Page 56 of Touched By Moonlight

His smoldering gaze swept up and down my body. “There’s other things I want to do with you as well that I believe you will enjoy. If you’rewilling.”

He held out a hand. “I want to show yousomething.”

The third garden intrigued me the most. The walkway turned into a mosaic artwork of wolves in the forest, threading through trees, with several benches along the way to sit and admire the view or simplyrelax.

It forked with one section marching up to a dirt pathway leading to the mountain, and the right fork marching down thehill.

Nicolas escorted me on the right fork. Trees and bushes surrounded us, with planters of bright yellow and purple pansies set here and there. Perfectly normal, until we reached a black metal fence and gate about ten feet tall. I could see a house beyond the gate. Wood, one story tall, it blended into the trees and greenery, but for bright red shutters. The gate had a combinationlock.

Intrigued, I touched the gate and winced.Iron.

“Sorry about that. I’ll remind Grayson to change thegate.”

Before I could ask why, he punched in a code and swung the gate open. “We keep it locked to prevent children from entering. Come on inside. I want you to seesomething.”

A bright blue mosaic pathway lined with pink and purple petunias snaked through the grounds to the front door. Set amongst the trees, with window boxes filled with red geraniums, it looked like a pretty cottage in thewoods.

“The witch’s cottage where she kept Hansel and Gretel locked up? Is that why children aren’t allowed here?” Iteased.

Something glinted in his gaze. “Notquite.”

He swung open the red door. “It’s a playhouse for adultsonly.”

Upon first examination, the cottage looked like an ordinary guesthouse, with a cozy leather couch and chairs arranged around a brick fireplace, stairs leading to a second floor and a modern, stainless steelkitchen.

“There’s two bedrooms upstairs,” Nicolas murmured. “But I use the basement themost.”

He punched in more numbers to unlock another door that opened to a set of sweeping steps. Light filtered inside from the windowsdownstairs.

But this was no ordinarybasement.

White fur rugs covered the hardwood floors. Cedar tubs of house plants adorned the corners. But it was the bed that caught my eye… and the restraints attached to each of the four posters, and the fetish instruments hanging on posts on the whitewalls.

I ran my fingers over a spanking paddle and eyed the floggers, ropes and clamps arranged on the wall. A spanking bench sat near a love chaise, an S-shaped couch. There was also a table with leather restraints andstirrups.

“This is where I take my lovers, Sienna. The ones who want to be my lovers and trust me,” he said softly. “This is the underbelly of the real Nicolas Prentice. You needed to see this before we proceedfurther.”

He paused a minute, his voice carrying a note of uncertainty. “Does this frightenyou?”

I smiled a little. “No. It’sintriguing.”

The bondage chair sparked my interest the most. I had seen one at a sex club I’d worked at for a brief time as a bartender. Charlie, the other bartender serving champagne to those in the bondage basement, had explained itspurpose.

Nicolas noticed my interest and walked over, caressing the leather backing. “Do you know what this is,Sienna?”

“A bondage chair. This guy named Charlie I used to work with told me about it.” I tilted my head at the chair. “The submissive partner sits in it, legs spread to expose her, or his, genitals. Usually they’re restrained in the chair. Or maybe gagged. It’s a personalpreference.”

Nicolas stopped running his hand over the chair. “Did you ever useone?”

A nervous laugh. “Charlie tried to get me into it, but I was more interested in working overtime. Pay beforeplay.”

“Not here. Here the only thing you’re allowed to focus on is pleasure – yours and your partners. Or multiplepartners.”

He hovered near the chair, watching my face, as if to gauge my shock, interest or lack ofboth.

My gaze wandered from his guarded expression, down to his thick shoulders, and then his flat torso, hidden beneath the blue shirt, to the fascinating bulge in hisjeans.

“What do you think of my dungeon, Sienna? You talked about trust. Do you trust me enough to become my lover thisway?”