Wrapping Up Christmas (Blushing Books 12 Days of Christmas 9) Read online

  Keryn's mouth opened in a surprised little yelp and she threw her arms around him. "I've always wanted to get my hair done there. They're the best. Can I get a cut? Some streaks? One of their hot oil treatments?"

  "Whatever you want," he laughed, overjoyed at her reaction. "I think you are the most beautiful woman I know, but I want you to do anything you please to pamper yourself."

  He picked up the wooden spoon next, and tapped it gently against her thighs.

  "This, I think, will stay in the kitchen in your crock of kitchen tools. You may need a larger crock, though, for more items, since you'll be going to the Happy Kitchen cooking school next month at the conference center."

  Keryn scrambled out of his lap and did a delighted bouncy dance in front of him. "How did you get me in? I heard those tickets have been sold out for months. Do you know who's going to be there? Oh, Mark, you'll be so glad you gave me this present. I'm going to cook you the best meals. I can't believe it. I never imagined—" and she threw her arms around him and squeezed in tight as he stood up.

  He felt ten feel tall as she wriggled against him.

  "And there's one more, angel."

  She pulled away. "You didn't get me a horse, did you?" she demanded.

  "Well, not quite that. But maybe someday. In the meantime, I got you a year's membership at Avondale Stables." Her scream drowned out the rest of his explanation.

  "Oh, Mark. I've always wanted to learn to ride," she cried, and tears of joy pooled in her eyes and spilled over. "You are amazing. It's like you see right inside me."

  He grinned in delight. "I think you can probably hang the crop on the bed post, since you'll need it quite often when you head for the stables. You'll have an instructor for the first month, and then you can choose a horse that will be yours to ride every time you go. If you're still as excited about riding as you seem to be now, maybe we can get you a horse of your own in the future."

  "Oh, Mark, my dearest, dearest, sweetest husband in the whole world—I don't know what to say. I've never had a surprise like this in my life. I'm just—overwhelmed."

  "So I've made you happy, even if I had to go about it in a round about way?"

  "Oh, yes. A thousand times yes, Mark. You gave me just what I wanted—and exactly what I needed. It's been the best Christmas ever—even if you fixed it so I out-glow the Christmas tree. And maybe —" she dipped her head, not quite able to look him in the eye.

  "Maybe what, sweetheart?" he asked gently, cupping her chin in his fingers and urging her to look him in the eye.

  She drew a deep breath. "Maybe the very best surprise was the one I found over your lap."

  The End

  Ashlynn Kenzie

  My own efforts as a writer started with the first adult novel I ever read, “Gone With the Wind.” Of course, I already knew what I liked, even as an early adolescent. What I dreamed about. What I wished Rhett had done to that snippy Scarlet at her brattiest. What I yearned, as I grew older and bolder in my fantasies, for someone to do to me and to be to me. What I finally had to find an outlet in writing about.

  It just took me a while to dare to make it public.

  In the meantime, I married and raised a family and pursued a career in more mainline writing circles. But all the while, I rehearsed the genre I came to know as “spanking erotica” in my head, and even committed some of it to paper.

  Most of my efforts take the form of short stories and essays. You can find them noted below. But I will be particularly pleased if you explore the trilogy that tells the story of Andee Carlisle and Nick Benjamin. “Reading Her Heart,” “Leading Her Home” and “Exceeding Her Hopes” represent my first adult attempts at a novel experience. There have been others, but they were both juvenile and very vanilla, since I was too embarrassed to acknowledge where my needs were leading me and too innocent to realize I had many fellow travelers.

  Andee is like me in some ways; like you, too, or you would never have taken a second look at this book. And Nick is my ideal. He just might be yours, too. But if he’s not spot-on, I hope he will be entertaining enough to keep you turning pages.

  “Exceeding Her Expectations” wasn’t a book I planned. I thought I had finished the story of Andee and Nick after two volumes, but I found their story had a few more surprising chapters. Nick was quite firm about it, as is his usual approach, and Andee was in complete agreement.

  Hope you will be happy they kept nudging me on.

  I don't have a blog, but I occasionally contribute to the fun at author Devlin O’Neill’s place.

  Don’t miss these exciting titles by Ashlynn Kenzie and Blushing Books!

  Reading Her Heart - Lessons from Nick's Firm Hand Book 1

  Leading Her Home - Lessons from Nick's Firm Hand Book 2

  Confessions of a Spanking Author - an anthology

  Finely Disciplined Thoughts - a collection of short stories and essays

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