Page 24 of Taken By My Grumpy Pakhan

There was no history of a past personal assistant, only a secretary. What if he actually did give me this job to be able to fuck me on his ginormous table with no intention for me to do any work?

My chest tightened at the thought. While I bore the blame for throwing myself at him, there was no way I was letting him turn me into his office whore. The only reason I kissed him was because I thought I was dying. I swear, I'm not the type of woman who tries to throw herself at her boss.

An hour rolled by and the only notification I got was Caroline’s update on the meeting. He called her in from the end of the hall while I was here all along? Just as my mind was wandering, the intercom rang.

I clicked the glowing button. “Genevieve Sinclair here.”

“Come to my office.”

A simple command and exactly what a boss should say to his employee and what I’ve been waiting for, but for some reason, I felt the order in the pit of my stomach.

I figured the meeting was over, but I still picked up my stack, smoothed my features and dried my sweaty palms with a serviette. I would look professional, be professional and damn his stupid motives.

I was relieved to find the meeting was still ongoing when I entered. Three men had joined the duo and they had shifted from his work area to the small conference setup overseeing the floor-to-ceiling view of the city below.

“I want you to take the minutes of the meeting and update my itinerary for the week.”

Nikolai’s curled lips told me everything I needed to know.

He called in the competent one to take care of serious business and I was here for what? The leftovers?

“Caroline already sent me the minutes and updated—”

“I have adjustments to make. Sit.”

His tone gave no room for arguments.

I walked to the only empty seat which also happened to be the closest to him. I set down my writing materials, proceeded to open my journal and mark the date like I wasn’t burning from the heat of his thigh close to mine, and the knowledge that he probably called me in after Caroline because he considered me incapable of handling the big stuff.

The meeting continued with Kazimir barely acknowledging my existence or telling me what detail was important enough to note down.

The men spoke in heavy corporate jargon, but it was clear the important part was over and they were making small talk, addressing competitors and strategies.

Occasionally, I caught Nikolai’s amused expression, but that didn’t make me feel better.

With nowhere to channel my frustration, I turned into a transcriptionist, writing down everything including the jokes.

He wanted minutes of talks about how one of the men had a new competitor and how the CEO only scored the role because he was screwing the heir and hence, not a worthy competitor? I'll give him a full dissertation and tips on how to expose said CEO.

I’ll also throw in a few paragraphs on the leggy model Nikolai wouldn’t stop talking about with pictures and links to her platform attached. If he thought he could leave me out of the important stuff and only bring me in for the foolishness that followed, then I was going to—

“You’re an old-fashioned one, eh?”

A gruff baritone cut through my train of enraged thoughts.

“I prefer writing, it makes things more tangible,” I replied in the most polite way I could.

“Same. I never trust these computers. One wrong click and everything is gone.”

For the first time in the last twenty minutes, I felt myself relax a bit. It was silly small talk, but at least someone was kind enough to acknowledge my presence.

“They do have their advantages. I can't imagine... um…”

A hand settled against the back of my knee, stealing the rest of my sentence.

Heat shot through me so abruptly that I nearly jerked in my seat. My fingers tightened around my pen. Somehow, I managed to stop myself from reacting.

Barely.