Could she even stomach a man’s touch? Silly question after being in his arms, a slave to his kisses. When the clock ticked over ‘til gone ten, she put away her bits and pieces and switched off the lamp at the side of the bed. She was nervous about going to work the following morning. With Harry at his usual day-care, she wouldn’t have to worry with constantly looking over her shoulder.
She lay down in bed, and her last thoughts weren’t of work and her five year plan. They were of a man with brown hair with a few flecks of grey.
Richard Shaw dominated her thoughts and her fantasies.
****
Scarlet dropped Harry off at nursery. She was happy with the good news she’d received earlier in the morning. . He’d been accepted in one of the best schools in the area and would be starting in September. The school had agreed to accept him and administer his medicine with a proper regime filled out by the doctor. For all intents and purposes, she was one happy woman.
The day went by quickly. When Richard came through, he smiled and went to his office. As usual his door was left open. A blush stained her cheeks, and she pushed down the memories of his lips on hers, the taste of him as he thrust his tongue inside her mouth. Her pu**y quivered, and not used to the sensation she ran to the bathroom to splash cold water on her cheeks. She was acting like a school-girl with her first crush.
How she managed to get through the rest of the day without constantly staring at him amazed her. But as the clock struck five she began packing away her things. Harry’s day-care centre was only twenty minutes from work.
“Miss Hughes, can I see you for a second?” Richard called from his office.
Scarlet went in and closed the door as he asked when she entered.
“Please take a seat.”
Her hands were sweaty. Was he about to fire her? She licked her suddenly dried lips and waited to see what he had to say.
“I want to be extremely blunt with you. I’ve never done anything like I did last night. I make it a policy to never get involved with work colleagues,” he said.
She smiled. “I understand, and I know last night was a big mistake and won’t happen again.”
“That’s the thing. I want it to happen again. Every time I see you I want a flat surface and to bend you over it.”
Scarlet opened her mouth and closed it again, not sure what process to take.
“I don’t understand. If you don’t get involved with employees why are you doing this? Are you trying to make me uncomfortable so I’ll quit?” She loved her job, and even though money was tight at the end of the month she couldn’t do without the pay.
“No, I don’t want you to quit.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “I want so much more from you than that.”
“What exactly do you want?”
“One week.”
She frowned and Richard handed over a file. Not sure what else to do, she opened and discovered several pieces of paper with his legible writing and signature on them.
A contract. She held a contract with her name and his name. She began to read, some of the words confusing her muddled brain.
“I get what I want one way or the other. I want you, Scarlet.”
She understood his words, but his intent was way off. This couldn’t be what she was thinking.
“You want me to agree to give you my body for one week?”
“That’s exactly what I want.”
She began to shake.
“Can I be blunt?” he asked.
At this point she didn’t see the use in sugar-coating anything. “Please do.” She’d rather hear every sordid detail from his lips than on a piece of white paper.
“I don’t do relationships or love. I go after what I want, and to put it bluntly I want you for nothing more than a f**k. You’ve got a child without a father on the scene. You should understand.”
His words cut deep. Why did people think she wanted to have sexual relations just because the father wasn’t in the picture?
“I’m sorry, but what you’re asking for I can’t agree to.” She flipped the file closed and handed it back to him.
“I don’t think you should do that. I want you to think about it,” he said.
“There’s nothing to think about. I don’t do this sort of thing.”
“I can make your life hard, Scarlet. Every day of your life. I’ve got the power and the contacts to do this.”
“What are you trying to say?” Scarlet gasped out as she gazed down at the contract in her hand. The trembling of her hand shook the paper.
“If you don’t agree to this I’ll make sure you can’t find a job. I’ll guarantee you’ll lose this one and every other you try for,” he said.
“You can’t do that. It’s sexual harassment!”
“Whom do you think a court is going to believe? Me, an upstanding lawyer with friends in high places or you?”
Similar words had been spoken to her four years ago. She was cornered, and she had no way out. Why couldn’t men ask her out like they did every other woman? Did she have doormat written all over her forehead? Or did they like displaying their caveman freak thing with her?
“What do you want?” she asked. No point in beating around the bush. She didn’t have a choice.
“It’s quite simple. You’re a woman of the world. I want you. I think last night made that clear.”
She wanted him to shut up. To stop saying the awful words. Why did her having a child suddenly make her a woman of the world? He’d laugh in her face and think she was lying if she admitted she’d only ever had one sexual experience. The statistics had been right. It could only take one time to fall pregnant.
“You can’t do this to me,” she said, placing the sheet back onto the desk. The thing burned her more than any shame. That was what he offered, a contract of shame. Her shame.
“I want you to come away with me. Be mine for the next week, and in return I’ll pay you a million pounds.”
Blood pounded in her ears.
“You don’t have that much money,” she whispered. Scarlet glanced back to the door wondering when she could make her escape.
“Actually I do. Even without being a successful lawyer, my family are extremely wealthy. We can buy and choose anything our hearts desire,” he said. He sounded so cocky and arrogant.
“And I’m next on the menu?”
Richard moved from behind his desk and stood in front of her. His grey flecked brown hair and roguish good looks seemed so out of place with the despicable contract he was serving her. He placed a finger under her chin, and to further her shame her body responded.