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

      After half an hour of pointless sitting in the kitchen, I trudged with my wobbly legs toward Henry’s bedroom.

        I had no desire to look around the room now. And it’s already dark. Only the dim light of the night lamp illuminated the space next to the wide bed.

       I put on the white man’s t-shirt that had been carefully left for me on the black silk sheet and crawled under the covers.

      I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep a wink today, not to mention to fall asleep at all. In someone else’s apartment. In complete solitude. After everything that happened... and where did Henry go?

       A sharp knock made me open my eyes, bringing me back to the oppressive reality. I realized that I was not in my bedroom at the moment when the familiar male smell hit me in the nose, making my heart beat faster.

        I managed to get some sleep after all. Soft tapping sounds came from the back of the apartment. I think Henry’s back. I kept waiting for him to go to his room, but he didn’t… Not five minutes later, not half an hour later, when the apartment was eerily quiet again, did its owner cross the threshold of the bedroom.

        My dream just disappeared. And I also had bad thoughts again.

        “Henry,” I called softly, not quite sure why.

        But there was no response. He must have fallen asleep or gone somewhere else. Maybe he doesn’t like being in the same house with me at all. I covered myself with a blanket almost over my head.

       “Why aren’t you sleeping, sweetie? Woke you up?” I was startled when I suddenly saw Henry appeared in the bedroom doorway. How he did it so silently?

       God, and it was a good thing the room was dark now because I was blushing to the tips of my hair, but I still couldn’t take my eyes off him.

       “I can’t sleep,” I whispered, staring at the man without blinking and probably not breathing.

       It was the first time I saw Henry without a shirt. Right now, he was wearing only light house pants that sat low on his narrow thighs, and... that’s all. There was a tattoo on his broad chest, but I couldn’t see it properly from a distance.

       He was slightly jacked up, and it was so mesmerizingly natural. My female libido screamed at the top of my lungs: “Here! This is what the perfect man should look like!” and no too much bulked up macho man can’t be compared with my Collins.

        I hope I haven’t flooded his pillow with my saliva yet.

       “Try to sleep,” said a deep voice, and his owner turned to leave the room.

       “Stay with me,” I said softly. It even came out more plaintive or something.

        After a moment’s hesitation, the man sighed heavily and left the room. Gone? Just like this? But before I could work myself up into a state, as usual, Henry came back with a pillow and threw it on the other side of the bed from me.

       “Sleep,” He suddenly kissed me on the nose and lay down on top of the bedspread.

        I held my breath for a moment, being afraid that it was just a dream, and I was going to wake up again. But the solid body lying quietly next to me didn’t disappear, and I finally allowed myself to relax.

        The stupid thought that he might be cold bothered me, so I threw a piece of my blanket over Henry. And even though we were lying dangerously close to each other, and before I would have sunk through the ground from embarrassment, at the moment, everything seemed to me as right as possible.

       “Where have you been?” I decided to ask the question that torments me.

       Henry answered me not right away, and his voice was strained:

       “I just needed... some air,” he said and suddenly turned away from me on his side.

       My hand itself went to the broad man’s back, stroking the taut muscles. Then, being emboldened by the fact that Henry couldn’t see me, I ducked under the covers and kissed the hot skin under his shoulder blade.

       “Mia… don’t,” the man groaned suddenly with a hoarse voice as if I’d hurt him.

       “Why not? Am I...  so disgusting to you?” I pulled away quickly, realizing how stupid I’d been. Who wants to be with a girl who was groped by someone else today?

      “Dummy,” abruptly turning to me, Henry took my face in his hands, and his burning lips pressed over mine in a gentle, long kiss.

        Only after some time did the man distanced himself from me and, breathing heavily, added:

       “I’m just afraid I won’t be able to stop.”

      I knew exactly what he meant by “won’t be able to stop”, but it didn’t scare me at all. I was so comfortable with this obnoxious, hot-tempered man that I was ready to trust him with my soul, not to mention my body. And even more so, I will not regret that he would be my first man. Even if… for some reason we won’t be together in the future.

       “I... don’t want you to stop,” I said, reaching out to the aroused man again before he could come round and slightly touching his tightly compressed lips.