The Brothers Rule - Carolyn Faulkner Page 0,15

them to. Laurie knew they would always be cognizant of their own strength and her size, but she admitted to each of them—while one set of cheeks were as bright as the other set was going to be in a minute—that if they thought she had misbehaved, she wanted to be given a real punishment.

Jace was the first to take this to heart about her. He had more rules than his brothers, but then, he'd always been in a position of authority, so he knew exactly how he expected her to behave. And he wasn't at all flexible about it when it came to letting her wiggle out of a punishment.

They were slow dancing in the family room, which was more than big enough to accommodate that easily, one night on his weekend, and she took his hand at one point, intending on leading him into his bedroom.

"Hold it right there, missy." He gazed down at her, and she knew her ploy wasn't going to work. "How many times have I had to remind you about your language today?"

Laurie sighed. "Five."

"And how many times have you sassed me outright?"

Another sigh. "Three."

"And then there's the matter of your speeding ticket."

She did have a lead foot, and a jalopy of a car—both things each brother had lamented to her about in his own way.

And dammit, they talked amongst themselves about her! If they had been three strangers, she would only have gotten one spanking! As it happened, Adam was a friggin' cop, and of course, he'd found out about her ticket, because it was someone whom he was good friends with who had pulled her over, and they had recognized her name and ratted her out to him.

Thus, when Jace took her over his knee on the nearby couch and took down her shorts and panties, she was still very crispy from his brother's efforts on her behalf.

"I see Adam did a fine job explaining to you that speeding tickets are not going to be considered acceptable behavior to any of us, and I'm sure you'll have another lesson coming about it when you see Ryan this weekend."

"That's not fair!" she squealed as his hand cracked down onto a butt that she was still perching gingerly on whenever she sat down—which was something he hadn't failed to notice. "I shouldn't have to get three punishments for one crime!"

She might as well not have spoken.

"If you can't do the time, don't do the crime," Jace murmured with absolutely no sympathy. And he didn't show her any at all in regards to how thoroughly he disciplined her, either. The condition of her behind whenever he got to her, as far as he was concerned, was lily white, whether or not it was.

As a result of how hard Adam had been on her, she was crying even before he delivered that first God-awful swat, and things went rapidly downhill from there.

As his brother had done before him, when he was through giving her a hand spanking, Jace reached for his belt, and Laurie began to wail.

"No! Jace!! Please don't!"

But he was resolute, as she'd known he would be, arranging her bent over, with her hands on the couch cushions.

"I wouldn't move them, or yourself, if I were you," was all he said before the wide, doubled over belt began to crack viciously down on her tender flesh.

Not wanting to find out what would happen if she did, Laurie danced and wept in place, lifting her feet up with every stroke and rocking a bit back and forth, as that thing well and truly tanned her hide, but good.

And the thing was—she had essentially asked for it, in a way!

She and Jace had talked a bit about that side of their relationship, and he had gotten her to admit—against her better judgment—that she would probably benefit from it if he was sterner with her, and that both punishments and submission in general was what she craved.

And he had apparently taken that to heart!

She didn't even hear it when he put it to one side, and she was still holding herself—stiffened into that position—when he lifted her up and cradled her in his arms, careful not to touch her poor backside to anything.

And Jace was incredibly touched when she didn't try to get away from him or even shy away from him—both of which he would have considered to be very natural reactions to the man who had just blistered her bottom. Instead, she clung to him,