Page 22 of His Christmas Wife

“Not on Sundays.” The only day she didn’t have to show up at work.

“In that case, I will pick you up at ten.”

Pick me up?She scowled. “For what?”

“So we can go ring shopping.”

His words stunned her into silence. How far was he planning to take this charade?

“Then we’ll have lunch and…get to know one another better.” He leaned toward her. Close, then closer still, and her brain short circuited.

Was he going to kiss her? Would she let him if he did?

But instead he tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear.

Her hand shook uncontrollably as she inserted her key into the lock.

“Sleep well, Ms. Robbins.”

With everything they’d shared, he’d ensured that she would do anything but that.

Once she was inside with a sealed door between them, she collapsed her shoulders against the wood, trying to drag in a deep breath.

What had just happened between them had rocked her world. And now she was left with a single question.

How would she possibly survive Evan Frost and his unceasing, escalating demands?

CHAPTERFOUR

“Business and pleasure don’t mix, Frost. You know it.”

Across the numerous speakers hanging from the ceiling in his home gym, the judgmental tone of Mistress Aviana’s voice annoyed the hell out of him—probably because he’d had the same thought a hundred or maybe a thousand times.

Knowing what he was in for with the persistent Domme, he hit the STOP button on the treadmill and snatched up the small towel draped over the display.

“What the hell were you thinking last night?”

That presumed he’d been thinking at all.

When he’d run into Kaylee outside the fourteenth-floor fitness center and clamped his hands on her soft, feminine shoulders, the sight of her had stunned him. His prim and proper secretary had transformed into an ethereal, tempting elf.

The hem of her dress had been impossibly short and generously cut so it swished around her thighs as she moved. The top part conformed to her body, and the fit was perfect.

He had not been one hundred percent certain she was headed to the Quarter, but he’d had his suspicions, especially when she refused his offer to give her a ride. From the updates he’d received from Destiny once she convinced him to fill in for Master Denton, Frost knew most of the volunteers for the evening were going to be dressed as elves.

Then, as he’d drawn her aside and held onto her shoulders, he’d had a primal reaction.

For a fraction of a second, her breath had caught, and her soft hazel eyes had opened wide as she stared up at him.

Right then, he hadn’t viewed her as the woman who fought him tooth and nail every day and made his life difficult. Instead she’d seemed like the answer to the complex problems he’d been turning over in his personal life—namely what to do about his beloved, if persistent, grandmother.

Maybe they could be collaborators. He knew how much she wanted time off. And if he wasn’t such a dick, he would have signed her request form immediately. But the truth was, he counted on her more than he thought possible. She knew the employees, and she understood the company in a way he didn’t yet.

Kaylee Robbins was an invaluable asset. Selfishly he hated to be without her even for a few days.

“You’re a total bastard.” Aviana’s stern voice dragged him back to the present.

Why the hell had he even answered her call? Maybe because he knew she would have dialed him every ten minutes if he didn’t. After that, she would have shown up at his loft, banging on the door until he opened it. Then she’d breeze past him wearing some outrageous outfit that didn’t match her serene smile, make herself at home, and insist he uncork his finest champagne. Then after one glass, and giving him a piece of her mind, she’d pick up the bottle and take it with her.

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