Modern Arrangements: Complete Trilogy (Modern Arrangements #1-3) (36 page)

"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.

Apparently I hadn't hidden it too well.

"What?" She looked over her
shoulder.

"Nothing," I fought my grin.

She stopped walking.

"What? Is there something wrong?"
She started looking over herself. I felt guilty for making her feel like she
looked anything less than gorgeous.

"Lilli, you look beautiful. It's
just that...well...it's a turtleneck..." I pressed my lips together trying
not to laugh.

"Oh..." then she started
laughing too.  "Well, that's your fault!" She stepped to the door,
slipping on her coat as she walked.

Taking larger strides, I reached for her
arm and walk her out to the car waiting for us. After helping her into the car,
I slid in next to her. That’s when I noticed Lilli's shoes.

As I got situated in the backseat with
her, she crossed her legs. Immediately drawn to her beautiful, long, toned,
legs wrapped in brown, knee-high, leather boots. My imagination went crazy;
Lilli on our bed only wearing those boots, my head beneath the hem of her
dress, knee-high, leather boots on my shoulders. I shivered at the images I
conjured.

"Are you cold?"

I shook my head.

It didn't take long to arrive to the
restaurant and soon the door was being opened. I stepped out and held out my
hand for Lilli. She took my proffered hand and stepped out, those damn boots
making their appearance before anything else.

Damn fuck me boots. Jesus!

"Thank you," she smiled and
straightened. Offering my arm, we entered. "Isn't this the –?"

"The Tavern on the Green?
Yes." I smiled as we were met by the hostess. "Mr. and Mrs.
Iverson."

"Of course, Mister Iverson, please
follow me." The hostess smiled a little too friendly, but we followed her.

"Why are we going away from the
tables?" Lilli whispered into my ear.

"Because, I reserved a private
table." Just as I finished my sentence we were shown into a private room
large enough to seat thirty to forty people easily. However, it was currently
filled with red roses and a single table.

"A private table, huh?" I
looked at her face just in time to see her raise her eyebrows at me.

"Okay, so it's an entire
room," I shrugged.

She laughed.

"You always have to be over the top,
don't you?" I pulled her chair out for her.

"Sometimes it's good though,
right?" I took my seat.

Her smile was bright and wide –
infectious. She nodded.

"Sometimes, it’s very good."

The waiter was quick to get our wine
selection, appetizers, and anything else we desired. Once he returned with the
wine, water, bread, and small appetizers, he took our main entrée orders and
was on his way again.

I took a drink of wine and cleared my
throat.

"Did I tell you that you look
gorgeous tonight?" I raised one eyebrow and smiled crooked at her.

"No, you said beautiful
earlier."

"Oh,." I smiled.

"You know, you're giving mixed
signals the way you change your mind. Is it beautiful or gorgeous?" She
teased and sipped at her drink.

"Hmm...how about delicious?" I
offered.

"Wow, delicious. Do you plan on
eating me later?" She blushed and put her hand up before I could answer.
"Never mind, don't answer that." She giggled.

"Favorite movie?"

She gave me an amused look before
shaking her head. "I didn’t mean you had to go the whole twenty questions
route when I talked about slowing down.

 "Honestly, I don't have a
favorite.  I like a lot of movies, though, I'll say I've seen Breakfast at
Tiffany's the most.  What about you?"

"Hmmm...well, that's not an easy
one to answer. I have different favorites for different reasons. I mean, I love
The Godfather movies, James Bond and Team America World Police; however, there
are others."

"America...Fuck Yeah!" She
sang, just before she brought her wine glass to her mouth.

"Durkah, durkah."

I thought wine was going to come out of
her nose. Once she calmed down, she removed her hand from her mouth and nose.

"Don't do that when I'm taking a
drink." She teasingly scolded.

"Here, try this," I stabbed
some of the lobster bisque close to me and held it up to her. She leaned a
little and took the fork into her mouth. She moaned and licked her lips. My
pants became increasingly tight.

"That's really good," she
sipped her water.

"I know, it's one of my favorites,
which brings another question." She looked at me with her full attention.
"Favorite food?"

"Oh, now that’s almost impossible
to answer," she seemed to really have to think about it. "I really
can't answer that." She sighed. "I like a lot of different things;
pizza is a consistent staple, along with Chinese."

"Okay. Favorite book?"

"That's easy, Little Women."
She smiled and I couldn't help but smile at her.

Our food arrived and we fell into a comfortable
silence as we enjoyed our dinner.

"What about musicals, do you like
those? Or plays?" I hoped I wasn’t being too obvious or giving away my
surprise.

"Well, I really have only seen
musicals made into movies. You know, like My Fair Lady, Seven Brides for Seven
Brothers, etcetera, but I like them. My Fair Lady is one of my favorites. Though,
that may be because of Audrey Hepburn, who I adore."

"Hepburn fan?"

"Definitely." She pushed her
plate away and leaned onto the table again.

"Really?" She nodded and
sipped at her wine.

"So what about you, Iverson? What
are you hobbies?"

"Hmm...I guess baseball. Or at
least it was my hobby." I sighed.

"What?" she asked with
concern.

"I don't have the time anymore to
meet up with the guys and play. It kind of sucks." I chuckled
halfheartedly.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"It's not your fault, why are you
sorry?"

"I brought it up." She
shrugged.

When I realized time had flown by and it
was passed seven, I had to hurry us out of the restaurant to our next
destination. Pulling up to The Gershwin Theater, Lilli looked a little
perplexed.

"Ready?" I offered my hand and
helped her out of the car. We headed into the theater, straight to the VIP
section.

"Mr. Iverson," the attendant
nodded to me. "Mrs. Iverson," he nodded to Lilli.

She paused momentarily, but quickly
recovered.

"I’m still not use to being called
that," she giggled, quietly, into my shoulder. I chuckled.

"Well, get used to it, Mrs.
Iverson." We sat down in our box.

"So, what are we watching?"

I handed her the playbill.

"Wicked? Really?" I nodded.
"I've wanted to see this."

"Good, cause I wasn't sure if this
would be your 'thing'." Silently, I released a breath of relief.

We talked a little more about each other
before the lights started to lower and the stage lit up. Lilli grew very quiet
and stared intently at the performance. I mostly watched Lilli. Every so often
she would lick and chew on her bottom lip, which turned me on.

She really did amaze me. She was
clueless as to the effect she had on men. Not once did she seem to realize how
the waiter stared at her or the way the men waiting to be seated at the
restaurant turned to watch her walk by. The power she held was something she
wouldn't believe.

At intermission she excused herself to
the restroom, but I insisted on escorting her. If she thought I was going to
let her be alone, she was crazy. I felt justified in accompanying her when I
noticed two men eying her hungrily on her walk to the ladies room. Then I
watched as they moved to stand near the ladies room. When Lilli walked out, one
man stopped her. She shook her head and started to walk away, but he placed his
hand on her arm to hold her back. That was it.

"Lilli, love, are you ready to
return to our seats?" I stressed 'our' and stared daggers at both men.

"Yes, of course. It was nice to
meet you both." She smiled politely and latched onto my arm. I was more
pissed at how uncomfortable they’d made her.

I wrapped my arm around her waist both
protectively and possessively, holding her to me tightly.

"Calm down, caveman," Lilli
teased. "They just wanted my number." She patted my chest.

"That's not all they wanted,"
I growled.

"And how would you know?" She
rolled her eyes.

"I'm a guy and I've been thinking
about it all night."

"Then you are no better than they
are." She snorted.

"But I'm your husband," I
corrected her, "and by law I can think about it all I want." Smiling,
I wiggled my eyebrows.

"You devious little shi –" The
lights lowered to signal intermission was ending.

"Shh, the show is back on." I
coughed to cover my chuckle and she smacked me. Grabbing her hand, I kept hold
of it for the rest of the show.

When the show ended, Lilli smiled widely
and joined in the standing ovation. She pulled her coat tighter around her as we
exited and I wrapped my arm around her shoulders.

"It's so darn cold."

I caught her by surprise when I steered
her away from the curb and toward a large horse drawn carriage.

"Aidan..?" I coaxed her to
climb in. She paused and looked at me. "It's too cold," she whined.

"Just get in." She paused and
crinkled up her face. I leaned in to her ear. "Do you think I would let
you freeze?" she sighed and climbed up. I followed.

The carriage driver urged the horse to
move and I grabbed a heavy blanket from under the seat, wrapping it around us.
When Lilli buried herself into my side to keep warm, I mentally gave myself a
high five. Her glorious curves pressed against me. I could feel her from
shoulder to leather covered toe.

Heat collected between us and the cold
disappeared. When she started to shift away, I held her tightly in place.

We rode through the cold clear night,
talking about ourselves and asking questions until the carriage came to the end
of the journey. I quickly ushered her into the warm car, but pulled her to my
side once more. It didn’t escape me that she didn't resist.

Once home, I stopped at the front door
before opening it. Lilli looked at me confused.

"What are you doing? Open the door
it's late and cold." She urged with a smile.

"Technically this is our first
date."

She rolled her eyes.

"So that means you have to freeze
me on the doorstep?" She laughed.

"No, but I want to do
something." I leaned in and kissed her lightly. Her hands slid to my neck
and she pulled me closer. Slipping my tongue between her lips, she parted her
mouth, giving me entry.

It took every tiny molecule in my body
to pull away from her instead of going caveman again. I pulled back and smiled
at her.

"Thank you." I whispered, my
forehead pressed to hers.

"No, thank you. It was a really
nice evening." She put her right palm over my heart. I felt her shiver so
I opened the door and let us inside.

We walked hand in hand to the bedroom.
As much as I wanted it, there would be no sex tonight. Tonight was about making
her understand. She was more than an arrangement to me, even if I didn't have
the balls to flat out tell her. I could only hope this was one small step would
prove what I was feeling for her.

Chapter Seven

Not Always Black and
White

Lilli

We’d kept up the general conversation
that started at dinner. I have to admit the date last night was wonderful and
surprising. I hadn’t expected him to take such quick action to learn more about
me. The last surprise had been getting ready for bed and not having sex. I’d
been surprised and disappointed when he didn’t make a move.

I woke the next morning with his arm
draped over my waist, his breath warming my shoulder blade. For Aidan’s mouth
to be at that level of my back he had to be further down the bed than I was.

Craning my neck over my shoulder, I
found I was right. I was almost eye level with his messy auburn hair. Smiling,
I shifted my body to get up.

"Where are you going?" Aidan
mumbled against my back, quickly pressing his lips against my skin.

"The bathroom," I rolled my
eyes, though he couldn’t see me. I shifted to move again, but still couldn’t.
"Aidan?"

"Hmm?" The sound vibrated
against my back causing me to shiver.

"Can you let go of me please?"

He stretched out onto his back,
releasing my waist.

"Sorry," he groaned.

I stood up and went to the bathroom.
Coming out I had the perfect view of Aidan on his back and shirtless. He was
almost physically perfect. I took a deep breath to calm myself before heading
toward my oversized closet. I was about to walk into the closet when he spoke.

"Come back to bed," he yawned.
"It’s Sunday." He was stretching again.

"What does that have to do with
–?"

"It means that we should stay in
bed all day." Aidan rolled his head in my direction so I could watch him
wiggle his eyebrows with his crooked smile plastered on his face.

I shook my head and walked into my
closet. When I reached the built in dresser at the farthest end, I pulled out
some yoga pants and one of my racer back yoga tops. Slipping both pieces of clothing
on, I left my closet to find Aidan groggily getting out of bed. I giggled at
him and left the room to work out.

After all the food we ate at dinner last
night, I needed to work out. I started with my yoga routine before heading over
to the treadmill for some cardio.

Setting up my work out on the treadmill
was easy enough to do and once the belt started to move I put my ear buds in
and turned on my IPod. After walking briskly, the machine picked up the pace to
jogging speed. Next was running speed for about ten minutes before it brought
me back down to a jog. I closed my eyes and tried to sidetrack myself from the
burn in my muscles with the music pumping into my ears.

More than halfway through the workout I
was jolted out of my comfortable groove by Aidan. He had jumped onto the
treadmill. His feet planted on both sides of the belt and his hands firmly on
my waist holding me from falling down.

"Jesus, Aidan!" I screamed and
hit the stop button on the treadmill, placing my feet on the outside of the belt
in front of his. His body shook with laughter. I turned on him.

"You could’ve seriously injured
me," I informed.

"I had you," he smirked. In
fact, he still had me by my waist.

Pushing at his arms, I tried to be angry
with him for scaring me and being careless.

"Oh, calm down, like I would’ve let
you get hurt." He still wore the smirk.

"Let go of me," I said half
amused and half irritated.

"I don’t think I will," I was
about to protest, but he continued "Unless you agree to go out with me on
another date?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Today?" I looked at him
confused.

He shook his head and pulled me closer
to him.

"No, next weekend," his breath
washed over my earlobe. I shivered. His confidence and smugness took over the
posture of his body.

"Fine," I said quickly.
"Now will you let me go?"

"Hmm..?" his lips brushed my
ear and his hands slid to my hips. Pulling my hips close to him, he pressed
himself against me.

My breathing caught and, like it was
instinct, I wrapped my arms up around his shoulders. His mouth immediately
found the skin between my neck and shoulder.

I pulled back.

"So help me God…if you leave
another mark on me –"

He shut me up by cover my mouth with
his. The kiss deepened, the control panel of the treadmill digging into my
back. My breathing turned into gasps and pants.

"You’re way too hot covered in
sweat," he growled into the side of my neck. His lips moved over my chin
and down my throat.

When his hands fanned across my ass, my
hips thrust forward to meet his. He moaned against my skin and squeezed my ass
tight. His fingers started traveling around my hips, slipping into the wide
waistband of my yoga pants. He stripped them off fast and impatient.

He dropped to his knees and grabbed my
legs. I gripped the hand railings when his tongue found my clit. From his knees,
he pulled my legs over his shoulders and buried himself between my thighs. My
knuckles turned white from my grip on the railings. My gasps grew to moans.

"Fffuhhckk
Aid…da…ahh…huhhihh…Aidan…" My hips writhing against his face.

"Mmmm…Lilli," Aidan murmured
and kissed the inside of my thigh. His finger found its way inside of me,
pumping in and out of me. "You taste fantastic." He licked my thigh
and then returned his tongue to the throbbing between my legs.

I whimpered when he pulled away the
second time, but ground myself down as another finger entered me.

"I want to taste you when you let
go," he growled and ferociously returned his tongue between my legs.

Yelling out his name, I tightened around
his fingers, which disappeared, but were quickly replaced by his flexing
tongue.

He gave me only a second to gain my
footing again before his fingers returned inside of me and he moved up my body,
crashing his mouth to mine.

Pulling his fingers out of me, his hands
slid behind my thighs and picked me up. When he realized the beeps were
occurring from my ass on the console he quickly pulled the emergency cord,
shutting the machine down.

Fingers began rubbing my still sensitive
nub and I couldn’t help but rotate my hips against his fingers. Aidan’s fingers
disappeared and, before I could complain, he filled me.

His thrusts were feral. Squeezing my
hips, he pumped. The familiar sensations began to build again. It was so amazingly
primitive and intense.

Each grunt, moan, and growl erupting
from his chest sent me soaring to the highest edge. My fingers dug into his
shoulders leaving marks, and perhaps even drawing blood.

I tried to tighten my legs around his
waist, but he grabbed behind my knees, his palms flat against the spot where my
thigh curved into knee. Pushing my legs apart and up toward me, I screamed his
name.

"That’s it, come on, baby, give it
to me." He demanded of me and I wanted to, I really did. "I need to
feel you, Lilli! Shhh…" his growl grew more feral. It sent me crashing into
a bright white oblivion of tingles, molten waves, and violent shivers of
fervor.

"Yessss, cummm
arounn…uh…ah….fuck!" Aidan slammed into me a few more times as he let
loose his own animalistic orgasm. He twitched and shivered as he slowed his
thrust. My head collapsed to his shoulder. I tried to regain strength and
regulate my breathing.

He panted heavily and kissed my shoulder,
rubbing my upper right arm, which felt like Jell-O.

"That was…" he panted.

"Amazing." I finished.

He chuckled.

"Mm-hmm," he responded. I
could feel the smile on his lips as he brushed them over my shoulder.

The rest of Sunday was spent relaxing
around the house, after a quick nap from my morning workout.

Monday brought back the work week. Aidan
left that morning for work and I was getting ready to meet Viola. The next
charity event for the foundation was the black and white ball.  We had some
work to do.

As I was slipping on my clothes, a black
pencil skirt, blue blouse, and black boots, I thought about Aidan’s ‘battle
scars’. My face flushed with heat remembering the gasp that escaped my lips
this morning when I noticed the marks on his back. It would take at least a
week for those to disappear. I shook off the memory and grabbed the last of my
things.

With my purse, coat, and cell phone, I
headed downstairs. Viola was standing in the foyer.

"Viola, why didn’t you tell me you
were here?" I walked toward her open arms and hugged her. "How long
–?"

"Oh, I haven’t been here long at
all." She squeezed me tightly and then released. "Are you all ready
to go?" I nodded with a smile and we headed to the awaiting car.

Pulling up to Grand Prospect Hall, I was
in awe. I’d been in New York for a while, but this was the first time I was
pulling up to this immaculate building. The entrance was amazing, large
staircases, chandeliers, people in uniforms, marble flooring. It was
breathtaking.

Viola’s voice pulled me from my awe.

"Ahhh, Pierre, it’s good to see you
again." Viola and Pierre kissed each other’s cheeks before pulling away
smiling.

"Madame Iverson, it is a pleasure
as always," Pierre spoke with a very heavy French accent. I was quickly
reminded of Inspector Clouseau from The Pink Panther. Pressing my lips together
firmly, I stifled my urge to giggle.

"This is Lilli," she motioned
to me, "Aidan’s wife." I held out my hand.

Pierre grabbed my hand and pulled me to
him, repeating the same cheek kissing he’d done with Viola.

"An extreme pleasure to meet you,
Madame Iverson," he smiled brightly at me. "Have you been to the
Grand Prospect Hall before?" I shook my head. "Ah, well then, let’s
show you around." He was beaming.

I looked over my shoulder at Viola and
she laughed.

Pierre walked us through the first
landing and to the left set of marble stairs that looked to be a creamy color.
The whole staircase seemed golden, though. We reached a large foyer with marble
flooring.

"To the left we have the Elevator,
Ladies Bathroom and Bridal Suite –"

"Bridal suite?" I interrupted
Pierre.

He nodded.

"Yes, typically weddings are held
up here, so we have a special suite here for the Bride; however, it can be used
for whatever," he waved his hand in a 'whatever' manor. "Anyhow, to
the right is the Gentlemen's Bathroom, along with the hallway that leads to the
Skylight Room, Atrium and Outdoor Plaza. Behind us is the Night Club, and in
front of us is the Grand Ballroom Music Hall."

My head started to spin from all of the
information he was spewing out.

"How about we go room to
room?" Viola stepped forward, wrapped her left arm in my right one and led
the way.

Pierre caught up quickly.

"Of course, Madame," he pushed
open a set of large doors and we entered a large ballroom. "This is the
Grand Ballroom Music Hall," he announced as we followed him into the room.

It was unreal. The floors were all
wooden, the ceiling had to have been about fifty feet high, a balcony wrapped
around room, and there was a stage at the far end.

"We’ll use the stage for the
auctions, speeches and entertainment," Viola used an informative tone.

"It’s beautiful," I barely got
out in a whisper. Viola’s arm tightened around me and I glanced at the large
smile on her face.

"Pierre, we will need to set up
some dates to come in and discuss the menu, decorating, so forth." Viola
spoke over her shoulder to him.

"Of course."

"Let’s take a look at the Skylight
Room," Viola spoke as she guided me through a set of doors that were on
our right.

We entered a long room with skylights
lining the top.

"We’re using this room as
well?" I questioned.

Viola giggled.

"We have the entire floor,
Lilli." She heard my gasp and patted my arm. "We do this every year.
The Black and White Ball is a large, well, a very large event."

"It’s one of the biggest highlights
of the year," Pierre added as he passed us and opened a set of doors
across from us. "This is the Atrium."

We walked into a room filled with
greenery. It smelled of plant life, moisture, and flowers. The walls were made
of windows.

"The whole place is
beautiful." I looked around the room.

"Outside is the Plaza area. However,
based upon the season, I doubt many will be out there." Pierre started
toward the door. "Now, let’s have a look at the Night Club, shall
we?"

Viola and I followed Pierre closely as
we headed into the skylight room and down a smaller hallway, ending our journey
back in the foyer. Pierre then led us through another hallway and we came into
a long club looking room with a bar and tall tables with stools. There was even
a pool table at the far end of the room.