Without one look back, she left the room. I watched her leave with a rigid spine and a rush to her steps.
Once she was out of hearing distance, Dixon turned on me. "What the fuck did you do?" he hissed.
"Nothing."
He glared and took a step closer.
"I simply told her about my situation that’s all." Shrugging, I headed to the couch.
I was thankful for the knock on the door as Dixon headed in my direction, still glaring at me.
"Hey man," Oscar greeted Dixon.
"What’s up?" James spoke next.
The three of them entered the living room. I sat thinking over what just happened between Lilli and me.
How can I convince her to do this? I thought helping her father would be my ticket to closing this deal.
"Aidan!" Dixon boomed from the chair across from me.
"Huh?" I shook my head and looked at his frustrated face.
"I think you need to tell me what the hell happened, don’t you? I won’t let you do something to her," he threatened. James and Oscar look back and forth between us.
"I already told you—"
"And the rest of it?"
"I may have proposed a business arrangement with her." I shrugged.
"You did what?" Dixon jumped to his feet.
"Calm down," I stood up in front of him. "She told me about her father’s health and financial concerns and I told her about my ‘situation’. Then I proposed that we make an arrangement. I would help her if she helps me. I wasn’t being an asshole or whatever, it was just a suggestion."
"Dude…" James said low and shook his head.
"Aidan did you just..?" Oscar looked like he couldn’t even find the words.
Dixon just sat down roughly on the couch and got redder in the face.
"I wasn’t trying to do anything mean. I just thought, actually I still think, we could help each other out."
"Leave her the fuck alone." Dixon seethed.
"Just listen to me."
Dixon started shaking his head.
"Just listen!"
At my insistence, he glared.
"If she agrees to marry me I will arrange for all the financial issues to go away for her and her father. During the four years I will make sure she finishes college." Looking around to each of them, "I think that it’s a win-win idea."
"And what about the kid?" Oscar added. "You expect her to sleep with you and give you a kid, knowing that in four years you will be splitting up? I don’t understand your thinking."
"It’s fucking brilliant." James exclaimed. Everyone turned to look at him. "Oh come on! The company needs to be kept in our family and, if it will help them both out, then what is four years? And as for a kid…hell, people raise children in separate homes all the time. Aidan works hellacious hours as it is and would only have time for weekends, so it’s perfect." James looked as if he had it all figured out.
"Fuck you!" Dixon glowered. "This isn’t just some girl we are talking about! This is my best friend." He looked at me with a death glare. "This is someone who is so much better than you using her and throwing her away when you are done!"
"Dixon, I would never hurt her or force her to do anything she didn’t want to do. It was simply an idea." He wasn’t buying it and he really shouldn’t, because, truth was, I wasn’t going to let it drop that easily. This situation had the makings of the perfect modern arrangement.
"Fuck you, Aidan!" His words full of venom.
"I think I should go." I stood up and headed toward the door.
"Yeah, I think you should." Dixon yelled following me. As I walked down the hall to the elevator, he yelled again. "Stay away from Lilli. She’s not one of your sluts!"
~
Another week passed. I waited without contact for a reason. I hoped she would think more on my suggestion and perhaps start to see the positive of my arrangement. Tonight I would finally see how close I was to succeeding.
At eight o’clock, I sat at the bar with the large envelope in front of me. She appeared behind the bar in tight black denim and tiny halter top. When she saw me, irritation tightened her face. Like a woman on a mission, Lilli walked my direction.
Chapter Seven
Lillian Snowe
Lilli
From the moment I first saw Aidan, he was ridiculously attractive. I mean his thick, messy, reddish-brown hair and the shadow of a beard tracing his jaw line. Then those gray-green eyes and thick lashes, I mean, why do men always get those eyelashes? To top it all off, his lean but muscular build was pretty close to perfection—even through clothing.
My body definitely reacted to his appearance; however, my empty wallet curbed any or all bodily reactions at this point in my life. The only relationships I had were with my closest friends. Any interaction outside of the friend circle were only at the bar with customers and my purely physical relationship with my friend Demitri.