Scarlet Desires (Sample)

Chapter Two

At the end of work that day, Bruce Walsh who had his booth several booths away from Rosalie's but always had a good view of her upper body when she was seated, took off his eyeglasses which were rimless and had blue pale lenses which were rectangle in shape. He rubbed his eyes tiredly with his thumb and index finger as he leaned his elbows on the desk. The handles of his glasses had made lines at the sides of his face connecting to his ears which meant that they were pretty tight. He dragged both palms down his face and sighed deeply as the other workers began to move here and there chatting with coworkers while the others who were eager to call it a day at work gathered their stuffs and hurried off after bidding their close colleagues/friend, goodbye.

Bruce was a man of size, not in height actually but was almost a 6:1 in height, had broad shoulders and could be friendly when he felt like it but most of the time, he was reserved and unsocial and hardly ever left his booth to go chit-chatting like most of the others do. He had brown eyes and a quite handsome face with a stubble of beard that made him look rugged and would have passed for a Hollywood almost major star in the cast if not for the ugly long scar that ran from the side of his neck down to the front of his chest and disappeared into his shirt.

He was the punctual sort and was always properly and smartly dressed. He preferred long-sleeved shirts that reached his wrists which he never rolled up like the other male colleagues did when they were having a hard time or tired time at work. He leaned back into his seat and adjusted his tie so that the noose was a bit loose and he regarded Rosalie. He found her the most beautiful colleague on the floor if not even the entire building and he had tried several times to get her to go on a date with him but had never prevailed.

As he watched her keenly, he realized that she had her head down, obviously arranging her desk and putting the contents in order like she always did unlike most of the others who left their mess for the janitor to clean up. When she looked up, her usual charming smile broke on her face which was not meant for him but for Clenora who was approaching her booth.

"Hey baby!" Clenora called in her African-American accent as she reached Rosalie's booth and Marcy swiveled in her chair to face them from her own booth while Trish slipped out of hers, crossed the aisle to join them till she was flanking the doorway with Clenora leaning with her elbow on the framed window bordering Rosalie's booth.

"How do you bitches plan to spend the weekend?" Trish asked in her usual playful way. "Probably getting laid with the cutest guys available for the weekends." She said cheerily.

Rosalie bit back a smile and shrugged a shoulder gently while Marcy wedged the head of her pen between her teeth and said through the gap in her mouth. "I'm spending enough time with my kids. Promised to take them to the movies this weekend." She said even though she knew Finn had requested they met on Saturday obviously for more rounds of sex but she had turned him down. The last thing she wanted was washing her dirty linen out in public by going around on dates with a married man and she didn't quite fancy such.

"Well, I'm going clubbing tonight, you girls care to come?" Trish eagerly glanced from one face to the other and they were slowly shaking their heads in refusal. "C'mon, it will be fun, just the four of us flirting with any of the dudes we find appealing...it's a free world after all."

"We were actually hoping to stop by at your place and consume three packs of pizza and some wine..." Clenora replied. "A little girls' time together, eh?"

Rosalie nodded in approval. "That could while away some time for me."

Trish sighed, giving up. "Fine, I guess I'd have to entertain you bitches for a while before I go clubbing."

"Unfortunately." Marcy teased and gave her a knowing wink and Rosalie's smile waned when she saw Clenora turn back to look at someone approaching.

"Hello ladies!" Their humble intruder beamed at them, and the women immediately knew what he was up to and who he wanted to see so they each gave one flimsy excuse or the other and returned to their booths, packed up their stuffs in their handbags and set to leave.