A Negotiated Marriage

by Noelle Adams

  He slanted her an annoyed look. “I don’t need instruction on how to eat. Am I twelve?”

  “No, you’re not. So don’t eat like you’re twelve.”

  “I thought one of the benefits of our arrangement was that I wouldn’t have to be nagged.”

  “I’m not sure why you thought that. No nagging was never in our contract.”

  “We’ll get that in next time. I’ll talk to one of my lawyers about appropriate verbiage.”

  She laughed, since she could tell from his tone and his expression that he was teasing. The truth was she almost never nagged him, and she wasn’t sure why she wanted to now.

  She leaned back in her chair, chewed her chocolates, and watched idly as he ate, pleased he was eating all of the salad—vegetables included.

  After a minute or two, he gave her another questioning look. “What’s up, Molly?”

  “Nothing.” She frowned, since she’d already answered that question.

  “Did something bother you at dinner?”

  She was about to snap back a reply about minding his own business, but decided it was immature and futile. Obviously, he could tell she was in a droopy mood, despite her attempts to hide it. “It’s nothing, really. Erica just thinks this marriage is a mistake, but she’ll never come out and say so.”

  “Not everyone is comfortable with unconventional arrangements like ours.”

  “I know that.”

  “Why does it matter that she doesn’t approve?”

  “It doesn’t.” She sighed. “I just wish she’d actually admit it instead of passively needling about it all the time.”

  “Not everyone is as direct as you.”

  Molly’s shoulders stiffened. “Why are you defending her? You don’t even like her.”

  “I have no strong feelings about her one way or the other, except to think a career as a gossip blogger is an appalling waste of time and talent.” He put his fork and knife down and took a swig from his bottle. “I just meant you can’t expect everyone to be as open and direct as you are. You’re comfortable sharing your feelings. A lot of people aren’t.”

  “I’m not that comfortable sharing my feelings,” she said, her brief annoyance fading in the face of his neutral, conversational tone.

  He raised his eyebrows and started to eat again.

  “I prefer to,” she added, “If I can. It’s just easier that way.”

  He didn’t reply, but he didn’t really need to. She was lost in her own thoughts, anyway.

  Four years ago, she’d believed that sharing her feelings for Baron was the right and best thing to do. So she had. He hadn’t reciprocated. She wondered if holding back would have saved her the heartache and humiliation.

  Probably not.

  She’d been in love with him, whether she’d admitted it to him or not.

  She dropped her head in one hand, even now feeling a wave of mortification about how it had felt when he’d rejected her.

  “What’s wrong?” Luke asked. “Did Erica really bother you that much?”

  “No. No. I was just thinking about something else.”

  “James?”

  She raised her head and narrowed her eyes. “What makes you say that?”

  “You always get that woebegone look when you think about him.”

  Scowling, she drank the rest of her water. “I was in love with him. I wanted to tell him. I’d actually hoped he was in love with me too. It was… It was awful.”

  Luke nodded, as if he understood. “That’s the point I was trying to make. Not everyone would be able to do what you did.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Some people would never take that risk.”

  “What risk?”

  “Admit they love someone, when they were pretty sure it wasn’t returned.”

  She let out a breath.

  She knew he was right. He was nearly always right about people.

  “So you think that’s what’s going on here?” she asked at last.

  He’d been raising his fork to his mouth, but he froze inexplicably. Looked wary, guarded. “Going on where?”

  “With Erica.” She gave him a confused look, wondering how a mind as focused and quick as his had lost track of their simple conversation. “You think she doesn’t want to risk our friendship by telling me her real feelings about my marriage? That she’s not just being passive aggressive?”

  Looking natural again, he shrugged. “It seems pretty obvious to me.”

  “You’re probably right. That doesn’t mean it’s not annoying, though.”

  Luke smiled as he scraped up the last of his salad. “I never would have implied differently.”

  “I’d have thought you’d be annoyed too, that she wants me to dump you.”

  Luke gave a half-shrug. “It’s always an option.”

  Molly knew it was always an option. Their agreement had stipulated that either one of them could end the marriage arrangement, for any reason at all. Molly, of course, would get a smaller financial settlement if she initiated the divorce than if he did, but both settlements were quite generous. Molly had her doubts about whether she’d accept any money from Luke, should their marriage end, but she knew their pre-nup protected her as much as it protected him.

  She suddenly realized she’d been silent too long, as if she were genuinely thinking over his words. Luke’s face was as composed as ever. There was something slightly tense in his eyes as he waited for her to respond, though.

  “Nah,” she said casually, giving him a wide grin. “I’ll stick this out for a little longer, particularly if you keep bringing home chocolates.”

  Luke chuckled, thanked her for the salad, and turned back to his work as Molly left the office.

  She went to grab another handful of chocolates and her satchel before heading to the couch.

  She pulled her laptop out of her satchel. She needed to review the drafts of final reports for two of her jobs that Rachel had written up that morning. Since she was busy all day tomorrow with meetings, she wanted to get the reports done tonight.

  As she read over the drafts and made some minor edits, she finished her handful of chocolates. After a little while, she also unzipped her brown leather boots and dropped them on the floor in an attempt to make herself more comfortable.

  It was only nine-thirty in the evening, and she felt rather restless. It hadn't helped that Luke had looked so comfortable and undone just now without his jacket and tie on and with the sleeves of his blue dress shirt rolled up.

  She really wouldn’t mind having sex tonight, but it wouldn't be a week again until tomorrow.

  While she wasn’t as horny as she’d been last Friday at the art opening—when she’d barely managed not to suggest renegotiations—her body definitely craved a release, craved Luke.

  Molly sighed and wandered back to her bedroom. She’d feel better if she had a bath. If necessary, she could get herself off at the same time.

  She dumped in some bath salts and then eased her body into the hot water for a soak.

  She could just ask Luke if he’d want to have sex more than once a week. She was sure he would be agreeable to it. She’d seen ample evidence of his attraction to her, and he clearly enjoyed having sex with her, as much as she enjoyed having it with him.

  Molly still hesitated about bringing the subject up, despite her claim just an hour ago that she preferred to say what she felt. Once a week was a good agreement. Often enough to enjoy but not so often it got out of control. The boundaries she and Luke had set on their marriage arrangement were the reasons it had worked so well for so long.

  The boundaries they’d set on sex seemed quite workable as well. Once a week. Either could initiate it but both had to be in the mood. Oral could be offered by the giver but not asked for by the receiver. No anal (that was Molly’s suggestion) and no surprising the other in the office or elsewhere and expecting sex to follow (that was Luke’s). And they would always retire to separate rooms afterwards, so they could r
etain their personal space.

  It was a perfectly good agreement, and it had worked well for the last six weeks and six days.

  Molly just needed to wait until tomorrow so they could have sex again.

  With a frustrated sigh, she slipped her hand between her legs and rubbed her clit in tight circles under the water, picturing herself going back to Luke’s office wet and naked, climbing astride him, and fucking him hard until they both were screaming.

  Very soon, her body tightened and then relaxed in an orgasm. It wasn’t bad.

  But it wasn’t nearly enough.

  She’d gotten out of the bath and had started to dry off when her phone rang. Throwing on her robe, Molly grabbed the phone and was surprised but not unhappy to hear Baron James on the other end of the line.

  He called her every now and then—just to check in or to occasionally offer her a job. It was a job this time, an intriguing investigation he said he’d rather her do for him than someone on his own company’s team. Molly was happy to do it, but because it would entail going to New York for a couple of weeks, she needed to check the schedule with Luke first.

  She told Baron she’d call him back shortly with an answer, and then she went back to Luke’s office.

  She became conscious of wearing nothing but the slightly damp robe, and she wondered if she should have put something else on. Luke had seen her in this robe any number of times, so she decided it didn't really matter.

  Luke wasn’t in his office. His bedroom door was open, but he wasn’t in there either. And he wasn’t in the living room or the kitchen.

  She finally found him working out in the small third bedroom they used as the workout room.

  He couldn’t have been working out for very long, since he’d still been in his office when she’d passed by it on her way to take a bath, but he was really hot and sweaty now, his t-shirt sticking to his back and his skin soaked with perspiration. He’d just stepped off the treadmill and was wiping his face and arms with a towel.

  As she watched, he slung the towel around his neck and gulped down water from a bottle.

  He must not have known she was there because he jerked when he turned toward the door and saw her.

  “Sorry,” she said with a rueful smile, “Didn't mean to startle you.”

  Luke’s features looked oddly strained, and he wiped his sweaty face with his towel. “No problem.” He evidently noticed then what she wore because he scanned her from her bare feet to her sloppy hair, which was half-clipped up from her neck.

  “I just got out of the bath,” she said by way of explanation. “I thought you worked out this morning.” He worked out regularly—much more regularly than she did—but he wasn’t any sort of fitness nut and he never exercised twice in one day. At least, never that she was aware of.

  “I did.” He didn’t offer any more information on his motivation for working out now.

  “Oh. Well, I just wanted to check about the schedule for the week of the 9th. Baron called. I’ve got a possible job in New York and wanted to make sure we didn’t have anything else going on that week.”

  Luke reached over to pick up his smartphone, which had been lying on a table next to a clean stack of towels. He looked through his calendar with a shake of his head. “Nothing important. There’s the opera we were going to attend, but we can miss that. Otherwise, it looks clear.”

  “Okay. Good. What about the week after that?”

  “James wants you there for more than a week?” Luke’s brow lowered. He was obviously not happy about the extended trip.

  “Not necessarily. But just in case the job takes more than a week. I’ll come back for sure if there’s anything important we need to do the following week.”

  He scanned through his calendar for longer than she would have expected. Then he finally said, “All right. Shouldn’t be a problem.” He put his smartphone down and wiped his face with the towel again.

  “Good. I’ll tell Baron I can do it.”

  This would be the natural time for her to go, but Molly just stood there. Something about Luke at the moment as he wiped the sweat off his skin looked so raw and primitive, so viscerally hot, that she was mesmerized.

  She’d seen him hot and sweaty after working out hundreds of times, and she’d never had the urge to touch him, to kiss him, to rub herself against him.

  She did now.

  She stared, trying to fight the desire that was suddenly coursing through her body.

  “Molly,” Luke said, his voice a little strained. He stood frozen too, his hands tightened on the ends of the towel around his neck.

  “Yeah,” she replied, her voice embarrassingly breathless.

  Luke turned his head so he wasn’t looking at her. “I know this is your home, and you should be able to go where you want, however you want, but…”

  “But what?” She couldn’t really follow his line of thought because she was so distracted by the sight of him. She liked the tension in his body, the way his lean muscles rippled under his shirt as he shifted position.

  Luke looked back at her, his eyes drifting down from her face. His voice was hoarse when he spoke. “I have no problem with our agreement being once a week, but your going around looking like that doesn’t make it easy for me.”

  Molly sucked in her breath, suddenly understanding his words, the tension in his body. He hadn’t been meeting her eyes before, but he did now. And she knew—she knew very well—what that hot expression meant.

  She glanced down at herself, almost in surprise. She’d forgotten she was only wearing the little robe, which clung to her skin because she hadn’t fully dried off. It was slipping a little off her shoulders, and the tie wasn’t quite tight enough. “Oh. Sorry. I didn’t think.”

  “It’s all right,” Luke said, a little less tightly. He’d slanted his gaze away from her again, however. “I’m not saying you can’t. But, if you go around looking like that, it’s going to make me think about sex, whether it's been a week or not.”

  For some reason, the blunt words sent a wave of excitement washing over her. She took a step toward him, noticing a line of perspiration that had streamed down the side of his head and his neck and disappeared in his shirt.

  It really—really—shouldn’t turn her on so much.

  “I was thinking about sex too,” she admitted, startled when her voice came out rather husky.

  Luke’s eyes searched her face. “You were?”

  “I was.” She took another step toward him, until she was close enough to raise her hand to his chest. She pressed it against him, his body firm and hot beneath her palm. “I am.”

  “We could consider renegotiating the frequency of sex.”

  “More than once a week?” she asked, sliding her hand up so it was spanning the back of his neck.

  Her robe had fallen open farther, and Luke’s gaze lowered to her breasts. “More than once a week.” He reached out and, almost gently, pulled the clip out of her hair, which fell in messy waves around her shoulders.

  Then he grabbed her and pulled her into a hard kiss.

  The kiss turned urgent quickly and soon he was stroking her body and she was tugging at his damp clothes. He’d propped her on the table and she was about to grab his erection eagerly when he jerked away, taking a step back.

  “Condom,” he muttered.

  Since she was in a slightly better condition than him, she volunteered to run get one.

  She hurried into her bedroom to grab a condom from her nightstand drawer. She’d started up birth control pills again as soon as they started have sex, but she was still uncomfortable going without a condom.

  Luke, she was sure, was scrupulously careful about his health, but he’d had a lot of casual sex in his life. Unlike her, she assumed he’d been having sex regularly with call girls throughout this last year.

  Plus, she really didn’t want to get pregnant.

  So she’d asked to keep using condoms and Luke hadn’t refused.

  When she’d gr
abbed a condom, she ran back to the workout room to find Luke in the same condition she’d left him in. He grabbed her as she approached and pulled her into another kiss. Molly wrapped her arms around him, the condom packet still in one hand, and pressed her body against his, rocking against his erection.

  It wasn’t long before he propped her on the edge of the table and entered her with an eager thrust, holding one of her legs bent up near her shoulder.

  And it wasn’t long before they were fucking hard and fast, knocking the table against the wall.

  It wasn’t long before she came, letting go of his shoulders and clawing spread-eagle at the table as he brought her to climax.

  And it wasn’t long before he came too, choking out her name as his body released all of its tension.

  Then Molly lowered her legs, and Luke gently pulled out. She was covered with his sweat and hers, and she was sore from the vigorous penetration.

  Luke took care of the condom and pulled his clothes together, but Molly couldn’t seem to move. She gasped desperately, her body aching, exhausted, and so replete she felt boneless.

  When Luke came back over to her, his expression had changed. He appeared relaxed, softened somehow, but his eyes were sharp as they studied her. “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah,” she croaked, trying to heave herself up. “God, that was fantastic.”

  “It was.” His brow lowered as he watched her.

  She tried to stand up but her knees buckled, and she slumped against the table.

  “Are you all right?” he asked again. “Did I hurt you?”

  “No, no,” she reassured him, smiling and kind of touched that he was so worried. “My legs lost circulation. And I’m a little sore. But I’m fine.” She pulled her robe closed and tied the sash. Her face was blazing hot, and her hair was sticking to her damp skin, so she tried to smooth it back.

  The next time she tried to stand up, she was able to keep her balance. She limped a little as she started to walk. She didn’t mind the ache between her legs. Ridiculously, it made her feel quite pleased.

  Luke put an arm around her as she moved, despite the fact that she assured him yet again that she was fine. When they got to her bedroom, he just stood there and kept looking down on her.