My Sweet Punishment by Amelia Brooks (best book club books of all time .TXT) 📕

       We sat with Olivia for a little bit in the café and soon the girl ran away on another date. When is she going to find a normal, long-term boyfriend who can knock some sense into her? I haven’t told the girl yet that my future boss and the “man of her dreams” are the same people. I need to chew it over myself.

       Already in the regular shock, I returned home. How did this happen? These days, life brings me more and more “surprises”. I can’t even imagine what Olivia’s reaction would have been if she’d found out that her favorite billionaire was still at the party that night. But it wasn’t her luck to meet him, it was mine. Moreover, under some racy circumstances. Yeah, you’re definitely in trouble, Mia.

       What am I supposed to do tomorrow? After I found out about Collins, I feel like I’m betraying my friend by accepting the position of his assistant. Crazy, he’s a billionaire! I chuckled to myself. It was a pretty good jump: from working as a waitress to an assistant of some big businessman. Like from worst to first. And the more I thought about it, the more absurd the situation seemed to me, and the more doubts crept into my stupid head. Why would he choose me?

      “Consider it as my whim or as a sudden desire to help the poor rabbit,” I remembered the man’s words again. Most likely, it’s a game for Collins, and I’m just a fun pet for him. Maybe… No! Definitely not. For some reason, the idea that he might suddenly have feelings for a girl from poor upcountry made me laugh. And I’m sure that kiss in the gazebo was just an accident because Henry didn’t even see my face.

       Okay, Mia. It’s too late to change your mind. You agreed. Especially if something goes wrong, no one will keep me there by force, I’ll just leave. All I have to do is figure out how to tell Olivia all this. I’m definitely not going to lie to her. I’ll tell my friend everything tomorrow, except for the gazebo incident of course.

        I spent the entire evening on the website of a company with the pretentious name “Collins Corporation”. It was necessary, after all, to learn at least a little about the place where I would work. And judging by its name, the owner definitely likes himself. The site itself looked very posh. It was clear that the money for its promotion was not spared.

       As far as I understand, the company has long been specializing in the design and construction of hotel complexes. And by the way, not only in our country but also abroad. That’s impressive.

       I typed the name Henry Rollins into the search engine. Well, the owner of a construction company, I already know that. Born in a fairly wealthy family, the only child. However, his father is engaged in a completely different business: he has a clinic in Germany and is a pretty good doctor himself.

       Despite his considerable age, 34 years old, Henry Collins is still not married. I’m not surprised, though. I went to the Pictures tab. The man is clearly used to taking everything he wants from life. And judging by the huge number of his photos in the company of various attractive girls, now he was definitely not ready to devote his time to just one woman. The man is rich, good-looking, obviously not a fool. And it’s certainly not me who can judge him. I chuckled. And the girls in the photos were also clearly not against being in his company, even for one evening. I wonder which one of them is the girl from the gazebo, Melissa, I think.

       I looked at the time. It’s almost 11:00 p.m. I sat up on the Internet for so long. I closed my laptop and decided to go to bed. I have to get up early again tomorrow, and I don’t want to be late on my first day of work. And that look in Collins’s eyes when he said he can’t stand his employees tardiness. It seemed that the punishment would be terrible, and I would not like to experience it myself.

       Before I went to bed, I took a valerian pill first. Yes, I did buy a sedative. Do you believe I’ve never drunk it? Even before the worst exams. Somehow it was not necessary. And here I felt an urgent need because I just won’t fall asleep.

      In the morning, I was finally woken up by the sound of an alarm clock, and not by some dreams. Could it be a work of sedative? I took a quick shower. Almost didn’t have breakfast. I can’t eat a thing. So I just drank a cup of coffee and went to get ready.

      I put on my new suit. The hair I tied in a high ponytail. I covered up my “Kung-Fu Panda circles” and put some makeup on my lashes. Olivia also put her bright red lipstick in my bag yesterday and made me promise that I would use it today. But, in my opinion, it turned out pretty well without it. So I decided to ignore my friend’s advice. Slipping on my beige pumps, I grabbed my purse and headed for the exit.

      While I was on the subway, I got a message from Olivia.

      Olivia: “I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you today. Knock them all dead!:*”

      Oh, I don’t need to knock them all dead. I need at least not to mess up. I got off at the station almost in the center of the city, and five minutes later I came to the building of the business center. Oh, and on the website, the high-rise looked less impressive. Perhaps, because the photo showed only a few floors with mirrored panoramic windows. Now, if you look up, you can’t tell exactly how many levels there are in the building.

      At the entrance, I was immediately met by a security checkpoint, where several men were sitting.