Page 46 of On Your Knees

“Do I need to bend you over my knee and show you who is boss?”

Zeland wiggles his brows at me. “Yes please, daddy.” And both Zeland and I laugh when Ridge gags over the phone.

“Just get your fucking ass up here on your lunch break, and so help me if I have to come looking for you.” He then ends the call abruptly.

“Do you think he knows I’m avoiding him?” I ask.

“Why did you get that impression? He knows and has been in a pissy mood about it for days.”

I sigh. “I don’t know how to do this.”

“Do what?” Zeland asks, brushing my hair back behind my ears.

“Us. Ridge. Arlo. I’m going to get my heart broken. I shouldn’t like you all so much.”

“Do you want to be my girl?”

I eye him suspiciously and shrug. “Honestly, I don’t know what I want. I know I enjoy fucking you and spending time with you. Ridge scares me the most.Waking up in his arms petrified me because I could see myself doing it more often, and that’s not me. And?—”

Zeland presses his lips to mine, probably to shut me up, but it works. I jump into his arms and wrap my legs around his waist. We kiss for what feels like hours, drinking each other in, not needing it to turn more physical. He is showing me he is there for me, however I need him to be. We pull back, both panting, when the door is ripped open and Ridge wedges himself inside with us.

“Be my girl,” Zeland whispers, and I have a profound “fuck it” moment and nod. If I’m going to get my heart broken, I may as well go out with a bang.

“I thought you two were fucking in here, but you’re asking her to be your girlfriend?”

“What’s up, brother husband,” I say as I slide down Zeland’s body. “I guess we share a man now. You’re never getting rid of me.”

Zeland cackles, and Ridge shakes his head. “I guess you’re about to find out what sharing a man with me entails, stray.” Then he grabs my chin and locks eyes with me. “Now you can’t avoid me. Both of you are expected in my office at lunch.”

“Fuck yes, a Zeland sandwich,” Zeland says with a fist pump.

Ridge lets me go and steps back, twisting the handle, and he walks out into the hall. We follow him, but all skid to a stop when we see Arlo standing there, his mouth wide open. Zeland walks up to him and uses his finger to close it before he leans in close to his ear just as I come to stand behind him. “If you’re going to standthere with your mouth open, I can give you something to put in it.”

“Zeland,” Ridge snaps. “That is sexual harassment. Let’s go.”

Zeland cackles as Ridge drags him away. “See you at lunch, girlfriend. And check your emails, Arlo. I haven’t gotten a reply yet.”

I roll my eyes as I’m left standing with Arlo, who just blinks. I grab his arm and drag him back to our office, closing the door behind us.

“You and him . . . Did he just . . .? I’m confused.”

I laugh. “Welcome to getting to know Zeland. When he is not your boss, Zeland can be very inappropriate. If he made you feel a certain way that you don’t like, I can tell him to knock it off.”

“All three of you were in there,” he whispers.

“Yup. Can I tell you a secret that is just between us?”

He nods and I know he can’t repeat anything about either of them because it’s in his NDA, just like it’s in mine.

“Ridge and I are both with Zeland.”

He makes a motion of his mind exploding. “Good for you. Or Zeland, I guess.”

“You won’t tell anyone, will you?”

Arlo laughs and I want to step closer to him, to tell him the masked woman was me, that I want him as well. To tell him his smell calms me, even if that sounds fucking weird. But Arlo smells so damn good, like sweet oranges and something spicy I can’t quite put my finger on—chili flakes, maybe?

“If youhaven’t noticed, I’m a bit of a loner. I don’t have friends.”

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