“A present Noah gave me, just for you.”

Anal had never been very high on her agenda of fun things to do in bed. But right from the start, Thom had made it clear that her back hole was his to take whenever he desired. Because she wanted him and because everything else that he’d done had been so good thus far, Avery was resigned to the inevitability. She would give him whatever he asked for, and she would do it with little to no resistance—even, maybe even especially, that hole.After all, he’d stuck his finger in her bottom just minutes ago and she’d had one of the best orgasms of her life because of it.

But she wasn’t orgasming now. In fact, she was stinging, her back entrance and the sensitive flesh it guarded beginning to burn with a vengeance. Sucking sharp breaths through her teeth, she couldn’t keep her feet from dancing in place.

“Daddy, oww.”

Thom rubbed the small of her back. “You’ll be fine, little girl.”

“No, I won’t!”

He chuckled, somewhat malevolently she thought. “You will. You will also learn to mind me, and when you don’t, I will happily use all the ginger I need in order to convince you to think twice before disobeying.”

“Nooooooo,” she wailed, bouncing.

Thom rubbed her back and massaged her neck, but allowed her to writhe in the blinding heat he had created. “You’re officially grounded, little girl. Until further notice, you don’t go anywhere without Daddy or without Daddy’s permission. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, Sir. Please, make it stop.”

“It should be starting to lessen. The effect is sharp, but not long lasting. You’re going to stand in the corner while I arrange to have something brought out for us to eat. Did you girls have fun being naughty?”

“Not enough to be worth this,” she mumbled morosely.

He laughed outright. “Remember that the next time you want to misbehave. How’s your bottom hole?”

“It doesn’t like you very much right now.”

She wasn’t that sure about the rest of her either, but he was right about one thing. The burning, stinging awfulness of the ointment was getting easier to bear. Not by a lot, but at least it was starting to get bearable.

“Do you want to crawl into bed? You’ve had a busy day, maybe a nap while we wait for dinner to be delivered would be a good thing.”

Sniffling, her bottom hole burning too much for her to want to argue, when he held up the covers, she went and crawled into bed. Mighty helicopter hunter by day; Daddy’s little girl by night. She felt a little silly when he tucked her in, but only a little, and when he leaned down to kiss her forehead, even that went away.

“Is Daddy going to have to welt you with his belt again?” he asked, giving her a knowing look.

Probably, she thought, but outwardly she shook her head. “No, Sir. You made your point.”

“Good. I’m glad. Take a nap, Avery. We’ll sleep here tonight, and in the morning, Junior will be here with the corporate chopper to take us home.”

“Wait, what about my chopper? I’m so grounded I can’t even fly?” That stung.

“If you’re going to use your chopper to disobey, you’ll get it taken away,” he said flatly. “They’re going to keep it here until Kurt can help Junior get it back to your place.”

Oh, that really stung. But when he hooked his belt with his thumbs, that arch in his eyebrows just daring her to argue, Avery wilted against her pillow and shut her mouth. Grounded instantly became the worst punishment ever, but at least Thom seemed somewhat placated and far less angry with her than he had been when they first met up at the showers.

Rolling onto her side, she watched as he went to the phone to place a call to the kitchen. Somewhere before that call ended, she must have closed her eyes, because when she opened them again, the room was shrouded in darkness and the burning of the ginger ointment was completely gone.

Unsure how long she’d slept, she sat up. “Thom?”

The bed shifted an instant before his hand found hers in the dark. “Yes, baby. I’m here.”

As relieved as she was not to be alone, something sounded off in his tone. “Are… are you still mad?” she asked, almost afraid to know the answer. “You sound… distant somehow.”

“I’m not happy with what you did. The thing is, I can understand that Willa and Mandy don’t really know how dangerous Fariq and Christian are, except in the abstract. But you, Finn, and Zara should know all too well.”

“We didn’t think he’d send a hit squad. We were just going for a ride. We didn’t think we’d run into him at all.”

“You need to start thinking that. And why wouldn’t he? What better way to cripple the firm than to strike at the heart of the team?”