Modern Arrangements: Complete Trilogy (Modern Arrangements #1-3) (30 page)

"It’s fine." He sat on the
edge of the bed. My eyes scanned his bare back. He stretched again, arms over
his head, his muscles flexed and lengthened. I almost moaned at the sight.

"Well, thank you."

He nodded and rubbed the back of his
head, making his way to the bathroom. Watching him cross the room, my body
tingled.

Once he was out of sight, I rubbed my
face. Snap out of it!

After only a few minutes, he emerged
freshly showered and walked into his closet. I quickly made my way to the
bathroom and showered. When I came out of the bathroom, Aidan was standing at
his large, door length mirror tying his tie around his neck.

"Do you have plans for today?"
He looked at me in the mirror.

"Um…I need to get my college stuff
taken care of and finalized." I shrugged. "That’s about it."

"I probably won’t be home till
around eight." He finished the knot on his tie. "I have a lot to
catch up on."

I nodded and headed to my own closet. I
closed the door and pulled on a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a sweater. When I
walked out, Aidan was standing there. I stopped short.

Leaning forward, he kissed the top of my
head. "See you tonight." He spoke quickly and walked out the door.

The routine was the same for almost two
weeks. I would explore the house, swim, work out, and some days I volunteered
with Viola. Aidan usually didn’t get home until seven at the earliest, which
was on a good night. Typically, when he got home he would go to his office and work
the rest of the evening. I’d frequently fallen asleep in the library, though I
always seemed to wake up in bed next to him.

It was nine at night and Aidan was out
with clients, so I was aimlessly wandering the house. I didn’t know what to do
with myself.  Celia was working and Phoebe was with Oscar.

One minute I was walking down long empty
hallways, the next I was standing in familiar, warm, chlorinated air.  The pool
looked so inviting compared to the wandering. With a quick scan of the changing
room, I found only men’s swim shorts. The water looked so nice though.

Ideas began to turn in my head. Mrs.
White and Jay were done for the evening. Rachel was visiting family for the
night. I was alone.

"Oh, to hell with it." My
words echoed against the empty walls.

Stripping down to my bra and underwear,
I jumped into the water.  On my fourth lap, I stopped to catch my breath.

"Well, well."  My head snapped
over. Aidan was standing on the side of the pool with a mischievous grin on his
face. I sunk down into to the water, hiding my body.

"Why is it that you only take your clothes
off when I’m gone?" He walked around the edge of the pool as I continued
wading further away. "What do I have to do to get you to do this when I’m
around?" He laughed, picking up my jeans and flashing a very toothy smile.

"Shut up," I laughed as my
cheeks warmed with embarrassment. Crossing my arms over my chest, I put on my
serious face. "Get out of here so I can get out."

"Hell no," he responded
chuckling. "I wouldn’t miss this for the world."

"Aidan, it’s not funny anymore. Get
out or turn around." I tried to be mad, but it was such a funny situation.
He was always catching me in my underwear.

He smirked and took off his tie.  Then
unbuttoned his shirt and took it off. Before I could fully process what he was
doing, he was removing his pants.

"What are you –?" He stood in
just boxers for a moment before doing a cannonball into the water.

He came up from under the water next to
me and pulled me under with him. No longer concerned about underwear, we played
around in the pool.

"What time is it?" Looking to
the large wall clock, it was almost midnight. "You should be in bed."
I taunted.

"I would much rather watch you get
out of the pool." He laughed.

"Loser," I teased, swimming to
the edge of the pool. I looked over the edge of the pool wall and saw that his
white shirt was close enough for me to grab. Standing waist deep, I leaned out,
just a little, and grabbed the shirt.

"Hey, that’s cheating!" The
splash of fast swimming got closer.

I jumped out with the shirt wrapped
around me.

"Ha ha!" I performed a victory
dance. "I’m so much smarter than you." Lost in my own victory, it
took me a moment to notice him staring at me. I stopped. "What?"

"Nothing," he smiled wide and
climbed out of the pool.

Okay, so Aidan with a bare chest was
amazing. Aidan wet and in swim trunks was phenomenal. However, wet Aidan in
boxer shorts clinging to his muscular body, resting low on his hips, was just
torture. The urge to lick beads of chlorinated water from his stomach and
continue my way down was strong – very strong.

Furrowing my brow, I started to pick up
my clothes. His arms wrapped around my waist and, with a sudden movement, he
tossed me back into the pool.

"Ha ha," he chuckled "I’m
so much smarter than you!" he imitated my victory dance.

My mind already swirling with revenge, I
climbed out of the pool.

"Paybacks are a bitch,
Iverson."

I pulled off the white shirt. His
laughter immediately stopped and his eyes widened. I tossed the wet shirt at
him; it landed in his face with a smack. Grabbing my clothes, once again, I
walked out of the pool room in my very wet and revealing bra and underwear.
Thank God they were blue and not white.

My feeling of victory lasted until I was
out of his sight. I took off running, knowing he would try to get me back.
Plus, with the amount of sexually charged tension between us, it would only end
in a huge complicated mess.

Standing under the hot water I could
hear Aidan moving around the bedroom. I got out and pulled my pajamas on.
Surely he was waiting to get in the shower. I walked out of the bathroom and
almost fainted.

With his back to me, he stood in nothing
at all. He was halfway in his closet with the dim light cascading over his
shoulders and ass. Oh, that amazing ass. Biting my lip and internally moaning,
I walked back into the bathroom.

After splashing cold water on my face –
repeatedly, I was still worked up. Reaching in my cosmetics bag, I pulled out
my tweezers, quickly plucking some stray eyebrow hairs.  Hah! That brought me
down a little.

Walking back into the bedroom, I made
sure to keep my gaze straight ahead. Okay, so I peeked a little, but he was no
longer there. Stopping in the middle of the room, I looked around, he wasn’t
anywhere. Probably back in his study.  With a heavy sigh, I climbed into bed.

It was about twenty minutes later when
there was movement next to me. Keeping my eyes closed, the warmth of his body
caressed mine. My skin absorbed it like I was in hypothermal shock. His
closeness heated my center and dampened my underwear. As I tried to resituate
myself, his arm came around my waist. He wasn’t sleeping, he'd just gotten into
bed, and I didn’t know if he knew I was awake. After he snuggled against my
back, I quickly fell asleep.

Aidan was gone the next morning when I
woke. Viola arrived at nine in the morning; we were going to tour through the
children’s home.

There were so many kids in the home and
it hurt to know that they were physically or mentally handicap. To top it off,
they were either abandoned by their parents or had lost them. My heart ached.
Nothing made me happier than visiting them.

I’d sat down in the middle of a room
where some of the kids were watching TV. A girl with Down's Syndrome turned to
me.

"Are you Mrs. Viola’s
daughter?" I shook my head. "Oh." She looked confused. "Do
you work here now?" I shook my head and smiled at her. "I like when
you visit." She smiled brightly.

"I like visiting with you."
She wrapped her arms around me and hugged tightly.

"Do you like things?" She
asked without looking up.

"What kind of things?"

"I like peanut butter and
jelly." She sat up looking at me.

"I love peanut butter and
jelly." I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. "I also like lemonade,
a lot."

She shook her head. "Lemonade makes
my tummy hurt, but I like cherry drink." I couldn’t stop smiling at her.

"I like to read books."

"Me too," she exclaimed and
then got up, running away from me. "She likes to read too," she
yelled to no one.

I was talking to a boy when she returned
with a book in her hand, Romeo and Juliet. I smiled broadly.

"I love Romeo. I’m going to marry
him."

"Are you Juliet?"

"No. I’m Amanda." She giggled.

"Why don’t you read to me,
Amanda?" I leaned into the couch we’d been sitting on.

She shook her head. Embarrassment
colored her cheeks bright red.

"How about I read first and then
you can take over?" Putting my hand out for the book, she handed it over
with a big grin.

I started reading the story. Soon the TV
was silenced and the kids gathered around Amanda and me. I continued with the
story, trying to change my voice with each character. My poor acting skills
made a few kids laugh, but I didn’t care. Their giggles gave me warm fuzzies.

"Okay, Amanda, your turn," I
held the book out to her. Her eyes widened.

"I-I can’t." Her eyes dropped
to her lap.

"Sure you can, I want to hear you
read it to me." She shook her head. "You read a couple of pages for
me and then I’ll read some more, deal?" She nodded and took the book.

As Amanda was reading, I looked around
at the kids, catching a glimpse of Viola in the doorway. I smiled at her, which
she returned warmly, and turned my attention back to the kids.

"You okay?" Viola asked with
concern on her face.

"How do you do it?" She looked
at me confused. "Leave them?" I answered her silent question.

She smiled.

"I know I’ll be back." Viola
started hugging a few people. Amanda ran up to me and hugged me tightly.

"Will you be back?" Her eyes
were pleading with me.

"Of course," I exclaimed and
pulled her to me. Looking over at Viola, she winked, smiled, and then spoke.

"That’s how I do it."

Viola insisted that we go to dinner
before heading back to the house. It was nice being out with her and, in all
honesty, I wasn’t looking forward to being in the empty mansion by myself.

"Lilli, I want you to consider
becoming more involved with the foundation." Viola sat with a serious look
on her face.

"I would love to help you more.
Going to visit the –"

"No, I mean I want you to become a
part of the foundation." She took a sip from her wine glass. "I would
like for you to work with me."

My mouth opened twice and closed before
I knew what to say.

"I know that you’re finishing up
college, which is wonderful, and you should, but I want you to consider working
with me at the foundation."

"Um…I’ll…I’ll think about it."
I instantly started to go through the pros and cons. "Thank you,
Viola."

"Oh, don’t thank me. You’re amazing
with the children and I can see how much you care. It’s written all over your
face the moment we make plans to visit." I couldn’t help but smile at the
thought of the kids.

"See," she motioned to my
face, "just thinking about them gives you that look. That’s how I knew I
wanted you to work with me."

We continued to discuss the foundation along
with what she was offering me. Viola wanted me to make an informed decision. I
hadn’t realized exactly how much went into Viola’s daily work. It was a great
deal. She saw my concerned expression and assured me we would work side by side
so I could become familiar with everything.

Again, my thoughts returned to the pros
and cons. The pros were a given; the kids, having a rewarding job, and working
with great people, like Viola. The cons were more complicated. I was only an
Iverson because of an agreement. Said agreement was only for four years. Staying
with the foundation after the four years, and my marriage to Aidan, was over
sounded like a huge complication. I don’t think Viola was thinking that far in
advance.

Viola and I were in the middle of
another conversation when my phone beeped. I grabbed it knowing what it was and
silenced it quickly.

"Sorry," I apologized to
Viola.

"Please, if you need to answer
it," she motioned for me to do so.

"No, it’s a reminder
notification." I shook my head and smiled.

"Reminder?" Viola was curious.

I really didn’t want to get into the
details of my reminder to take my birth control pill. That probably wouldn’t be
received well.

"Yeah, I use my phone to remind to
take care of things."

"Do you need to go?" Viola sat
up straight with genuine concern.