The Brothers Rule - Carolyn Faulkner Page 0,45

his mouth against her crown. "Ah—what else do you have to say to me, Laurie?"

He wasn't going to make her say that to him in front of them, was he? She squirmed hard. "But, Ryan," she whimpered.

Ryan ignored her plea and raised his head to address his brothers. "When we were together before, I had instituted two rules for her. She was to call me Sir, and she was to thank me after I'd punished her."

The other brothers quickly agreed that those rules should be in place for her with all of them, from this point on.

"Hey, no, that's not good at all!" she protested, knowing it was a losing battle. Then she sighed softly. "Thank you for punishing me, Sir."

"Good girl." He smiled softly, kissing her forehead.

Adam scooped her off Ryan's lap as Jace and Ryan went to the kitchen to scrounge for food.

"I think both of them are very good ideas," Adam reinforced calmly.

"Thank you for punishing me, Sir," she whispered.

He tipped her head so she met his eyes. "I want you to look at me when you say that, Laur."

She cleared her throat and did as he asked, thanking him again more loudly.

"Good point," Jace commented from the kitchen, and Laurie blushed prettily before he presented himself to her for her to say the same thing to him.

His eyes were soft as Adam cuddled her close, fussing a bit over her and pulling an afghan over her to make sure she was warm.

She was feeling sleepy but fought it, especially when she could hear that the boys were rustling something up in the kitchen. Laurie tried to sit up, but Adam wouldn't allow it.

"But I should go cook dinner," she whispered.

"Boys, are you okay with giving our girl a night off from cooking?" Adam asked.

"Hell yes! There's enough food here to feed, well, us, between the leftovers and the lunch stuff. We're just making up sammiches," Jace replied. "Do you want us to bring you anything, darlin'?" he asked, speaking to Laurie, of course.

But Adam raised his voice several octaves to answer, "No thank you, honeybunch," and everyone laughed—except Laurie, who shook her head against his chest.

"I wasn't talking to you, Ant," Jace growled.

Adam scowled at his old, out of date nickname. "Well, she doesn't want anything, either." He looked down at her. "You sure?"

She nodded and promptly fell asleep on him.

They came in with plates loaded with sliced meat sandwiches and chips, and as he motioned for them to be quiet because of her, Ryan asked softly, "Want me to make you a sandwich?"

Adam fished in his pocket for his phone and texted Ryan what he wanted. He was able to eat and hold her without disturbing her, while they watched Ray Donovan, which they knew she didn't care for.

She didn't stir till about an hour later, when she awoke and headed for the bathroom in her room. When she reappeared, there were three men hanging around the door, towering over her.

"We think you should just retire for the evening, honey," Ryan said, and they weren't giving her much choice about it.

She was still pretty much asleep or she might have actually protested, but all she could seem to do was to yawn. So, she didn't put up much of a fuss as Adam undressed her, then Jace popped a pretty nightie over her head he'd gotten from one of her drawers, and they all tucked her under the covers. Each of them bent down and kissed her goodnight. As they were all at the door, Jace leaned back into the room a bit.

"Laurie, just in case, the rule I gave you about not pleasuring yourself is definitely still in force."

"Yes, Sir," she replied, and even though it was audible, it was very sleepy.

Adam closed the door behind them and complimented Jace with a pat on his back, "Good idea, man."

"Thanks, bro."

As they walked away, Ryan asked his two brothers, "Does anyone here doubt that even though we went pretty hard on her, she was wet by the time we were done?"

They both shook their heads.

"No, that's always been something about her that has amazed me. It's awful for her—I don't doubt it one bit when she's punished, by one or all three of us. But she was never not wet afterward," Jace confided, although he still didn't really hold with kissing and telling, even though they were his brothers.

The others nodded their heads, and that was as far as that conversation went, as if by