The Arrangement (20 page)

She
wasn’t wearing any panties.

Scarlett
stepped out of her sweat pants and pulled her t-shirt off over her
head. The sight of her smooth naked back was causing troublesome
thoughts to come to life within the depths of his unconscious mind.

She
turned to face him.

‘God,
you’re beautiful,’ he told her.

His
eyes travelled across every inch of her hour glass figure. There was
no doubt in his mind that Scarlett was gorgeous, but a nagging
thought wouldn’t go away. He tried to ignore it, but it was
already planted within his brain. Scarlett was gorgeous, but Emma was
better. The image of her naked body standing in front of the hotel
room window caused his heart to skip a beat.

Scarlett
walked across the bathroom and stepped into the shower with him.

He
had to put Emma out of his mind.

Lucas
kissed her slightly more forceful than he had meant to. Scarlett was
taken slightly by surprised, but quickly relaxed into the kiss. The
shower head sprayed hot relaxing water across their naked bodies, as
their tongues curled, lashed and rolled within the others mouth.

His
hands began to work their way across her body. The left travelled
south and squeezed her cute little ass cheek, whilst the right hand
went north and began to caress her firm plump breasts. It had felt
like a lifetime since he had put his hands upon her body. It was a
feeling that he had missed. The problem was that he couldn’t
get his secretary out of his head.

‘Oh,’
he sighed deeply at the feel of her touch.

Scarlett’s
fingers had curled around her favourite toy. She pulled back from the
kiss and looked him dead in the eye. She wanted to see the expression
upon his face when she started. Slowly, her hand began to stroke back
and forth. Both of his hands were placed upon her chest. He began to
lift, squeeze and rotate like some sort of professional masseur.

‘I
love you,’ she told him.

‘I
love you, too.’ He felt like a liar after what he did last
night.

‘Let’s
have no more secrets any more, okay?’

Lucas
swallowed down the lump in his throat. ‘No more secrets,’
he repeated, but inside he could already feel the lies starting to
pile up. There were so many within his mind it was like a bumper to
bumper traffic jam. Once he told one he was going to have to tell so
many others. She could not know about Emma.

‘Thank
you.’ The jerking motion of her hand began to increase.

Lucas
could feel something wonderful happening down between his legs.

She
moaned softly at the manner in which he squeezed the peak of her
breasts.

Scarlett
wanted to play with the toy she had missed for so long, but it
wouldn’t be long until she needed to feel it inside her. Before
that there was something she needed to know. ‘Why haven’t
you made love to me in over a month?’

Lucas
unconsciously rolled his eyes.

He
didn’t mean too.

It
was just something that he was tired of lying about.

‘Okay,’
he sighed, ‘I said I wanted to wait until the night of our
wedding, but that isn’t exactly true.’

‘I
have worked that much out myself.’ She pressed her chest
forward into his powerful hands. Talking had slowed him down. Lucas
was not the best at multi-tasking. 

‘You
have no idea how badly I have wanted you this month.’

‘I
think I have a slight understanding of your frustration, but I want
to know, why?’

‘If
I tell you, you promise not to get mad?’

Scarlett
nodded a reply.

Lucas’s
right hand began to travel down across her stomach. ‘Your
father didn’t want you to end up like your sister.’ His
hand moved down between her legs. ‘He didn’t want you to
go into a relationship without being one hundred percent sure that I
was the perfect man for you. He was afraid that I might get you
pregnant and leave you just like your sister’s ex-boyfriends.’

Scarlett’s
hand came to a standstill.

She
listened silently.

‘He
offered me a deal. That he would give me a better position within the
company, and grant me more free time to spend with you, if I just
held off on sex until we were married.’

Scarlett
pulled back from him.

‘Are
you being serious?’

‘Yes.’
Lucas looked confused. ‘I was doing it for us.’

‘You
were doing it for you.’ Scarlett stepped out of the shower and
grabbed one of the thick dark blue towels off of the rack. ‘We
are not kids, Lucas. What the hell do you think you are doing?’

He
stepped out of the shower after her. ‘This is why I didn’t
tell you.’

She
headed out the door.

He
followed.

‘Are
you so desperate for my father’s acceptance that you would go
along with such a stupid game?’

‘Scarlett,
I was doing it for us. I thought that if we waited until the wedding.
I would gain his trust and become part of the family. I would get a
better job, which would give us more money and with my free time we
could travel, go on holiday, or just spend more time together. I
thought that was what you wanted?’

‘It
is what I wanted, but I am not a child!’ she screamed. ‘I
don’t need my dad telling us what we can and can’t do.
You think this makes you look loyal and trustworthy in my dad’s
eyes? This makes you look like an ass kissing coward that would even
ignore your own wife for your boss?’ She rushed into the
bedroom and started to get changed.

‘What
are you doing?’

‘I’m
going out.’

‘We
need to talk about this.’

‘Why
do I need to talk about it?’ If looks could kill then Scarlett
would be charged with first degree murder at this point. ‘I am
sure you can contact my dad and the two of you can come to some sort
of agreement.’ She stabbed a finger in the air like a loaded
weapon. ‘I didn’t think you were such a childish coward.’

‘I
did it for us,’ he repeated.

‘I
am glad you believe that.’ She dropped her head down into her
hands and began so sob. He went to approach her, but she pulled away
and shook her head from side to side. ‘Just leave me alone.
That is what you are good at.’

‘I’m
sorry,’ he said, but it was too late.

The
tears had started to fall.

***

Scarlett
sat in the café and tapped her fingernails against the table
top. A good hour and a half had gone by since Lucas had opened up and
confessed about the no sex arrangement, but still her anger had not
subsided. ‘How dare he do this to me?’ The words echoed
off the inside of her mind. She wasn’t sure if she was
referring to her father or her fiancée. It didn’t really
matter. They had both played a part in this.

Her
free hand reached out and picked up her cup of tea.

She
took a small sip and looked around the quiet café. It wasn’t
quite mid-day yet, which was one reason for the lack of noise and
movement. Come lunch time this place would be like a bee-hive of
activity, as rude and arrogant people rushed through the crowds in an
attempt to grab some lunch and get back to their place of work.

Her
eyes scanned the room.

An
old couple was sat in the far corner and a young mother with two
children sat nearer the centre of the room. Half of the staff could
be seen hanging about in the kitchen in the back, having a good old
chin-wag. It probably was the only time in the day that they would
get some peace and quiet.

Scarlett
turned her attention to the door, as a tall man walked in.

Disappointment
sank down into her stomach.

It
wasn’t Brandon.

A
slight tinge of guilt stabbed at her heart. This was not something a
woman that was going to be married should be thinking, but she
couldn’t help it. These days she seemed to get so frustrated
with Lucas. One minute he is doing and saying the right things and
then the next he is acting all cold and distant. Of course now she
knows why he is being like this and that reason only went to feed her
frustrations.

‘Such
a selfish man,’ she mumbled beneath her breath.

The
fingernails continued to tap.

‘What
have I ever done to deserve this?’

The
door opened and an old couple entered the café. Scarlett was
half hoping she might accidentally bump into Brandon in the café
they had shared a coffee in. She had been here for ten minutes, but
there had been no sign of him. It was a very shot in the dark type of
tactic. The chances of randomly meeting him here was about a million
to one, but she couldn’t help thinking about last night. In a
way the disappointment of this morning only went to strengthen her
thoughts and feelings about what happened last night.

‘The
kiss...’ she sighed quietly.

It
had felt so good.

Scarlett
reached into her handbag and pulled out the screwed up piece of
paper. She unrolled Brandon’s number and looked at it for a
long drawn out moment.

Should
she call him?

The
temptation to pluck out her cell phone and give him a call was
growing stronger and stronger. There was nothing wrong with that was
there? They were friends after all?

‘Who
I am kidding?’ she asked herself.

Scarlett
had feelings for Brandon. There was no denying this any more

She
screwed up the paper and put it back in her handbag.

***

Wrapped
in a thick green towel Lucas plodded down the stairs. He knew
Scarlett wasn’t going to be happy about the deal, but that
reaction had been slightly more dramatic than he had anticipated. He
headed down the corridor and into the kitchen. ‘Why did she
have to storm off?’ he shook his head in disbelief, as he
filled up the kettle.

He
switched the kettle on.

The
image of her naked body pressing up against him in the shower flashed
like a supernova within his mind’s eye. She had looked so sexy.
Almost instantly the image distorted and was replaced by another. It
was the image of Emma on top of him, as he lay upon the hotel bed.
His hands were upon her bouncing breasts, as she rode him hard and
fast into the night. The erotic sounds of her desperate moans echoed
throughout the core of his soul. The very thought of being with her
was doing troublesome things to his body.

He
was brought back to reality by the sound of the phone.

For
a brief moment he was going to ignore it, but instead he got up and
headed out into the hallway. ‘Hello?’ he asked upon
answering.

‘Good
job, Lucas,’ said Mr Mills.

‘Thank
you, Sir.’ Lucas went straight into formal mode.

‘The
board are very pleased with the way you handled this affair…’

‘What
affair?’ Lucas swallowed hard.

‘The
movie contract,’ explained Mr Mills. Lucas’s heart began
to beat again. ‘The board are very impressed and are going to
be keeping a close eye on you in future. Just make sure you keep
doing a good job and you will get that promotion before the wedding.’

‘I
will, Sir. Thank you.’

The
phone line abruptly went dead.

A
strong sense of pride flowed throughout his body. He was finally
getting noticed within the company. His smile was so wide that it was
almost taking over his entire face. ‘I have to tell…’
he stopped himself just before he said the name, ‘Emma.’
Lucas placed the phone down and skulked back into the kitchen. In one
night his entire life had changed. He didn’t know who the woman
that he loved was any more Emma seemed to be so much fun, so happy
and so sexy, but Scarlett was always so serious and confrontational.
Of course this wasn’t her fault. She had never been like that
before this no-sex arrangement. He had brought this on their
relationship by keeping secrets behind her back. ‘No more
secrets,’ he said into the silent house. ‘I have to make
an effort and show her that I still love her.’ And with that a
plan began to form within his mind.

***

Scarlett
walked along the aisle of the book store and pretended to browse the
titles upon the shelf. Brandon’s book was on here somewhere.
She was really hoping that the man himself might miraculously turn
up, but she had drifted around the store like a ghost in the night
for nearly twenty minutes and there was no sign of him. Her initial
thought on coming here was.

‘What
am I doing here?’

And.

‘What
do I hope to gain from this?’

These
thoughts were squashed within thirty seconds of entering the book
store Scarlett knew why she was here. She knew why she went to the
café. She was here to hopefully bump into Brandon and spend
another day chatting away with him. It was wrong. She knew it, but he
just made her feel so happy. Even the thought of him made something
wonderful tickle the inside of her stomach. The thought of going home
to Lucas felt like a rain cloud above her head.

She
placed her hand into her handbag and double checked that his cell
phone number was there. It was weird because she didn’t want to
phone him and seem all needy and desperate, but then again she didn’t
want to wait around until a suitable enough time had gone for him to
call her. It would be easier if the two of them just accidentally
bumped into each other again and then that way she wouldn’t
feel so guilty about seeing this gorgeous man that she liked.

She
left the number in the handbag.

There
was still one last place to check, and if he wasn’t there, then
she would call him.

***

Lucas
struggled to squeeze through the front door with all the shopping
bags in hand. Like any true man he had managed to wrap every single
plastic shopping bag around his wrist and fingers in an attempt to
carry all of them at once. It would have made more sense to take them
in one or two at a time and come back for the others, but after
plodding around the shops for the last couple of hours he wanted to
get it all over and done in one single go.