Tucker wrapped his arms around her, and above her, Rhys smiled and withdrew.

  This wasn’t the happily-ever-after he’d envisioned with Kelsey, but in the span of a few short days, he’d realized that it was one he could willingly embrace—if they could keep the four of them all together and prevent her from moving to Miami.

  Twenty minutes later, Tucker kissed Kelsey’s lips softly and left to pick up a pizza. Rhys followed suit, vowing to return with sodas and salad and chiding her for her bare pantry.

  As soon as they left, Kelsey haphazardly pulled on the remnants of her blouse and panties. In a minute she’d find the energy to put on a robe, but for now, she was sated, kissed, cuddled—and utterly euphoric.

  Except the niggling fact that she hadn’t heard from Jeremy since Sunday night.

  Frowning, she rose to her feet, in search of her cell phone. She’d just bent to her purse on the side table in the living room when the front door opened. She whirled. Her blouse slipped off, exposing her breast. Jeremy’s gaze went right to it, a tote bag tight in his grip.

  His jaw tightened, his flared nostrils. “They’ve already been here, fucked you.”

  Fury stamped his face. Her stomach jumped nervously.

  “Yes. Jeremy, you know I can’t pick between and you said—”

  “I didn’t give you permission to speak.”

  Hot anger rushed inside Kelsey. She stiffened her spine. “That might work in the bedroom and in the office, but you don’t tell me what the hell to do otherwise.”

  Jeremy slammed the door and stalked closer. “You are mine. Sunday night was a mistake. I never planned on sharing you again. So for you to fuck them—”

  “First, I never said I was yours exclusively.” She thrust her hands on her hips. “Second, I choose who I sleep with and when. And third, they did not, as you so ineloquently put it, fuck me. They made love to me. They missed me. So what the hell . . . You just come in my house and start yelling at me?”

  He paused, drew in a deep breath, then bowed his head. “I’m so used to thinking of you as mine. I did miss you. I wanted to be the first one—the only one—to welcome you home.”

  “You all agreed to leave your jealousy at the door.”

  Wincing, Jeremy hissed in a breath. “I’m finding it harder than I anticipated.”

  All along, Kelsey had known that Jeremy was possessive and demanding and difficult, but after Sunday, she’d hoped they’d settled this matter.

  “That night, you directed a lot of the action. You were just as aroused as I was. You—”

  “Thought it was a onetime event.”

  “That’s not true.” She poked his chest with her finger. “I told you I couldn’t choose. You all vowed to work together. Tucker and Rhys have.”

  “I’ll bet,” Jeremy dropped his bag, grabbed her elbow, and dragged her closer. “Tucker worked his way right back into your pussy, didn’t he? Possession is nine-tenths of the law, sweetheart. Don’t think Tucker isn’t imagining that you’re mostly his.”

  Was Tucker counting on that? She didn’t think so but . . .

  “He and Rhys shared willingly.”

  Jeremy lifted his chin, anger stamped on his face. “And I’ll bet Rhys wasn’t satisfied with another blowjob. Did he fuck that pretty ass? My ass?”

  “God, you just don’t learn. It’s my ass, and I happily gave it to him.”

  Suddenly, Jeremy buried his hands in her loose curls, bent to her, and inhaled her scent at her neck. “I don’t like the thought of them touching you. I don’t like lacking the right to keep you for myself. It’s ripping me up, the fear that you’ll never be mine.”

  Kelsey’s anger deflated. “I am yours. I’m every bit as much yours as I am theirs. I wish I could change how I feel. God, you don’t know how many times I’ve wished that! It would be so much easier if my heart could choose one—and if your hearts wouldn’t be broken if I did. But none of that is reality. So we have to deal. Together.”

  “Just give me a chance.” His voice was choked, raspy as he pressed his forehead to hers. “They don’t understand what you want like I do. I’ll give you what you need.”

  As she swallowed, trepidation made Kelsey’s heart stutter. Yes, he knew one thing she craved, just as she knew he could deliver. That taste of his domination less than a week ago sparked both flutters and fears deep inside her.

  She licked her lips. “Jeremy—”

  “Shh.” His cheek rubbed hers, five o’clock shadow gently abrasive, as he made his way to her mouth and covered it with a seductive kiss that pressed and teased and made love to her.

  Against her will, her anger melted, and when he cupped the back of her head in his hand and sank deeper into the kiss, Kelsey felt her hold on her self-control begin to slip away.

  Kissing his way down her cheek, he smoothed his palm over her collarbone, toward her shoulder, taking her tattered blouse with it and tossing it to the floor.

  “Yes, that’s my beautiful girl. Pretty bare breasts for me.”

  He bent and lifted the bag at his feet onto the sofa and opened it with one hand. Then he sucked her nipple into his mouth and cupped her breast with the other. His hot suction jolted her all the way to her toes.

  She’d been happy, satisfied, before his arrival. With a single kiss, he made her itchy, hungry, achy.

  Her fingers curled in his dress shirt. “Jeremy . . .”

  “I know, sweetheart. I’m going to make it better,” he vowed as he sucked her nipple again, laving it.

  Then he lifted his hand to her, put something over the hard point. With a smile, he adjusted and fiddled with it. She couldn’t see around his hands, but she could feel him. Something gradually tightened around her nipple, firm, then taut, then pinching to the point of pain. She gasped.

  “Gorgeous,” Jeremy breathed, then kissed the tip.

  When he pulled back, Kelsey looked down. An adjustable ring. With little weights. The sensation of tightness, heaviness, slammed her. She gasped for a breath, then looked at him in shock.

  “Stunning, isn’t it? I love that you love it.”

  Oh, God, she did.

  When he bent to the other nipple and repeated the process, another wave of heat invaded her. Twice as big, twice as powerful. She staggered, turning to brace herself on the back of the sofa.

  “Mmm,” he hummed against her ear in satisfaction as he wrapped his arms around her waist, palms flat on her belly. “You’re so fucking sexy. I knew the moment we met that you were everything I need.” He caressed his way up her torso, and she arched for him. “That’s it. Feel me . . .”

  Gently, he tugged on the little rings. Her clit flashed electric. Her pussy clenched. She dug her fingernails into the cushions.

  “Yeah, you like that. I’ve got more to give you.”

  He reached into the bag again and pulled out something so quickly, she couldn’t discern what. Until he grabbed one of her arms and bent it behind her back . . . and something cold and metallic snapped hard around her wrists.

  He was handcuffing her.

  “No, Jeremy. You can’t—”

  “Shh.” He caressed her free arm.

  Kelsey was tense, but under his touch, her muscles slowly relaxed. His palm soothed her, gentled her. His lips feathered across her shoulder, the back of her neck, nipped at her lobe. Desire flaring inside her, she tossed her head back, resting it on his chest. She thrust her ass against him, and he pressed against her, hard as granite.

  “I’ll give you everything.” Jeremy wrapped his hand around her throat and whispered in her ear, “But I’ll make you beg before I give it to you.”

  Kelsey couldn’t find words to reply. He offered her the dominance she’d secretly craved since first becoming aware of her sexuality. And he didn’t want to just tie her down and issue orders. He understood and sought to satisfy her most forbidden fantasies.

  She loved him so much. He’d always been possessive, and expecting him to lose all sense of jealousy in a few days was unrealistic. One day at a time . . .

  In the meantime, he’d made her crave this—him. Only he could deliver the pain-touched pleasure she hungered for.

  So when his palm skated down her free arm again and he wrapped warm fingers around it, easing it behind her back, she didn’t struggle.

  A second later, the cuffs tightened around her other wrist. She was well and truly bound.

  “Damn, that’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen, sweetheart, you in my cuffs.”

  He was breathing hard now. So was she.

  Then his lips made their way up her neck. He reached around her to cup her cheek and turn her head toward him. Their mouths met, his open, devouring, relentless. Heat permeated her everywhere, and as he dragged his teeth along her bottom lip, she moaned.

  “That’s it ...” he encouraged, his voice low. “Just submit.”

  A moment later, he cupped her shoulders and guided her to bend over the back of the sofa. With her hands cuffed behind her back, she was helpless when he dragged his palm up her spine, then filtered his fingers into her hair and gripped. The tinge of pain in her scalp blended with the discomfort of having her hands bound behind her, then mingled with the delicious, constrictive weights dangling on her nipples. The conflicting sensations bombarded her, overloading her body.

  Then he smacked her ass. Hard.

  She yelped. The sting and heat spread. She moaned.

  “You know the rules, Kelsey. Quiet unless you’re coming, and only then when I give you permission.”

  She bit her lip hard, nodding.

  “Good girl. I reward obedience. Let’s try it again.”

  Another smack, this time on her other cheek, higher up. She tensed, but smothered the sounds by pressing her lips together.

  “Very good,” he praised, cupping her breast, tugging on her ring.

  Kelsey sucked in a sharp breath, but kept her gasp inside.

  “Such tight little nipples. I can’t wait to suck them.”

  Damn, she’d come right then and there if he did. Everything between her legs had become a burning ache, her clit actually throbbing in time to her heartbeat. Her blood was on fire, and she felt so empty without him. With her wrists cuffed, she was powerless to remove her shirt or panties or touch him. She wasn’t even allowed to say a word.

  Totally at his mercy. Kelsey mentally railed against it . . . yet burned for more.

  “Are you as aroused as your nipples suggest?” His fingertips grazed her abdomen in a straight line down to her curls, then slipped into her slit to caress her clit. “Ah, look how wet you are.”

  He held up his fingers in front of her face, confirming what she already knew: She was soaked.

  “You like me bending you to my will,” he rasped in her ear. “And it makes me fucking hard to do it.”

  Kelsey breathed erratically, dying for whatever Jeremy did next. She needed to come so badly . . .

  Once more, the flat of his hand connected with her ass, firing the skin. Then he repeated the slap on the other cheek. Again. And again. And again. She wriggled, not sure if she arched away from his spanking . . . or into it. Every time she moved, the friction of her wet folds nearly made her lose her mind. Her blood rushed to her ass, her pussy, collecting, engorging, arousing her.

  The spanking wasn’t brief—or easy. With each smack, he picked up intensity and speed.

  She tossed her head back, wriggled, arched. But his hand in her hair ensured she didn’t move much.

  “You’re going to come.” It wasn’t a question.

  He knew her body so well.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Not until I tell you.” The spanking ceased, his hands moving almost reverently down her ass. “Luscious and glowing. I want to see your ass this way every day.”

  Oh, God. Her womb clenched hard, releasing more moisture. She was a breath away from orgasm.

  Suddenly, she didn’t care what punishment he invoked, as long as he ended this torment. “Help me.”

  Guiding her to stand, her back to his chest, he murmured in her ear, “You’re not to speak.”

  Then he swatted her right cheek again.

  Her breath stuttered in her chest, and heat washed over her skin, melting her pride. “But I need you. I need ...”

  “For me to fuck you?” he growled.

  “Yes. Please, yes. Now.”

  “Hmm, begging. I do love that. I’ll forgive you for speaking this once. Tell me what you want.”

  “Everything!” She rubbed her ass against him, and the abrasion of her sensitive flesh against his slacks nearly undid her.

  Low laughter rumbled in her ear. “Let’s get these panties off.”

  The air conditioner kicked in, and cool air blasted her nipples. He grazed his knuckles across them, and she gasped, clenching impotent fists at the small of her back.

  Jeremy hooked his hands into the waistband of her panties and tugged them halfway down her thighs—and left them there. Before she could protest, he turned her, then lifted her against his body with a hand under her ass. Her nipples rubbed across his starched shirt, her wet sex against his zipper. She was about to go out of her mind.

  Walking around the sofa, Jeremy set her down, unzipping his pants as he watched her face. She leaned in to suck the tempting hard steel length inches from her mouth, but he sank down on the sofa beside her, grabbing the bottle of baby oil still resting on the carpet in one hand. A second later, he had it open and in his palms, rubbing the oil with a harsh fist all over his cock.

  Kelsey’s stomach clenched.

  His head snapped up and he sent her a laser stare. “What am I going to do to you?”

  She swallowed hard. “Fuck my ass.”

  He nodded. “And you want me to, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  With a grim smile, Jeremy brought her against him and cradled her across his chest, one arm beneath her bent knees. The hand supporting her back disappeared for a moment, then she felt the head of his cock pressing into her back entrance.

  In this position, she was utterly helpless. Besides cuffing her hands, he now held her legs together as he slowly sank into the deepest recesses of her body. The tingle that spread over her felt as if someone dipped her in pure electricity, one inch of her body at a time. She gasped, tensed, her breath shuddering, faltering. And still he pressed in and in and in.

  Until he was balls deep and she swore she was going to break in half. He felt enormous in this position. And with her cheeks still on fire from his spanking, sensation drowned her.

  “And now I’m going to fuck you. Hard. You’re going to take me, come for me, and feel how damn much I want you.”

  Kelsey had no time to comment before he lifted her with his strong arms up and down on his cock. The friction boggled her mind and senses as he slid hotly into her. Every inch seeming to forge deeper than ever, especially when his hips surged up to meet her body, and he slammed home.

  She tossed her head back, hovering on the edge of orgasm. “Please! Oh . . . oh!”

  “Beg sweetly,” he demanded between clenched teeth. “What do you want?”

  “Harder,” she whimpered. “Let me come. I need it ...”

  “I can’t wait to see you come undone for me.”

  He lowered his head and popped her nipple in his mouth. Combined with the little ring, the sensation was almost too much. When he released her knees and caressed his way between her thighs, fingers circling her clit, Jeremy barely had to touch her before she exploded, a kaleidoscope of colors behind her eyes. She bucked, convulsed, as pleasure erupted under her skin. She screamed until her throat hurt, until she ran out of breath, until tears ran down her eyes. And still the ecstasy drowned her, scraping her raw, leaving her trembling and gasping.

  Instead of slowing down, Jeremy lifted her and set her down on her knees, face in the armrest. Again, he grabbed her hair, thrust his cock deep in her ass, then unleashed the flat of his palm on her ass again and again until she screamed with another agonizing release, and he came on a long, hard groan.

  “No more fucking Rhys and Tucker without my permission. Who do you belong to?” His fist tightened in her hair. “Tell me.”

  Kelsey opened her mouth to refute him . . . somehow. She never got the chance.

  “Not you, asshole.”

  Tucker!

  Suddenly, Jeremy was ripped away from her, and Kelsey spun around to see Tucker slam his fist into Jeremy’s jaw. “Don’t you ever fucking touch her again.”

  CHAPTER | NINE

  Kelsey’s heart stopped when Tucker’s punch slammed into Jeremy’s jaw. Her boss’s head whipped around, and he staggered to one knee.

  For an endless moment, tension sucked the air from the room in a soundless gasp. Everyone froze. Silence deafened.

  She broke it.

  “Stop! Oh my God.” She scrambled off the sofa, arms still cuffed at her back, panties clinging to her thighs, to glare at Tucker. “You hit him?”

  After rubbing his offended jaw, Jeremy fastened his pants and turned to Tucker. Rage boiled in his eyes. “Kelsey is mine. I took her, as is my right.”

  “Wait a minute!” Kelsey protested, glaring at Jeremy. “I never said that.”

  Tucker pushed her behind him protectively and leaned toward Jeremy, pressing the advantage of his slightly greater height. “She’s not a possession. And you have no right to beat her.”

  Beat her? Kelsey’s jaw dropped. How could both of these men who felt so right in her life have gotten the situation so wrong?

  “She is right here,” Kelsey pointed out. “And this is ridiculous. Somebody uncuff me.”

  Tucker hooked an arm around her waist and slid her to his side. She could feel his critical gaze on her backside. “My God, what did you do? Not only are her hands bound like a criminal, but her ass is bright red.”

  “Her skin takes a spanking beautifully. She’s gorgeous bound. And she enjoyed it.” Jeremy’s voice sounded like he was grinding glass with his teeth.

  “Not fucking possible.” Tucker shook his head. “She’s too independent to want to be your doormat.”

  “Dude, I think Jeremy is telling the truth,” Rhys cut in as he approached Kelsey and put an arm around her. He surveyed her naked body, lingering between her legs. “Her pussy is soaking wet.”