Contract of Shame (2 page)

“I thought I noticed you. Hi. Opal, I want you to meet, Scar—” Richard stopped speaking, and she knew he’d finally noticed Harry.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Opal, Richard’s younger sister.” The helpful girl held out her hand. Scarlet tore her gaze away from her boss and held a hand out as best she could for the younger girl.

All four of them got on the elevator. Scarlet, aware of Richard’s staring, tried not to fidget. Had he not seen a child before? She didn’t want to even analyse the heat rising up in her body from his penetrating gaze. Richard was way older than she, successful, and way out of her league. A single mother could only dream of having a man like him interested in her. Not that she wanted any kind of attention. Look what happened the last time she gave into the temptation. Temptation had turned sour and had caused her to be in the worst circumstance of her life. She loved Harry, and she had thought she loved his father, way before Harry’d been born. The man had turned out to be a pig of the highest order.

“Why have you brought your son to work?” Richard asked after some time.

“The day care centre was closed. There’s a crèche on our floor, so I’ll have to leave him there for the day.”

“Hasn’t he got the cutest little hands?” Scarlet smiled down at the younger girl, wishing she was as oblivious of the tension between herself and Richard as Opal seemed to be.

“Will this be a regular occurrence?” he asked.

“No. I hope only for today.”

She licked her lips and was out of the lift as soon as the doors had opened wide enough. The red stain of her cheeks couldn’t be disguised as anything other than embarrassment.

“Come to my office when you’re done, Miss Hughes.” Scarlet tensed, glanced behind her, and nodded.

Would he fire her for being a single mother?

Once at the crèche, Harry settled in better than at the day care centre. She spoke briefly with Linda, the lady who cared for the kids.

“His father didn’t want us.” Not the complete truth, but near enough and at least the best explanation her boss was going to get.Scarlet blocked out the rest of her thoughts. She couldn’t think of that man, time, or place.

“I’m here, and I intend to work for my wages,” She buttoned her suit jacket up. The top button beneath her breasts refused, and she left it.

Scarlet glanced up in time to see Richard staring at her breasts.

The open heat from his gaze warmed her from the pit of her stomach all the way through her body, curling her toes. She shouldn’t be having feelings like this for her boss. No matter who he was, she shouldn’t be this affected by him.

“Is that all, Sir?” she asked.

“Yes. For now.”

She left him and made sure to close the door quietly. Without thought, she went about her duties at work. The pounding of her heart made her question her sensibilities.

Chapter Two

Richard watched her leave. His cock was hard and throbbed against the tight, confined trousers he wore. Would he be able to fuck his fist before anyone interrupted him? Shaking his head at the uselessness of his thoughts, he moved a few bits around on his desk. Opal had gone to get some breakfast and a fizzy drink while he dealt with his morning calls.

A click of a button and his computer fired up. His inbox was packed with queries from clients and other colleagues. He hated being a lawyer at times. Most of his cases dealt with married couples or marital disputes, but occasionally he did other styles of law, mainly within family law.

Scarlet was a distraction he could no longer risk. While she had stood in front of his desk and mentioned the father of her child, he had wanted to reach out and take her in his arms.

He had visualised fucking her over or on every surface in his office. She’d look fucking beautiful laid across his desk with her thighs splayed open. He wondered what her juicy cunt would taste like. Did she wax? Or was she a full, real woman with a neatly trimmed bush?

He ran a hand over his face. The lustful thoughts did nothing to compose him in starting his day.

Harry, the kid, put a spanner in the works. The contract he’d planned to use to get her in his bed would be null and void with a kid. Before today he could imagine she didn’t have a child. Richard had thought of her as a single woman with no responsibilities and no one waiting at home. Harry was her son, and Richard saw in her eyes the devotion and love she felt for the small boy.

He slammed his fist against the desk.

“Damn it.”

Lost, that’s what I am. Fucking lost.
Women came to him begging. If not for his good looks then certainly for his money. Richard Shaw came from a billionaire family. His grandfather had started up in the boating business, and when his father took over the boats turned to hotel chains until everything with a Shaw label or copyright stamp was paying money.

The small boy had struck a chord inside Richard. The boy had sandy hair so like his mother’s with a small button nose, and he had smiled. The little boy had smiled at him. So much trust in an infant. He remembered what it was like to put his trust in another person. A woman, he had a distant memory of a woman in his childhood who’d been more like a mother to him than his real one. Like all the other nannies and people he knew, she eventually had left.

He pulled the contract out of his briefcase and thought of Harry and Scarlet. Without giving himself time to process his thoughts, he brought up her employment details. The need inside him was getting harder to ignore. He couldn’t just invite her on a date. She was an employee, after all.

The details on her form were not great. Female, never been married. No current next of kin. Scarlet, according to the minute information, was alone in this world. An emergency note lay at the bottom. Richard recognised the doctor. An old friend from high school. While Wayne, Tony and he had kept in touch from their circle of friends, a few others had gone off and formed their own paths. John Barnes had been much older than them but still one of their friends. A pediatrician.

He enjoyed catching up with a very old friend. They talked about the intervening years and what they’d gotten up to. Richard learned his friend was married with a few kids of his own.

“I take it this isn’t a social call,” John finally said.

“I’ve got a new employee, and it lists your name as an emergency contact for her son. From an old friend to an old friend, what’s wrong with her son?” he asked.

“Richard, I can’t discuss a client with you.”

“The name of Scarlet Hughes.”

“For fuck’s sake. Leave that poor girl alone. She has enough to contend with. If I know you then I know you’ve got some fucking plan in mind.”

“I take it the boy is bad?”

His friend cut him off and eventually hung up. It didn’t matter because after doing some investigating of his own on the internet from the medical words in her employee file Richard discovered her son suffered with asthma.

The medications would cost through the roof.

Richard hated his plan, but he had just thought of the perfect way to make his contract work.

As the day progressed, Richard got through his work with Opal appearing every now and again. He noted she spent a lot of time at Scarlet’s desk. A spark of jealousy struck him when he saw Scarlet laughing at something Opal said.

His parents’ driver arrived around five in the afternoon to take her home. He waited while she hugged Scarlet and then him before going with the driver.

“Come and put them on my desk,” he said to her. Richard got up, intent on working out the kinks in his exhausted body. “I’m sorry about my sister and earlier today.”

“No problems. Opal is a lovely young woman, and in all fairness people who see me with a child get quite a shock.” She bowed her head and made to move away.

“Why did you have a child so early?” he asked. He was not sure why he was taking such an interest when he intended to have this woman anyway.

“Let’s just say I got it handed to me and had no other way out.” A red blush stained her cheeks, and he could read how uncomfortable she’d become.

“Well, Opal sure likes you. She could use a role model right now.” He thought of his sister’s earlier comment about a diet. Scarlet was a full, gorgeous woman. She wouldn’t need to diet.

“I don’t think as a teenage pregnant mum I’d be the best role model.”

Richard reached out and caught her hand bringing her in close to him. Her heady scent of cinnamon invaded his nostrils. She smelt like a spicy ripe peach.

“Opal is having a few problems at school. She’s sixteen and thinks she needs to diet. Her friends are calling her fat among other things.” Richard opened up. He never talked about his sister with anyone, not at work anyway.

“She’s adorable, and soon she’ll see how gorgeous she is.” Scarlet made to move out of his touch, and he stopped her by keeping a firm grip on her hand. “Why won’t you let me go?” she asked.

“I don’t want to,” he said honestly.

“I’ve got to collect Harry,” she whispered. He noticed her eyes droop, and she tilted her head back to look at him. She appeared confused as if her reaction was natural and not forced. For so long the women in his life were fake. Fake tits, fake laugh and fake responses.

Scarlet epitomised all things natural and earthy.

“You can grab him in a second. I just don’t want to let you go.” Richard felt the pull in the pit of his stomach. Her beautiful hair was tied up in a ponytail. He hated it and wanted to see the long blond strands flowing down her back.

He grasped the band and pulled it out of her hair. She winced from the pain of his rushed tug, but she didn’t pull away.

The layers of blond hair cascaded and tumbled around her face.

“You’re fucking gorgeous,” he growled. Richard couldn’t help himself. Scarlet was a drug in his veins. When he started tasting, he’d always want more.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Having you.” Not allowing her to respond he slammed his lips down on hers. He pulled her roughly against his body, the need for full body contact a hunger he could no longer deny.

Her small hands wrapped around him, and in the process he unbuttoned her jacket and thumbed those hard nipples.

Through the fabric of her blouse and bra he felt the full round tips pucker for his touch. He wanted to get his lips on them, to be sucking them. He pulled her roughly, moving a hand behind her head to hold her in place as he kissed her mouth. Richard feasted at her lips.

They were heaving and gasping, and Richard pulled away when he heard a noise in the distance.

He had to remember where he was. Work wasn’t the place for a seduction.

Scarlet jumped back from him and looked around her. Her hands were shaking, and when she saw her jacket undone she began to button it up. He saw the erect points of both buds. Each of her moves was erratic and jerky.
Such a shame for her to hide such beauty behind those clothes.
If it was just the two of them, he’d have her walking round the office all day naked.

Richard stared at Scarlet, at her huge tits heaved over her tight blouse. The jacket she wore buttoned up emphasised her small waist and full rounded hips. Her ass was thick, and he wanted to peel back the skirt and smack it, kiss it.