, I sighed,
completely content.

"Aidan..." I froze thinking I
woke her. "Hmm...mmm... Aidan." Her warm breath danced over the base
of my neck and she snuggled closer.

She was calling my name in her sleep. A
smile spread across my face and my arms tightened a little more around her
body, pulling her closer to me. Cracking her may not be as hard as I thought.

Chapter Four

Paybacks are a Bitch

Aidan

The rest of the trip home was quiet but
comfortable. We talked and laughed. Lilli had asked about my trip back, but I
decided not to go into too much detail about the situation.

In actuality, the truth would cause an
argument. The Regalie Company knew that without an heir I would lose the
company to the board. They didn't want to be involved in that, so I had to
ensure them that an heir was in the works. Hell, I basically told them that their
tantrum over the 'conditions' had interrupted the conception of my heir. Lilli
would kill me.

Our return to New York meant we would be
going to our new home, the Iverson Mansion.

"Holy crap!" Lilli exclaimed
as we pulled up to the mansion.

I laughed and she turned to looked at
me.

"This isn’t a house, it’s
ridiculous!"

"It’s just an oversized
house." I laughed hard at the expression on her face.

Once we pulled up to the house and
climbed out of the car, I grabbed Lilli’s hand and led her inside.

"Welcome home."

"I’m so gonna get lost. Do you have
maps?" Her laugh echoed throughout the house and I was surprised at how
much I loved the sound.

"You’ll be fine." Squeezing
her hand, "Come on, I’ll show you around," I pulled her behind me.

We walked to the left of the entry. I
showed her to the dining room, the breakfast room, and the kitchen.

"The kitchen has a back staircase
there." I pointed across the kitchen. "Rachel is the cook and she’s
on call during the day. She’ll cook all meals, you just need to keep her up to
date with the schedule."

"Schedule?" Lilli looked at me
questioningly.

"Yeah," I motioned to the
large black book on the counter. "That’s where you mark if we are having
guests, etc. She keeps the menu up to date." Shrugging, I looked back to
Lilli.

"So, I have to keep track of
that?" She cocked her eyebrow.

"I can do it, if you don’t want
to." I shrugged again. "Come on. You can meet Rachel tomorrow."

Walking through the atrium at the back
of the kitchen, I showed her the pantry with walk in fridge. After those
kitchen features, we walked past the kitchen table and up the back staircase.

"On this floor there are six guest
rooms and each room has its own bathroom." We reached the other end of the
long hallway.

"This is the master suite," I
opened the door, "and our bedroom." She stiffened a little.

I didn’t take her all the way through
the master bedroom, knowing we would both be there later when our luggage
arrived. Instead, I moved on.

"This leads to the third
floor" I opened the door and lead her up the stairs.

"I’m am seriously going to get
lost," she whined.

I chuckled.

"You won’t. You’ll get used to the
place." I tugged her down the hallway, "Okay, up here are two smaller
bedrooms which share a bathroom and the music room is at the end of the
hallway."

"Music room?" she questioned.

"Yeah, my piano’s in there and some
other musical equipment."

"Oh," was her reply.

"Then there is also Rachel’s
apartment. She lives here with her son, Alex."

She nodded.

"There’s another apartment over the
garage. Jay and his wife, Carole, live there. Jay is, well, I guess people
would call him the butler, but he’s more like family." She simply nodded
again. "Also, Mrs. White is our maid and she has a helper, Kirsten."

I lead her back down the multiple
staircases, returning to the entry way.

"Now, to the right, we have the
formal living room."

She looked around the room, taking it
all in. I proceeded to walk her through the ballroom, study, and attached
library.

"And, this, is the basic living
space," Pushing a large set of doors open, I led her into the non-formal
living room.

"Seriously, get me a map." She
let go of my hand and walked around.

"Uh…we aren’t finished."

She turned to look at me.

"Yeah, there’s a workout room,
along with the steam room, the pool, the theater, and –"

"The theater?" she choked.

"Yeah, it’s nothing really. It’s
just –"

"Most people go out to the movie
theater, they don’t have them in their house." She laughed.

"Not us. We have too many people
trying to get a piece of us, of who we are." I sighed. "Trust me,
Lilli. There are people that are going to follow your every move, so much more
than you’re used to." Taking a deep breath, I continued. "We are one
of the wealthiest families in New York, hell, in the U.S., people take
pictures, make up stories..."

"You mean like the paparazzi?"
She furrowed her brow.

"Sort of, we aren’t famous like an
actor or musician, but we are popular targets for reporters and local gossips
because of our money." I really hoped I was making sense. She simply
nodded.

We continued with the tour of the house;
the pool, workout room, theater. I also showed her the attached garage, the
detached garage, the pool house, the outside pool, and told her about the
tennis and basketball courts that were down a path in the back yard.

"Iverson, you’re a spoiled
brat," she teased as I led her back to the master bedroom.

"No, I wasn’t," I lied.

"Like hell you weren’t." She
snorted.  "Where are we going now?"

"I want to show you around the
master bedroom." I was hoping she wouldn’t take it the wrong way.

"You’re gonna have to woo me better
than that," she giggled.

"Ha, ha," with a large smile I
looked over my shoulder.

Opening the doors again, we entered the
master bedroom. For a moment, I had to stop and take a deep breath.  The last
time I was in this room it had belonged to my grandfather.

"This is the bathroom." I
pushed the double doors open, showing her the area. "Shower, Jacuzzi tub,
double sink, vanity area…" I trailed off.

"This is my closet, here, and
that’s yours," I pointed to her closet, walked over and opened the door.

"I think this is the size of my
first dorm room." She entered the walk in closet and looked around. Her
expression turned serious. "Whatever you do, don’t talk about or show
Phoebe the size of this closet! Okay?"

"Huh?"

"She’ll want to go shopping to fill
up the closet, so just don’t," she laughed.

"As long as that means you’re not
going to fight me about sleeping in the same room, it’s a deal." I
smirked.

"That’s sneaky, Iverson." She
playfully narrowed her eyes at me.

I shrugged. "Hey, I do what I have
to do."

"Uh-huh…sure."

"Over on this side is the sitting
area."

"A sitting area in the
bedroom?" She scoffed.

"Hey, I didn’t design the
room."

"True," she agreed. "So,
please tell me we’re done. I’m already confused." She sat down in a chair.

"That’s about it." I sat down
next to her.

"Master Iverson?" Looking
toward the door, Jay stood there stoically.

"Come in, Jay." I stood.
"Lilli, this is Jay. Jay, this is my wife, Lilli." I couldn’t help
it. I liked calling her my wife.

"Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Iverson,"
Jay bowed his head to her.

"Oh God, don’t bow! And, please,
call me Lilli." She laughed and stuck her hand out to him. Jay smiled and
shook her hand.

"Master Iverson, your luggage has
arrived. Do you want it brought up to your room?"

"Yes, please." Jay turned to
walk out. "Thanks."

"Of course, Master Iverson" He
pushed the double doors open widely.

"Master Iverson?"

"Yes, Mrs. Iverson?" She
rolled her eyes and smacked my arm.

"Why don’t you tell him to call you
Aidan?" She wrinkled her brow.

I shrugged.

"He’s always called me something
like that. Since I was young, it’s been Master Iverson and my grandfather was
Mr. Iverson. It’s just a tradition, I guess."

"Oh-Kay." Just then the
luggage was brought in. Lilli, of course, tried to help.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Lilli

"Lilli, quit before you get hurt. Let
them bring the luggage in." Aidan lectured.

"I’m not used to people doing
everything for me." I argued as I watched the men carry the trunks and
bags in.

"Well get used to it." He was
so close, his breath fanned over my neck. I shivered.

Moving to one of the trunks, I started
pulling out the dirty clothes.

"Put all your dirty items over
here." Spinning around, a plump, gray haired woman stood looking at me.

"Mrs. White," Aidan exclaimed
and rushed to hug her, planting a large kiss on her cheek.

"Oh! Aidan, my boy!" She
hugged him tightly. "You’re finally here to stay." She pulled back
smiling, clearly thrilled he was here. "So…" Aidan looked at her
funny. She smacked him in the head.

I’m so gonna love her.

"Introduce me, boy!" She
motioned to me and Aidan laughed.

"Mrs. White, this is my wife, Lilli.
Lilli, this is Mrs. White." I smiled brightly as she pulled me into a
large hug.

"Oh, my dear, welcome!" I
hugged her back. She pulled away. "If you need anything at all, you just
let me know."

"Can you smack him again? That was
great," I laughed.

"Hey," Aidan grumbled
playfully.

"Oh Aidan, my boy, you’ve got
yourself a feisty one." She laughed and turned back to look at him.
"I love her already."

"Well, as long as she has your
approval, I suppose I’ll stay married to her." He laughed.

"What?" I exclaimed. "I
have to stay married to you?" I stuck my finger down my throat, making fake
gagging noises.

"You know what…" Aidan grabbed
me by the waist and tossed me over his shoulder. "I can easily carry you
to the pool!"

"Don’t you dare," I smacked
his back.

"I definitely see the life coming
back into this old house." Aidan turned and looked at Mrs. White’s
thrilled face. I had to twist to see her expression. She truly was happy,
almost joyous.

Aidan smacked my ass before putting me
down. I screamed and, once on my feet again, smacked his head before hiding
behind Mrs. White.

Leaning to the side of Mrs. White’s
head, I whispered in her ear. "Tell him to behave."

"She won’t team up with you, she’s
on my side." Aidan exclaimed.

"Phhhttt!" I snorted, "We
women stick together."

"Oh, you two…" she shook her
head, "Aidan, behave! Go through your luggage."

"Traitor," he chuckled at Mrs.
White.

"I knew I loved you." Kissing
her on the cheek, I giggled and went back to my luggage.

Using the ruse of sorting my clothes, I
tried to process the marriage, the house, the same bedroom. It was all so much.
This bedroom alone was about the size of the apartment Dixon and I had lived
in. It was ridiculous.

Our first night back, our presence was
demanded at Viola and Liam’s house for dinner.  She wanted to hear about the
island and if I enjoyed it. I think there was a small glimmer of hope in her
eye that Aidan and I would’ve ‘connected’.  However, I’m pretty sure I saw the
glimmer die when Aidan and I acted just as before – married friends. Arriving
back at the house the tension started to build.

Once in the bedroom, I went to the
bathroom to shower and get ready for bed. After slipping into a pair of pajama
bottoms and a t-shirt, I emerged. Aidan wasn’t here, so I climbed into bed –
alone.

Tossing and turning for over an hour, I
finally climbed out of bed and decided to walk around the house. My first
venture was to the library. There were so many books, wall to wall books.
Grabbing one, I sat down on a large lounge chair. ‘Little Women’ had always one
of my favorite stories and I quickly got lost in the pages.

My eyes fluttered open and I stretched
out, feeling warm and cozy. A firm, warm body was pressed against me. Twisting
my head, I came face to face with Aidan.

"Good morning," he croaked.
Looking around, I realized we were in the bedroom. How in the world did I get
into bed? "You fell asleep in the library. I carried you here last
night." 

Had I asked out loud?

"You could’ve left me there. I
would’ve –"

"Slept there all night?" His
voice strained as he stretched, rolling his eyes.

"You didn’t have to carry me up
here."