The Arrangement (21 page)

He
kicked the front door behind him and headed for the kitchen.

The
bags were vomited onto the kitchen table, which caused half of the
items to fall out of the bag and roll all over the place.

He
stretched his back and groaned. ‘Oh god, I hate shopping.’

The
first thing to do was to switch the kettle on. He knew Scarlett
wasn’t home yet because her car was not on the driveway. She
really was in a bad mood to be gone all day, but he was hoping that
she would go see her sister and vent all her anger and frustration
out on her and then come home ready to talk. He wasn’t sure
what he was going to say when she did come home, or if there was
actually anything he could say to her. It was probably best to stay
silent and allow her to say her piece as many times as she needed to
say it.

Things
would be back to normal in no time.

He
set to work at emptying the shopping bags. All items that were not
really needed were tucked away in the fridge, freezer or cupboards.
The beautiful bouquet of flowers was placed down next to the posh
candles he had brought and the very expensive bottles of wine he had
splashed out on. Tonight, he was going to do everything right in an
attempt to tame Scarlett’s anger. He wanted to show her that he
did love her. He wanted to make an effort so big and loving that she
would forgive him for not sleeping with her, and in a strange way try
to put the affair with Emma out of his mind once and for all.

He
just needed to get everything done before she got home.

***

The
hot sand tickled her toes, as she walked barefoot across the beach.
The sound of the rolling waves breaking against the shore was the
only sound that reached her ears. This part of the beach required a
good twenty minute walk from the public car park, but only two
minutes from the secret little area that Brandon had parked in the
other night.

Scarlett
spotted Brandon long before he saw her.

She
pretended to act cool, calm and casually walked along the beach until
he finally noticed her. Brandon was out on his surfboard riding the
waves back into shore. There was no one else around. It was like
Brandon’s own little private beach. Scarlett carefully lowered
herself down and sat upon the sand. She placed her shoes on the
ground beside her. By now Brandon was lying flat on the surfboard and
paddling towards her. Thankfully, he was far enough away to not
notice the school girl smile upon her face.

Bubbles
of excitement were popping within her stomach.

After
this morning’s failure to find him she had pretty much given up
hope, but here he was. Her jaw nearly hit the sand, as Brandon
climbed off his surfboard and waded out of the ocean. He was wearing
nothing but a pair of swimming shorts. Her light blue eyes started to
map out every toned curve of muscle upon his body, but there was
simply so much that she didn’t know where to start. Did she
start with his rock hard abdominal muscles? Or did Scarlett devote
her attention to those thick muscular shoulders and well crafted
biceps? How about his muscular thighs? Of course the sight of those
powerful legs caused a tingling sensation in a place a woman that is
going to be married shouldn’t feel a tingling sensation. He ran
a hand through his long brown hair like some sort of model and
brushed it back behind his ears.

‘Scarlet.’
He seemed excited to see her.

‘Hey.’
She played it cool. ‘Are you not writing today?’

‘Nah.’
Brandon shrugged his shoulders. Even that small amount of movement
seemed impressive in her eyes. His body was to die for. ‘I will
do some work later, but I like to get out on the ocean. It helps me
relax and allows me to think about what I am going to write.’

‘I
have nothing like that,’ admitted Scarlett.

‘You
should try it.’

‘Next
time I will remember to bring a swimsuit.’ She smiled.

He
smiled in reply. He couldn’t help it. She had a beautiful smile
and he had a beautiful smile. Once one of them started they couldn’t
stop themselves.

‘I
am surprised to see you here,’ said Brandon.

‘Why
do you say that?’

‘I
thought that you wouldn’t want to see me after what happened.’

‘The
kiss…’ sighed Scarlett. ‘We cannot undo what has
happened, but as you said that night. We are friends and I hope that
you and I can remain friends.’

‘So
do I,’ he was very quick to add. ‘So, what brings you
down here? Are you not writing today?’ Brandon placed his
surfboard down and sat on the sand beside her. Scarlett couldn’t
stop her eyes from taking another sneaky glance at his well trimmed
body. She did feel slightly guilty about looking down towards his
groin. How she wanted to see what was under there.

‘Blah,’
she blurted out the word like it was a bad taste. ‘I was doing
some writing this morning. My work on the book is really starting to
come alive. Well, I think you have to take full credit for that. You
have relit the flame of inspiration that had been blown out.’

Brandon
blushed slightly at the compliment.

God,
that was hot.

‘Things
were going well, but then my fiancée came home and managed to
ruin everything as usual.’

‘What
happened? I mean. Do you want to talk about it?’ he asked.

‘Thanks,
but its okay. It is just my family trying to get in the way of my
relationship again. I just wanted to get out of the house for a
little bit and away from him, but it has been a couple of hours now
so I should be getting back before he ends up calling the missing
persons hotline.’

‘You
sure you can’t stay longer?’ asked Brandon.

A
warm glow filled Scarlett’s chest.

He
wanted her to stay.

‘Well,
maybe we can sit here for a little while.’

‘I
would like that,’ replied Brandon. ‘You can tell me about
the scenes you have written since we last spoke.’

Scarlett
smiled.

This
is what she had been looking for. She was looking for a man that was
interested in her and the things that she did. She was looking for a
man that gave her time and put her first before other people. This
had been the reason she had trekked all over town and drove out to
the beach. Brandon was the friend she had been looking for.

The
two of them began to talk books.

***

By
the time Scarlett got home the sun had already set. She dropped her
keys onto the rickety old phone table and stepped out of her sandy
shoes. Even though she had managed to get no work done today, she
still felt like it was somewhat of a productive day. It was Brandon.
She enjoyed his company. It was like an hour with him produced ten
hours worth of inspiration and motivation to write, write and write.
She never got tired of listening to him talk about books, ideas and
writing styles. By just sitting on the beach with him and listening
to what he had to say, she felt like she had learnt so much. He truly
lived and breathed writing. It made her feel like she was some
part-time worker because he was so dedicated and disciplined.

He
was also gorgeous.

That
muscular torso gave birth to all sorts of interesting thoughts.

Scarlett’s
mind returned to the present and she let out a depressing sigh. Here
goes round two. She walked casually into the kitchen, trying to act
like she had done nothing wrong. In truth, she had done nothing
wrong. It wasn’t like she had cheated on him or anything, but
she might leave out the small detail of spending most of the day with
a sexy half naked man that she had a great deal of naughty thoughts
about.

‘What
is all this?’ she looked at the candle lit dinner on the table.

‘It
is for you.’ Lucas smiled nervously.

He
was wearing his posh trousers, his posh shirt and his posh tie. They
were the type of things reserved for the important work dinners when
he got asked to have dinner with one of the members of the board. He
pulled back a chair at the head of the dinner table.

Scarlett
kept a stern expression upon her face.

She
didn’t want him to think she was this easy to win over.

The
problem was she could feel butterflies in her stomach. It had been
ages since he had done something like this for her. The thing was
Scarlett loved it when he did do things like this. He used to do them
a lot, but work took up a great deal of his time these days. They
didn’t really spend any real romantic quality time together.

‘I
know this won’t make up for what I did, but I want to show you
just how important you are to me and how much I love you.’

‘I
see.’ Scarlett pretended to be angry still.

A
day with Brandon has squashed all the anger. Now, she didn’t
really care, but it was the principle. Lucas had caused her so much
stress and worry this last month that he deserved to sweat it out for
a little bit, even if he did do such a nice big gesture for her.

Scarlett
sat down at the table.

‘Would
madam like wine?’ he presented two of her favourite bottles to
the table.

Scarlett
absent-mindedly pointed to one.

She
really was playing hard to get.

Lucas
popped open one of the bottles and poured the contents into her
favourite wine glasses that were stored at the back of the kitchen
cabinet. Lucas picked up his wine glass and raised it in the air. ‘No
more secrets,’ he toasted.

‘No
more secrets,’ she repeated and took a sip.

The
wine tickled the back of her throat as it went down.

God
that tasted nice.

‘I
have prepared for you a gorgeous three course meal,’ explained
Lucas. ‘You have to choice of what starter, side dish and
desert you can have.’ It was so sweet that he had truly gone
out of his way to do this for her. ‘So, for starter you have a
choice of…’ Lucas began to rattle off all the
complicated dishes he had prepared for her, but Scarlett’s mind
had drifted off elsewhere. She was sitting on a beach next to Brandon
with a smile upon her face and a heart that was beating harder than
it had ever done before. She couldn’t get him off her mind.

***

Scarlett
curled her legs up on the couch and cuddled into him. Lucas wrapped a
muscular arm around her slender body and hugged her lovingly.
Scarlett could feel her eyelids growing heavier and heavier with each
long slow breath that she took in. It was starting to get late. The
television grumbled away, as the climax of the movie they were half
watching built into a dramatic shoot-out upon a Russian military
base.

‘Thank
you for tonight,’ she whispered beneath her breath.

It
took a lot for Scarlett to say this.

It
was almost an “I accept your apology”.

‘I
am just glad I didn’t burn anything.’

Scarlet
laughed. ‘I was surprised you didn’t.’

She
closed her eyes and sank against his body. The scent of his
aftershave flowed smoothly up into her nostrils. It was like a
security blanket. It was a scent she had come to love and a scent she
had come to miss when he had been away so much.

‘Will
you be working away again?’ she asked.

‘No,’
he replied. ‘I think this was a one off. Your father wants me
promoted.’

‘I
know the promotion means a lot to you, but you must be honest with me
from now on.’

‘I
will be. I promise.’

‘Okay.’
She could tell from the sound of his voice that he meant it.

‘I
was just so eager to make everyone happy. It was a ridiculous
arrangement that your father offered me, but I was in a no win
situation. If I refused he would have made my work life terrible and
then that would hang over us every single time we went away to visit
them.’

‘Did
you consider my feelings?’

‘You
know I did,’ he yawned. ‘I thought something like that
wouldn’t affect us.’

‘I
like sex, Lucas.’

‘I
know you do.’

‘I
love sex with you.’

The
tone of his voice dropped. ‘I know. I am sorry. I love making
love to you.’

The
image of Emma straddling his lap flashed within his mind’s eye.

He
quickly pushed it to the back of his mind.

‘How
is your book coming along?’ he asked in an attempt to change
subjects.

‘It
is starting to come together,’ she replied. ‘I finally
found the inspiration that I lost. I don’t think it will be too
long until I actually have the first draft ready. I am just happy
that the love story is really coming together. I think a romance
novel with a weak love story would just show me in a very bad light
as an author, you know what I mean?’

No
reply came back.

‘Lucas?’
she opened her eyes and tilted her head to look up at him.

Lucas
was crashed out on the couch.

His
chest slowly rose like that of a new born baby sleeping in its crib.

He
looked so peaceful.

Scarlett
couldn’t help but smile as she looked upon his sweet face. This
was the man that she fell in love with. The last two hours had been
the real Lucas. He was the type of man that went out of his way for
her. It wasn’t the big things that she asked for, but just the
little things to remind her that he loved her. It was like meeting a
long lost friend for the first time in years. She lifted herself up
and kissed him softly on the side of the cheek.

‘I
do love you,’ she whispered.

Scarlett
switched off the television with the remote control and cuddled into
him. Within a handful of minutes she was sound asleep in the arms of
her fiancée.

***

Lucas
woke to the soft gentle sounds of his fiancée. She seemed to
purr like a kitten in her sleep. A smile split his lips before he had
even opened his eyes. It was such a beautiful and relaxing sound. He
blinked himself awake and looked at the sleeping beauty beside him.
Scarlett looked so peaceful. It broke his heart to remember what he
had done with Emma. That had been an amazing night, but as he lay
here with the woman he had loved for so many years the realisation of
what he had done was starting to sink in.