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

      “Let go of my hair,” I glared at the hand that had brazenly grabbed me, and tried to pull away from the trap, but the grip didn’t loosen.

       “Relax, Mia,” the man stroked my cheek with the rough finger pads of the other free hand. A little more and I swear, he will have one less finger.

         “I’ll scream,” I warned.

      “Go ahead,” Collins smiled broadly, being excited with something. He’s totally insane! “If you start, I promise, we’ll continue it in my bed.” He exhaled these mad words in my ear and I trembled again. “Although,…” he looked at me as if thinking of something, “I’m pretty satisfied with your position right now.”

        “How dare you?” I instantly blushed like a boiled crab.

       “No more than you, my dear,” all of a sudden Collins tone became serious, “Without my permission, broke into my office. Thought you’d get away with it, girl? What if you’re a spy for my competitor,” he narrowed his devil’s eyes “…and tried to steal some important information?”

        “What nonsense is this?” Does he really think so? “I just decided to... water your flowers!” God, what am I saying? What kind of flowers…

       “Really?” Collins bared his teeth and his eyes began to twinkle again. “I’m afraid to ask, what did you water them with?”

       “Oh, God!” I rolled my eyes, “What a fantasy you have!” I snorted, blushing again.

      “You still don’t know how to lie. At least you’re not afraid of me anymore. Make progress. But your cheeky tongue...” this obnoxious man chuckled, and suddenly his darkened gaze lingered on my lips, and then he began slowly approaching me.

       Is he going to kiss me?! I tried to pull away from him, but his grip wouldn’t let me. My heart started to jump out of my chest like crazy, and I don’t know why, but I squeezed my eyes shut.

       Suddenly there was a sharp knock on the door, and I heard the voice of his secretary:

       “Mr. Collins, may I come in? “Amanda was standing right outside the office door!” But she did not dare to come into; apparently, she can do it only after the boss’s permission.

       Heck! If the girl comes in here now, I can’t imagine what position she’ll find me in. I’m practically on my knees in front of my boss, my cheeks flushed, my hair is a mess.

       “Let me go now!” I hissed at Collins.

       Fortunately, it seems that the man still has a little sanity because he took his hand away from me. Only, it seems that he was not going to get up from the chair, thereby blocking my exit. Does he want me to crawl in front of him?!

       At my angry, questioning look, Collins just grinned and spread his hands, like saying, “I did everything I could.” Argh! That bastard!

      “Come in!” the man said in a stolid businesslike tone, still mocking my reaction.

       The hell I’m gonna disgrace myself in front of Amanda! So I didn't waste another second and slipped under Collins’ feet, not forgetting to step on his highly polished shoe as I got to my feet.

       Phew, I did it. The door handle turned and Amanda came in. Then her startled gaze found me standing off to the side, brushing the dust off my knees.

       “I’m listening, Amanda,” the boss said in a dry powerful tone, no longer looking at me.

       “Mr. Collins, I took the documents for you to sign. Here,” the girl hastily put some blue folder on his table and looked devotedly at the boss, as if expecting that she would be patted on the head.

       “Okay. You can go,” and after looking at me again with an unfriendly look, and at Collins with an offended one, she pursed her lips and turned away from the office.

        Well, I was heading for the exit too, when all of a sudden:

    “And Ms. Brown, I will ask you to stay a minute longer,” the man called out to me in the same dispassionate businesslike tone as with Amanda, but his eyes…

        I tensed but stopped anyway. Collins opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a contract.

       “You tried to find this in my office today, didn’t you? Indeed, you wouldn’t make a good spy,” the man shook his head disapprovingly, handing me the coveted piece of paper.

        Just like that? Really? Without hesitation, I torn this “contract with the devil” and solemnly looked at now my ex-boss. But the man’s dark blue eyes were still calm, and it was so infuriating!

       “Ahem,” the boss looked at me strangely, “Ms. Brown, what bad the weekly report of our project manager did to you that you’re being so merciless with it?

      What report?” I was confused. Then I looked down at the torn pages in my hand. Where the word “REPORT” was written in bold capital letters. Nooooo! It can’t be true! I can’t believe that he again twisted me around his stinky finger! I almost groaned.

        “Again, first you do, then you think,” the boss looked at me as if at a small unreasonable girl, “It's time to learn from your mistakes, Mia. What if, in that contract, I would have written something really bad…”