The Arrangement (22 page)

‘I
love you,’ he whispered.

Lucas
tried to manoeuvre himself off the couch, but Scarlett had him in a
tight grip. It was the same type of grip a new born baby had when it
held on to its mother’s finger. It had found its safety net and
was not going to let go. Is that how Scarlett felt? Had his actions
made her so lonely and upset that even in her sleep she didn’t
want to be parted from him?

Lucas
peeled her arm off him.

Scarlett
groaned softly and her ocean blue eyes opened.

‘Hi,’
she muttered in a tired whisper.

That
gorgeous smile appeared like a rising sun over the horizon.

‘Hey.’
He put his head back down onto the couch beside her. ‘Did I
fall asleep on the couch?’

‘You
were very tired,’ replied Scarlett.

‘You
should have woken me up. You don’t look very comfortable.’

‘I
am sleeping with you. That is all the comfort I need.’

‘Could
you be any cuter?’ he leaned forward and kissed her softly on
the lips.

Scarlett
let out a long sigh through her nose, as she melted against his
touch. It lasted for only the briefest of moments and then they
pulled back. Smiles were exchanged. Scarlett couldn’t help
herself. She moved in for a second kiss. Lucas was happy to oblige.
Only this time it turned into something else. Within seconds Scarlett
opened her mouth and Lucas slipped his tongue inside. The sweet
loving kiss had turned into something raw and passionate.

Scarlett
found herself being rolled onto her back.

She
looked up at the handsome fiancée as he lowered his lips down
towards her. They embraced in another wild lustful kiss. A satisfied
moan escaped her mouth at the feel of his strong hand upon her
breast. He caressed it slowly over the top of her clothing. Scarlett
could feel waves of tingles rushing throughout her body. She reached
up and stroked her fingers through his hair, as they turned their
heads from side to side during the act of kissing.

A
warm glow danced within her stomach.

His
hand was heading south.

Scarlett
swallowed down the lump in her throat and ever so slyly spread her
legs for him. She could feel the warm touch of his palm against the
inside of her knee. In a slow teasing manner Lucas began to slide his
hand under her dress and up the inside of her thigh. Scarlett could
feel her heart beating at a hundred miles per hour. This is what she
had been waiting for.

Lucas
suddenly stopped.

‘Damn
it,’ he cursed.

‘What’s
wrong?’

Had
she done something wrong?

‘Have
you seen the time?’ He pulled his hand off her thigh and
climbed up off the couch. ‘I am going to be late for work.’

Scarlett
couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

‘You
are kidding me, right?’

‘No.
I have to get in and debrief the board on the deal.’

‘You
are picking work over we me again.’ She shook her head in
disbelief.

‘Don’t
be like that. This is important.’

‘I
am important,’ snapped Scarlett.

She
could feel the tears from the heartbreak coming.

‘You
are very important, but…’

That
but was the thing that ended it all.

‘I
don’t want to know.’ She got up and fixed her dress. ‘Go
to work. I don’t care.’ Scarlett stormed immediately out
of the room.

***

‘I
am sorry.’ Lucas was fixing his tie in front of the bedroom
mirror. ‘I will make it up to you tonight. It can be just the
two of us spending quality time together.’

‘I
am sure something important will come up for you,’ replied
Scarlett.

‘That
isn’t fair.’

‘Wanting
to make love to my fiancé is unfair, is it?’ Scarlett
reached under the bed and pulled out her old travel backpack. She
tucked the rolled up towel neatly inside and headed towards her
bedside table.

‘This
deal could really make my career. We would be set for life.’

‘We
already have more money than we know what to do with.’ Scarlett
grabbed the hard back novel she was currently reading off of the
bedside table and placed that into the back pack, too. ‘What is
your fixation with money and promotion? It is like the way other
people see you is more important than how I see you.’

‘That’s
not true. I really want to succeed with this.’

‘I
have never stopped you. I have supported you every single step of the
way and this is how you repay me? By avoiding me and lying to me. You
had a chance to repair the damage you done. All you had to do was go
into work half an hour late and show me that you still loved me and I
wouldn’t have minded about all this, but I always come second
to your work. I always come second to my father.’

‘Not
this again,’ he sighed.

Scarlett
zipped up her backpack and checked herself in the mirror. She was
wearing a fairly plain and ordinary dress. It was nothing to fancy or
revealing, but she still somehow managed to make this look good on
her. She headed for the bedroom door.

‘Where
are you going?’ Lucas let out a frustrated sigh.

He
was finding Scarlett’s constant mood swings increasingly
annoying.

‘I
am going to spend the day down the beach. Is that okay?’

Lucas
said nothing in reply.

‘I
might see you later,’ said Scarlett.

‘Oh,
don’t say that. That isn’t very nice.’

‘No
its not, but that is how I feel right now, Lucas.’

‘You
can’t hate me that much.’

‘I
don’t hate you, but I don’t see why I should be here when
you don’t seem to notice me.’

‘I
notice you. I love you.’

‘Time
will tell. I am going now.’

He
hated it when she said that. “Time will tell.”

‘Okay.
Have fun down the beach.’ He tried to end it on a positive
note.

‘I
will do.’ Scarlett shut the bedroom door behind her and quietly
whispered beneath her breath. ‘Brandon will want to have fun.’

***

Breathlessly,
Lucas practically fell through the stairway door. The morning had
been a complete and utter nightmare. He had woken up late for work
and somehow managed to initiate world war three with Scarlett. It was
only on his way into work did he realise he didn’t have any
lunch and had left pretty much all of the documents he needed at
home. It didn’t help that the traffic was at a deadlock, which
resulted in Lucas attempting to go a longer route through back roads
and toll bridges in the small hope he could get to work a little bit
sooner. Turning up late for work had meant he couldn’t find a
decent parking place and had to park at a ridiculously expensive
shopping car park ten minutes walk from the building. And to make
matters worse the elevators were down for maintenance.

Could
this day possibly get any worse?

Exhausted
and frustrated, Lucas ignored the usual morning pleasantries and
charged straight down the corridor towards his office. Like most
days, Craig’s office door was open. Lucas kept his head down
and tried to get by without being noticed. He liked Craig, but he was
late enough as it was. He didn’t need Craig’s daily round
up of unimportant office gossip and news.

‘Hey,’
Craig called out to him.

Lucas
groaned.

The
day could get worse.

‘I
am in a hurry,’ he said, as he poked his head in around the
door.

‘I
know. You are late. We have a meeting with the board in five
minutes.’

‘Shit.’
Lucas rolled his eyes.

‘I
delayed it as long as I could. Grab what you have and I will meet you
upstairs.’

‘Okay.’

Lucas
continued on down the corridor and approached his office.

A
frown creased his brow.

Emma
was not sitting at her desk.

Maybe
she was waiting for him inside.

Lucas
burst in through the door and into the empty office. Emma was nowhere
to be seen. She was most likely getting things done in another part
of the floor or down in the toilets, but he did think that it would
have been nice to see her before such a big debriefing of the board
members. Lucas threw his coat on the back of his leather chair and
dropped his briefcase onto his desk. He was about to start sorting
out his files when something caught his eye.

It
was a hand written note.

He
picked it up and read it.

‘Damn
it.’ He dropped himself down into his chair and sighed.

It
was from Emma.

It
was a letter of resignation.

***

The
sound of the rolling waves crashing against the sandy shore filled
the warm sunny air. Scarlett giggled to herself at the sight of
Brandon riding the waves upon his surf board. He had been wearing a
mask of concentration, as he went from prone, to kneeling, to
standing upon the surfboard, but a single smile from her broke his
focus and he went tumbling beneath the surface of the water.

She
liked having this effect on him.

Scarlett
came to a stop and dropped her backpack down onto the hot sand. She
strategically turned her back to the ocean and glanced over her
shoulder. Brandon was wading out of the ocean with the surfboard
tucked under his arm. A little voice in the depths of her unconscious
mind whispered.

‘Let’s
see if this works on him.’

With
her legs kept straight she bent down and unzipped the backpack. She
could feel the fabric of her dress tightening around her body, but
more importantly she could feel it tightening around the curve of her
ass cheeks. Without hesitation or any form of haste, she reached
inside her bag and pulled out the beach towel with the purple whale
sown into the fabric. She could hear his feet scrunching in the sand
with each step towards her. Carefully, she slyly glanced over her
shoulder. She could see his surf board standing vertically in the
stand about twenty feet away, but Brandon was standing right behind
her.

Her
heart nearly stopped.

She
had to bite her lip to stop her mouth from saying anything
inappropriate.

The
way the water rolled down his muscular torso was making her entire
body tingle. Sunlight seemed to sparkle in each drop upon his body
and gave him a sort of Greek god like aura. Somehow, she managed to
pull her eyes away from his rock hard abdominal muscles and firm
kissable pectoral muscles and she looked up into the windows of his
soul.

He
was looking at her ass.

He
was not just looking. He was practically drooling.

Scarlett
tried to hide her smile, but who was she kidding?

She
stood up straight.

‘Hi,’
she said, as she laid the towel on the sand.

‘Hey.’
Brandon was smiling from ear to ear. ‘You look great.’

Scarlett
blushed. ‘Thank you.’ She looked him up and down. ‘So
do you.’

His
smile expanded even wider. ‘I am happy you decided to come down
today. Did you bring a swimsuit? I would love to take you swimming.’

‘I
did.’ She turned her back on him. ‘Do you mind?’
she brushed her long blonde hair to one side and pointed to the zip
at the back of her dress. Brandon didn’t need asking twice. He
pulled down the zip of her dress. She could feel his eyes locked upon
her body, as he unzipped it all the way down to the top of her ass.
Scarlett pulled her arms out of the sleeves and allowed the dress to
fall off her body and down onto the sand at her feet.

She
turned to face him.

‘Wow,’
he hadn’t meant to say it, but he couldn’t stop himself.

Scarlett
was wearing a dark blue bikini that put her entire body on display.
The panties only just covered up the one thing he wanted to see and
the bra almost appeared several sizes too small for her. Scarlett’s
round firm breasts were practically spilling out of her top. Brandon
didn’t know, but that was the entire point.

‘I-I
mean…’ he stuttered nervously, as he looked her up and
down.

‘I-I
mean…’ his eyes were transfixed upon her breasts.

It
felt nice to have a man finally look at her in this way.

‘I
know what I mean and I mean, Wow!’ said Brandon.

Scarlett
giggled excitedly.

‘I’m
glad you like the view,’ she said.

‘So
am I,’ he laughed.

Scarlett
extended her hand towards him. ‘Shall we go swimming?’

He
placed his palm in hers. ‘It would be my pleasure.’

***

‘That
was great work you did,’ said Mr Jefferson.

Mr
Jefferson was one of the company board members. He was only second to
Mr Mills. He was exactly the type of man you wanted to impress, if
you wanted to make it anywhere in this company. He wasn’t alone
in his praise. The entire board room seemed extremely happy with the
work that Lucas had put in on the movie deal. It was a deal that
would bring in millions upon millions for the company and also helped
raise the brand name.

The
tall silver haired man placed an arm around Lucas’s shoulder,
as they headed down the corridor, towards the elevator. ‘That
was good business you did there,’ said Mr Jefferson. ‘And
people that do good business go far in this company. I must admit I
was slightly sceptical when you were hand-picked by Mr Mills to lead
the contract negotiations, but you failed to disappointment. I will
have to keep my eye on you for the future. I think good things will
come your way.’

‘Thank
you, Sir,’ replied Lucas, but he hardly heard a word the old
man said.

His
mind was elsewhere.

His
mind was on Emma.

Why
had she quit?

Mr
Jefferson shook his hand and detoured down the corridor towards a
private function room for the board members. Other important people
that had sat in on the debriefing nodded their heads or gave him
thumbs up, as they followed suit and walked down the corridor. The
short legged Mr Mills was the last board member to leave the
boardroom.