Page 2 of Carnal Desire (Sapphic Billionaire Club #1)
Ariel
“ Y ou’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.
“I think it is.”
“Wait? You’re not kidding are you?” Theo’s voice turned serious. “There’s someone in your house?”
“Sure is. Do I have a stalker you haven’t told me about?” I asked.
“Not to my knowledge. Do you want me to call the cops?” he asked.
“No, but stay on the line while I figure out what’s going on.”
Quietly I walked over to the closet, looking for a weapon in case this was some kind of crazy person who’d broken into my condo. On the way, I spied a mop leaning up against the doorway of the en-suite bathroom. That was weird, it wasn’t like the cleaning woman to leave things laying around.
I shoved my phone between my shoulder and my chin, gripped the mop handle like a baseball bat, and walked closer to my bed.
“Hey!” I called loudly. “What are you doing here?”
The figure didn’t move.
“Are they dead?” Theo whispered, his voice a cross between fascinated and horrified.
“I don’t know.”
I called out again, and still there was no movement. Cautiously I extended the mop handle towards the small figure buried under my blankets and poked what I thought was probably a leg.
“Hey!” A sleepy voice came from the blankets, although the person still didn’t move. “This bunk’s taken. Leave me the fuck alone.”
“Who are you?” I asked, using my most authoritative voice. “What are you doing in my bed?”
I poked her with the mop handle again. Suddenly the person in my bed sat up and scooted away, the covers dropping to her waist. She was wearing a familiar looking tee shirt with a cleaning service logo.
I blinked in shock. Hold on, I recognized this woman.
I’d spent innumerable hours watching her on my security camera while creating elaborate romantic fantasies about her.
It was Sadie, my cleaning person. She looked around frantically, her eyes wide with fear and her hair sticking up at all angles.
“Sadie? Is that you?”
I knew it was, but I couldn’t believe my eyes. After all the times I’d dreamed about having Sadie in my bed, this couldn’t possibly be real.
“Sadie?” Theo parroted through the phone. “Your cleaning lady Sadie that you have a crush on? She’s sleeping in your bed?”
“Yes,” I said. “I’ll need to call you back Theo, okay?”
“Be sure you do,” he ordered, as if he was the boss instead of me.
I closed the phone and stuck it in my pocket, watching Sadie carefully the entire time.
There was something about this woman. I was fascinated with her.
Her petite figure with soft curves. Her mess of golden blonde curls that always escaped the ponytails she wore to work.
The bright blue eyes that looked a little haunted.
That cute little cupid’s bow mouth that always was set in a serious line other than the polite facsimile of a smile she’d give me when the occasion called for it.
I’d first met her two years ago when the cleaning service sent her over as a possible replacement for Marta, my previous person.
I’d fallen for her immediately, even though I knew it was ridiculous.
I didn’t know the first thing about her, yet I’d spent the last two years making up excuses to justify watching her on the security camera set up in the foyer facing the main living area.
I’d told myself that I was a pervert, lusting after my cleaning lady like something out of a bad novel.
Yet something about her fascinated me, enough that I did my best to avoid her.
I never wanted to make her uncomfortable or misuse my positional power, even if I did sometimes have the feeling that Sadie was as attracted to me as I was to her on the rare occasions we ran into each other.
“Sadie.” She jumped as I repeated her name in a stern tone. “Why are you sleeping in my bed?”
Then to my horror, she began to cry.