As soon as Gabe leaves, Max takes a step toward me, and I take an involuntary step backward.

I start trying to tell him why I came back to the room, why I thought they wouldn't be there.

"Max, I can explain."

He keeps moving toward me, his face determined and his eyes unforgiving.

"Did you come up here to the suite after I specifically told you not to?"

"Yes, but—"

"There's no point trying to explain yourself. You intentionally disobeyed me."

"Disobeyed you? You're not my boss, or my father." I can't believe I'm being defiant when I ought to be apologizing. Especially since I'm clearly in the wrong here. But I can't help myself.

"Then I think we have to get a few things clear," Max says coldly. If anything, I've made him more angry than he was already.

Nice work, Hadley.

He's still moving toward me and I'm still walking backwards.

"What are you going to do?" I hate it that my voice comes out higher pitched than normal.

"I think you have a pretty good idea what happens next," Max says.

"I think we should sit down and talk."

"Think again."

"Max, come on, I didn't mean to—"

He cuts me off and for a brief moment his eyes flash with anger. Then he's back in control, his voice even.

"Do you have any idea what you did tonight? I specifically told you not to come up to the suite until Gabe cleared it with me because this is exactly what I did not want to happen."

I swallow hard. I don't think I have my voice right now. He stops a moment, leaning his hand against the side of the couch, so I stop retreating and stand here nervously waiting for what he will say next.

"They know your name, Hadley. You are now involved in the deal. Didn't I tell you these were not good people? That I didn't want you anywhere near them? But you didn't listen, did you?"

I'm pretty sure these are rhetorical questions, so I keep my mouth shut. I don't want to make him any angrier than he is already.

"So congratulations, Hadley. You're officially a mob lawyer now. Is that what you wanted? Are you proud of yourself for those little changes you made to the agreements? On the deal you were supposed to know nothing about?"

I already knew what it was. Knew once I read those documents, once I saw the people sitting across the table from Max, that he's up to his neck in the same illegal activities his father is serving a life sentence in a federal penitentiary for.

But now it's even more real when Max says it. Those papers represent a money-laundering deal with the mob. Which makes me exactly what he said.

A mob lawyer.

If I thought his voice was cold before, it's like ice now.

I've never seen him this kind of angry. It's bad enough I'm feeling so horribly guilty about my own role in helping commit a crime. I'm also feeling guilty that I put myself in this position in the first place, despite Max's specific instructions to stay well clear of trouble.

The fact that I didn't mean to do this doesn't really matter.

I deserve whatever he's going to say to me now. Even if what he says is that he never wants to see me again.

"I'm sorry." It's the only thing I can think of.

"Well sorry doesn't help much, does it? But maybe I can help you think a little clearer the next time I tell you what I specifically don't want you to do."

He's still wearing his tux. He takes off the jacket and drops it on the back of the couch. Now he's moving toward me again, that purposeful look back in his eyes as he removes his cufflinks, dropping them on a side table, and rolls his sleeves up slightly.

"What are you doing?" I ask again, backing up more. But I think I know, and a shudder that's half arousal and half panic runs through my entire body.

"You were wondering yesterday whether you might like it if I spanked you. Now is the perfect time to find out." His voice is completely controlled, no sign of emotion.

And my insides are turning to jelly.

I thought he'd raise his voice. Yell at me. Maybe even throw me out.

He's not doing any of that. He's going to put me over his knee and spank me. And since he took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, I'm pretty sure he means business.

I can feel my panties getting wet, and my bottom is starting to tingle. I also remember what he said about how when he did spank me he'd hold me firmly in place until he was done. My knees are trembling and I back up against one of the chairs in the small dining area where we had breakfast. I grab onto the back of the chair to steady myself.

"Now wait just a minute," I say.

"No," Max says simply. "We're done talking." But he pauses in his approach. "What I said before still applies, Hadley."

I stare at him and I'm sure my confusion shows on my face.

"You can still say no," Max explains in a slightly gentler tone. "I'm not forcing you to stay here. You can walk out that door right now and get on the next flight back to Miami. Or you can ask me to pick up the phone and get you another room for the night, and fly home tomorrow."

He gives me a hard look. "But if you choose to stay here in this suite tonight, with me, you're getting a spanking. And it's going to happen right now. So what's it going to be, Hadley?"

I lick my lips. I know what my answer is. I've been secretly wanting him to spank me since he told me that fantasy on one of our late night phone calls. I've been wondering what it would be like. But now that the moment's here I'm scared about giving up control. Even though I know already that Max would never actually harm me.

If I walk out that door now, I'm pretty sure that means walking out of his life forever. And leaving a lot of things I want to know—about him and about myself—unanswered.

"I'm waiting, Hadley."

I take a deep breath. "I don't want to leave."

He's right there next to me in two quick steps, and before I can even register what's happening he's pulled the straight-back chair I was leaning on away from the table and sat down on it, spinning me around and then pulling me across his lap.

He adjusts his legs slightly so that he tips me forward, my hands touching the floor and my feet dangling. I can't get any leverage in this position. There's no way I can get up until he lets me up.

The AC feels cool on my skin as he flips the skirt of my dress up. His fingers slip under the waistband of my panties and the silky material slides over my bottom and then down my legs.

I glance over toward the floor to ceiling windows and catch our reflection. It's dark outside, except for the lights showing from the Strip below, and the glass works almost like a mirror. The image of myself draped over his lap with my bottom angled up and my panties around my knees is unbelievably erotic. I'm immediately aroused despite my nerves.

Then I see the reflection of his arm move and that's the only warning I get before he brings the palm of his hand down, hard, on my bare bottom.

I yelp, startled, as my brain registers the sting. But before I can catch my breath, he smacks me again. Now my whole bottom is stinging.

"Don't you ever pull a stunt like that again," Max says, and the palm of his hand smacks my bottom again, a little harder than the first two times.

I can hear the undercurrent of anger in his voice now as he lectures me, and I can sure as hell feel it as the spanks get harder and faster. He's punctuating every other word with a stinging smack to my bottom, and I'm squirming around on his lap now, trying without success to avoid his hand landing on the same place twice in a row. But his aim is unerring.

"Next time" -SMACK- "I give" -SMACK - "an order" -SMACK- "you damn" -SMACK- "well" -SMACK- "better" -SMACK- "follow it." -SMACK -SMACK -SMACK

There are tears swimming in my eyes now, and it's all mixed up in my head whether it's from feeling this vulnerable or because I'm so ashamed of myself for disappointing him on something that was clearly way more important than I realized. The spanking definitely hurts, but that's not why I'm crying.

I'm also getting really aroused, and the more I squirm on his lap the more I feel like I might even have an orgasm.

I realize suddenly that he's stopped.

I turn my head and look up at him. "Are you done?"

"I'm less angry now," Max admits.

I choke out a small laugh. "Good to hear."

"Are you having fun yet?" he asks me, and the look he gives me is more sexy and a lot less angry.

"I wouldn't actually call it fun," I manage. "Are you going to let me up now?"

"I think no. I'm enjoying the view," Max says, and I blush, imagining what I look like to him, draped across his lap, still wearing my high heels, my panties now down around my ankles where they slid while he was spanking me, my bottom probably pink from all those brisk smacks of his hand.

At the thought, I can't help squirming again. Max slips his hand between my legs and finds out how wet I am and I try not to embarrass myself any more by grinding against his fingers.

"Well," he says, withdrawing his hand. "I think I can make it a little more fun for you. Now that you've learned your lesson."

He says that last part with a devilish look in his eyes and it feels like we are back on our normal footing again. Even though deep down everything's changed now that I know what business he's really in.

"What are you—oh!" My voice comes out in a half gasp, half moan when he moves the hand that's been resting on the small of my back around to the front of me and slips it under the vee of my dress to find my bare breasts. It's not the kind of dress you can wear a bra under, and Max is taking full advantage of that fact.

He moves from one breast to the other, tweaking my nipples and catching them between his thumb and fingers. Just when I'm getting used to that and my hips are starting to grind a little against his lap, the palm of his other hand is back, delivering a light smack to my bottom, much softer than before.

He uses his low, sexy voice now when he tells me he's going to make me come, right there lying across his lap, and he's going to spank me right through the orgasm.

I'm already so turned on that those words are all it takes. My hips move faster of their own volition, and Max keeps delivering those light smacks in the same quick rhythm while he pinches my nipples harder and uses that authoritative tone in his voice to say, Come for me right now, Hadley. I'm going to keep spanking you until you do.

And I come so hard and sharp that I'm gasping for air. Right when I think I've hit the peak he gives me one more really hard smack and my orgasm seems to explode into a million little bursts of energy. For the first time, I get why all those old movies use fireworks to symbolize sex.

Then he slides his palm over my bottom and nudges my legs slightly apart, cupping me and putting pressure on my throbbing clit. I clamp my legs around his hand and ride out the waves of pleasure coursing through my body.

Even when the aftershocks recede I just lie there on his lap, limp and exhausted.

"I can't move," I tell him. "I'm too tired to get up."

"I'm the one who should be tired, Hadley," Max says. "After all, I did all the work."

But he lifts me as he gets out of the chair, tossing me over his shoulder. Then he walks into the bedroom.

I'm feeling a little dizzy from all the blood rushing to my head, both while he had me over his knee and now over his shoulder.

"Can I not be upside down now?" I say, my voice muffled against the back of his shirt.

Max laughs, another sign that maybe things are okay for now. Then he sits me down on the side of the bed and pulls my dress off over my head. I'm not sure where my panties ended up.

I watch him while he gets undressed, looking away only long enough to unfasten the ankle straps on my shoes and slip my feet out. It's clear what part of his body all his blood has rushed to.

Max, naked and gorgeous, lifts me up again as he gets onto the bed, sliding under me.

"You might be more comfortable being on top," Max tells me as he reaches for a condom on the bedside table, unwraps it, and quickly sheaths himself.

"I think that's a pretty sure thing." I reach back and rub my still-stinging bottom. My skin feels warm.

Just thinking about how he spanked me has me aroused all over again, and now I can't wait until he's inside me. Max leans back against the pillows with his hands behind his neck and his elbows extended and watches me as I guide him in at exactly the right angle, and start to move.

Max spanking me may well have turned into the hottest sex of my life, and it's pretty obvious that he was just as aroused by it, once he got past lecturing me about how much trouble I caused.

But that doesn't change the fact that my presence at the meeting could have long-lasting implications for our relationship and for me, personally.

Being with Max is like a drug, like a forbidden treat you can't resist even when you know it's not good for you. If I stay with Max, it will get harder and harder to ignore the dark side of him. The Max who makes deals with people like Gino and Joey D.

Being with Max is intoxicating, and the hint of danger gives it an edge that makes it even more exciting.

But is being with him worth the risk?

I'm going to have to start thinking seriously about that, before I get in any deeper than I am already.

Right now—as Max fills me completely and our bodies synch to the same sensuous rhythm—I can't think at all.