Modern Arrangements: Complete Trilogy (Modern Arrangements #1-3) (16 page)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"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.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After a couple of days with the new
pill, I was feeling a little
off
. Nausea, headache and light bleeding
were just a couple of the side effects bringing about my bad mood tonight. 
Celia didn’t remember having such a severe reaction when she started the same
pill.

Celia and I were really busy tonight.
There seemed to be an obscene amount of people for a Thursday night. We’d been
working our asses off when a loud group made their presence known.

"I’ll deal with them," Celia
groaned. "It’s my turn and you are in no mood tonight."

"Nah, I’ll get them," Taking a
deep breath in effort to clear my bad mood, I moved toward the end of the bar.
"It’s the least I can do since I’m leaving you in a week."

"Don’t remind me." She pouted.

"Hey there sweetheart, can we get a
round over here!" A tall guy with dark, spikey hair yelled.

Grabbing a bottle of Jack Daniels, I
moved to stand before them. Sitting the bottle down, I grabbed shot glasses and
lined them up.

"So, how is it I’ve been here
before, quite a few times, but have never seen you?" He blatantly appraised
my body.

"I don’t know." With a fake
smile, I poured the whiskey. Closing my eyes, I gave myself a mental pep talk.
Do
not smash the bottle over his head. Do not smash the bottle over his head.

"Hmmm…" When he hummed, I
opened my eyes.  He was leaning over the bar looking straight down my top.

The crash of the JD bottle onto the top
of the bar pulled his attention from my cleavage.  His eyes then shot up to my
face.  A shameless grin spread across the smug bastard’s face.

"I hate to see you go, but I love
to watch you leave," he yelled when I walked away. Twisting around quickly
to scowl, he slammed his empty shot glass onto the bar. Turning back away from
him, I repeated my
do not smash bottle
chant.

"This is really going to be fun
tonight." Celia said sarcastically into my ear.

I rolled my eyes. "Nothing like
overgrown frat boys getting loaded."

Fifteen minutes later, overgrown frat
boy was definitely loaded.

"Sweetheart! Hey, baby!" His
meaty hand slapped at the bar.

Taking a deep breath, I moved back to
his end of the bar. Grabbing a towel along the way, I wiped up the spills.

"More shots?" I focused on
wiping down the bar not mister tall, drunk and spikey.

"You can just leave us the
bottle," he winked.

"Great," I didn’t hide my
sarcasm. "No problem." Forcing a smile, I placed the bottle on the
bar. Before I could pull back my arm, his hand reached out and grabbed me.
"Let go."

"Not until I get your name,"
he smiled sleazily.

"Let go," I said more
forcefully, yanking at my arm.

"Oh, how rude of me," he
slurred, "I’m Tylor. What’s your name?"

"Lilli, now, please, let go!"

"Maybe…if you give me a kiss,"
he leaned across the bar. Placing the palm of my left hand over his sweaty
face, I pushed him back.

"Back off!" Celia came up from
behind, peeling his hand off me.

He put his hands up in the air, a shit
eating grin on his face and a shrug of his shoulders. "Sorry."

Rubbing at the red mark on my arm, I
turned to walk away. The sound of glass smashing on the floor brought my
attention back around. Before I could turn completely around, a sting spread
over my ass followed by a tight grip.

"What the—?" I spun and
screamed.

All in his attempt to grope me, Tylor leaned
completely over the bar causing a shot glass to fall behind the bar. Before I
could say anything, Tylor’s body jerked backward.

"Who the fuck?" Tylor bellowed.

"Do not touch her again!" A
familiar voice snarled.

"Who the fuck are you to tell me—?"

Tylor meet the floor.

"Her fiancé, asshole!"

My eyes widened at the threat made clear
on Aidan’s face. James and Oscar applauded while Dixon’s uncontrollable laugh
floated over the crowd.

Tylor tried to stand.

 "Stay down, asshole or you’ll meet
her best friend next." Aidan motioned to Dixon who rubbed his fist in his
palm. Aidan looked to me and Dixon stood over Tylor in full intimidation mode.
"Are you okay?"

I nodded, still in shock of the scene
that just unfolded before me. With my hands flat on the bar, I leaned forward to
see Tylor still on the floor.

"Lilli?" I looked back to
Aidan. His angry eyes focused on me. "Where the hell is your engagement ring?"

"Uh...um..." Biting on my lip,
I furrowed my brow.

Chapter Thirteen
Plans, plans, plans

Lilli

"It’s back in my room." I
answered, hesitantly.

"Why isn’t it on your finger?"
He grabbed my left hand. "Did that asshole make those marks?" Aidan’s
eyes focused on where Tylor grabbed me minutes before.

"I don’t wear it to work," I
shrugged, ignoring the question about the marks. "I’m afraid I’ll lose it
in a blender or something." I tried to explain.

Aidan glared and his grip tightened on my
hand.

"You wear the ring." He
growled, letting go of my hand and sitting down at the bar.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When that asshole grabbed her at the bar,
I lost it. Then, she wasn’t wearing the engagement ring. It pissed me off. We
were engaged, regardless of the circumstances.

I sat there drinking and watching men
ogle her the entire night. That fact just made it even more important that she
wore the damn ring. She was mine now and she needed to make sure people knew.
Having never been so possessive about a woman before, I wasn’t sure where these
feelings were coming from.  Regardless, possessing her took hold deep inside
me. The world should fucking know and they would.

Once everyone started to take off for
the night, I stayed waiting for Lilli to finish up. We needed to talk. When she
slid over the bar with her purse, I surprised her by being there waiting for
her.

"Aidan, I thought you left
with—"

"Nope, I waited." With my curt
response, I grabbed her hand and walked her toward the door.

The pace I set had us reaching my car
quickly. She jerked her hand out of mine the minute we stood next to my dark
silver Lexus.

"What?" I said, irritated.

"You aren’t driving," she
ordered.

"I’m fine," I argued.

"Oh really?" She crossed her
arms over her chest. "Then you can go by yourself." She turned and began
to walk away. Grabbing her around the waist, I pulled her back against the car.

"Aidan," she protested.

Placing my palms on either side of her
body, I stepped close.  The heat from her body penetrated through my thin white
button down shirt. Her scent surrounded me, warm vanilla and exotic flowers.
Arousal burned through my veins, causing me to sway a little closer.

"Aidan," her warning barely a
whisper.

"Here," I held out the keys. She
took them, hesitantly.

After a quiet drive, with the windows
down to cool my need to pull her in the back seat and fuck her like a teenage
boy, she parked in my reserved spot in the complex garage. We made our way up
to the apartment and she was halfway up the stairs. I didn’t want her to leave
me yet. I brought the subject of the ring back up.

"I want you to wear the ring, Lilli.
Not leave it in your room." I instructed.

"Whatever." She said without
stopping or turning around.

"I’m serious," I said louder.

She stopped.

"Fine," she spoke like a
disobedient teenager and went into her room.

Collapsing on the couch, I hadn’t been aware
of how tired I was until I closed my eyes.

Groaning, I covered my head when loud
music filled my throbbing ears.

"What the fuck." Groaning,
again, I sat up and saw the clock. "Christ!" I’d slept in.

Moving as quickly as my hangover would
let me, I went upstairs. The music was killing me, pounding in my head.

At the top of the stairs, I realized it
was coming from Lilli’s room. I slammed my bedroom door behind me and winced.

Showered, shaved and brushed, I threw on
a suit and headed downstairs for work. On my phone, talking to my secretary, I
halted at the bottom of the steps.

There was Lilli, bent over—ass up. I
groaned internally, taking in the curve of her ass, her forehead pressed to her
shins, arms wrapped around her calves. To make the situation even more
unbearably perfect she wore shorts so short I could just make out the beginning
curve of her bare ass and the tiny bra looking top exposing her bare mid-drift.
In an erotic trance, my secretary rambled on about something. I couldn’t even
comprehend with the sight before me.

Did she do this every morning?
Her ass is just…damn…it’s perfection
.

Then she moved. Lilli stood upright, her
hands stretching into the air, slightly pushing back. Her breasts pushed
outward. I started to harden and bit my lip to hold in the moan threatening to
erupt from my mouth. Using my free hand, I adjusted the  growing discomfort
within my black suit pants.

"Mr. Iverson?"

Shit
!

"Yes, I’m sorry. I was distracted
for a moment." I had no clue what my secretary had said. When Lilli heard
me, she snapped around quickly. "I’ll be in shortly." I hung up.

"I thought you were gone." Her
arms crossed over her stomach, pushing her breasts together.

Just when I didn’t think that it could
get any hotter in here, she bit her lip and blushed.

Fuck me! Please!
If I had to see this, even occasionally, there’s no way I’m going without sex
for four years. Hell, she’s lucky I didn’t bend her over the couch right now.

It took me a moment to collect my
thoughts.

"I passed out on the couch and
slept in this morning. I’m leaving now." Walking toward the door, I grabbed
my keys and quickly headed out before I acted out my desires.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

With thoughts of Lilli and a raging hard
on, trying to focus on work all morning was torture.  During each meeting, I
drifted off to the curve of her ass, the slope of her lower back, her breasts
pushed forward.

By the time four o’clock rolled around, I
was ready to explode. I’d been too long without sex. I contemplated telling Lilli
flat out that she needed to make sure I was out of the house before she did her
exercise shit. But the selfish, sick bastard in me wanted to see it—every
morning. Thinking about it, yet again, had me hard against my thigh.

Finally, having enough, I told my
secretary to hold my calls for the next twenty minutes and not to disturb me.
Channeling my inner sixteen year old boy, I went straight to my private
bathroom.

Attempting to calm myself with cold
water didn’t work, I just couldn’t erase the image or the fire lit by my arousal.
Closing the bathroom door, I undid my pants, letting them pool around my ankles
along with my boxer briefs.  Taking my hard length into my hand and closing my
eyes, I let the images of Lilli flood my mind.

The memories from this morning quickly
turned into my own fantasies of bending her over the couch. Yanking those short
shorts roughly down her thighs, letting my hands roam over her smooth skin.
Pushing my own pants to the floor and releasing myself to immediately press
against her.  She wriggles against me, moaning my name, begging me to take her.
I slip into her in one smooth motion, grab her hips and slam into her over and
over. Her orgasm around me triggers my own.

My satisfied groan bounces off the walls
as I stroke the last wave of my self induced orgasm. Steadying my breathing, I
clean up and go back to my desk. The rest of my day is much better.

Saturday morning, when I emerged from my
room, I saw that Lilli’s door was open. I stumble downstairs unsure, but
hopeful to find more masturbation material. When I find the living room
completely quiet and empty, I almost shed a tear.

After making some coffee, I sat in the living
room watching Sports Center until twelve thirty. Curious about her whereabouts,
I was about to call her when the apartment door opened. Lilli groaned as Phoebe
chirped away at her side. When both of them saw me, they stopped short.

"Ladies," I smiled.

"Hey," Lilli said quickly,
going toward the stairs.

"Hey, Aidan." Phoebe smiled
brightly, following after Lilli.

"Lilli?"

"Yeah?" She turned around
halfway up the stairs.

"We need to leave by—"

"Four. Yeah I know." She
smirked and continued upstairs.

"I only have three hours."
Phoebe scoffed and grabbed Lilli, pulling her up the stairs.

Lilli stumbled a few times on the stairs,
turning around to glare at me when I laughed. Phoebe pulled her along into the
bedroom.

"Hurry up! Get in the shower qui—"
The slamming of the door cut off Phoebe’s rant.

Shaking my head, I continued to watch
TV.

Around two o’clock, I made a move to get
ready. By three thirty, I was downstairs drinking bourbon and pacing
impatiently in a tux. James had already called me three times, informing me of how
I was slacking in my Best Man duties. I assured him I would meet him and the
rest of the wedding party by four thirty after taking Lilli over to Viola and
Liam’s.

When a door opened, I looked up to see
Phoebe bounding down the stairs. She smiled at me, grabbed the bourbon out of my
hand and finished it. Placing the glass on a nearby table she spoke.

"You shouldn’t be drinking before
you have to drive. Plus, you’ll want to be completely sober when you see
her." She giggled and then breezed out the front door.

"Lil-li," I started to yell
for her to hurry but froze when I saw her at the top of the steps.

"Calm down," she rolled her
eyes. "I’m coming." She started down the steps. All I saw was legs.

From the flesh toned heels, up her
creamy perfectly toned silky legs, my eyes drank her in. Exposed to mid-thigh,
dark blue material rose up over her curves, to her collarbone. The flawless
creamy skin of her shoulders and arms were bare. She looked stunning. My
masturbation material just went up about a hundred notches.

"Hellllooo…Aidan?" Lilli waved
a hand in front of my face, clearly trying not to laugh.

"Huh?" was my brilliant
response.

"Are you ready to go, Mr.
Impatience?" She grinned.

"Uh…" I looked her over again
"Yeah." I collected my thoughts. "You look…nice."

Nice? She looks like I want to lick her
from ankle to nose with only a few stops along the way.

"Uh…yeah…thanks," she blushed.
"Phoebe did it." She crinkled her nose a little and smiled.

There was an awkward silence. I
swallowed hard. "Okay, well, let’s go."

In the car, her dress rode up exposing
more of her thighs. I began rethinking dropping her off with my aunt and uncle.

Did I really want her walking in alone
looking like this?

The only thing calming me was that she
will be with Viola. I did a double check of her left hand. She wore the ring,
my ring. Tonight, everyone would know she was off limits and that it was
me
she
belonged.

"So, you’re sure you’re okay with
going over with Viola and—?"

"It’s fine, don’t worry about it."
She smiled at me, and then went back to looking straight ahead.

"I’ll be with you at the reception.
We’re not sitting as a bridal party but at family tables. So…"

"Aidan its fine, you don’t have to
explain to me." She shrugged.

We pulled up to Viola and Liam’s home.

"Wait!" Grabbing her thigh,
her eyes shot to my hand.

Did she feel it too, this intense need?
I let me hand linger too long.

"Stay here." Collecting
myself, I went around the car, opened the door and helped her out. "You
need to get used to that."

"Uh…okay," she furrowed her
brow.

The front door opened before we got up
the stone stairs. Mrs. Summers, Viola’s house keeper, stood with a large smile on
her face.

"Good evening, Mr. Iverson,"
she nodded. "Ms. Snowe." She smiled.

Lilli smiled back warmly.

"Lilli, I’ll see you at the church,
okay?" She nodded and entered the house. "Lilli," I blurted.

She turned around, brows drawn in
confusion. "Yeah?"

Stepping up close to her, her body
tensed. I pressed my lips to hers. Savoring the taste of her lips for only a
minute, I pulled back. Eyes still closed, she swayed toward me.  
Oh yeah,
she feels it too.
With a self-satisfied smile, I walked back to my car. My
lips prickled with the lingering heat of her mouth all the way to the church.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Lilli

What the heck was that?
Tingling danced over my lips.

"Lilli, dear," I snapped
around quickly to see Viola coming downstairs in all her glory. She radiated classic
beauty. She was in a classic floor length black dress that had a boat neck
style collar and was sleeveless. The dress had a thick cumber ban style waist
that showcased her 1940’s starlet curves. Her caramel hair was in finger waves
that rested on her shoulder. "You look lovely dear," she smiled
widely. "Aidan must have been struggling to leave you tonight." She
lightly giggled.