Page 1 of Carnal Desire

Sadie

Ihummed to myself as I finished mopping the bathroom floor. The bathroom was spotlessly clean when I got here, so I just used the mop with those disposable pads, giving it a cursory swipe, fighting the desire to sit down.

Leaning the mop against the doorjamb, I sighed deeply. I was tired. Bone tired. The kind of tired that comes from months of not sleeping, not eating right, and looking over your shoulder in fear.

I pulled my phone out of the pocket of my shorts to check the time. Two forty-five. This was my last house today since the people whose house I usually cleaned after this one had canceled their service. The line for the homeless shelter didn’t open until seven, so I had a few hours to kill. Maybe I’d head over to thelibrary and read for a while, or use their computers to look for a place to live.

If I could stay awake. They frowned on sleeping in the library.

The familiar waves of self-recrimination and despair rolled over me, nearly taking my breath away, but I did what I always did: I stuffed it down and got to work. I did a quick survey of the bedroom, making sure I hadn’t missed anything, but everything was clean and in its place, just like Ms. Fernandez liked it.

Then again, she’d been gone most of the week. When I came to work last Friday she’d left a note on the counter with her payment, letting me know that she was going away on a business trip Monday and wouldn’t be back until Saturday afternoon.

I loved the way she always left me little notes, always with an extra tip. She was a generous client.

My eyes traveled to the king sized bed in the center of the room. The plush padded headboard was pushed up against the wall so that if a person were to sit up against the headboard they’d be able to look out the floor to ceiling windows on the far wall. The view from there was incredible. Lake Michigan on one side, and the Gold Coast on the other.

One thing about these rich people, they knew how to get the best views.

The bed looked so comfortable. I’d never dared to even sit on it, but with its super thick mattress, high thread count sheets, and the mound of pillows I knew it must be like sleeping in a cloud.

I looked around again, considering. Would it be wrong to take a little nap while I was here? Probably. Well, definitely. I didn’t need to ask to know that my boss at the cleaning agency would frown on me napping in my client’s bed. I couldn’t afford to lose this job and yet I couldn’t resist the idea of resting, just for a few minutes. Maybe I could even take a quick shower afterwards. It would be nice to have some privacy…

If I changed the sheets again when I woke up and cleaned up after myself after my nap, Ms. Fernandez would never even know I’d been in her bed. I only slept in short bursts now anyway.

Surely resting here for an hour or two would be okay. I could just stay until the shelter opened.

My decision made, I kicked off my shoes and removed my bra. It was naptime.

Ariel

“You’re back in Chicago already? I thought you were going to be in Phoenix until tomorrow?”

I nodded my head even though my assistant Theo couldn’t see me. Walking through my front door, I dropped my suitcase in the foyer and headed straight towards the bedroom. I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than a shower, a glass of wine, and a good night’s sleep, in that order.

“You know how much I hate Phoenix,” I said grumpily. “It’s always so fucking hot there. Someone I know was coming to Chicago tonight, so I hitched a ride with them on their private plane.”

Theo chuckled. “I keep telling you that you and your little club should invest in a plane. You’re the only billionaires I know who fly commercial.”

Very few people could get away with calling my ride or dies a ‘little club’. Theo was one of them. He’d known me for years, ever since I’d literally plucked him off the street and given him a job at my company. It had proven to be one of the best decisions I’d ever made. Theo was a loyal and dedicated employee, as well as a good friend.

“I’d rather donate to save the environment than ruin it with private plane pollution.”

Unlike a lot of billionaires in this country, I gave generously to charity. Mostly anonymously. It was a commitment that Grace, Maeve, and I had made to each other years ago – we would use our money to leave the world a better place. Fortunately we all had enough money to live the lives we wanted and meet our charitable goals too.

“You’re all about the environment unless you’re stuck in Phoenix and you have a free ride on a private plan,” he chuckled. “All right then, you have a totally clear weekend and --.”

“What the hell?”

“What’s wrong now?” Theo asked, nonplused by my interruption. Apparently I was ‘a little dramatic’ from time to time, according to my assistant. And my friends.

I stared in confusion at the sight in front of me. There was a human-sized lump in my bed. Had I entered the wrong condo? I looked around quickly. No, this was definitely my bedroom. Was I hallucinating? Maybe I’d gotten heat stroke in Phoenix?

“Someone’s sleeping in my bed!”

Theo chuckled. “Is it Goldilocks?”

I walked around the bed, noting the golden hair sticking out from beneath the comforter, the only thing I could see about my intruder.

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