Dangerous Desire The CEO’s Hidden Woman

Chuck shook Scarlett and said, “Hey, this is my uncle Francis. You sleep in his house tonight!”

Scarlett was so drunk that she could not see the man clearly, but she tried to raise her head and nodded at the man, “Hi, Francis!”

Francis stared at her but didn’t say anything. Chuck hurriedly took her into the house and threw her on the sofa, fearing that his uncle would reverse his decision to let Scarlett stay at his place for the night.

“Uncle Francis, I’m so sorry to bother you. But I can’t take her home since…you know, well, Tiffany is around. She’d get mad. But I don’t think I can let her sleep at the hotel alone either. So…please take care of her for the night. I will come to pick her up first thing tomorrow morning!” Chuck thought he’d better leave before his uncle changed his mind.

Francis looked at the woman lying on his sofa. The thigh-high slits of her dress revealed her long, lean, lightly-tanned legs. The alcohol lent a rosy tinge to her cheeks, like rouge. She fell asleep on the sofa quietly with her long eyelashes settled down. She looked like a doll.

He then waved at the housekeeper and said to her in a low voice, “Take her to the guest room.” The housekeeper quickly took this unexpected visitor upstairs, rubbed her face and hands slightly with a soft towel, and then put her to bed.

Scarlett slept comfortably. When she woke up, she felt a bit dizzy and nauseous.

She looked at the king-size bed she was lying on and the luxuriously decorated room, feeling both confused and scared. She had the vague memory of Chuck dropping her off at someone’s house last night, but she couldn’t remember who it was.

Scarlett thought about going to the washroom but went into the cloakroom instead and found that it was twice the size of her entire dorm room. She turned around and found the washroom.

While she was brushing her teeth, she looked into the mirror. It took her a moment to recognize herself: she looked strange and unlike herself with this new haircut.

After finishing her morning routine, she finally remembered to check her phone. Five missed calls. They were all from Bell.

***

“I got drunk and stayed at a friend’s home last night. Don’t worry about me, okay? See you in lit. xoxo”

Sent.

Scarlett had no time to explain to Bell on the phone what had happened the night before, so she just texted her as she rushed downstairs to go to school. The sunshine in the morning helped her recover memories of last night: she had been deposited at Chuck’s uncle’s house last night after she had gotten too drunk to go home. By now, Chuck’s uncle must have headed out to work.

Down the stairs on the right was the large big dining room. When Scarlett arrived at the ground floor, she heard sounds of chattering coming from that direction. As she turned to the dining room, she saw Chuck’s uncle sitting at the table and reading the newspaper.

Scarlett felt a bit nervous, and she froze; her legs wouldn’t move, and she couldn’t take a single step forward. Hearing some sounds coming from outside, Francis folded the newspaper he was reading, put it down, and looked up. He frowned as he spotted Scarlett.

“Good morning, Mr. Sandler!” Scarlett said, surprised. She wanted desperately to disappear or to escape somehow.

“Come, come down and have some breakfast,” Francis said.

“Oh… okay. Thanks…” Scarlett said, even though she was thinking of her literature class. She was getting late.

“Actually, um, thank you, but I have class right now, and I gotta run…” At least, that’s what Scarlett wanted to say. But she was starving, and she was in no position to refuse breakfast. She took her seat at the dining table, her stomach growling.

As she was seated, the housekeeper served her a traditional full English breakfast: back bacon, scrambled eggs, grilled tomatoes, fried mushrooms, buttered bread, sausages, baked beans, and even black pudding. Scarlett felt embarrassed to sit at the same table as Francis, eating this lavish breakfast with him. Francis was even neatly suited up, while Scarlett was tragically hungover. She had bloodshot eyes and sallow cheeks; she looked like a ghost haunting the room.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

But, she decided, nothing is more important than filling my stomach right now. She dug into the food, realizing that she didn’t have to feel any embarrassment because she would probably never meet this man again anyway.

“I’m so glad that you have a healthy appetite, Miss Scarlett!” The cook felt really happy to see Scarlett gobble up all the food. Mr. Sandler hardly had an appetite at all, so she’d never got that same sense of satisfaction and achievement with him.

“Best breakfast I’ve ever had!” Scarlett was always good at praising people and making them feel good.

“Finished?” Francis noticed that Scarlett had finished her breakfast a while ago and was now just sitting there and staring into space. She was obviously totally clueless about what to do next.

“Yes!” Scarlett exclaimed. She seemed to have been pulled out of some dire train of thought– all of a sudden.

“Chuck said he couldn’t come today. So, you will take my car to school. If that would be alright with you, of course.” Francis put his jacket on and walked towards the door.

“Oh… okay, well, thank you! Thank you, Mr. Sandler.” Scarlett responded. But deep inside her heart, she was actually thinking to herself, “No, thanks, I can just take an Uber.” She doubted that an Uber could even drive into this private area, strewn with enormous villas like Francis’s own. Taking a long gulp of the orange juice that sat in the glass before her, she swallowed her idea down in an instant.

When Francis and Scarlett got inside the car, they did not exchange even a single word. Scarlett was busy pulling her dress down because the thigh-high slits made her feel uncomfortable and self-conscious. When the car arrived at the gates of UI, Scarlett thanked Francis again.