Silence. Utter, terrifying silence. Well, what had she expected? Applause?

Finally, Eric swallowed thickly and took a step toward her. “God, you’re more beautiful than I thought.”

“So fucking gorgeous.” Tate toed off his shoes and started in on his slacks. “I can’t wait.”

Only Kellan refrained from tearing off his clothes. Instead, he sat, watching her, dissecting her. “Come to me, love.”

Annabelle heard the approval in his voice, saw warmth in his blue eyes, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe this wasn’t just a post-wedding hookup. Maybe this really meant something to them.

She cast a questioning glance at Eric and Tate, both of whom gestured her over to Kell. Yeah, she had absolutely no question about who was in charge. Still, she stood rooted.

The reality of the moment, the gravity, made her heart pound until it roared in her ears. Just walk across this suite totally naked in front of men who, up until tonight, had merely been her bosses? At her hesitation, Kellan raised a sharp brow. Guess the answer was yes. Clearly, he wasn’t going to let her slide or give her the easy out. He managed to communicate that without a word.

She fidgeted. It would be so much easier for her if they would just pounce on her, but no. Kellan forced her to make the choice to approach him. Her implied yes obviously wouldn’t do. Eric and Tate watched her with keen, unblinking stares, obviously on board with his plan.

Talk about being circled by sharks.

Kellan sat up and patted his lap, leaving Annabelle no doubt he meant to spank her. “I won’t force this on you. If you prefer, I’ll walk out and leave you to them. They’ll fuck you senseless and give you pleasure. That might be enough for you, but I think you need something more. I think you crave the dominance I’m wired to give you.” He shrugged casually, but Belle sensed he cared very much how she felt. “If you don’t want to try, tell me now.”

“If I did, you would be disappointed.” The thought slipped out.

“Yes. That’s perceptive.” He nodded. “I think a power exchange would work well between us, but if you choose not to submit to me, I won’t treat you any differently than I have for the past fourteen months.”

There was only one answer in Belle’s mind. She’d fantasized about this a million times. She couldn’t imagine making love without all three of them. She hated to disappoint Kell. Despite all the pretty words and implied promises tonight, the future might not work out for the four of them, but they’d have no chance if she didn’t give it her all now.

Taking in another fortifying breath, Annabelle crossed the room with a smile.

Something eased in Kell’s eyes. “Excellent. I’m proud of your courage. Let’s get your punishment out of the way so we can focus on making you feel good for the rest of the night.” He sent her a little smirk. “Although I suspect you’ll enjoy this, too. Over my lap.” He took her hand and urged her down. “If you need to stop me tonight for any reason, just say the word and I will. Later, you’ll have a safe word. We’ll also have a contract. But tonight, we’ll keep it light.”

Annabelle frowned. She didn’t like the idea of a contract with Kellan. She wanted to share her heart with him, not a legal document. But not only was he a Dom, he was also a lawyer. Both sides of him would insist on spelling out the terms, rights, and conditions of their relationship, including its ending, before it had barely begun. She suspected his ex-wife also had a lot to do with that. Kell would need a crystal-clear agreement between them to feel safe. The realization made her sad.

“Let me help you get in position.” Tate raced to her side, his warm hand searing the small of her back. He glanced down at her butt. “God, Belle, look at that ass.”

She winced. “I try not to.”

As he smoothed his hand down one cheek, his eyes narrowed with desire. “Hmm. I won’t be able to get it out of my head.” He squeezed the plumpest curve, then stepped back with a sigh of regret. “Get the discipline over with, Kell. I want to put my mouth on her.”

Desire pooled between her legs, making her feel shaky and overheated. She pressed a hand to her stomach as if that would calm the butterflies dancing inside. When it didn’t, she tangled her fingers with Tate’s for support and lowered herself over Kellan’s lap.

Trying to perch over his thighs was nothing short of awkward. She shifted and rebalanced, seeking a comfortable position.

Kellan’s big hand anchored her at the small of her back. “Stop wiggling.”

Belle did her best to comply, stilling and breathing through every heartbeat, trying to clear her head of everything except giving him what he wanted. At least that’s what the Doms wanted in the books she read.

When she calmed and stopped squirming, Kell rewarded her with a caress up her spine. Another hand joined his, this one on her outside hip, skating up to cup her ass. She suspected that belonged to Eric. Belle knew she’d guessed right when a third hand planted on her skin, palming her nape before long fingers tangled in her hair. Definitely Tate’s.

Desire tore through her. They were all touching her at once, exploring her together. She’d wanted and waited, never imagining for a moment it would happen. But here she was, at their mercy.

She kind of hoped they didn’t have much.

“Will you look at that?” Eric’s voice broke the thick silence.

“I’m telling you, that is the juiciest ass I’ve ever seen,” Tate said.

“Sustained,” Eric quipped as he squeezed one of her cheeks. “This visual is all the evidence I need.”

“Ah, do you smell that, gentlemen? Our sweet secretary is aroused.” A wealth of satisfaction darkened Kellan’s voice.

“Administrative assistant,” she piped up, her belly and her breath tight.

She ran that office, damn it. Regardless of the fact she was draped over her boss’s lap, her naked ass in the air, that didn’t mean she had no professional pride. Her current job might not be her dream, but she did it well.

At that, the hands caressing her, except the one at the small of her back, lifted away. A moment later, she heard a whoosh she couldn’t place. A sudden smack followed it. Then hot pain blasted across her right cheek and flared over the skin of her ass. Her breath fled. Her heart raced as Kellan held his hand on her.

“In the office, I’ll call you whatever you like.” His voice turned silky. “Hell, you keep the place functioning most of the time. But in the bedroom, you’re our sweet little secretary.”

His words revved her up. The independent woman in her said that she shouldn’t like what Kell murmured, but no denying that he made her even wetter. Her emotions were all askew, running haywire. And now that the pain had passed, a burning tingle flared just under her skin. No, a deep arousal—hot, wicked, and addictive. “Yes.”

Another smack. “Just yes? Think carefully.”

Sensation blanketed her brain, muffling her thoughts. Belle tried not to lose herself in his touch, in her desire to feel his hand on her ass again. She had to focus. What was it he wanted?

“Sir. Yes, Sir,” she blurted as soon as she figured it out.

“Much better.” He smoothed his hand over her cheeks, distributing the heat and rewarding her—for the moment. “Now, let’s talk about lying. I don’t like it and I won’t tolerate it.”

“I second that,” Eric put in.

“Me, too,” Tate added.

“There you go. I’m not talking about social situations. But Belle, we’re not merely your friends. You can’t blow us off with a polite excuse. We’re about to become your lovers. If you lie to us, expect consequences. We need to know how you feel, when you’re hurt or sad, scared or worried. You can’t just smile away your emotions.”

“They belong to us,” Eric explained. “Like your body is about to.”

“So, for lying to me in the hallway, I’m giving you a count of twenty. If I catch you lying again, I’ll give you more. You will always tell us how you feel. Like now.” Kell’s expectation hung in the air between them.

She didn’t even think about withholding or lying. The words just spilled out. The situation was so intimate there didn’t seem to be room for anything but honesty. “Hot, achy, the tiniest bit scared.”

“Perfect. Thank you for your honesty. We know you’re nervous because this is our first time together. We’ll make sure that you come to trust us.”

“Yes, Sir,” she breathed.

Three quick smacks had her moaning when the pain hit. The next two made her writhe as the ache deepened. He clearly meant business with those slaps, but the shocking sting morphed into something she found herself craving even more of.

After another five, they were halfway through the punishment. A haze of desire descended and she slowly lost herself in the rhythm of Kellan’s discipline—the whack of his hand and his hard exhalation, followed by Eric’s moan, Tate’s groan, and her whimpering out the count before it started all over again.

Belle shook, on fire, desperate for more. She gripped his leg, dug her nails into the wool of Kellan’s pants. He drew in an audible breath, dragging in her scent again. She felt the thick line of his erection against her belly harden even more. Disciplining her really did something for him.

“How are you, love?” he asked.

Shaky, shocked, and so, so alive. “Good, Sir.”

“Excellent. Keep counting.”

“Hurry. As soon as you’re done, I’m definitely offering her my penis.” Tate sounded so completely earnest that Belle cracked a smile.

“I have no doubt,” Eric drawled. “We all are.”

Kellan ignored them and peppered five more quick slaps across her cheeks, branding the heat under her skin until she felt helpless and drowning in sensation. Completely needy.

“Can you take five more?” He didn’t demand, but everything in his tone told Belle that he really hoped she could.

Happily. “Yes, Sir.”

She closed her eyes, wanting to block out everything but the sound of his flesh striking hers, the feel of his hand rubbing the heat into her skin. She counted each time his palm stuck her bare backside. Belle savored each smack, delighting in the sting and the blaze that followed, settling into her pussy.

God, who would have guessed that she’d like it? Descriptions of spankings in books had always made her uncomfortably wet, but the reality… Belle sighed in contentment. The reality of this oddly sharp pleasure went far beyond anything her imagination could have conceived. He dissolved her into a shaking, aching mass.

Before she knew it, Kell delivered the last slap and ended the punishment. He stroked her heated bottom one final time, then eased her off his lap. He urged her to curl up against him for a blissful moment as he cuddled her. Pressing her cheek to his lapel, she reveled in the feel of his strong arms around her, his heartbeat against her ear. She even enjoyed the heat of her naked skin against his designer suit.

All too soon, he tipped her chin in his hand and lifted her face just under his. The masculine splendor of his sculpted lips hovered just over her own. “You did very well. Now that it’s over, tell me…Can you handle me, Belle? I need this in a way the other two don’t. I’ll always want to discipline you. I’ll always want to tie you down and have my way, but I promise I’ll make it good for you. Did you enjoy that?”

“I did, Sir.” Her throbbing backside was a memento of the intimacy they’d shared. But rather than the ache upsetting or angering her, the sensations settled under her skin and calmed her in some way she didn’t quite understand.

“I want to know for myself.” He dropped his hand on her knee, gently pulling them apart. “I need to feel exactly what I did to you.”

That he needed anything from her moved Belle. She willingly parted her legs for him. Kellan was always shut down, so often distant, but in that moment, she felt close to him, shared the sort of bond with him she’d fantasized about.

His big hand slid between her legs, palm covering her pussy gently before his callused fingertips moved in a silky slide down her wet folds. As tingling erupted and her body broke out in goose bumps, Kell dipped to her opening and eased two fingers inside with a low male groan.

Her breath fled as his fingers thrust just inside her slick heat, teasing her with soft friction, taking her by tingling surprise. In seconds, Belle began to gasp and arched to him.

“How wet is she?” Tate dropped to one knee beside her and cupped her breast, skimming her nipple with his thumb and spreading the need.