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“Spank,” Annie and Xavier said at the same time.

Colum crossed his arms, clearly waiting for an explanation.

“Spankings are in a category of their own,” Annie said.“And it was consensual.”

“With consent,” Xavier added, “even the darkest needs can be brought to light.”

“But he spanked you hard enough for it to hurt,” Colum said, frowning in what almost looked like disapproval.

Stern disapproval should not be as sexy as it was.And she knew he wasn’t doing it on purpose.

There was an innocence about him that left Annie wondering if the sexy archivist had ever slept with anyone before.Even if he had, it was obvious his bedroom experiences had been far tamer than hers and Xavier’s.The idea of exposing him to darker desires only made her want him more.

“I wouldn’t insult her by merely patting her ass,” Xavier purred.

Every word out of their mouths was working to rebuild the arousal that had dimmed when Colum stepped in.While her body was still thrumming with unmet need, Annie could tell the moment had passed.

Especially when Colum said, “I should go back to my room.”

“No!”Annie and Xavier said in unison.

“Stay with us,” Annie pleaded.“We let things go too far.”

Xavier shot her a look that said they hadn’t let it go far enough, but he didn’t argue, clearly as anxious to keep Colum with them.

The question of Colum leaving was taken off the table when there was a knock at the door.

“Room service,” someone called out.

Annie blew out a slow breath, trying to get her raging hormones back under control.“I’ll get the door.”She pierced Colum with a hard look.“Sit.You aren’t going anywhere.We’re sticking together, remember?”she said, throwing his argument for robbing the museum together back at him.

“Aye,” Colum replied slowly, his gaze shifting to Xavier’s jaw.Lifting his hand, he gently stroked the red skin.“Together,” he murmured.

Xavier leanedsideways into Annie so he could see her screen.On her other side, Colum did the same.

The man on the video call—Jasper, no last name given—looked up.“This is everything you have?”He held up a tablet, the screen turned so they could see a short document.

Annie nodded.“That’s what the museum’s insurance company had listed for their security measures.”

“It’s not much,” the man said.“The security, I mean.”

Xavier studied Jasper.He was good-looking, in an unremarkable way.According to Annie, he was a very good thief, and at least one of the museum robberies he’d committed as a young man was famously unsolved.They’d waited as long as they could for his call, but finally Annie had declared they needed to leave for the museum.Jasper had called right as they climbed into the back of a yellow cab.

“Nothing in the collection is particularly valuable,” Annie said, her voice slightly muffled by the black surgical mask she wore.He and Colum were also wearing masks.

“I’m surprised they wouldn’t sell it to you.”

“I think that had more to do with the museum director being a stubborn asshole.”

“Ah.”Jasper grinned.“A native New Yorker, then.”

Annie laughed, and leaning against her as he was, Xavier felt her body jiggle with amusement.He started imagining her body jiggling for other reasons but ruthlessly squashed the thought so it wouldn’t distract him.

“If it were me,” Jasper said, “I’d do a smash and grab.”

“Er, excuse me,” Colum said.“Should we really be planning all this here?”Colum nodded to the scuffed plastic divider that separated them from the cab driver.

Annie snorted.“We could be making a plan to overthrow the government and the cabbie wouldn’t care.”