The CEO's Painted Skin

The clock strikes at 8:00 in the evening. They just finished eating their dinner.

The masked man entered the bathroom, finally, Catherine has some alone moments. She immediately moved towards the table and fished out the masked guy's cellphone in the drawer.

Her hands were trembling while holding the cellphone afraid to get caught. She tried to unlock the cellphone but it won't open. Damn! She needs to erase all her photos on his cellphone as fast as she can!

Five minutes already come and go, still, she can't open the damn cellphone! Her frustration is rising up to feverish pitch!

Then the door of the bathroom suddenly opened...

Catherine stood frozen holding his cellphone in her right hand. Her face drained of blood out of fear.

The masked guy walked towards Catherine and pry away the cellphone from her trembling hand.

He was amused at her frightened look, he caresses her cheek with his thumb.

"Silly woman, do you think am angry because you tried to open my cellphone?" he asked in a gentle voice, afraid she will just drop faint in the floor.

Catherine's color slowly returns to normal upon seeing that he was smiling.

"You want to erase your photos?" he said.

She nodded afraid to say anything that might provoke him.

"Okay. Come here in the bed with me," he holds her hand and they both climb into the bed.

He dropped his cellphone back into her hands.

"I will give you ten minutes to unlock my cellphone and if you succeed, you can erase all your photos," he said grinning.

Catherine starts doing everything she can to unlock the mobile device yet no matter how hard she tried her best, she still not getting any success.

His fingers played with her long hair. He found it amusing that her face was so focused on the impossible task at hand.

"Ten minutes is up! Catherine, you lose!" he smiled at her pouting lips.

He snatched his cellphone back.

"You see, my cellphone will only open up with my fingerprints," he showed her how.

Catherine's face looked sad.

"Oh, don't be sad. I promise you, no one can see your photos only me. So don't be afraid, okay?" then he kissed her lips.

He propped his head on his hands.

"So, tell me about yourself," he said

Catherine looked at him in the eyes. "Nothing to tell, I got a boring life."

"I don't mind if it's boring. Just tell me," he encourages her.

She cleared her throat.

"I was born from a poor family. My father died two years ago. I have three siblings. Two sisters and one brother. My other sister is my identical twin, I got one brother who was suffering from leukemia, he was 10 years old and my youngest sister was only five years old. After graduating from high school I stop schooling and work early. I have to earn a living because my mother can not work, she has to take care of my brother who is suffering from infection all the time."

The masked guy shakes his head, feeling pity for Catherine.

"How about your identical twin, what is her line of work?"

She let out a deep sigh. "My sister got involved with some bad people, she does drugs, she steals things and I dunno what else she can do and what are the bad things that she had done behind my back."

He squeezed her hands as if trying to show her his sympathy.

"What are you and your sister trying to steal here in our ancestral house? As you can see around this house was lacking of valuable things. You pick the wrong house," he said.

She stared at her hands, filled with shame and guilt.

"It's my sister, she planned it all. She forced me to accompany her. I told her that it's pretty dangerous, but she won't listen to me," she said in a sad tone.

"Why do you have to steal?"

"Because we need the money to bring my brother to the city to get a proper cure for his illness. There is no doctor specialist here in the province." She said, her voice starts cracking, tears were now falling freely from her eyes.

"Oh, that is so sad. You had a very difficult life indeed. Here let me hug you," he gathered her in his arms and rubbed her back.

Catherine tried to stifle her sobs, she wipes her tears with her fingers.

"Since when the last time you cried?" he asked.

"I haven't cried for a long time. I have to stay strong for my family all the time," she answered.

The masked guy gently rubbed her back with more compassion this time.

"You are a very strong woman, a good sister, and a good daughter, your whole family is proud of you. They are very lucky to have you. Please stop crying now."

He was deeply touched by her flight. Somehow, he wanted to take good care of her just for tonight.

He stood up and walked towards his wardrobe. He pulled a box and bring it to the bed. He deposited the box into her lap.

"Open it," he said.

She hesitated a bit and didn't open the box which is the size of a shoe, it's a shoe box.

The masked guy opens the box for her.

There inside neatly piled on top of another was lots of crisp thousand peso bills, lots of money, she'd never seen such lots of money before in her entire existence. Looks like the money was freshly withdrawn from the bank.

Catherine's mouth was wide open.

"It's all yours. My gift to you. You can spend it any way you want. Take it," he said.

"I...I... d-dunno what to say...I can't accept it," Catherine stuttered.

"Take it. I have lots of money in my bank account. You don't have to feel guilty or feel ashame when accepting this money. You totally deserve it. For all the hardship you been through you deserve more. Just let me help you this time," he said in a gentle voice.

Catherine still can't believe it. No one ever gives her money such as big as this one.

The masked guy took the box of money and place it on the table. He retrieves a small black bag from the drawer of the cabinet and stuff the box of money inside.

"You will bring it along with you later when you are going home."

She looked at his eyes to check if he was serious or just joking.

"So, what time you want to go home?" he finally asked.

"At 2:00 in the morning. I want to go home when everybody was already sleeping," she doesn't want the neighbors to see her send-off by somebody's car. The gossip will spread far and wide and she doesn't want people to gossip around her back. She already has lots of problems to worry about.

"Okay, you can sleep for a while, you still have five hours left to rest. I will wake you up when it's already time for you to go home."

She nodded and lay down beside him. He automatically cradled her head in his arms.

"What is your name?" she asked in a sleepy voice.

"Call me...John," he answered.

"John Doe? Is that a fake name?" she smiled.

He smiled back. "I got three names, I had given you one of my names. My mother thought that it's super cool if one of his sons had a long name, so she gave me three names," he laughed.

She giggled.

"So what are the other two?" she asked.

"I will tell you if we meet again," he replied.

Then they both froze.

"You want to see me again?" she was puzzled, her breath was caught on her throat.

"Why not? You don't want to see me again?" he asked.

She didn't answer, instead, she just ran her fingers on his bare chest, noticing for the first time the several scars that were crisscrossing on his skin. But the scars didn't diminish the striking quality of his sculpted body.

"I think we should never meet again," she finally replied.

His heart suddenly stops beating. "Why?"

"Because you are out of my reach. You are out of my league," said Catherine.

He chuckled with her choice of words.

"You already reached me. I have been in and out of your body several times already," he said in a husky voice, he was referring to their steamy unrestrained sexual activity in the last 36 hours.

Catherine giggled. "That's not what I mean-"

The masked guy silenced her lips with a searing kiss that took their breath away.

"Let's leave it to destiny to decide for us, okay?" he finally said.

"Okay," she murmured. Then her fingers absentmindedly wandered to his face, tracing the texture of the mask that secured his face.

"Can I see your face, John?" she requested.

His body instantly went rigid. His tensed hand automatically grab her fingers away from his face.

"I don't think it's a good idea, Catherine."

"W-why?" she detected the hardness in his voice that wasn't there earlier.

He sighed. "This face of mine holds a secret as dark as the night outside. It's best that you don't see it."

"Okay," she breathed. Her eyes dropping, she felt drowsy. Then her eyes were shutting down in the process of sleeping.

John stared at her enchanting sleeping form.

In a few hours, they will part ways. But what they been through together have been imprinted in his mind. He doubted if he can forget this woman.

With the thought of their parting nagging on his mind, he thinks he needs to taste her again for the last time.

He took his time removing her t-shirt, then her shorts. He stored every detail of her almost naked body, he ran his fingers above the surface of her bra, down to her cleavage, then his fingers traveled down to her belly, descending down to her crotch...he cupped her crotch, kneading it for a while. She moaned a little in her sleep, he smiled. His fingers caress her shapely legs. While he was luxuriating on touching every inch of her body. His manhood erected. He shifted on top of her and kissed her lips...his mouth went down to her breast while his hands busy unhooking her bra, freed at last he give each breast an equaled licking and sucking, his hands went down to her crotch and removed her underwear...he freed his enlarged stiff manhood from its confinement, he poised his rod above her crotch and looked into her closed eyes. He wanted to enter her with her eyes open, but she was still sleeping, he can't hold it anymore, his breath straining, his erection went berserk...he slowly plunged into her moist entrance...plunged deeper inside her core...pumping hard deep inside her...her body was shuddering with his every hard thrust, then her blurry eyes flew open, she still got that dreamy look in her eyes. He claimed her mouth for a ravaging kiss, he released more electrifying hard thrust into her core in succession...saliva was already dripping from their mouth...so mind-blowing their sexual mating that both their consciousness were suspended in time...their breathing become labored...eyes dilated with so much passion and carnal desire so intense it exploded inside their body in height dizzying proportion, they climaxed together.

The aftermath of their intense mating left them both breathless and speechless...

They lay still beside each other in the bed, both eyes fixed on the ceiling, their breathing gradually turn normal. They tilted their head to look at each other's face at the same time.

She released a shy smile, almost blushing...

He maliciously grinned at her..."You want a repeat?" he asked.

She laughed a little, hiding her face between her hands. "I'm tired!"

"Okay, that would be the last. Rest a bit, Catherine. In two hours time I will wake you up so that you can finally go home," John said softly.

She closed her eyes again, a moment later she finally drifted into sleep.

This time, John refrain himself from touching her again. He just felt contented staring at her beautiful face.

He can't sleep either, their impending parting seemed to bother him a lot. His attraction for this woman is getting stronger and crazier as minutes pass by. He was clearly smitten by her beauty and innocence.

John was in the state of experiencing a flurry of emotions creating havoc in his brain. When he glanced at the wall clock in his room it's already approaching 2:00 am.

He slowly wakes her up. "Catherine...time to go home."

She opened her eyes, then slowly got up from the bed wrapping the blanket around her nakedness. She scooped her own clothing and entered the bathroom in a haste. Finally, she can go home now! She released a sigh of relief, calmness entered her mind and encompassed her in a warm feeling. She can't wait to leave all these nightmares behind her.

She exited the bathroom with excitement showing on her face. She found John already fully clothed, waiting for her.

She looked at him smiling. "Let's go!"

John stared at her face for a few seconds, not moving.

Then with a few strides, he closed the distance between them and embraced her tight as if not wanting to let her go.

She wriggled her body to free herself from his grasp. "C-can we go now?"

John sighed deeply. "Okay,'' he finally said.

They exited the room, went downstairs and walked towards the back of the house, one bodyguard followed them from behind, a Rolls Royce Cullinan SUV car was already waiting for them.

The bodyguard went to the driver's seat and started the engine, John allowed Catherine to enter the passenger seat first showing his gentleman side.

"To Santa Monica...," Catherine instructed the driver.

The car went gliding swiftly out of the ancestral house and navigating smoothly into the deserted highway.

Catherine closed her eyes, savoring and enjoying the pleasant sensation of riding a luxury and expensive car for the first time in her life. So this is how it feels to be rich? She smiled a little bit, pretending she owned the car and it will take her into a splendid and exotic location somewhere...

John glance at Catherine's closed eyes. "What are you thinking?" all the while lacing his hands with her hands.

She opened her eyes. "I'm going home..."

The ride went smoothly and lasted for one full hour. They arrived in Santa Monica village, it was a sleepy province, small houses dotted along the highway.

"The last house on the right side beside a mango tree, that's our house!" she told the driver.

The car stopped at the exact house she describes earlier.

It was a small house, similar to other houses that were lining up beside the highway.

"Were here Boss," the driver said.

"You can go outside first..." he instructed his bodyguard to wait for them outside. When the driver was already gotten out of the car, John immediately kissed Catherine's mouth. They shared a lingering kiss that lasted for ten minutes.

Then Catherine pushes him gently away from her...

"So it's goodbye then-?" she said.

"I guess it is...," he replied with a gloomy expression on his eyes.

John opened the car's door for her. He reached for the black bag containing the box of cash on his side and handed it to Catherine's hands. "Take this with you, it's my gift for you."

Catherine accepted the bag reluctantly. "Thank you John...for this."

He kissed her lips for the last time.

Catherine stared at his eyes, his eyes unreadable.

She got up from the car and walked towards their house, she knocked at the door, she glanced at the car for the last time and waves her hand at John...A few minutes later the door was finally opened by her mother. She entered the door and vanished inside.

John's vision was still glued at the closed door of the tiny house. His hands twitching.

"Sir?" his driver-bodyguard was waiting for his instruction.

"Let's go back to the ancestral house," he said in a calm voice. Inside, his heart was twisted and breaking apart with a brand new emotion he couldn't quite explain himself.