What the hell had she gotten herself into? She’d tried to reverse the rules on Grant, and it had completely backfired. Instead of stirring up his possessiveness, she’d managed to inspire him to bring in someone else.

Clearly, he didn’t have any feelings for her. This was simply a game. Sex. Power play. An arrangement. Her insides twisted at the realization, but she knew it’d been a long shot anyway. How could she expect him to feel anything for her when they still hardly knew each other? She’d been ridiculous to think she could drag him out of the cave he’d locked himself in when his wife had died.

She needed to accept this fact and enjoy their arrangement for what it was worth—great sex. An adventure with a man who could coax her body to heights she hadn’t known existed. She was going to have to tamp down her own misguided emotions and focus on the physical, on the way her body responded to him. Even with the emotional letdown, knowing what was on the other side of this door had her woefully turned on—albeit slightly terrified. She could do this. Keep it on the surface.

Men did it all the time. And if she knew anything about herself, it was that she could go toe-to-toe with any man on just about anything.

After one deep, cleansing breath, she knocked on the door.

“Come in.” Grant’s baritone cut through the door like the thing was made of rice paper instead of solid oak.

She turned the knob and slowly opened it, the creak of the hinges echoing through the now-empty building. When she stepped inside, she had to catch her breath. Sitting behind a massive wooden desk, Grant looked every bit the angry boss. He’d taken off his suit coat and hat, and his shirtsleeves were rolled to the elbows, a move she was starting to recognize as a harbinger. A hot shiver raced right down to her toes.

Kade sat in a chair on the other side of the desk, relaxed, his ankle resting on the opposite knee. He had his ever-present legal pad on his lap, notes scrawled across it. He gave her a quick glance, the deep blue of his eyes unreadable, then went back to his notes. She cleared her throat, feeling like she’d intruded on their business meeting. “You wanted to see me, sir?”

“I hired you to pour coffee and answer phones. I did not hire you to make a scene, curse in front of my colleagues, or flirt shamelessly with my clients,” Grant said, his voice sterner than she’d ever heard it. “You put Mr. Vandergriff in quite an awkward position.”

She bit the inside of her cheek. Even though she knew this was part of the game, the admonishment had her looking at a spot on the hardwood floor. “I apologize.”

He gave a heavy sigh and leaned forward, forearms on the desk. “Charlotte, I’m starting to doubt your commitment to the position. Maybe this isn’t the right job for you.”

She lifted her face to him. Was he actually doubting her dedication to him and the training, or was this all part of a script she wasn’t privy to? Either way she was ready to prove how wrong he was. “Please, Mr. Waters. I can do better. Give me another chance. I need this…job.”

And as the words slipped past her lips she realized how true they were. This had gone beyond some fun training, some way to get her promotion. A part of her now needed this, craved it. Craved him. The thought of walking out and just…stopping and going back to her regular life gave her a panicky feeling.

Ah, hell, she was so screwed.

Grant gave her an up-and-down perusal, his eyes cool. “Lock that door behind you, Ms. Beaumonde. Perhaps we can work something out.”

She kept her gaze locked with Grant’s and reached behind her to turn the lock on the door. The grind of the metal was deafening in the heavy silence of the room.

Grant rose from behind the desk and stepped toward her, his footfalls echoing off the floor. She remained rooted to her spot as he circled around her like a tiger deciding which part of his prey to tear into first. Kade’s gaze met hers, his interest evident, and Grant clamped a hand around the nape of her neck, startling her.

“Charlotte, verbal reprimands seem to be lost on you,” he said, his grip tightening. “Maybe you need something a little more tangible to remind you to listen.”

She swallowed hard as he nudged her forward toward the desk. He stopped along the edge, then pushed her flat against the surface, spreading her upper body across the top of the desk and removing her glasses. The angle and the high heels pushed her ass high, the position making her feel hopelessly vulnerable to him.

Hot palms cupped her ass through the thin fabric of her skirt, Grant’s thumbs tracing the line between her cheeks. Warmth leaked through her system, making her nipples tighten against the desk’s surface and wet need gather between her thighs. “Ah, will you look at that, Vandergriff. Apparently, Ms. Beaumonde is forgetful at home, too. Looks like she forgot to put on her panties today.”

Charli watched as Kade got to his feet and then disappeared from her line of sight when he moved next to Grant. Fingers found their way beneath the hem of her skirt and tugged upward. A little cry of surprise passed her lips as one of them shoved the tight skirt all the way to her hips, exposing everything.

“Very nice.” Kade’s voice was soft, appreciative. A hand caressed her bare skin. Kade’s. His fingertips didn’t have the roughness of Grant’s.

“She’s sexy, isn’t she?” Grant said, a tinge of pride in his words. His callused hand moved between her legs and found her slick folds. “I can barely look at her without getting hard.”

She closed her eyes, trying to calm herself. Her body was revving like a race car engine. She didn’t want to like this. Didn’t want to think about the kind of girl this probably made her. The feminist in her was flailing about, but the protest was useless. Some part of her needed this. She couldn’t ever remember feeling as wantonly female as she did right now. Two gorgeous men looking at her and touching her like she was some sort of prize.

Grant slid two fingers inside her, coaxing a quiet moan from her. “Well, well, Ms. Beaumonde, maybe I’ve underestimated your skill set. If you feel as good around my cock as you do around my fingers, I may have to reevaluate your daily duties.”

She kept her eyes closed as he worked his magic, delving inside her, then sliding slippery fingers over her clit. “I’ll do whatever you need me to, sir.”

“Kade, I think she’s having a little too much fun,” Grant said. “This is supposed to be a reprimand first, and fun second. Why don’t you remind her of that?”

“Happy to.”

Before she could register what Grant had said, a hard slap rocked her backside. She cried out as the stinging rippled across her skin like a heat wave, waking up every receptor inside her. Kade clearly wasn’t going to be tentative. She barely had time to suck in another breath before another smack hit her other cheek.

The pain may have been too much in isolation, but as Grant’s hand continued to work her pussy, she felt the two ends of the pain/pleasure spectrum braiding together inside her, coalescing into that potent mix she was learning to feed on.

Kade didn’t pause in his mission. The slap of palm on skin echoed in her ears mixing with her own breathy noises. The side of her face pressed into the smooth surface of the desk as she inadvertently braced herself for the blows. But instead of shrinking away from the spanking, she found her hips tilting upward of their own volition, her legs spreading to provide them both better access. Her thoughts began to blur at the edges, her brain drifting to that place it’d gone to the previous night where all that existed was sensation and the sound of Grant’s voice. The tension began to leach out of her muscles.

She lost track of how long, but Kade’s swats finally came to an end, and Grant’s fingers slipped from her. Gentle kisses pressed against the tingling skin of her rear, both men simultaneously soothing her and dialing up her need. A hot tongue circled the entrance of her pussy, and her back curved as a hard shudder went through her.

“Your taste is so sexy, sweet Charlotte,” Grant said, his words like chocolate melting over her. “I could spend all afternoon licking your pretty little cunt and making you beg for release. Kade, have a taste.”

“It’d be my pleasure.” She heard the shift of clothing as Kade adjusted his position, then his tongue was on her, teasing her throbbing clit. Grant’s hands gripped her cheeks, spreading her wide, giving the other man complete access. His thumbs brushed across her back entrance, featherlight touches that seemed to increase the pleasure in her tenfold.

“Oh, God.” She let out a whimper, her body going achy and desperate. “Please.”

“Please what, Charlotte? Be careful what you’re begging for,” Grant warned, though there was something darkly enticing in his voice.

She dug her nails into the edges of the desk, trying to hold off orgasm as the two men pushed her closer and closer to the brink. “I’m going to come.”

Both of them stopped touching her in an instant. Footsteps echoed in her ears, then a hand was twisting in her hair. Grant’s voice was low and hot against her ear. “I decide when it’s time for that, Charlotte. And right now, you’ve gone and gotten us both hard. Take care of that, and then you can have what you want.”

She nodded as best she could with his grip so tight against her scalp. “Yes, sir.”

“You think you can handle two of us, sweet Charlotte?”

She forced her eyes open, met his gaze as he stared down at her. There was desire there, need, but there was also something she couldn’t read. Fear? Worry? But that wouldn’t make any sense. “I can handle whatever you think I deserve, sir. I trust you.”

He closed his eyes, his jaw flexing as he inhaled a deep breath. Then his grip gentled and traced a finger along the shell of her ear. His words were soft when he finally spoke, so low she doubted Kade could hear them. “I’m going to make this very good for you, Charli.”

For some reason, his earnest tone and the way he’d said her real name had a knot forming in her throat. He’d slipped out of the role-play, and she could almost see a mental shift in him, some tide turning. He gave her one last, long look that seemed to say so much, though she had no idea what the words would be, then turned away.

“Vandergriff, secure her arms and feel free to make use of that lush mouth of hers. She won’t need to do any more talking for a while.” Grant’s voice was gruff, almost as if the statement had been hard to make.

Charli’s heart began to pound in her ears. She was really going to do this. Part of her was turned on by the idea of having Grant share her like he had the exclusive right to who did and didn’t touch her, but anxiety curled in her stomach, invading the sexual energy humming through her. Something felt…off.

Grant scooted her forward on the desk, her silk blouse sliding along the polished wood, and Kade shoved the rolling desk chair out of the way. She could hear Grant walk to the other side of the room and open a cabinet while Kade filled the space in front of her, the hard ridge of his erection prominent against the front of his slacks. He grabbed Grant’s desk phone and pulled the coiled cord from the base and the receiver.

“Put your hands behind your back, baby.” She followed his instructions, and he leaned over her to bind her hands. His voice was quiet against her ear. “If you wanted to make him jealous, you’ve succeeded.”

Her brow wrinkled, the statement not making sense to her. If Grant was so jealous, why was he sharing her? She peered up at Kade when he finished binding her. Shifting his eyes in Grant’s direction, he touched a finger to her lips, warning her not to voice her thought.

He crouched down in front of her, making a show of pulling the pins from her hair. “Call your safe word, Charlotte.”

“What?” she whispered.

“There’s nothing I’d rather do right now than take advantage of that pretty mouth of yours, but Grant doesn’t want this. I don’t know why he’s doing it—maybe because he thinks you want it—but he flinches every time I touch you.”