“You want me to what?”

Bobbie spread her smile around the group, but then it turned evil as she looked at me. “Stand still, and your employees get to take turns hitting you with this bat.”

Oh yes, there was no doubt that she was enjoying this exercise. I should never have allowed my little sister to be in charge of these retreat exercises.

I looked around at the people circling me in the conference room. Aaron was just grinning like a big doofus, Susan was whispering in a huddle with Madeline, and Nikhil looked like he was about to piss his stupid hipster skinny pants.

The rest of them were staring at the floor as though it held the answer to some kind of year-end bonus riddle. Note to self: bonuses will be determined by performance in this game.

I stood in the middle, like a sick game of Spin the Bottle. Or a piñata.

“Ideally, you will try to not hit Brian with the bat,” Bobbie explained to everyone. “You are encouraged to use verbal communication to assert yourself and your concerns about your department. However, sometimes assertiveness can lead to aggression, so this—“ She whipped it forward and bonked me on the head with the foam-covered baseball bat. “—is a kind of back-up. Use it or don’t use it, but be clear about your objective.”

My objective was going to be bludgeoning her to death with that stupid thing. Aaron’s grin was creeping me out, until I remembered with a groan that he’d played baseball in college.

“Each person gets two minutes to air their thoughts, so think before you speak and consider what your priorities are. You can say a lot in two minutes.”

I saw Madeline nodding in agreement out of the corner of my eye. I prayed that she would take the high road, as a professional communicator. Then I noticed her pulling the long sleeves of her blue sweater down over the pink marks on her wrists from where I’d tied them. Oh shit.

“We’ll take a break for a few minutes now for people to brainstorm. Feel free to consult with your colleagues. Maybe you have shared problems or concerns, or issues that cross several departments. The purpose is to improve your communication and air your frustrations in a safe environment.”

This was considered safe? For whom? Now not only was I going to be treated like a human piñata, but I also got to sit quietly in nervous anticipation. Bobbie absently whacked the bat against her thigh as the group splintered.

“I’ll get you back for this, Roberta,” I growled.

“It’s just part of the retreat, Brian,” she said innocently. “You signed off on this program two weeks ago.”

I must have been mesmerized by Maddie’s ass when I gave it the green light. There was no way in hell I would voluntarily submit to, well, submitting. I wasn’t a very good bottom—I already knew that. Even at the end of a Nerf bat.

Bobbie bumped my elbow. “Chill out. Would you rather be blindfolded? Because I can arrange that.”

A shudder went through me, and it wasn’t a sexy one. “No.”

Bobbie gathered the gauntlet together and reminded everyone that any contact had to remain below the neck and no junk punches. After my sister made a joke about not wanting me to lose the ability to create new employees, Madeline turned crimson and a few others sniggered.

At first it went smoothly, without violence. Susan brought up some very useful concerns she had about health benefits, including adding massage and physiotherapy.

“Okay, why?” I asked.

Susan gifted me with a toothy smile. It seemed even brighter against her lipstick. “The body is a temple, Brian.”

Damn, how was I supposed to respond to that? “What, it’s open to strangers leaving tributes? For all that you people call me God, I don’t see a lot of fruit baskets at my door.”

Susan’s giggle grated on my ears. “Ergonomic studies show that computer workers, which most of us are—” She made a vague, all-encompassing gesture. “—will suffer more back and neck problems, which can lead to reduced productivity and increased health care costs for the employer. I learned about it at the last Human Resources course you sent me to.”

Her mouth said Human Resources, but I had the feeling that the flirtatious sweep of her straight eyelashes was trying to convince me to part with a whole different kind of human resource. No, thank you.

“I’ll consider it,” I said dismissively.

“Brian, maybe that kind of disdain is what prevented Susan from speaking up before now,” Bobbie pointed out. The rest of the group nodded, and Madeline put a sympathetic arm around Susan.

Apparently I was the bad guy. Was I that much of an asshole at the office?

We went through a few more concerns with staff members, none of which were accompanied by swings and all of which could have been dealt with in an internal memo, in my opinion. This “exercise” was starting to feel like a waste of time.

Nikhil babbled about client architecture and biometric profilers, to which I listened carefully and made mental notes. His nervous twitch turned the bat into a weapon for self-injury as he thwapped it against his knees over and over again.

Aaron was the only person who really tried for a home run, but I’d prepared myself for that. I’d get the fucker back another time. He wouldn’t know where or when, but it would happen.

Unfortunately, he would have to follow up with an email with his issues, because I was practically spellbound by the flush creeping up Madeline’s cheeks as she watched me fend off the bat. Her eyes widened and darkened with each successive hit, and her lush lower lip fell open a little when I grunted at one that fell across my belly.

Maybe my Madeline had a naughty streak to her. I couldn’t wait to find out.

Aaron handed the bat to her, and she swung it low by her hip with a loose wrist. She was the last at bat, and the room fell silent. As she was the one who worked most closely with me, it was as though everyone suspected that her assertiveness would morph to aggression very, very quickly. I almost expected dollar bills to be changing hands behind her as bets mounted.

There was a sparkle in her eyes as she met my gaze, though. Hopefully I was the only person who recognized the signs of her arousal. But because I had shit timing, however, my cock swelled. I gave her a pointed look, then I glanced at the bat and downwards, hoping she might break the rules and junk punch me anyhow to deter my erection.

Let’s face it—popping a boner while being walloped by my employees would be hell on my authority.

Madeline pointed the bat at me casually, like a cocky player pointing to their planned trajectory. Then she covered a lascivious smile with her free hand, pretending to cough. Bad girl. When would I get my turn with the bat? I wondered.

“Let’s see. Mister Gage, I’m concerned that you work too hard,” she began.

A chorus groans rose up, and I heard someone sounding suspiciously like Aaron yell out “wuss!”

“Um, okay?”

“You see,” she continued, “I feel like I need to be in the office when you’re in the office, so your ten-hour days turn into my twelve-hour days.”

Oh. “I’m glad that you’re not actually that inefficient.”

The bat connected sharply with my right kneecap, buckling me for a moment.

“Is that aggression or punishment, Maddie?” Bobbie called out. “Remember, we’re trying to use our words, not the weapon.”

Madeline lowered the bat, tapping it against the floor thoughtfully. “Sometimes I also feel that you’re too inconsiderate of people’s lives, like you didn’t even think about whether we could easily attend this weekend. You just assumed we would drop everything to come. And I don’t think I was the only person afraid to speak up.”

A murmur of agreement bounced off the walls.

I looked to Bobbie. “Is this assertiveness or the airing of grievances?”

“You push too hard,” Madeline continued with a light bunt to my thigh, her bottom lip captured by her lucky teeth. “You expect too much.”

“I don’t expect anything of you that I don’t expect of myself.” She hit my forearm, and it connected with the bone more solidly than I’d expected.

“You expect too much,” she repeated, blowing her a lock of hair out of her face. “That whole ‘no excuses’ thing…” She mocked my tone, triggering another wave of snickers and one random “you go, girl!”

I held up my hands and looked to Bobbie, who was just watching in amusement. She was no fucking help whatsoever.

Maddie’s eyes were blazing at me as my gaze returned to her. “Sometimes excuses are reasons, Mister Gage—and good ones. Everything doesn’t fit into your little box. You can’t control everything, and you sure as hell can’t control me!”

She finished with a loud and solid second-base hit to my hip. The room was frozen as she dropped the bat. Her chest was heaving, but she wasn’t winded.

Emotion wracked her body as she turned away from me and the rest of her co-workers. I couldn’t tell if she was embarrassed, angry, remorseful, or all of the above. But I couldn’t fault her honesty, not when that was the purpose of the exercise. Nobody dared speak or move, even Bobbie—until I began slowly clapping.

Swallowing my own feelings of shock and umbrage, I held up my hands and gave a pointed nod to everyone in the room to encourage them to applaud as well.

“G-g-good job, Maddie,” Bobbie stammered. “Great, uh, communicating.”

Madeline put her hands to her face, still facing the wall. The tips of her ears were bright pink, and her shoulders rose and fell as she struggled to recover her, well, whatever.

Her words echoed in my head, rattling around until they dented my pride and patience. I wasn’t that controlling, was I? I just wanted her to try hard, to succeed and to be confident. Was that so wrong?

“Now it’s time for your last exercise—primal screaming.”

What the fu—?

Bobbie handed out pairs of foam earplugs.

“Why the hell couldn’t I get these before?” I grumbled.

“Because then you wouldn’t have listened to your staff.”

The problem was that I’d been listening to my staff a little too much that weekend. I was irritated that this retreat did not work out as planned. Granted, there were elements of the weekend that worked out better, such tonguing Maddie into a spine-melting climax, but I did not achieve my professional objectives. That bothered me to no end.

Bobbie slipped her phone out of her pocket and checked it with a nod. “I want you to think about everything that drives you crazy about work. People, tasks, computers, anything that you feel you can’t control. And then take a deep breath, and let out that emotion in one long, loud scream—straight from the heart. Now, I’ve been asked by the kitchen that you not stay in here for your primal screaming. I encourage you all to spread out around the property so you can find privacy. Don’t worry, everyone has been warned, and nobody’s going to call 911 on you,” my sister joked.

People filed out the door, leaving her and Aaron, Madeline and myself. Aaron winked at Bobbie, and she just smirked at me as I rolled my eyes and tugged Madeline behind me.

“What the hell was that?” I asked as we stepped out a side door, bypassing a few lodge employees on a smoke break.

Her gaze was on her feet as we walked down a path behind the hotel. “Honest communication.”

I stopped us at a ridge of tall lodgepole pines, overlooking a steep drop down the mountainside. Dead, golden needles carpeted the ground off the trail, old tree roots certainly hidden beneath. If we screamed here—which was an inane exercise, I thought—our voices would drop over the edge into the peaceful valley below.

My hand went to Madeline’s chin to pull her gaze up to me. The corners of her lips quirked a little, and there was a hint of a smile in her eyes. If she was truly angry with me, it had faded. This girl kept turning me upside down. Fit into my little box? Ha! I’d like to fit into her little bo—

She put her hand on my mouth as I let out a harsh sigh and bit back my thoughts. “Time to scream, sir.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “We’re not done with this, Madeline.”

“I’m sure we’re not.” She pulled away from me, put in her earplugs, and turned toward the ridgeline.

After watching her take several deep breaths in preparation, but no sounds coming out of her mouth, I was worried she was about to hyperventilate. Her shoulders sagged as I came up behind her and touched her back.

She swore. “I’m not good at screaming. I don’t like to yell like that.”

I wondered how much screaming she’d done as a child—a lonely, abandoned, scared little girl. My stomach twisted at the thought. I understood her reluctance; I didn’t like screaming either. It seemed so…out of control.

My hand slipped into hers. “I’ll make you a deal,” I said. She tilted her head at me, while I squeezed her fingers together. “Instead of a ‘primal scream,’ pretend you’re coming harder than you’ve ever come before.”

The wind lifted her hair off her burning cheeks as she stared at me. “What?”

I leaned in so she could hear me through the earplugs. I sure as hell didn’t want anyone else overhearing. “Scream like I’m plunging my rock hard cock into you. Scream like you are so wet and so hot you’ll die if I don’t touch you. Like I have you tied down, spread-eagled and blindfolded, your body on display and mine to take however and whenever I want—and I’ve already been eating you out for hours. You can’t take any more. Imagine that my dick is stretching your pussy to the point of pain and bottoming out deeper than anyone has ever been inside you.” Inwardly I winced at the thought of anyone else inside her, regardless.

Her pupils dilated at my words. If I touched her through her yoga pants right then, she might go off like a rocket. It was so tempting…

I brushed my lips against hers, drawing more feelings out of her. I wanted to make her squirm, wanted her to be so turned on that she might even find a true release as she let it all out. Keenly, I wished I could control all her orgasms.

“Scream like you’ve never come before, and your body and soul are completely mine.”

Now she almost was hyperventilating, and I moved my palms to her chest. It just so happened that her tits were in the way; I couldn’t help that. I kissed her again, deep and slow, my thumbs brushing against her raised nipples. She shuddered and gasped into my mouth.

“Gage! Fuck!”

“Exactly, baby.”

Dropping my hands, I stepped back a little and turned her toward the trees. I stood close to her but a little behind, so she wouldn’t be puncturing my eardrums. Her chest rose and fell, her eyes screwed shut against the magnificent scenery.

“Let it go.” I drew my thumb up the back seam of her tight pants, deeply tracing her crack from her thighs to her sacrum. In response, she inhaled sharply then filled her lungs completely, ready to scream.

As she opened her mouth, her arm shot back and she grabbed me through my pants—hard.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!