Page 12 of Carnal Desire (Sapphic Billionaire Club #1)

Ariel

I was too dazed with pleasure to be tactful or even consider the words that were tumbling from my mouth. I was operating purely on instinct now.

“Um. What?”

It wasn’t quite the excitement I was hoping for. Sadie was looking at me like I was insane. Time to downshift.

“I like you Sadie. I know we talked about you staying with me as a guest, but I’d love to have you stay as a girlfriend.”

“Are you orgasm drunk or something? I can’t be your girlfriend!”

Her voice was shrill enough that I winced. She stepped away and my feet slid down to the bottom of the pool. Idly, I wondered where my bikini bottoms were.

“Why not?”

“Because you’re some fancy billionaire CEO person and I’m your freaking house cleaner.” She waved her hand between us. “We don’t fit together.”

“Maeve is the CEO,” I said. “I’m the COO.”

“I don’t even know what that is,” she said, trying to stalk away from me but with the buoyancy of the water, it was more like gliding.

God she was stunning. And the way she took control just now – it was everything I never knew I wanted. My brain had disconnected in a way that never happened when I was having sex with another person. I couldn’t wait to do it again.

“The COO is in charge of the company’s operations…” I began but stopped when she threw a glare over her shoulder that could melt steel.

For such a tiny thing she was kind of ferocious when she was angry. I just didn’t get why she was angry in the first place.

Tucking my breasts back into my top, I snatched up the bikini bottoms floating on the surface of the pool and followed Sadie to the staircase on the shallow end of the pool.

“Sadie,” I said, grabbing her arm. “I don’t understand why you’re mad. I thought you liked me too. Did I imagine that?”

She was quiet for a few seconds before turning around to face me.

“You didn’t imagine it,” she admitted softly.

The weight on my chest lightened.

“Then why can’t we date? Why does me asking you to be my girlfriend freak you out?”

“I just… I don’t know what this even is, Ariel,” she said. “People like you don’t date people like me. You clearly have some kind of hero complex--.”

“I’m not trying to be a hero,” I interrupted. “I like you Sadie. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before and if there’s one thing I’ve learned in life, it’s that you have to grab onto the good things while you can, before they’re taken away.”

Ashley’s face floated through my mind. She was my first girlfriend. My first love. And the first person in my life to die. My chest squeezed with a pain I usually tried to keep locked up and out of my mind.

“What?” Sadie asked softly. “You look sad all the sudden. What’s wrong?”

I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. My girl was clearly intuitive.

“Nothing.” I shook my head. “I was thinking about this girl that I dated for two years in high school. We were in love, in that super intense way that happens when you’re young.

Her, uh, her parents found out about us and pulled her out of our school, trying to separate us.

They were the ‘pray the gay away’ types. She killed herself.”

Sadie gasped. “Oh, that poor girl.”

I blinked quickly, surprised to realize I was getting teary. I hadn’t thought about Ashley in years, yet the pain of losing her still felt fresh and real.

“She was only sixteen. The pain of her parents’ rejection and the idea of being stuck with them for another two years until she could be on her own, it was too much for her.”

“I’m so sorry that happened,” she said softly, pulling me into a hug.

I rested my head on her shoulder and we both were silent for a few seconds while I composed myself. Lifting my head, I met Sadie’s eyes.

“I promised myself long ago that when I found someone I cared about, I wouldn’t let them slip away from me, or let anyone else’s opinions influence us.”

“I get that Ariel, honestly I do. But you and I come from different worlds, and we don’t even know each other.”

“That’s what dating is for,” I reminded her. “To get to know each other.”

When she didn’t answer I felt a wave of nausea, sure she was about to dump me, but to my surprise she didn’t.

“I like you too, Ariel. A lot. How about this? We can… uh, hang out… date, whatever you want to call it, while I’m here and we’ll see how it goes.”

“While you’re here?” I prodded.

“I’m not going to stay here forever, this is temporary until I get on my feet. Hopefully I’ll be out of your hair in a week or two. Then we can decide what happens next.”

I wanted to tell her that this wasn’t temporary.

That I didn’t want her to move out in a few weeks.

That I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, but I could tell it was too soon.

She was freaking out. Not that I blamed her.

After all, I’d been in love with her for some time, but this was all new to her.

Plus I wasn’t na?ve enough to not understand the differences in our lives.

Most people in my life, both social and business, would have an opinion about me dating my cleaning woman.

It was almost as bad as dating the nanny.

And while I didn’t care what people thought of me, I didn’t want to put Sadie in a bad position, especially before we’d fully committed to each other.

My best plan was for me to agree to Sadie’s proposal, then spend all my energy convincing her that she belonged in my world, and that she belonged at my side.

“So we’re going to date for now, and see what happens? Is that what you’re proposing?” I clarified.

Sadie nodded. “Yes, we can hang out until I get my own place and then if you’re not sick of me, maybe we can try dating when we’re not living together.”

“I’ll never get sick of you, Sadie,” I said firmly.

She rolled her eyes like I was being ridiculous. I grabbed her shoulders and pulled her closer, giving her a long, hard, claiming kiss. When we pulled apart, her lips were swollen and her eyes were a little dreamy.

“I guess we’re sealing this deal with a kiss?” she joked.

“That’s right.”

She headed towards the stairs.

“I’ve got to find some food. Despite that huge breakfast I had, I worked up quite an appetite swimming laps. Are you hungry?”

“Yes,” I said, staring at her ass while she walked up the steps of the pool.

“Great, let’s get changed and raid your fridge.”

Sadie and I headed to separate bathrooms to shower, then met in the kitchen.

We stood side by side examining the contents of the refrigerator.

Maeve, Grace, and I subscribed to a meal service that brought in a combination of prepared meals and groceries each week, which meant we rarely had to go grocery shopping.

I loved cooking and tried to do it several times a week, but I despised going to the grocery store for some reason.

That was one of the many nice things about being as rich as we were: we could outsource the tasks we didn’t like.

We picked out two pre-prepared meals, a salmon and rice dish for me and a beef and mashed potatoes dish for Sadie and popped them in the microwave. While we waited, I cut up a few slices of bread and some cheese to go with the meal, and Sadie set the table and got us sodas and waters to drink.

It was nice working together in the kitchen. Domestic.

The weather was still dark and stormy, perfect for a lazy afternoon, so Sadie and I decided to eat our meals on the couch and watch some more episodes of My Name is Earl. An hour later Sadie was fast asleep, her head on my shoulder. It wasn’t long until I fell asleep too.