Prologue (1)

Her eyelids, lined by full, long lashes, fluttered open as she struggled to adjust to the lighting in the room. Golden sun rays seeped through the tall glass windows, casting a glow on her fair skin. Her luscious dark hair sprawled across her pillow. She let out a relaxed sigh and shut her eyes, relishing in the feel of the silk sheets against her bare skin and the caressing feeling of the soft blanket over her. It took her a moment to come to, her eyes took a long sweep of her surroundings.

There was a fine chandelier hanging above her bed, the room was chill, and soft music filled the room. The only source of light was coming from the tall windows behind her. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her head, the banging in her head was the indication of the kind of night she had. She massaged her temples as it all came rushing to her.

She sat up with a start, clutching the blanket over her. She looked around, this was not her bedroom, neither was it the hotel room Luke paid for, for their second anniversary. This was much bigger and more expensive. She spotted the huge mirror across the bed, she wondered how she had missed it earlier.

It was a large mirror, where you could see the king-sized bed in full. She stared at her reflection, hooded eyes, pale face, with long hair tussled, and sticking out at odd angles. She looked down, only just realizing she was stark naked underneath the fluffy blanket. Flashes of images from the night before slipped into her memory. She groaned aloud and crashed on the bed.

When she set out for her day the previous morning, Scarlett Knowles was not expecting that it would lead her up to this moment, naked and cold in a hotel room with memories of a wild night spent with a man who was not her boyfriend, not even in her wildest dreams…

Now that she thought about it, she had been incredibly dumb. Luke had planned this grand vacation getaway for their second anniversary.

One she had looked forward to, it was not every time you got an “express paid” vacation to Paris. There were many red flags that she had ignored, the first was the fact that she had to lend him some money. Then, she had not given it much thought, Luke had never done anything sweet for her in all the time they spent together. The one time he had made plans, she was not going to let anything get in the way of those plans.

The second blaring red flag was the fact that they arrived to the city separately. His excuse was that he had a huge surprise for her, and that was the biggest mistake because she spent the remaining days of the vacation obsessing about the surprise, she was convinced it was a proposal. This was why she didn’t object when he picked out different hotels for them, she shut her eyes as regret washed over her. How stupid was she?

Scarlett was beaming with smiles as she got out of the cab, she paid the driver and even tipped heavily. She was clad in a silver halter neck dress, that showed a nice amount of cleavage, it hung loosely on her curves. It stopped just below her knee, paired with matching silver shoes. Her hair had been styled to perfection, framing her small face. Her make-up was lightly done but it accentuated her beautiful face, she had on a small coat around her shoulders as she walked into the restaurant where she was supposed to meet up with Luke.

She greeted the doorman at the entrance with a hearty smile on her face as she handed him her coat, she wanted to announce to him she was getting a proposal. That was how happy she was. However, the perfect smile was knocked off her face when she walked up to the reserved table and Luke was nowhere to be found. She checked her wristwatch to be sure, it was 7:15 pm, she was purposely fifteen minutes late.

She was ready as earlier as 6 pm, but she didn’t want to come off as desperate. So, she had waited, watching the time go by, it would make him want her even more, she thought. Luke had emphasized on her being on time, he was never tardy…

“Are you okay, miss?”

She turned around to see a young waiter standing behind her. He had kind eyes and a polite smile. That was when it hit her, she had been standing for a while, she looked around at the other people and then she became flustered, “I am sorry.”

“No problem, miss,” he tipped his head at her. “Are you here alone? The reservation is for two...”

She shook her head, “No, I am waiting for my partner.”

“Can I get you anything while you wait?”

“Wine please, red wine will be fine,” she answered.

He nodded and went to get her order, as soon as she was alone, she dialed Luke’s line but her calls went unanswered, she sent texts but didn’t get a reply in return.

The waiter arrived with her wine. The smile on her face had turned into a frown, she felt hot on the inside, despite the perfect air conditioning. She peeked at her phone and glanced at the door anytime someone would walk through, yet he was nowhere to be found.

A glass of wine had turned into two and then three, she was getting pitiful stares from the other guests who were coupled up. Her cheeks flamed with embarrassment, any time she caught the eyes of the waiter who had attended to her earlier. The minutes rolled by and then it was an hour. She decided she had had enough, she got to her feet, placed crisp dollar notes beside her bill, grabbed her purse and stormed off.

She flagged down a cab and not long after, she was standing in front of Luke’s hotel room. She swiped the key card he had given her, as soon as she walked in, she was hit by the loud music and a very naked Luke with sweat dripping down his back gyrating on top of a lady. She froze at the entrance for a moment. The lady’s loud moans filled the room. Scarlett didn’t know how long she had been standing there, her head was blank, she was not thinking, she could not make sense of anything. Then the lady spotted her, her eyes widened in shock, she frantically tapped Luke’s arm drawing him to a halt, he turned around and when he saw her, his face fell. “Babe...”