Contract of Shame (3 page)

The pent-up lust was doubling him over. He walked behind his desk and sat down. The boner he sported would not do any good in their working environment.

“I’m sorry for kissing you,” he said, even though the words were a lie.

“Can we just forget it and move on? I don’t want to think about what happened.” Her hand wiped over those red swollen lips. Richard wondered what they would feel like wrapped around his cock. His thoughts were becoming too fucking explicit.

“If that’s all, I think you should leave,” he said to her in a harsh tone. Scarlet went bright red as the blush spread through her, and she left his office, closing the door on her way out. He watched as she picked up her son and left. She didn’t bother to glance back at him.

In the privacy of his office, he lost his temper. The computer and all of his files fell to the floor when he swiped a hand over the desk. “Fucking useless,” he yelled.

He didn’t want to forget about it. The kiss had started up a chain reaction within him. Scarlet was going to be his, and he knew exactly what to do to achieve it.

“Someone come and clean this mess up,” he shouted.

Richard placed his briefcase back on his desk and stared at the contract. His father had warned him to never let anything go and to always use the resources at his disposal. By the end of tomorrow Scarlet was going to be his.

Chapter Three

Scarlet put Harry to bed as soon as he finished his tea. At four years old he’d be going to school next September. She had several months to wait until that time.

Would Richard have kissed her if he didn’t know about her being a single mother?

She shook her head and growled at her reflection. For the past four years she’d dealt with all the insecurities of being a single parent. She couldn’t justify one insane encounter down to Harry.

Looking away she went through her small apartment and cleared away all of the mess left behind from the night’s activities. Pasta with meatballs had been a big hit with her son. She checked the date on his prescription and made a note to ask for some overtime at work.

His asthma treatment cost a lot of money, and during this time when money was tight, food prices rising and gas at the cost it was, she could only just afford the rent.

Once she’d had a quick wash and changed into her nightwear she went back to her sitting room and began reading a course book she’d paid pennies for at a bargain sale shop. When she heard Harry coughing, she went back and woke him to administer another shot from his inhaler.

Only when he settled and she went to bed did she allow her mind to drift to the night’s events. She ran her fingers over her lips. His kiss had been rough, and she was shocked at how much she liked the possession of his mouth.

What would have happened if they hadn’t heard that scurrying in the distance? Would she have let him take her in the office? Scarlet couldn’t answer the question. Her heart raced when she thought about him. He was over ten years older than she, but she liked his ruggedly handsome appearance and the smattering of wrinkles near his eyes. Even though to her he seemed like a workaholic, he must spend some time with others to make him have some laughs.

His lips had been firm and demanding.
Hands, oh god, his hands.
She wanted them everywhere on her body, and she didn’t care how sluttish that made her sound. For the first time in her life she could clearly see and feel why women allowed men to have anything so long as they kept touching them, making sweet love to them.

Scarlet wrinkled her nose. She shouldn’t be thinking about that kind of action with a man. The only reason he kissed her was because she was the first available female. Richard could have anyone. No one would want her. She was too big, her breasts too large, and worst of all she was broken inside. At least she thought she’d been until Richard had kissed her.

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 pussy 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.

“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.

“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.

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.

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 fuck. You’ve got a child without a father on the scene. You should understand.”

“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.

“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.

The emotions and physical responses he drew from her body baffled her. In the way he was dealing with her, she despised everything he stood for.

“I want you, Scarlet. My blood boils with the need I have for you. I get everything I want. Trust me, the million pounds will set you up for life and guarantee Harry and his asthma are taken care of.”

She pulled away from his grip. “How dare you bring my son into this?” She paced to the corner of the room, thankful the door was closed and curtains were drawn giving them privacy.

“I told you. I’m a man who gets what he wants. I find every person’s weakness, and that boy is yours.”

“How can you use my own son against me?” She hated him. Fucking despised him. Harry meant the world to her, no matter how he was conceived. She’d die for her boy.

“His medical history. You can save his life. His medication is costing a lot of your salary, and then there is the food and rent. I bet you’re only scraping through.”

The file burned her where she touched it. She nodded and left his office. Scarlet turned her computer off. She didn’t go and say goodbye to him when she finally left the building.

Once she collected Harry they went home to their apartment. She cooked him dinner and spent the whole night watching him colour or play.

Could she sacrifice this small thing, her body, for his future? With a million pounds she could invest and make sure he was well cared for.

Scarlet tucked him into bed and read through the contract. Some of the words she looked up in the dictionary, while other words weren’t that hard to figure out. Harry deserved so much more, and for the sake of her son, Scarlet made up her mind.

****

Richard had watched her leave for the night. For the first time since she started working for them, she hadn’t come and wished him a goodnight. Strange, the small things he noticed, like the goodbye at the end of the night, and it was only missed when it no longer happened.

He pulled up a copy of the contract he’d made up. From gazing at the wording his gut twisted. He shouldn’t be doing this. Any respectful gentleman should ask Scarlet out on a date. Shaking his head, despising his decisions, he closed down his computer and left for the night.