Page 57 of The Arianna Arrangement

We hadn’t been sitting for long when Jack appeared, taking the seat next to Leyla. “Hey, baby girl.” Leyla sucked her bottom lip between her teeth while grinning at him through her eyelashes. “I’m so glad I ran into you. Benton’s having a bonfire by the lake tomorrow night and I was wondering if you’d be my date.”

The back to school bonfire was always a big deal, and Leyla and I had gone each year since I’d moved here. This year would be different since I was married, but since I’d never used it as an excuse to get laid and make bad decisions, it probably wouldn’t be too different.

Her smile grew as she dipped a pretzel bite in icing. “Sounds good.”

Jack’s eyes flicked from hers, to her lips, to the snack in her hands, before he leaned down and took a bite, making sure to lick her finger in the process. When he pulled back, that smirk on his face was bigger than usual as he licked his lips and stood up. “Pick you up at eight.”

We waited until he was out of earshot before either one of us spoke. “Damn.” I don’t know how she wasn’t a puddle because I was wet as fuck from that exchange, and it hadn’t even happened to me.

I really needed to get laid.

“I think I definitely need some new lingerie for tomorrow night.” I nodded, completely agreeing that she did because there was no way after that interaction that he wasn’t interested in fucking her.

Chapter 27

Tucker

Ari came home from the shopping trip with Leyla with about fifty bags of items she bought and continued to give me the cold shoulder. She walked right past me to our room, Christian following behind her carrying all of her bags.

My dad and uncles had left a couple hours ago, so I’d had time to unpack all of our belongings and get a grocery delivery on its way. Now, I wanted to spend some time relaxing with my wife.

I found her in the closet, hanging up her new purchases. “You wanna watch a movie or something?”

She looked at me like she was weighing her options, probably trying to figure out if there was somehow a better offer she hadn’t considered before she shrugged. “Sure. Just let me finish this and shower first.”

A weight lifted off of me. Even if she didn’t seem thrilled to spend time with me, she’d agreed. That was progress, right?

“I’ll order some supper. Any requests?”

“Pizza from that place that’s across from Midnight.” Midnight was one of the clubs owned by my family, and Ari always said that was the only pizza she could tolerate in this town. It was far from New York’s, but was awesome in its own, small town kinda way.

After spending all this time in New York, I was looking forward to it. It had been a staple in our house when I was growing up.

“On it.” I walked over and pressed a kiss to her forehead before heading back to the living room to set up for our movie night.

It wasn’t much, but I pulled out her favorite throw blankets and some pillows she’d picked out and set them up on the couch, with a few candles sitting around the room. My mom bought us a shit ton of battery operated candles like she used at her house so we wouldn’t risk burning the place down, and I was glad. If this went how I’d hoped, we’d have a nice talk and end up making up after the movie.

My phone pinged with a text from the guard letting me know our pizza was here and on its way up from the gate. I’d just shut the front door behind me, pizza in hand, when Ari emerged from our room.

My cock instantly got hard seeing her. She was wearing a low-cut black sports bra and a red pair of booty shorts that were so tight it looked like she’d just painted them on. My wife wanted to get a rise out of me, and my dick was definitely giving her what she wanted.

“Food’s here.” I sat it down on the coffee table and headed into the kitchen to get drinks.

Ari hummed. “Good. I’m starving.”

I knew my sister, so I knew they had to have snacked at the mall so I knew she didn’t mean she was physically starving. She was committed to trying to get me to cave.

The thing was, I wanted to make up with her and give her everything she wanted tonight. I just wanted her to understand that part of being partners meant talking about things.

When I walked back into the room, she took a bite of her pizza and moaned. God, she was playing dirty. “This pizza is so good. Best thing I’ve had in my mouth in days.”

Somehow, I managed to not roll my eyes. “Vita Mia.” There was a warning in my voice, but not surprisingly, Ari didn’t back down. I don’t think she’d ever heard a warning that she didn’t view as a challenge.

Dipping her pizza in the garlic butter, she brought it to her mouth, but the sauce dripped and landed between her boobs. “Oops. Silly me.” Slowly, she used a finger to wipe it off, then sucked the finger into her mouth, moaning again.

I was at my limit. Not because my dick was about to burst, though it definitely was, but because this wasn’t how I wanted our relationship to work. “Arianna.” The raspiness in my voice had her looking up at me with a smile, but just because I was having a reaction didn’t mean I was giving in. “This is not how real, healthy relationships work. You can’t just use sex and my desire for you to try to manipulate me or the situation. The only way that this relationship works and we don’t end up married in name alone, living in this house together but completely avoiding one another, is if we have conversations. If we talk about things. Fucking won’t fix our problems.”

Her jaw ticked with irritation. “It’ll fix the only one I have right now.”