The Arrangement (11 page)

This must have been what Erika had feared all along. They were only a few weeks into a marriage that was supposed to last for two years and she’d already slept with him despite her certainty that it would never happen.
Just the thought of telling Erika about sleeping with Asher made her stomach twist in knots, but she knew she’d have to do it. Even if it never happened again, she knew her friend would find out. Ariadne was pretty sure that her guilt was visible. Erika would take one look at her and know.

“Ariadne, I’m not an idiot. What’s
really going on with you and that guy?”

“He’s my husband,” she stated firmly.
In every sense of the word
, she added mentally. She didn’t know where she and Asher went from here. Sleeping with him had the potential to make the remainder of their faux marriage very awkward. “That’s all you need to know.” She started to leave and then stopped. “Oh, wait, there is one more thing. Even if I wasn’t with Ash, you and I would be done. Leaving me for my cousin was a shitty thing to do.”

“Hey, she pursued me.”

“That doesn’t matter. You owed me your fidelity. And instead
you proved yourself incapable of loyalty. I guess I should thank Janice for showing me the truth about you before things got more serious between us.”

When she entered the bedroom she was sharing with Asher, he was making the bed. He’d stripped the bed of the previous linens and piled them on the floor near the door.
She immediately began to help him. They worked together silently. She fluffed the pillows and placed them on the bed when they were done.

She moved to her bag. “I need to get dressed before we go to the mall.” After her shower, she’d
redressed in the clothes she’d intended to sleep in last night. She bent and unzipped her suitcase.

“Do you want to talk about last night?”

“What is there to say?” She carefully avoided his gaze.

Crossing his arms
over his chest, Asher sighed. “You’ve been avoiding me. Do you regret what we did?”

She picked up her shirt and shook it out. “I don’t know.” And she truly didn’t. She didn’t want to hurt Erika f
or anything in the world, but sleeping with Asher last night wasn’t the sort of experience she could regret. Being with him was simply amazing. When she looked up, Asher was grinning. She frowned at him. “What?”

He laughed and she gritted her teeth. “Sorry. It’s just that I was certain you were going to tell me it was all a mistake.
Uncertainty, I can deal with.”

Deciding not to waste time pondering his meaning, she said, “I have to get dressed. You can either leave or turn around.” Surprisingly, he didn’t argue or make a smart remark. He simply smiled at her and turned around.

The catered dinner was held at the lodge. The room had been decorated in this year’s chosen colors of turquoise and cream. Balloons and streamers hung from the ceiling. The committee for this year’s reunion had done an excellent job. So far, the event had flowed smoothly. She only wished she could be enjoying it more. Ariadne sliced into her grilled chicken breast. Her jaw was so tightly clenched she hoped she could eat it. She didn’t recall ever being thrown together with Janice so often at any of the previous family reunions. Yet here they sat assigned to the same table. At least Janice and Daniel sat
a couple of seats down.
But Janice had been going on and on about the extravagant plans for her wedding in such a loud voice that Ariadne knew that her cousin was doing it for her benefit.

“That sounds lovely,” said
one of her aunts. Ariadne thought it more likely that her aunt was trying to get Janice to shut up so they could all enjoy their meal in peace.

“Yes, well, we thought the family would appreciate the opportunity to share in our wedding day. None of this running off to the Justice of the Peace for us.”

Ariadne barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Asher gave her knee a squeeze before saying, “Ari and I couldn’t wait. We’ve known each other for years and the moment was right. I wasn’t going to give her the chance to change her mind.”

Several of her relatives laughed. “What is it that you do?” Daniel asked.

“I’m a lawyer.”

“Ah,” Daniel said tightly. “You’ll understand if I don’t care for those in your profession. I’m a doctor,” he explained, his chest puffed out with pride.
While Ariadne felt he had good reason to be proud of his accomplishments, Daniel tended to be pompous and he seemed incapable of recognizing the hard work of others.

Asher nodded. “My firm does mostly pro bono cases.”

“Oh? Is that why…?” He cleared his throat and gave Asher a condescending smile. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude.”

“No, please, conti
nue. I’m an open book. Ask away.”

“Well, I was thinking that you can’t make a very profitable living that way and I wondered if that was the reason the two of you chose not to have a wedding. They can be very expensive.”

Janice had a smug expression on her face. Ariadne was growing more irritated with the two of them by the moment. While she’d expected the family to have some questions for Asher, Daniel didn’t have the right to interrogate him.

Her mother stepped in. “Asher doesn’t have to worry about money. His family is quite well-to-do. And I fully expect that they will have a wedding at a later date,” she ended on a firm tone.

Asher grinned. “I have no objections.”

***

After dinner the tables were cleared away. Music began and Asher took Ariadne into his arms. She was breathtaking in a gold gown that made her skin glow. She’d curled her hair and allowed it to flow freely over her bare shoulders. He could scarcely take his eyes off her. “Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?”

She frowned up at him. “You already bedded me Asher. You don’t have to try charming me now.”

He laughed. “
And I want to bed you again, but I’m not lying to you.” He brushed her hair back to expose her skin. He kissed her neck and she shivered. Her hands tightened on his shoulders. He nibbled his way up to her earlobe and breathed in her sweet scent. His cock thickened in his pants. Their night together had done nothing to lessen her effect on him. “You smell so damn good.”

“Asher,
not here.”

“Do you think I have plans to take you on the dance floor?”

“I wouldn’t put it past you.”

Over the years he’d fostered her bad opinion of him. There hadn’t been nearly as many women as she thought. Swirling her around, he spread a palm at the base of her spine so that she was intimate
ly pressed against him. “I’ve never been an exhibitionist. Don’t worry. I won’t embarrass you in front of your family.”

“Thank you.”

“So your family does this every year?”
“Yes. It varies a bit. Last year we held it at the beach in North Carolina. If everyone handles being on the yacht well tonight, there’s talk of taking a family cruise.”

“Who organizes these things?”

“There’s a planning committee of ten family members
. Before we leave here, every adult who isn’t on the committee this year will have their name put in a drawing. It’s too much work to have the same people on the hook each reunion. I was on the committee last year so I’m exempt also. You get a minimum two years off. You’re always free to volunteer.”

“It’s wonderful that your family does this. My mom was the last of her line and my dad isn’t close to his family.”

“As you know, my mom was artificially inseminated so these reunions mean a lot to me. I don’t have any other family.”

It occurred to him then how much Janice’s betrayal must have hurt her. “Were you and Janice close?”

She shook her head. “Thankfully, no.”
Her eyes flicked to the couple. They were dancing on the other side of the room. “Still…if he’d left me for someone else, I wouldn’t have to see him ever again.”

Asher followe
d her gaze. Janice rested her head on Daniel’s shoulder with her eyes closed. Daniel stared at Ariadne. “He wants you back,” Asher stated with certainty. As long as the other man’s overtures didn’t extend beyond staring, he didn’t care. But if he made a play for Ari, Daniel would soon become acquainted with the rarely seen less friendly aspect of his personality.

Ariadne mumbled something and appeared to become overly fixated on a spot over his shoulder. Beneath her light application of makeup and her naturally cinnamon skin, he could swear he saw her cheeks redden.

He frowned. “What was that?”

She bit her lip. “He’s only interested because of last night.
”

“Last night?”

She made a sound of disgust. “Yes. Our little show, remember? Now, he thinks I’m some sort of sexually uninhibited woman. But I’m no different. The difference is you.”

Asher groaned. She may as well have stroked his cock.
The woman had sealed her fate. There was no going back for him. He was never letting her go. Fortunately, he had two years to convince her that she couldn’t live without him either.

***

Ariadne washed her hands. Staring at her reflection in the restroom’s line of mirrors, she studied her makeup. Her lip gloss had probably been gone since dinner. That hadn’t seemed to matter to Asher. He’d watched her like she was the only woman in the world.

He was a good actor, she thought. He was supposed to pretend to love her and that’s what he was doing. And that was the end of it. There was no reason for her to think that she was anything special to him. He’d already admitted that he wanted to sleep with her again. Of course, he’d do whatever it took to facilitate that.

She opened her purse, a tiny gold clutch that matched her dress, and pulled out a tube of lip gloss.
She slicked it across her lips. Her mother ducked her head through the swinging door of the restroom. She’d been waiting in the hall for her. Her mother refused to use public restrooms and only entered them in dire emergencies. “They’re about to do the drawing for the next reunion committee.”

Ariadne waved her on. “You go ahead. I’m exempt.”

“Okay. I’m leaving right after. See you on the yacht.” Aurora disappeared as quickly as she’d appeared in a swirl of silver chiffon.

Ariadne pressed her lips together and rolled her shoulders. It had been a long day. These get-togethers were fun but tiring. She was definitely ready to go home and sleep in her own bed.

The restroom door swung open again. Janice came to a halt when she saw her. Ariadne dropped her gloss back into her purse and closed it. “Just leaving,” she said.

“Whatever you want,” Janice said with a twist of her lips. “
Eager to get back to your rich stud? Wherever did you find him? I didn’t think you had it in you to corral a man like that one.”

Though she didn’t owe Janice any answers, she thought it might behoove her to try to be civil for the sake of their future relationship. They would never be friends, but she didn’t relish the idea of facing outright hostility at every year. “Ash and I have known each other since high school.”

Janice studied herself in the mirror. She smoothed her brows and made adjustments to her hair. “You always come out a winner, don’t you? You know why I’ve never liked you?”

“No.” Ariadne sighed. “And I guess at this point in our lives, I don’t really care anymore. I’m done trying to befriend you.”

The other woman’s mouth twisted. “You’re such a snob. You think you’re too good for everyone. I didn’t even really want Daniel, but he was a doctor and I thought it’d be nice to teach you a lesson.” She made a sound of disgust. “But what do you do? You go out and replace him with someone better looking and more money.”

“If you didn’t want him, why are you marrying him?”

“Duh, he’s a doctor.”

“Well,” Ariadne trailed off. She supposed she should be wishing them well, but she didn’t. She strongly suspected that they were both going to get exactly what they deserved.
And she simply didn’t care to waste another minute thinking about either of them. “Goodbye, Janice. See you…next year.” She was sure they would both be on the yacht to witness the fireworks, but she had high hopes that they wouldn’t have yet another encounter.

Chapter Eight

“We’re home.”

Ariadne roused slowly. She stretched and then groaned. She’d fallen asleep after only an hour of the drive back to Greenville. The fireworks had been spectacular. Asher had held her in his arms while they watched the sky light up. Even better, her luck had held and she’d had no more run-ins with Janice or Daniel. After the fireworks, everyone had said their goodbyes. Those who lived farther away or had small children returned to the lodge for the night with plans to make their trip home in the morning. Others like herself that lived within driving distance had left for home.

She slid her feet back into her strappy gold sandals. She was still blinking when Asher came around to open her door. “Why don’t you go get out of that dress while I bring in our bags?”

She nodded.
It was almost one o’clock in the morning. She wished she’d remembered to leave on the porch light. It was dark and she fumbled to get her key into the lock until Asher approached. He activated his cell phone’s screen so that it illuminated the doorknob. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”
He followed her upstairs and placed their bags by the closet. “Okay, if I unpack this tomorrow?”

“That’s fine. I’m beat. I just hope I don’t fall asleep in this dress.”
She walked into the closet and grabbed the first oversized t-shirt she found on a shelf. When she reentered the bedroom, Asher had already removed his shoes and his jacket. The buttons of his shirt gaped open to reveal his chest.