Modern Arrangements: Complete Trilogy (Modern Arrangements #1-3) (33 page)

"So, Lilli or another woman?"
Oscar asked, sitting back and crossing his legs. Dixon scowled.

"I’m not discussing this." I
picked up the menu.

"Well, that means Lilli."
Dixon laughed. I shot him a look. "Sorry," he shrugged. "All I
can tell you is don’t fucking hurt her." His face was serious; his eyes
showing that he meant what he said.

"I wouldn’t hurt her, Dixon, not
intentionally." I took a deep breath. "I’m pretty sure it won’t
happen again."

"It has to," James blurted. I
gave him a curious look. "You have to have a kid. Remember?"

I eyeballed James for a few minutes. He
was acting strange. The waitress appeared for our drink orders and pulled my
attention away from him.

"Did you suck so bad she won’t let
you near her again or had it been so long you came in like two minutes?"
Dixon laughed after our waitress left for our drinks.

I chuckled and shook my head.

"Look, it happened, but I can
already feel the tension coming off of her in waves. I’m pretty sure the next few
days will be filled with avoidance." I rolled my neck to release the
tension building.

"Have you ever thought about
treating her like a wife, or even a girlfriend?" Oscar raised his brow.

"Huh?"

"Jesus, Aidan, you are so clueless
when it comes to women!" Dixon laughed out.

"Have you ever taken her on a date,
gotten her flowers, shit like that?" James asked over his water glass.

"No, I guess…well, I guess things
were just so quick –"

"Look, I’m not trying to promote
that you scam on my best friend for sex, so if that’s what this is, I will fuck
you up and then fuck you two up for helping him out!" Dixon was in serious
mode again.

"I’m not trying to help him –"

"Dixon, I told you, I’m not trying
to hurt her, fuck her over, or even use her. Yes, we have an arrangement, but I
do care about her. She’s a great person and we’re married, living together,
sleeping in the same bed, and not having sex with anyone else. So, what’s wrong
with having sex with each other? Especially when we’ll have to eventually
discuss having a kid."

"You have to discuss it?"
James interrupted. "You told everyone it was already being taken care
of," James hissed so low I don’t know if Oscar and Dixon could hear him.

"It is being taken care of, just
back off." I quietly growled.

"She’s my best friend and I know
her pretty well." Dixon hesitated as he tried to read my face. "I
don’t know if I should be telling you this or not."

"Dixon, I honestly don’t want her
to think it was a mistake or that she’s a hypocrite."

"A hypocrite?" Dixon growled.
"You called her a –"

"No!" I interrupted him.
"That’s what she called herself and I don’t want her to think like
that."

"Fine," he grumbled. "You
need to show her that you care about her, that you want to be with her. Prove
to her that you’re not trying to get into her pants because of the arrangement.
Understand?

I nodded. "I guess you’re
right."

"He’s more than right. Aidan, treat
her like a person, not just a sex toy or a sexual frustration outlet. She is
more than that. At least I hope she is." Oscar sat back as the waitress
placed our drinks on the table.

"She better fucking be." Dixon
growled in my direction.

"Of course she’s more than that,
but I don’t suppose she realizes." I sat back with everything swimming
around in my head. I’d been so focused on the arrangement and my sexual
frustration it had been impossible for me to even think about treating her like
a friend, a wife, or even a girlfriend. I needed to correct that, because no
matter what these three dickheads thought they knew, I felt strongly for Lilli.

As the waitress took our food order, my
thoughts from this morning came back to me and realization dawned. ‘I don’t
think I can go back to not being with her’, I hadn’t just meant it about sex.
It had only been a few months, but I didn’t think I could be without her;
without Lilli in my life.

"Aidan?" I glanced quickly at
James. "Are you going to order or what?"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lilli

What did I do? Oh God! I am such a weak
hypocrite!

I ran unyielding on the treadmill, all
while mentally scolding my behavior. My legs were already wobbly, but I needed
a way to work out my frustration. Not only did I attack him on the couch last
night and then let him take me in bed, I didn’t do one damn thing to stop him
this morning. My common sense was mentally beating down my cocky and well
satisfied lady part. Hell, my Va-jay-jay was doing back flips.

When my legs couldn’t take anymore, I
went back to the bedroom. Aidan should be gone by now, so I didn’t have to
worry about an uncomfortable run in.

I climbed into the shower. It still
smelled like him. My body became traitorous once again.

"Get a hold of yourself,
Lilli!"

Leaning against the tiled wall, the
smell intensified under the hot water. It brought back the images of his naked
butt this morning, his crooked smile, and those fucking black rim glasses. The
glasses! I was going to have to find those and smash them. 
Curse you sexy,
black rimmed glasses!

Yeah, that’s it. Blame the inanimate
object for your inability to keep your legs closed.

Once out of the shower, I dried off and
got dressed. Grabbing my cell, I called Phoebe and Celia. I was in desperate
need of a girl’s night out and hadn’t seen them since before we left for the
Island.

Celia was probably asleep so I called
Phoebe first.

"What's up, tall, rich and gorgeous?"
She greeted.

"Oh...I was just thinking that I
have this whole house to myself, indoor pool, movie theater, and no one to
share it with," I used my best fake bored tone.

"Give me one hour and I’m
there!" She hung up without a goodbye.

Laughing, I sent a text to Celia. 'Once
you get your lazy ass up...head over! Be prepared to go out too.' I hit send.

An hour later, Phoebe was shown into the
pool room by Mrs. White. Standing from my lounge chair, I walked over to
Phoebe's awed face.

"Thank you, Mrs. White," I
smiled.

"No problem, child," she
returned back from where she came.

"So, right on time as –"

"Holy Shit, Lilli," Phoebe
choked out.

"I know, right?" I wrapped my
arm in hers and walked toward the Hawaiian themed cabana furniture. "Bet
you’re wishing you would’ve taken him up on the deal first, huh?" I nudged
her with my elbow.

"Can I move in at least?"

"Definitely," I leaned my head
against hers and smiled at the thought of living with Phoebe.

"Celia will be here in an hour or
so, I called her on my way." Phoebe sat her things down.

"Good," I lounged back on a
couch as Jay arrived with a tray of frosty drinks. I smiled. "Oh, Jay, you
didn't have to."

"It's no problem, Mrs.
Iverson." He sat out the drinks and a large tray of fruit, cheese, and
vegetables.

Phoebe and I lounged and talked for a
while about the honeymoon, what was going on with her and Oscar, and the
charity ball being arranged. I was going to help Viola. She was looking through
honeymoon photos when Celia arrived.

"What's up, bitches?" Celia
entered in all her bikini clad glory. Mrs. White was laughing silently next to
her.

"God, could you sound any more like
Dixon?" Phoebe raised her brow at her.

Celia rolled her eyes.

"She does have a point."

"Shut up and pass me an alcoholic
beverage." She plopped down and held her hand out. I laughed and passed
her a drink.

With a quick recap of our discussion,
Phoebe passed the photos on to Celia.

"So, Lilli, you realize this house
if un-fucking-believable, right?" Celia looked at me over unnecessary
sunglasses.

I nodded and swallowed a sip of my
drink.

"Trust me. I'm still a little
freaked out by the size of this place."

"Okay, time to spill the good
stuff!" Phoebe bounced in her seat.

"Good stuff?" I choked out.

"Oh shit, there is good stuff! Tell
me, tell me!" Phoebe beamed.

"Tell us!" Celia corrected.

"Whatever," Phoebe waved her
off.

I put my head back and covered my face.

"I..." I took a deep breath
and said almost as quickly as Phoebe could talk. "IhadsexwithAidan."

"You had sex with Aidan?"
Phoebe screeched, happily.

"Was he good?" Celia leaned
closer. "I bet he is.  Irishmen are really passionate."

My head snapped up and I looked at both
of them incredulously.

"What?" they both said in
unison.

"I'm a hypocrite." Then I
launched into my self-loathing explanation.

"Oh, please, Lilli. Who do you
think you’re talking to?" Celia removed the unneeded sunglasses.

"Yeah, I mean, come on, Lilli. The
sexual chemistry between you two is ridiculous and there was no way you had a
fighting chance. Besides, aren't you supposed to have a kid?" Phoebe
popped a piece of fruit in her mouth.

"Um...yeah, but I haven't exactly
decided on that yet." I was still humbled by their reaction. Gone were my
expectations of shocked reactions and possible lectures.

"Are you doing anything to prevent
it?" Celia asked quickly with a frozen face of concern.

"Hell yes! I take my pill
religiously." I raised my glass in the air. They joined, giggling.

We spent an hour drinking, swimming, and
snacking before we dried off and decided to make use of the theater room.

Jay helped us set up our chick flicks to
run back to back. He also got us a large bowl of popcorn, candy, bottled water,
beer, and ice cream. After our many thanks and invitations for him to stay with
us, he finally hurried from the room. We laughed at his scurrying form.

Once the movies were over, we cleaned
our mess and moved to my bedroom. We’d agreed to go out to dinner and then Club
Vamp.

Watching Phoebe take in the size of my
closet, I cringed.

"I've died and gone to
heaven." She faked a faint and laid herself on the floor.

"You’re such a freak." Celia
glanced down at her on the way to the bathroom.

I walked and stood over her, looking
down with my brow raised at her. Her eyes snapped open.

"Lilli, this carpet is amazing.  It
feels like I'm lying on a cloud.  Oh, and we seriously need to shop and fill
this baby up." I could see dollar signs dancing in her eyes. My feet
already hurt from the thought of all the walking.

"I don't need –"

"Charity Ball," she sang and
stood.

I sighed and shook my head. "Let's
just get ready for tonight."

We took turns in the shower and then
started to dress.

Celia was working on my hair when my
cell rang. Phoebe handed it to me with a large smile. I looked at the caller
ID. Aidan.

"Hello?" I couldn't hide my nerves,
Phoebe and Celia laughed. I glared at them.

"Hey. How's your day?" Why did
he have to sound so smooth when I felt so nervous?

"Good." I said with a hard
swallow.

"That’s good." I couldn’t see
him, but I just knew there was a cocky grin on his face. "Can you tell
Rachel not to cook this evening?"

"Uh sure, you going out?" I
tried to act nonchalant.

"Well, I was hoping you would
accompany me to dinner?"

"Oh, uh…"

"Something wrong?" Now he
sounded nervous.

"Well, I um...I kind of already
have plans with Celia and Phoebe tonight."

"Lilli," Phoebe hissed.

"Oh, well, then maybe tomorrow
night." It was more of a statement rather than a question.

"Sure," I said quickly, though
I definitely felt the guilt creeping up inside.

A smack to my arm made me turn. Celia
and Phoebe were scowling at me.

"Okay, well...have a good
night." He quickly hung up.

"Lillian Sno...Iverson!"
Phoebe shrieked. "Did your husband just ask you to go to dinner and you
said no?"

I nodded.

"Lilli, call him back and tell him
yes. We can make plans for tomorrow night or –"

"No. I need this! I need a girl’s
night out. Please?" I gave the best sad face I could. "We made plans
for tomorrow night instead."

They both huffed at me, but continued
the ritual of getting ready.

Once the three of us were dressed, I
glanced over my outfit.  A pair of black skinny pants, black leather boots that
came to my knee, and a silky, teal, sleeveless blouse with a low, plunging
neckline.