Arranged

Chapter 3 - Part 1

Hayley plodded out of the bathroom in her lacy royal blue lingerie. She wasn't someone who spent money on chasing the latest bags or piling up gems and diamonds, but she did love spending money on lingerie.

No one ever saw her in them, except maybe her maid, but a beautiful set of lingerie always made her feel more confident in herself.

And today, Hayley needed to feel better about herself.

She'd stood in front of the mirror for several minutes, her hands pressed against the black granite countertop while she stared at her reflection. Her fair skin and the slight shimmer from the silk portion of her lingerie stood out nicely from the walls overlaid with black tiles.

While she didn't have curves like Julian's secretary, she wasn't lacking.

Hayley sighed as thoughts of Charlene and Julian flooded her mind.

Last night, Julian had come home late. She was still reading, as she always did while waiting for him, and he'd walked in and gone about doing his own thing without a glance at her.

Since getting married, he'd treated her like the invisible woman. But she'd thought he would at least try to play nice with her to make sure she wasn't angry.

Another of her foolish thoughts.

Her feet left the cool, rough stone flooring, and she stepped onto the natural dark hardwood floor of the bedroom.

The dark gray walls in the room did nothing to improve her mood. She sighed again when she looked over at her bed on top of the black leather bed frame that came up to her hips. Where was her dress? Her maid was supposed to bring it in for her. "Doreen," she called out.

She glanced over at the door when it swung open, expecting Doreen to come in with her dress.

Instead, it was Julian.

Why did he have to look so good all the time? She got that the magazine covers had probably been edited and all, but every single one of his suits clung to his broad frame, and his shirt was tailored to hint at the chest muscles and slim, flat abdomen.

He'd been at work all day. Shouldn't he at least look a little tired?

"What the hell are you wearing?" Julian's harsh tone snapped her attention back to reality. He had stopped at the threshold to stare at her, and Hayley instinctively wanted to cover herself. But before she could, she noticed the muscles along his jaws twitch.

What was she wearing? Hayley looked down at her lingerie. Isn't it obvious? Whatever embarrassment she'd felt dissipated and was replaced by an overwhelming bout of anger.

She lifted her chin and stared back at him without a word while willing her arms to remain by her sides.

"And why are you calling for someone while you're dressed like that?"

"I need my dress. Doreen was supposed to br—"

"You can't even handle getting your own dress?"

He couldn't stand the sight of her in lingerie, and now he was angry with her for the maid not having brought her dress in? She hadn't asked Doreen to steam her dress. Doreen had noticed a slight crease and insisted she would only need a couple of minutes to straighten it out.

Besides, Julian wasn't even supposed to be here. Weren't they supposed to meet at the company?

Hayley took a deep breath, then marched toward him.

Throughout the last month, he'd been nothing but mean to her. Hayley had swallowed all her anger and disappointment. She'd told herself that Julian was simply having a tough time adjusting to married life, to her presence in his home.