“Oh, I’m sorry. This is Joe’s dungeon.”
Joe’s dungeon? Acid bubbled up in my throat. He’d talked about doing scenes at the BDSM club. He hadn’t said anything about his own private dungeon.
The walls were painted dark blue, and part of the room looked completely normal. Against one wall was a large bed covered in a blue silk comforter with black brocade pillows. At the foot of the bed sat a settee of the same black brocade. On the opposite end were a sofa and a lounge chair, a slightly lighter blue, again with black pillows.
But on the adjacent wall…
On hooks hung handcuffs, rope, scarves, blindfolds, riding crops…and a lot of stuff I couldn’t name. What looked like some kind of stockade stood nearby. A strange-looking table jutted out from the wall as well. And it looked like—no lie—the table I lay on when I went to the gynecologist’s office.
My skin prickled around me.
Several crates sat beneath where the implements hung, and while Kerry walked to them and began sorting through them, my gaze was drawn to the chair in the corner.
It resembled a standard wingback chair, but it was much larger than normal. Its fabric was black leather, the wood black lacquer. It was oddly beautiful yet terrifying. And though I’d never seen anything like it before, I knew what it was.
It was a Master’s chair.
Jonah was the Master in this room.
I shivered.
Did I really not know the man I loved at all? Was this the true extent of the darkness?
Kerry pulled out and held up a pair of red fur-covered handcuffs. “Found them,” she said. “I’ve never been able to find a better pair of cuffs. I can’t believe I left these here so long.”
I closed my eyes for a moment, and the image of Kerry, her beautiful naked body spread out on the table, her hands bound with the red handcuffs, Jonah whipping her with a riding crop…
I opened my eyes.
Now she was holding up a riding crop, also red.
I cleared my throat, determined to stay polite and nonchalant. “Is that all you need, then?”
“Yes. I suppose I should’ve called before barging in. I hope I didn’t bother you. It’s just that I’m only in town today, and I really wanted to get these.”
She walked out of the room, and I followed along like an obedient puppy.
She walked up the stairs, through the kitchen and foyer, to the door before she turned to me.
“Please tell Joe I’m so sorry that I missed him.” She whipped the riding crop through the air, and it gave a hiss. “I’ve sure missed this thing.” She smiled. “Thanks so much for allowing me to get these. It was so nice to meet you… Oh, I guess I never got your name.”
“Melanie,” I said, biting my lip.
“Melanie, great. Please tell Joe I stopped by and that I hope he’s doing well.” She walked out the door and shut it behind her.
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I stood in the foyer for a few moments, attempting to swallow the lump that had lodged in my throat.
This was crazy. Totally crazy. When Jonah had told me about his time at the BDSM club, I had been freaked out a little, but I was determined to accept every part of him, even the darker side of his desires.
Why hadn’t he told me that he had a dungeon in this house? In this house he’d invited me to live in?
Surely he would have thought I might go exploring while he wasn’t here. Now that I knew he had a beautiful rec room in the basement—
Wait! The door to the dungeon had been locked.
I wouldn’t have been able to get in, except that Kerry had a key.