Contract with Consequences

‘Neither can I. In fact, I can’t even keep my eyes open,’ Scarlet said as she snuggled back down, her head on his chest, her right arm flopping across his rib cage.

‘I could do with a sleep too,’ John said, glad she couldn’t see the grimace on his face. How in God’s name was he going to go to sleep with her lying all over him like that?

He didn’t, of course. He just lay there beneath her, struggling to control his breathing, and his body. Scarlet fell asleep first, for which John was grateful, because it enabled him to move her off him onto the bed. She immediately curled up into the foetal position, John covering her naked body with a sheet before rolling right away from her.

Once he’d put some physical distance between them, John began to relax. But it was still quite a while before he surrendered his mind and body to the welcoming oblivion of sleep.

CHAPTER TWENTY

SCARLET was taken aback when she woke and saw that the sun was so low in the sky. She must have been asleep for a couple of hours at least!

It wasn’t like her to sleep during the day. Of course, it wasn’t like her to have so much sex during the day. Or any sex at all. She’d read somewhere that having a climax was the best sleeping pill in the world. No wonder she’d passed out. In fact, it was a wonder she’d woken up!

John was still out like a light, she noted as she rolled over.

All due to moi, Scarlet thought rather smugly.

‘Poor darling,’ she murmured, stroking his arm gently till he stirred. When he rolled onto his back and opened his eyes she sat up and smiled down at him.

‘Time to get up, sleepyhead. I don’t know about you but I’m starving. Is there a local restaurant you know which opens early?’ she asked as she swept her hair back from her face. ‘I don’t think I could wait too long before I eat something.’

The sight of her bare breasts was doing wicked things to John’s nicely rested body. But he checked the impulse to seduce her right then and there, reminding himself that the quicker and earlier they ate dinner, the longer the evening would be.

‘The sailing club serves dinner from five-thirty,’ he informed her. ‘It’s only a few minutes’ drive from here, dress is casual, the seating alfresco and the sunset’s worth taking your camera for.’

‘Sounds perfect. Meet you in the living room in fifteen minutes,’ she said. Jumping out of bed, she dashed for the door, no doubt heading for the main bathroom and guest bedroom where she’d left all her things.

‘Scarlet!’ he called out before she could make her escape. She turned in the doorway, no longer shy about showing him her body, he noted. That was a good sign.

‘What?’ she asked.

‘A dress please. And no underwear.’

She blinked, then flushed.

‘No buts,’ he ground out. ‘No arguments. No underwear.’

Her chin came up, her eyes defiant. ‘No,’ she threw back at him. ‘I’m not going to do that.’

‘Why not? You’ll like it.’

‘No, I won’t.’

‘How do you know you won’t?’

‘I just know.’

‘Like you know you won’t like camping? Or fishing? Yet you haven’t tried either. Give it a go, Scarlet. No one will know but me.’

‘That’s one person too many. I agreed to have sex with you, John. I didn’t agree to anything… kinky.’

His eyebrows arched. ‘I would hardly call that kinky.’

‘I would.’

‘Fine. I wouldn’t want you to do anything you weren’t comfortable with.’

‘I don’t intend to. Now, I’m going to go get dressed.’

It was a rather irritated John who rose and set about getting dressed himself, pulling on fresh underwear, a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt. Obviously he had a way to go before Scarlet’s mind was totally consumed by sex. He was the one who was plagued with that problem. His agitation was not improved when Scarlet made her appearance right on schedule, wearing a very pretty floral sundress with a flouncy skirt, tight waistline and a halter-necked bodice. Her blonde hair was bundled up rather haphazardly on top of her head, with lots of wispy strands kissing her face. She didn’t appear to be wearing make-up other than some lip gloss. Even so, her cheeks glowed and her blue eyes sparkled. She looked fresh and beautiful and so sexy, it was criminal.

‘You’re not wearing a bra,’ he said gruffly, spotting the outline of provocatively naked nipples.

She shrugged, the action bringing even more attention to her unfettered breasts. ‘Some dresses aren’t made for bras.’

‘Whatever,’ he said offhandedly, doing his best to get some perspective in the face of his escalating frustration. But it wasn’t easy. He hadn’t realised that his plan to seduce Scarlet into a state of permanent arousal would backfire on him so painfully. He wished now that he was wearing shorts and not hip hugging, hard-on-squashing jeans. But he could hardly change clothes at this late stage.

‘I suggest you bring a jacket or a cardigan,’ he advised her sharply as he headed for his front door. ‘It might get cool after the sun goes down.’

‘I’ll go get one.’

He made no comment, not wanting to delay their departure any longer. The sooner he got her out to the sailing club, the sooner they could eat and the sooner they would be back here, at which point she would do as she was told for once!

Scarlet didn’t say a word during the ride down in the lift, or the drive to the sailing club. In truth she was feeling guilty. And very uncomfortable. Because she had actually done what John had so arrogantly demanded she do, gone out without any underwear on.

Of course, no way was she about to admit it. She’d just wanted to have the experience. Wanted to see if he was right.

He wasn’t, she realised very quickly. She didn’t like it. The braless bit didn’t overly bother her. It wasn’t the first time she’d gone braless, though she didn’t make a habit of it. Having her bottom bare under her dress, however, made her feel terribly vulnerable. Fearful, even. What if a wind blew her skirt up and people saw that she had no panties on?

Every muscle she owned tightened just thinking about such a horrifying and humiliating event.

By the time they arrived at the sailing club she was extremely tense. Thankfully, there was no breeze blowing. The air was still and quite warm so she didn’t need her shawl, and didn’t have to worry too much about any unfortunate wind accidents.

It was a smallish establishment, Scarlet saw straight away, built on a select plot of land right on the harbour. Despite its prime location, there was no pretension about the single-storey clubhouse, or the outdoor eating areas. The tables and chairs were a mixture of wooden and plastic, several of them set up right at the water’s edge under the shade of tall palm trees. Because they were early, they were able to get one of the best tables where no one would be able to block out the view of the sunset. The sun was by then extremely low in the sky and beginning to turn a gorgeous golden colour. Its beauty distracted Scarlet temporarily from any concerns over her panti-less state.

‘How long before it sets?’ she asked John as she sat down.

‘Not long. Time to start taking some photos. I’ll go order the food. What would you like? You can have steak and salad, fish and chips, a roast or Chinese.’

‘Fish and chips sounds good.’

‘Fish and chips it is, then.’

Scarlet got her phone out and started clicking away whilst he was gone, amazed at how the gold colour