Page 30 of Forbidden Temptations

“What?” The question was so unexpected, he rounded on her without thinking.

Yet Scarlet merely looked back, nonplussed. Then, as if he hadn’t spoken at all, she calmly pulled open one of her drawers and pulled out a Tupperware tub and a small packet of chocolate dip. “Do you mind? I had lunch but seem to have missed dessert, courtesy of your little show.”

He nodded, but without waiting for his response, Scarlet had already stood up and was walking around the desk to sit on the edge directly in front of his chair. She crossed her legs. “So, why was it a mistake?”

“You have got to be joking,” he stammered, all too aware of their closeness as the floral scent of her perfume fogged his senses.

“Am I laughing?” she asked, undoing the container's fastenings before carefully balancing the lid on her knee like a plate, then tipping a variable punnet of fat red strawberries out onto it. “If I were joking, Dick, you would be in stitches. Now, this girl-”

“Rebecca,” he cut in, perhaps a little too forcefully, but he didn’t care. He didn’t want her referring to Rebecca in that way. Like she was insignificant.

Scarlet shot him a withering, almost pitying look as she ripped the lid off of her dip. “Okay,Rebecca. You’ve known her a while?”

Richard nodded. “Yeah, she lives in our building. She’s our babysitter.”

She exaggerated rolling her eyes, then plucked up one strawberry and plunged it in the dip. “I never would have guessed, still I suppose a cliché is a cliché for a reason. Okay, so you’ve known her a while. And she comes from a troubled home?”

“Y-you could say that,” he trailed off for a second as he watched her bring the fruit up to her lips, her tongue sliding out to taste the chocolate. He forced himself to look away, his eyes quickly fixing on a point out the window. There wasn’t anywhere else he could look. Her perch on the desk caused the already tiny skirt to rise higher while placing the swells of her breasts just at his eye level…

“Abuse?”

“Something like that. Her old man isn’t much cop with men, but he can be a hard one with women.”

“You sound like you don’t like him.” She bit down on the berry and moaned a low sound of pleasure that seemed to thrum down his spine, all the way to the base of his cock.

“We’ve had words.” Actually, Richard had caught the little bastard threatening to beat his daughter black and blue after he’d had a few too many, and she’d come home late. So he had explained, from one father to another, that that wasn’t any way to treat his daughter.

The guy had gotten the message, at least for a while. However, the sounds from their flat had been growing more and more volatile recently. No doubt he would have to reiterate that little lesson before long.

She popped the rest of the strawberry into her mouth, her tongue skimming out to lick up the single roll of sweetness that was creeping down her chin. “And I suppose her mum just sits there and lets him bully her around?”

“No, her mother buggered off and left her alone with the short-arse, went to live with a boyfriend in Leeds or Bradford or somewhere up North. Rebecca hasn’t seen or spoken to her in years.”

She pondered that for a moment, before picking up another strawberry and nibbling it thoughtfully. “No other family?”

“None,” he swallowed, his mouth and throat growing dry as the office seemed to grow hotter by the second.

“Then I don’t see the problem,” she declared, then slowly took the whole berry into her mouth. “She seems smart enough, enough not to think you’ll leave your wife for her. She’s just confused, as most girls her age are. I dare say you’re the strongest male role model she’s ever had and can’t quite work out how she feels about you. Give her a few weeks to work it out, and she’ll meet some boy her own age. But if you tell her it was all a mistake, you’ll probably just do more harm than good for the poor girl.”

“And what about Alice?”

“Do you love her?” She forewent the fruit entirely this time and dipped her finger into the dip.

“Of course I do, but-”

“Would you leave her for this girl or try to lead either of them on?” Scarlet put her chocolate-covered finger into her mouth and sucked it clean with a long slow draw that had Richard’s fists clenching in his lap.

“Never,” he rasped, his gaze focusing on those pouting pink lips, and for the briefest moment, he wondered what that lush mouth would look like wrapped around his dick.

She shrugged. “Then? What about her? Sex isn’t a luxury, Dick. It’s a necessity. The body needs it like it needs food and water. If you’re not getting any at home, then you need to look for it elsewhere. If having a little on the side gets the urge out of your system, just enjoy the adventure while it lasts.”

“Spoken like a woman who's never been married.”

Scarlet smirked triumphantly and gestured at him with another plump strawberry. “And who never wants to. Humans aren’t monogamous by nature, so why should I be? Just because society demands it? I’m a girl with needs who doesn’t like to be tied down, and matrimony is one big leash, Dick, especially when there are so many men out there I haven’t tried yet.”

She dunked half the berry into the dip. “Besides, what good would telling her do? Cheaters say being honest is the right thing to do, but all they really want is to make themselves feel better about fucking up. She’ll be happier not knowing.”

“It’s still wrong.”

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