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

by Sadie Grubor

I nodded.

  "Thanks." I got up and grabbed my bag.

  After changing I went back out to the large sitting area. The boat engines started up.

  "You better sit down." Aidan patted the seat next to him. He’d already changed into shorts and a t-shirt.

  "So, tell me about this place?" I settled into the couch. "Is it as over the top as everything else?" I smiled playfully.

  "Over the top?" He cocked an eyebrow and smirked.

  "That’s what I said." I giggled.

  "Well, it’s a pretty large island and it’s completely private. So, it’ll just be the two of us, except for a couple of days a week there will be two guys who come to clean up and do maintenance around the place. Also, once a week a housekeeper comes." He paused. "What do you want to know?"

  "Um…how about, what is there to do on this island?"

  "Swimming, sun bathing, lounging around, snorkeling, hiking, and, of course, we can go to the main land to some restaurants and stuff." He shrugged.

  "Okay…" I sighed. Getting into my bag again, I pulled out my IPod and book. Lying across a couch on my stomach, I put my ear buds in and held my book in front of me.

  I’d gotten one chapter finished when I suddenly felt self-conscious. Looking up, Aidan was watching me, so I pulled out my ear buds.

  "What?" I wrinkled my eyebrows.

  "You’re just interesting to watch." He shrugged. "Sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

  "It’s okay, I guess." Looking back to my book, I still felt his eyes on me. Looking up again, I raised my brows at him.

  "What? You said it was okay."

  "I meant it was okay for making me uncomfortable, not to keep doing it." I shook my head laughing lightly. "I mean, come on…aren’t you bored with looking at me yet? You’ve seen me before." I laughed harder.

  "True, but no." I looked at him confused. "No, I’m not bored looking at you." He grinned.

  "Well stop. You’re making me self conscious." I scowled playful.

  "You have a habit of sucking your bottom lip," He blurted. My face heated up as I fought the reflex to suck my lip. He started to laugh. "You’re trying to do it now, aren’t you?" He laughed harder.

  I tossed my book at him.

  "Shut up!" I laughed. He doubled over in laughter.

  I stood up and walked out onto the deck of the boat. Leaning on the side, I couldn’t help but close my eyes and absorb the warmth surrounding me. The air and sun were so warm. I opened my eyes and looked out into the turquoise and light blue water surrounding us.

  Aidan approached in my peripheral vision.

  "Hey," I smiled and turned back out to the water.

  "Hey," he leaned next to me.

  "The water is ridiculously pretty." Not hiding one ounce of the awe I felt.

  "It’s definitely a break from the murky skies and water surrounding New York." He stood tall. "You want a drink?"

  "Sure." I shrugged.

  "Have a seat, I’ll go grab…what do you want?"

  "Water’s fine." I sat on a lounge chair.

  Aidan returned a few moments later with two bottles of water. We sat talking about the island and how his grandfather had acquired it through a bet.

  "You’re kidding, right?" I looked at him in disbelieve.

  "Nope," He shook his head. "At least that’s the story my grandfather always told us and to be honest I haven’t heard anything to conflict with the story." He chuckled a little.

  "What the hell was the bet?" I exclaimed, with utmost curiosity.

  "Not quite sure. Once he said it was over a woman, another was a poker game and another time it was a horse race." He shrugged and his smile seemed to falter a little.

  "I’m sorry." He looked at me confused. "It must bother you to talk about him. I mean, you were close, right?" Completely aware I was sucking on my lip, I would probably always be aware now he’d pointed out my habit.

  "It’s okay." He smiled bigger. "It’s kind of nice to talk about him. I just…" he stopped.

  "Just what?" I pressed.

  "I guess I feel guilty for being so pissed about his conditions." He looked at me nervously.

  "Well…in your opinion, what do you think your grandfather thought your reaction would be to this?" I raised one brow.

  "He knew I would flip the fuck out." He laughed loudly.

  "Then I think you are safe from feeling guilty." I kept my smile large as I wiggled my brow line.

  "Lilli –"

  "Is that the island?" I blurted as green and brown appeared on the horizon. Aidan’s eyes moved to where I was looking.

  "Yeah, I didn’t realize we’d been sitting here that long." He sighed and stood up.

  As I stood the boat’s engines changed into lower gear, causing me to stumble. Reaching out for the railing, I caught it just as Aidan wrapped his arm around my waist to steady me.

  "Thanks," my cheeks warmed.

  "No problem." Without removing his arm from my waist, he grabbed the railing next to me. I shifted a little uncomfortably, mostly because the feel of him so close was doing dangerous things between my thighs.

  The boat shifted again and I focused out in front of us, we were pulling up to a dock. I could just make out the house set back off the beach.

  "Huh." I breathed out.

  "Not what you thought it would be, huh?" His warm breath on my ear caused me to shiver.

  "Um…no. It’s not –"

  "Over-the-top?" He finished for me. With a nod, I smiled.

  The boat came to a complete stop and we grabbed our things. Aidan led the way to the house.

  As we approached I got a better view of the house. It was more like a beach bungalow, though it clearly cost a great deal of money. It was one story and most of the walls of the house were made up of windows.

  We entered through large glass doors into an open living room, dining area and kitchen. Everything was cream, tan and white. The doors we entered were large glass panels that folded into each other, opening the living room up completely to the outside and the patio. You could literally open up the whole side of the house this way. It was amazing, simple, yet completely beautiful. Aidan showed me down a hallway with four doors. He pointed out rooms as we went.

  "This is the storage and maintenance room. The laundry machines are in there as well." He pointed to a second door across from it. "This is the bathroom." Pushing the door open, I peeked around his body. It was a simple powder room, no bath or shower, just a sink and toilette.

  Reaching a third door, he opened it as well.

  "This is the study or office."

  Looking in, it was in the same color scheme and large wall of window doors. The only difference was the shelves lining the walls with books, a desk and a couple of chairs.

  "This," he moved across the hall, his hesitation sinking in, "is the bedroom." One bedroom.

  He walked in and threw his bag at the end of the bed. I could almost physically see my body do a happy dance, while my head was screaming ‘holy shit’.

  "Through there is the master bathroom." His arm was outstretched and motioning toward a large white door. I walked over and opened the door, looking inside. It was all white and simple again, but it was lovely.

  "It’s really nice." I choked out, trying not to sound nervous.

  "Lilli," Aidan raised an eyebrow at me.

  "Hmm." Keeping my eyes off of him, I walked over to the large window doors and looked out.

  "I tried to tell you there was only one bedroom when we were on the boat." He paused.

  "It’s fine, Aidan. I mean, we have to sleep in the same bed eventually anyway, I guess." I shrugged still not looking at him, afraid he would realize I wasn’t as disappointed as he thought.

  The weight of his eyes were becoming too much. I was never happier to hear a knock on a door. Aidan walked toward the living room. I followed.

  "You can take those to the bedroom, please." He ordered two tall, tanned and very well built men.

  Stepping bac
k, I let them go around me. Once they had followed Aidan’s instructions, they appeared in the living room again.

  "Anything else?" The man had a heavy Portuguese accent.

  "No. Thank you Devan, Bradley." He smiled at them. "Oh, wait. Lilli."

  Aidan walked towards me and took my hand, introducing me to the two men.

  "Devan, Bradley, this is my wife Lilli. Lilli, this is Devan and Bradley. They handle most of the maintenance on the island." He turned to me. I’m not sure what he saw on my face, but I doubt he realized that I was feeling quite thrown by the fact that I was now someone’s wife. I told you about them, they’ll arrive about twice a week."

  "Yes. It’s nice to meet you both." The words finally came out after I got past my mini freak out.

  "Our sister, Carmen, will be in once a week to clean, unless needed more frequently." The one, I think was, named Devan smiled at me.

  "I think once a week is fine. I can clean up after myself." I gave Aidan a questioning look.

  "I clean up after myself." He laughed out at my insinuation.

  "Okay guys, thank you for all your help. We’ll see you tomorrow, right?"

  "Yeah, see you Aidan. Oh, and congratulations." Devan stated. "Yes, congratulations to you and your wife," Bradley added. Aidan and I both smiled and said goodbye.

  He turned back to me. "So, what would you like to do?"

  "I’m definitely going down to the beach," Smiling large, I practically ran to the bedroom for my bathing suit.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  Aidan

  The thought of us having to sleep in the same bed was enticing as well as nerve racking. I obviously wanted to, but at the same time I had to also keep myself in line. Knowing she was pretty adamant on not having sex made it difficult to have her so close in bed, even a king sized bed.

  Introducing her as my wife had rolled off my tongue like it had always been. It was way too easy to label her my wife and feel good about it.

  Following her to the bedroom, I walked in on her digging through a large trunk.

  "I’m going to kill her!"

  "Kill who?"

  She jumped and spun quickly with wide eyes. Strips of material dangled from her hands. Then it dawned on me, those tiny scraps were bathing suits.

  "Umm, Phoebe," She grumbled. "She completely repacked my luggage. The little evil –"

  "What did she pack?" Stepping closer, I leaned over the trunk and caught a glimpse of blue lace before she shut it.

  "Nothing." She groaned. I grinned at her discomfort.

  "Aww…come on." Reaching down, I lifted the trunk.

  "No," she giggled and pushed the trunk down. Luckily I was stronger. "Don’t," she covered her face as I looked inside the trunk.

  "Remind me to thank Phoebe." I chuckled and received a slap on my arm.

  "I’m not wearing those!"

  She pointed to the offending lacy items I’d lifted out of the trunk. Taking the scraps of material in her hand, she walked to the bathroom, shutting the door once inside.

  Getting into my own luggage, I found my swim trunks, got into them quickly and tossed on a t-shirt. I swore I heard Lilli groan from behind the bathroom door.

  "You okay in there?" I shouted, stifling my laughter.

  "No," she groaned and came out of the bathroom. It took everything in me to keep my eyes from bulging out of my head and my tongue from the floor.

  "This! This is what Phoebe considers a damn one piece bathing suit!"

  She crossed her arms, attempting to hide herself, but it just pushed her breasts together and up, causing my swim trunks to feel suddenly tight.

  Thank you, Phoebe!

  Lilli’s ‘one piece’ was navy blue. The top wrapped around her neck and then two strips came down over her breasts in a deep V almost to her belly button. Her abdomen was fully covered, though her sides and back were completely bare. The material continued in a bikini type fashion between her legs and up around her ass, tying very low on her hips. She looked delicious and her anger flushed face made her even more tempting.

  "I’m going to kill her when we get back!" She shouted, walked over and pulled out a thin strapless dress. You could still see the outline of her bathing suit and it was difficult not to feel my balls tighten.

  Noticing my long silence, she turned around and looked at me. I cleared my throat, knowing I had to recover quickly.

  "You finally ready?" Sarcasm would work as a cover up. I hope.

  "Oh, shut up! You don’t have to wear dental floss to swim." She groaned and headed out the door.

  "I could, if that’s what you would prefer to see me in." I grinned and wiggled my eyebrows as she looked over her shoulder at me.

  "Loser," she said quickly, trying not to smile.

  We got to the beach and I watched her bury her little feet in the sand and look out at the water.

  "It’s so clear but so blue at the same time." She was completely in awe of the color of the water. Watching closely, she pulled her hair up on top of her head in a makeshift bun and secured it with a band.

  "Well, what are we waiting for?" I kicked off my sandals and yanked my t-shirt over my head. When I looked over at her she was staring at me. I grinned smugly. She was checking me out.

  "Shut up." She growled like an angry kitten. She kicked off her flip flops and slid the dress off of her body, finally allowing me to ogle her body properly.

  She walked to the water and hesitated at the edge. Running up behind her, I lifted her up bridal style.

  "Damn it, Aidan! Stop," She shrieked. The plan was to throw her into the water but my hands were touching so much bare skin, my body lit on fire and no longer wanted to let her go.

  "Don’t you dare." She warned, clinging to my shoulders and burying her face in my neck. The warmth of her breath on my neck nearly set me back a few thousand years to caveman. I wanted to rip the barely there bathing suit off of her body and claim the hidden skin.

  "Don’t what?" Standing mid-thigh in the water, I teasingly rocked her in my arms like I would throw her.

  "Is the water –"

  "It’s like damn bath water. Here find out for yourself!" Motioning to throw her, she clung to me tighter. Okay, I was a sick bastard. I was only doing it so she would press herself against me.

  "Stop!" she yelled in between laughs.

  Once I stood still again she moved away from my body. Her leg muscle flexed as she put her foot down to the water.

  "Wow, it is really –"

  I took her under the water with me before she could finish. Since the thought of throwing her away from me was unappealing, I compromised to take her under with me.

  Laughing as we resurfaced, she splashed me.

  "You jerk!" she laughed. I splashed back.

  "You loved it!" I argued with a large smile on my face.

  We battled and wrestled in the water for a little while longer before calming down. Lilli seemed to get lost inside her head as she floated on the water and swam around. I decided to swim out further.

  Returning to the shallow waters close to the beach, I looked around for Lilli and got nervous until I spotted her lying on the sand. The small waves were breaking against her body. She was leaning back on her elbows, legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles with her head tossed back.

  Standing waist deep for a few moments, I just took in the sight of her. This was not helping my physical desire for her. As I walked closer I knew I would never be able to remove this image from my mind. Sitting down next to her, she shifted her weight to one elbow and put her hand over her eyes, blocking the sun to look at me.

  "You done practicing for the Olympics?"

  I flexed.

  "Who needs practice?" God I sounded like Dixon.

  "You sound like Dixon." I laughed a little too loudly and she raised an eyebrow at me. She resumed her previous position and I couldn’t help but lick my lips, looking over her body.

  "You hungry?"

  My eyes snapped up to her face, to s
ee if she caught me eye-fucking her. Phew…eyes still closed.

  "Yeah, now that you mention it, I am. Did you want to go to the main land –?"

  "I’m starving." She stood up. "I can cook. You had groceries brought here, right?" She stopped and looked down at me.

  Just when I thought looking down over her body was hot, staring up at her with the sun behind her body made my mouth dry. All of her curves taunting me from above. Shaking it off quickly, I stood up next to her.

  "Yep, there should be food." We grabbed our clothes and shoes.

  Lilli padded directly toward the kitchen. I went to the fridge and grabbed a beer. Leaning back against the kitchen island, I watched Lilli go through cabinets. She was up on her tiptoes trying to look onto a shelf when I sat my bottle down and walked over behind her. Leaning into her back, I practically pressed by body against hers.

  "Need some help?" She froze.

  "Umm…" She shifted nervously. "Is there olive oil up there?"

  I reached over her shoulder to grab the bottle from the back of the shelf, she shivered.

  "You cold?" I teased.

  "No," she said quickly. "I should probably go change before I start cooking though." She slid out from in front of me. "Can you put that on the counter?" she motioned to the bottle of olive oil in my hand.

  I placed it down quickly and grabbed her arm.

  "Here?" I grabbed my t-shirt off my shoulder and tossed it to her. She caught it and looked at me in confusion. "Just throw it on while you cook." She started to argue but I cut her off. "I want you to stay in your bathing suit." She raised her brow at me questioningly. I smiled.

  "There are hot springs not far from here. I figure we could go there after we eat." Shrugging, I grabbed my beer and walked into the living room. Turning on the TV, I plopped down on the couch.

  "That sounds nice."

  From the corner of my eye I watched her slip the shirt over her head. Truth be told, I had to sit down to hide my hard on. Plus, unbeknownst to Lilli, her nipples had hardened under the thin bathing suit material. When I noticed, I almost exploded in my pants.

  Listening to and glancing at Lilli, she clanged around the kitchen. At one point I thought I caught her staring at me, but shook off the hopeful thought.

  She was putting food on plates when I entered the kitchen. It smelled and looked amazing. She set the plates on the kitchen island.