Page 48 of His Christmas Wife

Next to the entrance to the spa-like bathroom was a door that she thought might lead to a closet.

He touched his fingertip to another sensor. With a quiet click, the door released, and he pushed it open. “After you.”

In the threshold, she froze at the sight of a fully equipped dungeon.

She gasped, almost sloshing her drink over its rim.

“You can check out the room if you’d like. Or not. The choice is yours.”

“I…” Outside of the Quarter, she’d never seen anything like this.

A spanking bench was covered in royal blue vinyl. Hooks hung from the ceiling. And a Saint Andrew’s cross occupied the center of the room. In addition to an oversize chair, small sink, and rolling carts, he also had cabinets and drawers. A duffel bag—the one she recognized from last night—sat on a counter. But it was the far wall that riveted her attention.

Every imaginable spanking implement was arranged by size and then color. “Oh…” She glanced over her shoulder at him.

One eyebrow was quirked as he waited for her response.

“I have no idea what to say.” Except this must have been what he meant by exercise.

“It’s available anytime should you wish to use it.”

How many other women had he entertained here? Not that the answer mattered to her.

“And I have one more surprise for you.”

It couldn’t be any more shocking than this.

When she stepped aside, he closed the door.

As she followed him back downstairs, her pulse slowly returned to its normal rhythm.

At the end of a long hallway was a frosted glass door, and she stopped in front of it. “Should I be nervous about what’s on the other side?”

“That depends.”

“On?”

“There’s not a place in this condo that I don’t have nefarious plans for you.”

His admission made her clutch her cup against her chest.

“Have a look.”

Nerves on edge, she pushed through to a spectacular glass-enclosed sunroom. Marveling, she turned her head to take it all in—the views, several different places to relax, the hundreds of plants, and a waterfall that splashed into a pond filled with goldfish and koi. “This is impossible.”

“When you said you would have a difficult time leaving the bedroom, I think that’s because you didn’t know about this.”

Or the dungeon. “You’re right.”

“Jolly, temperature at seventy-two, please.”

“Oh now you want me?”

He squeezed his eyes shut. “Was I a terrible person in my last life?” Then he leveled a hard stare at Kaylee. “And no damn comments about the current one.”

Kaylee struggled to suppress a laugh. “If this is the kind of interaction you have with Jolly every day, I consider that somewhere, somehow, justice is being served.” Maybe she’d send Julien Bonds a thank-you note.

Still, despite the chief of staff’s backtalk, warmth whispered from overhead vents. “This is why I suggested a warm beverage. In winter, it can be a little chilly. In summer, I can lower blinds to moderate the heat.”

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