"I committed to the next two weeks schedule and I will be doing it. After that I, that means only me, will decide if I will stop working or not!"
He leaned in closer to my face and smirked.
"You can have your two weeks, but you will be too busy to work there any longer after that."
"Busy how? Playing housewife to you?" I shouted.
"No! You will be going to school, full time to finish your degree!" I opened my mouth but he cut me off. "No arguments Lilli. You signed a contract to go to school." He stared directly into my eyes and it was almost becoming one of those ‘who could stare the longest’ contests. When he blinked I wanted to jump up from the seat and scream ‘I win, Loser’. Instead, I sat back into my seat and sulked.
As I sat pouting another thought crossed my mind and I smirked.
"So do you have a mistress lined up yet?" I held my giggle as I watched him blanch.
"W-what?" He looked over at me wide eyed.
"You know, the girl that I am going to become ‘friends’ with?" I nudged his arm with my elbow.
"Lilli, I’m not going to risk losing everything to have sex with some woman."
"So you’re going to be celibate?" I grinned.
"No," he smirked "I’ll have a wife who shares my bed." He wiggled his eyebrows at me.
Laughter burst out of my mouth.
"If you think I’m having sex with you, then you are dumber than I thought." I chortled.
"You know…wait, you think I’m dumb?"
Holding my stomach, the hilarity was just too much.
"Shut up," he scowled at me. "Anyhow…did you not remember the part of ‘consummate’ in the contract?"
I narrowed my eyes on him.
"Oh, whatever, we can lie." I shrugged.
"Lie?" his brow raised "What if someone finds out?"
"Who, Aidan? It’s not like someone is going to sit at the end of the bed and monitor if we have sex with each other, please." I chuckled and shook my head.
"You seriously think you could go four years?" He asked incredulously.
"Nope," I smiled widely. "That’s what the ‘pool boy’ will be for." I made quote marks with my fingers as I said pool boy and started to giggle.
Aidan went silent for a few moments, clearly not enjoying my humor.
"Oh God, Aidan, I am not going to screw some pool boy," I rolled my eyes. "It’s not the right weather for a pool boy." I winked.
"It is when you have an indoor pool," he growled.
"There is an indoor pool?" I asked in amazement. He nodded. "Holy shit," I shook my head.
"What?"
"Did you ever go without anything growing up or were you always a spoiled, little brat?" I teased.
"Yeah, I grew up without parents," he commented shortly.
"Aidan, I didn’t mean…"
A small grin spread on his lips. I smacked his arm.
"That is not funny!"
"Oh, it was hilarious." He laughed at the discomfort he’d caused me.
"So back to this…um..." He brought the conversation back around again.
I groaned.
"Lilli be serious. It’s four years." He exclaimed.
"What’s the longest you have ever gone? And be honest." I asked with a warning tone.
He thought for a moment and then rubbed that back of his head as he admitted.
"Um…like, maybe, three weeks." He looked up to my astonished face from under his lashes.
"Are you serious?"
He nodded.
"Jesus, Iverson, you’re a whore." I giggled.
"I am not," he argued.
"Sure you aren’t," I waved him off. "Like I said, I’ll help you make arrangements." I shrugged.
"So it won’t bother you that your husband is sleeping with another woman?" he asked with sincerity.
"Look, I know that this is just a business deal. I don’t expect the ‘real’ thing." I shrugged again.
I thought I heard him huff.
"So, how do you think that we are going to conceive?" He asked like I was an idiot.
"Uh…I’m hoping that we don’t have to," I chuckled. "Can’t you just buy off a doctor to say that I am infertile? Then you can have a baby with someone else." I smiled brightly at my brilliance.
"Diabolical," he muttered and I smiled bigger. "What if that plan doesn’t pan out?"
"Invitro," I responded quickly.
I watched him hunch his shoulders forward as he tried to think up something else.
"Just let it go, Aidan. You can rope me into marriage but not into my pants." I broke into a giggle fit.
"Shut up," he teased back and pushed my arm.
We landed in New York a little past eight o’clock and, just as Aidan had said, Viola was waiting in a limo for us.
"Aidan," she exclaimed as she pulled him into a large hug.
"Hello Vi," he kissed her cheek. After she released him, he moved to a petite, red haired girl. "Hey Magpie," he hugged her tightly and she hugged him back.
"Hey there Aidan-o!" she giggled.
"How come she gets to call you a nickname?" I exclaimed with my hands on my hips, before laughing.
"Because," he argued and smirked.
"Nice response genius." I smacked his arm teasingly.
"Viola, Maggie, this is Lilli Snowe. Lilli, this is Aunt Vi and Maggie,” Aidan motioned between us with his hand.