Page 33 of Irresistible

Chapter 15

Scarlet woke up the next morning and look at Richard, who was still asleep. It was Saturday morning, so he did not have any appointments to keep. He often attended networking events on Saturday evenings, but he took Saturday mornings to sleep in and recharge his batteries. The night before had been everything she wanted and more. She was unsure of where to go from here, but she tried to put that thought out of her mind and just enjoy the moment. She put on her undershirt and her underwear and walked across the room to the coffee pot that sat near the minibar.

She stopped to think about the enormity of what had transpired over the last several days. Scarlet went from being a forlorn young bank teller who was afraid of love to meeting an incredible man that she could envision having a long-term relationship with. Fulfillment wasn't enough to describe it. There was no way she could have imagined this even a few days ago.

Standing against the minibar, Scarlet clutched and sipped from a paper cup of the coffee she had just made herself. It gave her valuable time to think about what was next. She had no clue how she would explain this to anyone, or even if she wanted to explain it to anyone. There would be no choice but to ask Richard about how best to proceed. He had previously told her that they needed to be discreet. But she couldn't help but think that they were somewhat past that point. She thought that surely a high-powered businessman would be well-versed in these kinds of dynamics. This was a first for Scarlet. She thought she was almost certain to choose the wrong path, which could lead to ruin for both of them.

As she stood pondering the future, she noticed that the screen on Richard's phone was flashing periodically. Undoubtedly, there were emails from various executives unintentionally annoying their boss on a weekend with something that could wait until Monday. She inched closer and closer to the nightstand. As much as she wanted to pick up the phone, she knew that she could never invade his privacy like that. But he couldn't keep her from standing near the phone. He invited her up to the room after all.

The first few messages were emails from random executives with Local Citizens Bank email addresses. There were a few spam emails and news updates in the mix, as well. But just as she was about to head back to the minibar and silently chastise herself for invading Richard's privacy, she noticed another notification pop up on the screen. This was a picture message. She could only make out a small preview of the message, but she could tell that it was a nude picture. The woman was very thin and fit, possessing the proportions of a model or movie star.

Scarlet shook her head as she gathered her clothes from the floor. She wished that this message surprised her, but all she could do was blame herself for thinking that someone in Richard's position could be anything other than a womanizer. Their conversations from the past few days swirled through her mind. It was difficult for her to think that those had all been a sham, but she couldn't rationalize it any other way. She now struggled to picture Richard as anything other than a man who would say anything to get in a woman's pants. The esteemed, respectable gentleman that she thought she had come to know over the past few days was gone. She had no way of knowing if any of his story was even true. He didn't say any of it in front of other people. There was really no way to verify any of it. None of the interviews she saw contained any specifics about his upbringing. None of them characterized him as a rags-to-riches story. Even the interview with the education nonprofit focused on his efforts to help them rather than his reason for doing so. The pedestal upon which Scarlet had so firmly placed Richard over the past few days came crumbling down as these realizations hit her. She finished getting dressed and went to unlock the hotel room door. They had put the deadbolt on to avoid any risk of being interrupted.

Richard moved about in his sleep and sat up suddenly as he caught a glimpse of her preparing to leave the room.

"Hey. Are you going so quickly? I thought we had a great time last night," Richard said, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

"Yeah. I just...I should probably go," Scarlet replied shakily.

"What's wrong? You sound upset. I hope I didn't do anything wrong."

Scarlet didn't really want to give into this. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of being angry over what she had found. It would be better, in her mind, to just leave him wondering where he went wrong. There was no good answer, but Scarlet did possess something of a mean streak. After taking a second to think it over, she decided to let that passion carry her forward and confront Richard about what she saw.

"You hope?! You hope you didn't do anything wrong? Exactly when were you going to tell me that you still regularly get nudes from models or movie stars, or whoever else you're still hooking up with. I thought you said you were over that!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Richard said, stone-faced.

"You really are a great liar."

"I'm not lying."

"Well, take a look at your phone!" Scarlet screamed. This was the monster inside her taking over. She tried her best to keep it at bay, but it was a wasted effort from the start.

Richard rolled over and reached for his phone. The picture still sat as the top notification on the screen. He did a double-take, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"Oh, no," he sighed.

"Don't act like this doesn't happen regularly. You're just like all the other guys. You'll say anything just to get what you want, but no one else's feelings matter. You just use people and throw them away."

"Scarlet, believe me when I tell you that this is unsolicited."

"Unsolicited? It came from a number that's saved in your phone! I saw the name 'Carly' on your phone!"

Scarlet was irate, and she was only going to get more incensed. She was known for digging her heels in until getting what she came for. There was nothing that she particularly wanted from Richard in this moment, so she really saw no end in sight.

"Yeah. She's my ex-girlfriend. But I haven't talked to her in over two years. I swear. I know you really have no reason to believe me on this, but we're not together. We're not talking."

"But she's still sending you nudes? Women don't really do that. They don't send unsolicited nudes to their exes. It's kind of a weird thing to do."

"This is not the first time she's done it. She does it every few months in a futile effort to get my attention and hopefully coerce me into getting back together with her. It's childish and it's useless, but she still does it. I've never responded. I delete them instantly and I move on with my life."

Scarlet was unconvinced. No man possessed the sort of restraint that he was claiming to have.

"That's absolute crap and you know it! Why haven't you blocked her number if this keeps happening? Why not get a new phone number?"

"I can't get a new phone number because this one is tied to too many things. It’s the only way many of my employees know how to reach me in an emergency. I didn't actually know you could block a phone number completely until you just brought it up. If I had known that, I would have done it and I'll make sure I do it now."

"That's really convenient, isn't it? I know that you can block a number on your phone, and you don't. You're the CEO of a bank, and you don't know such a basic thing about phone security? I don't believe you for a minute!" Scarlet screamed. She was breathing faster. Her hair was getting tousled. She had to find a way to calm down, but she needed to continue to berate Richard for as long as she could before leaving the hotel.