Save the Date (Modern Arrangements) (22 page)

"Thanks," she said quietly.

We grabbed some food and sat down in the
living room. After eating in silence for about fifteen minutes, I placed my
food down on the table.

"Look, I don’t want to argue all
the time and I don’t want any misunderstandings of our arrangement
either." She sipped at the water and then placed her stuff on the coffee
table too.

"I agree. I think we should talk
and there should be some rules or guidelines established."

I raised my eyebrow. "Rules and
guidelines?"

"Yep," her face serious, "For
example: privacy and personal space," she raised her brow.

I smiled.

"You don’t get to just barge into my
room. You knock and wait for response."

I nodded, agreeing because soon enough
we would be sharing a bedroom. I would have any right to walk in if I wanted
to.

"That includes bathrooms." She
added. I nodded a little more hesitantly. This means no accidental walk-ins
while she was showering.
Damn!

"My turn," I grinned.

She nodded for me to go.

"No outside relationships with
people. I do not want to risk losing everything. I’m trying to gain and
keep."

She nodded reluctantly.

"So, we need to talk about the
physical aspect of this arrangement."

 She stiffened.

Damn did she really not want to be
physical with me at all? Didn’t she feel that pull between us?

She cleared her throat.

 "Aidan, I don’t see how a physical
relationship is going to work." She sighed. "I already feel like an
overpriced whore and that just confirms—"

"You’re not a whore," I
shouted, but then got control of my temper. "We have an arrangement for
marriage. I’m not paying you to have sex with me. But, part of that agreement
is to have a child, so physical aspects will come into play. Also, when we are
out in public I don’t want to look like we aren’t married, so hand holding,
kissing, hugging, touching each other has to be gotten used to."

She went to say something but closed her
mouth. I continued.

"Lilli," I sighed out. "I
know I cannot go four years without a physical relationship, if I don’t have
to. Honestly, I don’t feel I need to."

I watched her sigh heavily and pick up
her food. She started eating again without saying a word.

"Well?"

"I’m not going to just sleep with
you because we have an arrangement. You need a kid. Well we will talk about it
and figure it out when that time comes." She sighed again. "I am not
going to just allow you to pull me around like a caveman and put your lips,
hands or anything else all over me when you feel like it." She pinned me
with her eyes.

"Okay, but you’ll have to deal with
touching in public," I threw out there, again.

"Fine, touching, not groping."
She countered.

A nod of my head confirmed our deal.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Monday arrived quickly the next day and I
was up and out the door without one hint that Lilli was awake. I left keys to
the apartment, a credit card and a note.

The day at work was going along fine
until around lunch time when my Uncle Henry burst into the office.

"Is it true? You did it?" His
face was part anticipation and part hope.

"If you mean did I get engaged,
then yes, it’s true," I sat back in my chair as he approached the desk. A
smile spread across his face.

"Aidan, my boy, you are…oh hell…you
know what you are," he chuckled. "Congratulations on the engagement!
When is the wedding, this weekend?"

"No, Viola wants to have a more
formal wedding." I shrugged. "So she is planning something for next
month. I’m sure you will receive your invitation in a few days. You know Vi,"
Then a thought struck me. "Besides Uncle, James wedding is next
weekend."

"Oh I know, but hell my boy, you
shouldn’t wait. Seal the deal and get an heir." He advised. He must have
seen my expression change at the mention of heir. "Is she already with
child?" The look in his eye told me he would be impressed if she was.

And who says with child?

"Uh…no," I furrowed my brow.
"I just have to do a little more ‘convincing’ with the heir part of the
conditions, but…"

"You mean you are getting married
to a woman who isn’t going to give you a child? Aidan are you...?"

"I didn’t say that, I just need to
do a little more convincing with her. She needs a little more time to get used
to the idea, that’s all." I shrugged again.

"Aidan! To marry is great, but in
order to keep this company we need an heir. You need to start working on that
immediately!" He was panicking.

"Henry," I stood behind my
desk. "I am well aware of the conditions and I am not taking a chance. I
will have an heir conceived within the time necessary but I can’t force her
to…"

"Like hell you can’t," he
argued.

"I may be, and do, a lot of things,
but that is not one of them," I spat.

"Are you at least going to go to a
doctor before you get married, to ensure you are both healthy and able to
conceive a child?"

He was referring to Lilli more so than
me and it bothered me, but to be honest he did have a point. I would have to
make arrangements for the both of us. If I get a clean bill of health, maybe I
would have a better chance of convincing Lilli to sex and conceiving.

"Yes, we’ll be going to a doctor but
that’s none of your concern."

"Well, I at least hope you will be
going to the family doctor." He stood tall and proud.

"Of course," I sighed.

"Well, then…I hope for all of our
sakes you produce a child soon." His badgering started to wear on me. "Good
day, Aidan," he nodded and left the office.

Collapsing into my chair, I exhaled.

"Fuck." I picked up the phone
and placed a call to the doctor’s office.

Finally, I was able to leave the office
around nine o’clock. When I arrived home it was dark and quiet in the
apartment. That’s when I remembered Lilli was at work. Getting a beer from the
fridge, I then made my way over to the couch. Grabbing the TV remote, I got
comfortable and settled in for some ESPN highlights.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Hey, Aidan…hey, wake up," First
came a nudge, then a shove to my side. "Aidan!" Now two hands pushed
at me.
Christ those hands feel good.

Stretching, I grabbed the hands and rolled
over. When a heavy weight landed on top of me, I jerked awake. With the
movement, the weight disappeared.  A thud resounded in the room.

"Jeesh, Aidan!"

That was Lilli’s voice.

"Oh shit, Lilli," I said
groggily. "I’m sorry." Reaching down to help her up, she was already
starting to stand.

"Remind me to never wake you up."
She laughed and picked something up off the floor.

"Sorry," I rubbed my eyes.
"I must’ve fallen asleep."

"Really? I thought you were just
practicing your snoring technique," she giggled.

"I don’t snore."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that,
loser." She walked away with a large smile on her face.

"I don’t snore," I yelled.

"Okay, whatever you say," She
giggled again.

I stood up and turned off the TV,
heading upstairs myself.

"Did you tell them you were done
working there?" I asked right before she was about to enter her room. She froze
in her doorway. "Lilli?"

"Yeah?" She deflected.

"I’ll take that as a no," I sighed.
"You need to tell them."

"I know," she said.

As she entered her room, I caught a
glimpse of the creamy skin exposed by her barely there bar attire. Something
primal boiled inside me, demanding for me to lock her in that room until she
agreed to fully clothe herself in public.  Instead, I went to my own room and lay
in my own bed, thoughts of a scantily clad Lilli running through my head.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The next morning Lilli was still
sleeping and I was heading to work. I left a note telling her about the
doctor’s appointments I had set up and when she needed to be there.

The next week went by quickly and
without too much of grandfather’s will craziness. I had only one visit from my
Uncle, which went about as well as the first visit. Then there was James and
his adamant need for guy’s night before getting married.

Thursday night we met at my place. James
arrived at my apartment just as I’d gotten home from work. We waited for the
rest to show up.

"So where’s the fiancée?"
James chuckled.

"She would be at work, dear
cousin." I tossed him a beer.

"When’s the big day? I’m sure Viola
is making sure there’s a wedding." He smiled, twisting the cap off his
beer.

"Still waiting to find that out
myself," I laughed just as there was a buzz at my door.

"Oz," I exclaimed, opening the
door. "Good you could make it on such short notice." I patted his
back as he walked in the door.

As I was closing the door, it was shoved
back toward me.

"Not so fast fucker!" Dixon stood
with his big thick arm propped against the door. "So, did she kick your
ass?" He chuckled walking through the door.

"What?" I shut the door.

"Lilli. Did she kick your ass? Come
on, I know she did something. This is my best friend we’re talking about."
He plopped onto the sofa and put his feet on the coffee table.

"She threw a tantrum in front of
the building," I shrugged.

He raised his eyebrow.

"Okay and she may have damaged my
lip and punched me in the gut, but those were for another reason."

Dixon couldn’t hold back. Holding his
stomach, he doubled over laughing. James and Oscar didn’t even try not to laugh.
They joined right in.

"Okay assholes, who else are we
waiting on and where the hell are we going?" I slouched down in a leather
chair.

"Marcus and Jeremy should be here
soon," James replied.

"I’ve got everything set up for our
first stop of the evening," Dixon boisterously chuckled.

"And where would that be, pray tell?"
Oscar asked between sips of his beer.

"The Bunny Tail." Dixon wiggled
his brow.

I shook my head and laughed. Of course
Dixon would take us straight to the strip club. This night should prove to be
interesting. After Marcus and Jeremy arrived, we were on our way.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Lilli

After Aidan’s message about the doctor
appointment, I was a little irritated. But then I read his explanation that
it’s a safety precaution for both of us. I decided to think of it as a decent
gesture on his part.

I would prefer my own doctor but,
clearly, I was supposed to go to the Iverson family doctor now. I sat in the
waiting room for my name to be called.

"Lillian Snow," a small nurse
appeared in a light blue scrub outfit.

Standing, I followed her to the small
beige room.  The all too familiar table with stirrups, overhead light, metal
tray and inspirational posters decorated the room.

"Get undressed and put this
on," she patted the light blue hospital gown lying on the exam table.
"I’ll be back in a few minutes." She closed the door at her exit. I
changed into the gown and waited for her return.

She returned and went through all the
standards; temperature, blood pressure, questions, etc.

"You know, my friend mentioned
something about a birth control pill where you only have a period every three
months or something?" She nodded. "I would be interested in
that."

"I’ll make a note and then you and
the doctor can discuss it." She smiled before excusing herself, leaving me
to wait on the doctor.

The doctor and nurse arrived later,
conducting the whole exam. We discussed the pill and he wrote me the
prescription, informing me that he could call it in to a pharmacy and it would
be delivered. He guaranteed my privacy, which confused me. He realized this and
explained.

"You are engaged to Mr. Iverson,
correct?" I took a breath and nodded. "Well, I’m their family doctor
because I can ensure your privacy will be upheld. I have confidence in the
pharmacy I’m sending it to."

"I appreciate that but I can just
pick it up today on my way to work." I really didn’t see the need for
privacy in regards to my birth control pills.

He furrowed his brow.

"Um…well, which pharmacy is it, I
could see if they will take the prescription from us and have it ready for
you."

I nodded.

“Thanks.” I replied, giving him the name
of a pharmacy close to work.