The Arrangement (26 page)

‘I
like Brandon.’

‘I
know you do, but what about Lucas?’

‘What
about him? He has been avoiding me and being awkward with me for a
month now. He made that stupid arrangement with dad, which has
damaged our relationship. These days he works all the time and he is
never home. Why can’t I be happy? I have found someone that
gives me something to look forward to. Someone I like and more
importantly someone that actually wants to see me.’

‘What
if he kisses you again?’

‘I-I...’
Scarlett hesitated. ‘I don’t know. Am I a bad person?’

She
gave her sister the old sad puppy dog expression.

‘No.
Wanting to be happy is never a bad thing. I just wanted to make sure
you were fully aware of what you are doing.’

‘I
am.’

‘And
you are still going to see Brandon?’

Scarlett’s
smile said it all.

***

Emma
followed Lucas into the room and pushed the office door closed behind
her. She promptly locked it from the inside. Lucas walked up to his
desk and placed down the two coffees that Emma had picked up from the
cafeteria. Emma placed her handbag on his desk and plucked two
home-made sandwiches from within.

‘Here
is your prawn salad sandwich.’ She handed one to Lucas.

He
smiled like an over excited child. He had been happily anticipating
lunch time ever since he watched her make these this morning. ‘Prawn
and salad is my favourite. You are too good to me.’ He leaned
in and gave her a soft gentle kiss upon the lips.

‘I
like my man to be happy.’ She smiled that charming smile.

‘You
always make me happy.’ He pulled his chair around the front of
the desk so he could sit beside her. ‘Do you have plans for
tonight?’

Emma
sat down in the guest chair and frowned.

‘Is
that really a good idea?’ she asked.

‘Is
what a good idea?’

‘Asking
if I have plans for tonight?’

‘Why
would that be a bad idea?’

‘Because
it sounds like you want to see me tonight.’

‘I
do want to see you tonight,’ he replied.

‘And
what about the woman you are engaged to marry?’

‘What
about her?’

‘Won’t
she get a little suspicious with you working late two nights
running?’

‘I
know that, but...’ a faint blush appeared on his cheeks. ‘I
want to see you tonight.’

Emma
leaned forward and stroked her hand up the top of his muscular thigh.

‘I
want to see you, too.’

‘So,
I can come over?’

Emma
giggled. ‘And what do you plan to come over?’ A naughty
smile split Lucas’s lips and he unconsciously looked down at
her breasts. ‘I am sure we can arrange that,’ said Emma,
as she sat back in her chair. The room fell silent for a moment, as
the two of them exchanged smiles and visualised naughty things within
their minds eyes. ‘But what are we going to do about your
fiancée?’

‘I
honestly don’t know.’ Lucas opened up his sandwich. ‘I
won’t be able to stay with her after what we have done. I think
a relationship has to be built on a strong foundation of trust and,
even though, she doesn’t know about us. I know what we have
done. So, if for some reason you broke up with me. I still wouldn’t
be able to stay with Scarlett. I will have to tell her what I have
done.’

‘You
are really going to tell her?’ asked Emma.

‘I
have, too. I owe her that much.’

‘What
will happen to us?’

‘What
do you mean? What will happen to us?’

‘Well,
where do we go from here?’ asked Emma.

‘We
go to your home and then we take off our clothes and we f...’

‘You
know what I mean.’ Emma acted seriously, but couldn’t
help smile at the very idea of it.

‘I
think we build on what we have.’

‘How
do you mean?’ Emma took a bite from her sandwich. She somehow
made eating look sexy in his eyes.

‘I
mean we don’t have to sneak around and do things behind peoples
back. I want to start taking you out and do proper boyfriend and
girlfriend stuff.’

‘You
want me to be your girlfriend?’ She looked slightly shocked.

‘Of
course I do. Don’t you want me to be your boyfriend?’

‘I
want that more than anything in the world.’ She was practically
smiling from ear to ear she was so happy. ‘So, would you say
that I am your girlfriend now?’

‘I
would.’ He smiled.

Emma
moved so quickly that she appeared as a blur. She was out of her seat
and pressing her lips up against his faster than a blink of an eye.
Her home-made sandwich landed on the floor, as she happily kissed him
all over his face. ‘I am over the moon I am so happy, Lucas.’

‘I
have noticed.’ He chuckled.

‘I
don’t believe that you are actually my boyfriend.’

‘You
have to get used to it because I am going to be sticking around.’

She
looked deep into his eyes. ‘I love you.’

‘I
love you, too.’

The
sound of his zip being pulled down was like music to his ears. ‘I
know I said we will wait until we get back to mine, but I want to
give my boyfriend something super special.’ She dropped down
onto her knees. ‘Just sit back and relax.’ Her head was
lowered down towards his lap.

***

Scarlett
flicked off the engine and looked out through the water covered
windscreen. The interior lights of Brandon’s house were on. He
was home. For a long moment she sat in silence and reflected on what
Anne had said. Did her relationship with Brandon really class as an
affair? The emotions she felt within her heart for him had moved
beyond friendship, but they had only shared a kiss. It wasn’t
like they had gone to bed with one another.

‘Who
am I kidding?’ she sighed.

This
was an affair.

She
was crazy about Brandon. Scarlett knew she shouldn’t be here at
his house and feeling the way she does about him. The right thing to
do is to go home and wait for Lucas to get back from work. He was her
fiancée and the man she was supposed to be in love with. The
problem was that Scarlett didn’t want to go home. She wanted to
go inside this beautiful beach front house and she wanted to kiss
Brandon one more time.

Her
mind was made up.

The
car door popped open.

Scarlett
instantly regretted not bringing her coat. The rain was pouring down
like some sort of biblical storm. By the time she had locked the car
her clothes were soaked through to the bone. Her feet moved
automatically towards the front door of the house, but within two
steps her shoes were ruined by the puddles. White mist seemed to
crystallize in front of her face with each breath she exhaled.
Overhead, lightning illuminated the world and thunder rumbled across
the heavens.

She
rang the doorbell.

A
handful of seconds went by before the door opened inwards.

‘Come
in.’ Brandon ushered her in and pushed the front door closed.

Scarlett’s
teeth were chattering together she was so cold. Her nice summer dress
had soaked up the rain like a sponge and now stuck to her skin. She
cuddled her body and began to shake uncontrollably. Water dripped
from her onto the hallway floor.

‘You’re
frozen.’ Brandon looked genuinely concerned. ‘You have to
get out of that dress.’

‘I
don’t have a bikini on today.’

A
naughty smirk climbed up the side of his face.  He didn’t
have to say it out loud for her to know what he was thinking “I
don’t mind about that,” instead he said.

‘I
will find something for you to wear.’

***

Scarlett
walked out the bedroom, drying down her hair with a thick brown
towel. Brandon had loaned her one of his long white shirts. The
sleeves were slightly too long and had to be rolled up to her elbows.
The base of the shirt reached about mid-way down her long silky
thighs. A line of buttons travelled up the centre of the shirt, but
just to make it slightly more eye catching Scarlett had left the top
three buttons open. She knew that Brandon liked a bit of cleavage.

‘Wow,’
he said at the sight of her coming down the stairs.

Scarlett
loved the way he didn’t care that she could see him.

His
eyes were travelling up and down and all around her slender body.

‘You
look beautiful.’

‘Thank
you.’ She blushed. Her eyes dropped to the open laptop, on the
glass coffee table, in the centre of the living room. It was the work
in progress manuscript for Brandon’s next novel. She wanted
nothing more than to sit down and have a good read through it. He was
already on page one hundred and twenty-five. ‘Are you nearly
finished with the novel?’

Brandon
shrugged. ‘I would say three quarters of the way through.’
He held out a glass of wine for her. Scarlett walked by the laptop
and approached him, as he stood by the windows that overlooked the
ocean. ‘You looked like you could do with a glass of wine.’

She
took it from him. ‘That is amazing.’ She looked out at
the sea.

‘It
isn’t bad, is it?’

The
storm was causing high waves to crash down upon the sandy shore.
There was something truly relaxing about watching the rain drops
impact with the surface of the ocean. It looked like the entire sea
was alive. The tapping of the rain against the window reminded
Scarlett of long restless nights when she sat up listening to the
rain, when she should have been studying for school.

‘Have
you done much writing today?’ he asked.

‘No.
Not really.’ Scarlett took a sip from her wine glass.

Brandon
headed towards the couch. ‘Why haven’t you done any
writing?’

‘There
are several reasons really.’ Scarlett continued to stand by the
window. Lightning crackled across the sky above the ocean. From here
it looked as if the entire horizon was a blaze with electrical
flashes of light. ‘The first reason is because my fiancée
didn’t come home last night and I ended up sleeping on the
couch, which meant I overslept. The second reason was because I had
to meet my sister for brunch at her place and the third, and most
important reason, was that it is hard to concentrate when all I can
think about is you.’

Her
words hung in the air for the moment.

‘All
you can think about is me?’

She
nodded a reply. ‘I am crazy about you.’

Brandon
smiled a sweet smile. ‘I am happy. I think about you all the
time, too, but...’ he paused and didn’t continue.

‘What
were you going to say?’

‘It
doesn’t matter.’ He took a sip of his wine.

‘Everything
you say matters to me.’

‘I-I,’
he hesitated. ‘I was going to say, what happens now? But then I
realised, what can happen now? You are engaged to be married.’

‘I
don’t think I will be engaged for long,’ she replied.

‘What
do you mean?’

‘Lucas
has been acting strange and distant for a long time. Our relationship
has been unstable for a while now. I don’t think I am in love
with him any more I am crazy about you. I love the way you look at
me. I love the way you listen to me. I love the way you treat me. I
love the way you care about me. I know that the feelings I hold for
you are more than just friends and still I came here today.’

‘What
do you want to happen today?’

‘What
I want.’ Scarlett pulled his long white shirt off over the top
of her head and dropped it down onto the floor. Brandon’s eyes
nearly popped out of his head and bounced away across the living
room. His mouth hung open and he looked her toned slender body up and
down and then down and up again, just to make sure he hadn’t
missed anything. Scarlett was standing in a matching pair of light
red panties and a light red bra. She slowly walked around the glass
coffee table towards him. ‘What I want is for you to take me
into your bedroom.’ She pushed his muscular thighs apart and
carefully placed her knee between them on the couch. ‘I want
you to lay me down upon the bed.’ She could feel his hands
stroking up across her ribcage and gently caressing her breasts, as
she leaned down towards him. ‘And then I want you to make love
to me.’

She
kissed him.

***

A
frown creased Lucas’s brow, as the house phone continued to
ring and ring. He had been fairly sure that Scarlett would have been
home working on her book today. He pressed his finger down on the
receiver and quickly dialled her cell phone. It went straight to
voice mail He contemplated hanging up, but he didn’t want to be
stressed about calling her later in the day. Lucas had better things
to do. And top of that list was sitting at the desk outside his
office.

‘Hi,
Scarlett,’ he spoke into the voice mail ‘I am going to be
working late again tonight. The contract negotiations that your dad
has got me working on are proving to be somewhat more complicated
than we first thought. I will try to give you a ring a little later
to tell you when I will be home. Don’t worry about making me
any dinner. You go ahead and eat. I will pick something up here. I
will talk to you tonight. Bye.’

He
placed the phone down.

It
felt slightly cold leaving her a message like that, but it felt
colder without adding “I love you,” on the end. The issue
with that was that he wasn’t sure if he did love her any more
That was not in any way her fault, but things had happened that
cannot be undone and his thoughts, feelings and emotions are now
being directed to another woman. This wasn’t fair on Scarlett.
He knew that in his heart.

‘I
have to tell her,’ he said to himself.

***

Doubts,
fears and second thoughts had flowed through her mind in the short
time it took to reach the bedroom from the living room. Scarlett
would be the first person to admit that she has a high sex drive, but
never in a million years had she ever thought about cheating on
Lucas. She was just so mad at him for treating her this way that she
wanted a release. It was true that she was crazy about Brandon and
nervous about coming here today. She had been the one that came onto
him and started all this off, but instantly she had regretted it as
they headed for the bedroom. Now the affair felt real and it
triggered something deep down within the core of her soul that said
that this was all wrong.