Submitting to the Shadow (Kindred Tales #27) - Evangeline Anderson Page 0,6

over? Before you answer, remember, I can and will punish you for deliberate untruthfulness.”

“What?” She stared at him in anger and surprise. “Did you just say you’d punish me?”

“I will, without hesitation.” He nodded decisively.

“But you can’t—”

“I can. There is a punishment clause in the contract you signed. Or did you neglect to read that part?” He raised one raven-black eyebrow at her challengingly.

“I don’t believe this.”

Sammi stood up from the small workstation he’d given her—located across the room from his large desk.

“Let me see it,” she said, stalking over to his desk and holding out her hand. “Let me see it right now.”

“As you wish.”

Roark reached into a desk drawer and pulled out the document she’d signed only that morning.

“Here you are.” He placed the thick document on the desk in front of her and leaned back in his chair, steepling his long fingers as he watched her.

Sammi snatched up the document and peered at it. She’d been fighting the headache from all that champagne Meg had talked her into drinking when he gave it to her, and she’d barely glanced at it as she signed wherever he pointed. Now she wondered what the hell it was she’d put her name on!

“You’ll find the punishment clause on page fifty-three, right after the non-disclosure agreement,” he said helpfully as Sammi paged through the dense legalese trying to find what he was talking about.

Sure enough, when she turned to page fifty-three, she saw something she definitely shouldn’t have missed when she signed. Punishment Clause—Consequences for Illegal or Unethical Behavior, read the page, in large, bold print.

“This is crazy!” she exclaimed as she read through the clause. “I thought this was just part of the nondisclosure agreement!”

“It is…in a way,” Roark remarked. “It tells the consequences if you get caught divulging confidential information. Or acting in any other unethical manner. Including lying.”

“But…but this says you can…can spank me if you want to!” Sammi exclaimed.

“Yes, it does.” He nodded calmly, as though this was a completely normal requirement of any job.

“But I didn’t agree to that!” Sammi exclaimed.

“I’m afraid you did—when you signed the contract.” He raised an eyebrow again. “So I’ll ask you just once more—are you or are you not hung-over from drinking too much alcohol last night?”

“I was only drinking to celebrate getting this job!” Sammi snapped, glaring at him.

“I see.” Roark rose suddenly and came around the desk to stand beside her—though “to loom over her” might have been a better description. He was so tall, Sammi thought, looking up at him uneasily. Almost seven feet if he was an inch! And so big and muscular too—the crisp white lab jacket he wore bulged in the biceps, as though the fabric could barely contain his muscles.

He smelled good too—which was definitely something she didn’t want to notice. A cool scent, like the sea in winter and under that, a dark, alien spice which made her tingle in sensitive areas when she breathed it in.

“I see,” he said again, looking down at her. “Does this mean you’re admitting your first denial about being hung-over was a lie?”

Sammi felt her mouth going dry as her knees trembled under her professional black pencil skirt.

“I…I don’t…” She licked her lips. “I never said—”

Roark raised a hand to stop her.

“Tread carefully, Samantha. The punishment will be more severe if you compound your first lie with another.”

“What—you’re saying you want to punish me now?” Sammi’s eyes widened and she took a step back, her thighs hitting the edge of his desk and jostling some paperwork there.

“I most certainly do,” Roark said sternly. “I won’t tolerate dishonesty from you—not even in small particulars, Samantha. And I also won’t allow you to come to work and be involved in my research when you’re at less than one hundred percent mental acuity. Coming to work hung over and lying about it are both unacceptable behaviors which deserve a punishment.”

“But I can’t let you—I mean, you can’t do that!” Sammi blurted. “You can’t spank me.”

“According to the contract you signed, I certainly can,” Roark pointed at the thick document she still held in trembling hands. “Or would you like to be let out of it? Do you find the job not to your liking?”

“I hardly know—I’ve only been doing this ‘job’ for half a day! You know, I’m a professional!” Sammi exclaimed—she was losing her fear and disbelief and getting really angry now. “I have advanced degrees in my field! I didn’t work my ass off in grad school