Chapter 27

Amaris' POV

I was proud of myself, even though I hadn't carried out my plan I was able to get a rise out of him. Great job Ammie. "Yes, I did take a break." I responded courteously, my voice dripping with sweetness and my smile still firmly in place.

"See...I knew you could do it." His voice was heavy with sarcasm, it was clear that he was trying to goad me but I wasn't going to give in.

"Of Course I can do it," I said, sipping my milkshake. "That's the reason you hired me in the first place isn't it?" I flashed him a smile. For a fleeting moment, his expressionless mask cracked and a flicker of irritation crossed his face causing my grin to grow wider. He regained his composure swiftly switching back to his usual nonchalant demeanor. "It wouldn't be right if you hired an incompetent secretary right?" I pressed on.

"Of Course not." His lips curled up. "It'd be terrible if I hired someone who couldn't do their job properly...." He paused and a few beats passed before he spoke again. "I've been thinking of what happened today and I have to admit that what happened was a result of my carelessness and I want to apologize for that." Am I dreaming? Surely I misheard him. Did he just say apologize? He has to be joking....this is some kind of trick...right?

"I began to think of ways that we can prevent this from happening in the future so I came up with an idea...." Why do I have a feeling that I'm not going to like this idea?

"What idea did you come up with, sir?" I drawled with a dull expression on my face. Whatever he was planning, I definitely wasn't going to like it. An amused glint flashed in his eyes as he spoke,

"I'd like you to print out all the documents you've worked on for the past two months and then organize them in different files...alphabetically ofcourse." My eyes widened in disbelief as his words rang in my head.

"What did you just say?"

"Did I stutter?" His ever so sweet and innocent tone had switched to a cold and icy one which made me stiffen in my seat. Surely he didn't mean that....there's no way he would want me to print out all the documents I've worked on throughout my stay here. His face broke into a wide, snug grin when he saw the look on my face. "Don't you think it's a good idea? I mean if someone else repeats this mistake we won't have to worry because we already have all the files in hard copy."

I clenched my teeth suppressing the urge to yell at him and curse him for being such a....such an ass. "It's a wonderful idea." I spoke through gritted teeth.

"What was that?" He raised his eyebrows cupping his left ear as he leaned closer. "I didn't quite get that."

Breathe. "I said....it's a wonderful idea." I said putting on my biggest smile. God this man pissed me off. He finally succeeded, didn't he? He got what he wanted. Just wait till I...

Just then my thoughts were interrupted by my buzzing phone that vibrated on my desk. I picked it up, checking the Caller-ID. Mia? Why would she be calling me? I was about tapping the green icon on my screen when I remembered that there was someone else in the room. I raised my head, locking gazes with him as he stared at me. It was like he was waiting for me to pick the call so he could fire me or punish me. I didn't care about his punishment, my gaze dropped to my phone again, I was perfectly fine with whatever plans he had in store for me but as my thumb hovered over the green button I couldn't bring myself to answer.

I could feel Caleb's glare burning my skin and I didn't even realize when I declined the call. I could already picture the confusion on Mia's face right now, I never declined her calls, even when I was working but all that had to change thanks to my stupid boss here. What if she was in trouble? What if those strange men came after her again? I know her dad said he was going to take care of them but I couldn't help but picture the worst scenarios in my head. I needed to get out of here, I needed to make sure that she was okay. I got up from my seat about to utter an excuse when Caleb's deep velvet voice pierced through the silence in the room. "Where do you think you're going?" He asked in a calm but dangerous tone as his palms remained clasped behind his back.

My eyes flickered between the open door and Caleb before I answered, "I need to use the bathroom." My grip around my phone tightened causing my knuckles to turn white.

"I don't think it's necessary for you to use the bathroom with your phone." He said in a neutral tone. "If you're worried about it getting stolen, I assure you that my workers here would never dream of engaging in such unethical behavior, but if you're so worked up about it, you can give it to me." He held out his palm, gesturing for me to hand over my phone to him. Was he actually being serious?! I only declined Mia's call cause he was right in front of me and now I wanted to leave so I could go call her back and he wouldn't let me?!

"I don't..."

"I said give it to me." He talked over me in a stern tone. When he saw that I was resisting, he continued, "I don't like repeating myself, Miss Carter." He clenched his jaw, still holding out his palm. He must have lost his mind if he actually expected me to hand over my phone to him.

"I'm not comfortable with giving you my phone, sir." I drawled.

"Do I look like I care?" He raised an eyebrow. We locked eyes in a battle for dominance, neither of us willing to look away or back down. "I'm going to give you two options..." He held out his fingers. "Either you hand over the phone so you can use the bathroom or you get your ass back on that chair and get to work." My cheeks heated up as I replayed his words in my head. Did I hear him wrong or did he just say ass?

"What's wrong?" He said moving closer when he noticed the surprised look on my face, "You think I can't say the...."

"Please don't." I raised my palm, cutting him off. *I don't think I'm prepared to hear him say that word again.* "I'll go back to my desk now." I turned on my heel as I tried to convince myself that the hot feeling on my cheeks was the weather's doing ignoring the air conditioner in the top right corner of the room, blasting at full power.

I sat at my desk refusing to raise my head. I hated seeing that amused glint in his eyes. I stared at my laptop waiting for him to leave but he didn't, instead he just crossed his arms waiting for one of us to break the silence. I tried to ignore him. I really did, but I just couldn't take it anymore. "Aren't you going to leave? You're distracting me." That last part sounded perfectly normal in my head until it left my lips.

His eyebrows shot up, it was more of an amused expression than a shocked one. "Ok..." He turned to the door. "I'll leave." Ugh! God I hate that man.