Innocence Defied (New York)

by Lainey Reese

  “What about bein’ a vet? I thought you wanted to be a pet doc since you were like ten.” Gage looked at her closely, and Zoe could tell he was well aware she’d tried to avoid the question, and was clearly not letting her get away with dodging the issue.

  “I don’t know,” she answered with a frustrated sigh. “I love animals, and I was really getting into the science side of it too. You know, all the chemistry and biology classes. They were awesome.” She blushed, certain mature women no longer described things as awesome, but she was getting caught up in the subject and forgot that she was trying to be a grownup for a minute there. “Most of my friends get all grossed out in biology because of all the dissections and stuff. I’m kinda not, though. Is that weird? I mean, it is sad that those poor animals are dead, but once you get past the sad part, it’s fascinating. I love learning how everything is connected, and how each organ and vessel and neuropath all relate to each other and make up the whole.”

  “Sounds to me like you found yer callin’, Oops. What’s the holdup?”

  His question caught her off guard. She looked up into his handsome face and didn’t know how to answer. How could she put into words that even her love of science and animals couldn’t hold up to her need to belong to him?

  “I’m just stalling, I guess. I want to make sure I’m sure before I settle in and commit myself.” She shrugged and tried her best to look contemplative and not clueless. From the look on his face, she wasn’t sure she was pulling it off.

  He stayed focused on her for a long time after that, and Zoe kept stumbling over her words because he still had that strange expression and she still had no idea what it meant. He had the most beautiful steel-gray eyes she’d ever seen. The blue in them was so light she couldn’t really call them blue—to her, they were gray. They were so intense when he focused on her—like now, with the little squint at the edges. It made something deep inside her want to do anything—absolutely anything—he asked of her. His shoulder-length blond hair was pulled back like always and, like always, when she wasn’t obsessing about his eyes, she was obsessing about that hair. She knew firsthand it was thick and silky from all the times he’d let her play with it as a child. She longed for the day she could get her hands on it as a woman.

  By the time they got to the townhouse, she was all quivery inside and had spent a lot of time worrying her thumb between her teeth, and Gage had spent a lot of time looking out the window.

  “You have about twenty minutes before we have to head out if you want to change,” Gage said as he set her suitcases on her bed and turned to leave.

  When the door was just about to close, Zoe rushed over and wrapped her arms around him one more time. She felt him jolt at the contact—something he had never done before—then he hugged her back and she whispered, “Thank you again for letting me stay here with you.” She looked up into his stunning gray eyes and told him words she’d also been saying her whole life, only now they meant so much more. “I love you.”

  Then she slipped out of his embrace and closed her door before he could see the true feeling behind those words. She knew he still saw her as a kid, and it was going to take a lot to prove to him that she was more than that, and more than ready to be his.

  Gage didn’t know what the hell he was supposed to do now. He had a hard-on the size of a Louisville Slugger and the more she looked at him with those giant blue eyes, the harder it was to remember it was Oops he was staring at and having this reaction to. It was freaking him the hell out. That was a baby. Even if he hadn’t known her since she was born, and even if her brother wasn’t his best friend, he would never date a girl that young. He was a man. He liked women. Experienced women. Not girls. He was also a Dom, and looking for more than just a sub—he was looking for a full-time slave. A woman who would be willing to commit to him fully for her every need. It took a person of extreme tastes and specific desires to be a slave.

  A slave gave up everything. Career, self-will—everything. His plans for his slave involved her being naked and chained to his desk as he worked. He’d keep her in his office with him. At times even on the floor between his feet, waiting on his will, whether it be a blowjob, spreading herself on his desk so he could eat her for lunch, or even having the gratification of sharing her with a special client or friend so he could enjoy the pleasure of watching her get fucked.

  He wanted a slave that wanted nothing else in this life than for him to take care of her. He would select her clothes and meals, feed her from his own hand and bathe her every night before tucking her into his bed. Every part of her body would be his for the taking and his for the giving. The type of sex he enjoyed was not for the faint of heart, and it was not, under any circumstances, for a woman-child who still went by the silly nickname Oops.

  He poured himself a scotch, and then choked on it when Zoe came down the stairs. She had on mile-high heels of black that strapped around her dainty ankles with little crystal buckles. Her legs—God, when had they gotten so long?—were bare and tanned and glimmered like she rubbed them with some sort of glittery oil. What there was of her dress was short and black. It was a halter style that left her shoulders bare and cut low between her breasts.

  When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she twirled for him and asked, “How do I look?”

  He almost choked again, this time on his own tongue. Her back was bare to the middle, and that little twirl had flared her flimsy skirt up. He thought he caught a glimpse of a miniscule thong with a tiny red bow nestled below a pair of dimples between her ass cheeks. When she turned back to him, waiting for his answer, her pretty face was full of beautiful innocence and charm. He mumbled only, “I’m going to Hell.” Then grabbed her by the arm and marched out the door.

  Chapter Five

  “What the hell are you wearing?” Brice Marshall looked at his baby sister and thought his head would explode. She was dressed like a Hollywood starlet and he knew for a fact she was anything but the starlet type.

  “Brice.” Terryn—his blushing bride of seven months—elbowed his ribs with surprising accuracy and strength. “Pay no attention to your brother, Oops, you look amazing.”

  While his sister and wife embraced, he looked at Gage and demanded in a hoarse whisper, “How in the hell did you let her leave the house dressed like that? Did you even look at her? My God, every damn bastard in this place is drooling right now.”

  Brice noticed that Gage was glaring down the more blatant offenders, but it did little to ease his mind.

  “Hey,” Gage shot back, “I was just as shocked as you. Why the fuck didn’t y’all tell me what happened to her?” When Brice just lifted a brow in question, Gage added, “Look at her. She ain’t no little kid no more. What am I supposed to do with that? When the hell did she grow up?”

  Brice chuckled a little and said, “That’s right. You’ve been M.I.A the last few years at our family events. Your own fault, dude. Maybe if you would’ve come for Christmas gatherings or one of the summer parties, you wouldn’t be so shocked right now.”

  Gage’s voice lowered and he said, “You still should have warned me. You should see the stuff I had planned. The zoo, and Mary-fuckin’-Poppins on Broadway, for cryin’ out loud. This ain’t no little girl no more. What the hell do I do if she tries to bring some shithead home with her?”

  Brice looked square into his best friend’s eyes and said, “Kill him. I’ll make sure you get away with it.”

  Gage nodded like he had already planned on that anyway, then Cade, Trevor and Riley showed up and it was hugs and kisses all over again. Riley was cupping Zoe’s cheeks and gushing about how gorgeous she was, but Cade and Trevor were looking as shocked and dumbstruck as he and Gage felt. When Cade looked at Brice and mouthed, “What the fuck?” all Brice could do was shrug.

  Trevor stepped up to Zoe, draped his arm over her shoulder and tucked her close to his side. She smiled up at him and snuggled right in, Brice could tell she’d never guess that he was doing it to cover as much of
her as possible.

  Dinner was strained at first—Brice and the men still struggling with the caterpillar-to-butterfly fiasco that Zoe had pulled on them. But thank God for the wives, because they chattered away like nothing was wrong. Zoe had a million questions about the trip the men were taking Riley on and it was hard to tell who was more excited about it—Riley or Oops. Soon the infectious laughter of the girls loosened the men up, and dinner became the easy family affair it always was. Until desert came, and Zoe tried to order wine.

  “No,” Brice and Cade said at the same time, even as he saw the other two men opening their mouths. Brice interrupted, “She’ll have coffee.” As the waiter left, Brice looked at her with one brow raised.

  “I’m not a baby anymore, Detective.” She sent him a frown, and that, more than anything, reassured him. In the frown was the Oops he knew and loved, not the smooth and well-spoken young woman who’d been sitting across from him all night.

  “That is unfortunately obvious, Oops. However you are also not twenty-one so it’s coffee for you. Or would you like a Coke instead?”

  She huffed at him, further warming his heart.

  “I have wine at home sometimes and you know it.”

  “Ah, but this isn’t Christmas or New Year’s and we are in Cade’s place of business. Are you really willing to risk his liquor license?”

  That snapped her mouth closed instantly. She looked to Cade and was ready to appeal to him when Gage spoke up and simply said, “No Zoe. Don’t ask again.”

  Her eyes darted to him and all resistance fled. With a meek nod, she folded her hands in her lap and said, “Coffee will be fine.”

  Brice let out a sigh. She always had listened to Gage. Maybe her staying in New York wasn’t going to be a disaster after all. Gage would watch out for her, and Brice had never seen her go against the big Texan’s wishes in her whole life.

  Yeah, he thought as he relaxed and slipped a hand behind his wife. Things were going to be just fine.

  It was two a.m. and Gage couldn’t sleep. It was that damn thong and its tiny red bow. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw that little bow nestled between the globes of her ass. It was making him feel itchy and guilty as hell. With a groan he gave up and shoved from the bed. He’d go downstairs and grab a snack, then maybe put in a movie. Something with lots of explosions or maybe some gore. That should pull his mind from the gutter, and tomorrow he’d wake up and be over the shock of seeing her all grown up and things could go back to normal.

  As he padded, barefoot and in old sweat pants, he passed by her room.

  Her door was open all the way, and he reached out to close it just to make sure the movie wouldn’t wake her. With his hand on the knob, he looked and froze in place. She was on her side, facing away, with the covers thrown off, and her night shirt rode way up her back. She was still wearing those same pair of panties, and with the soft light from the hall shining directly on her, he was left with no doubt about her dimples. There were two tempting little divots right above the delicate crease in her cheeks, and the red bow rested between them, making her ass look gift-wrapped. Before he could muster the will power to close the door, she sighed and rolled over. She flopped one arm over her eyes and listlessly trailed her other hand over her bare stomach and down, until it came to rest over the scrap of cloth covering her pussy.

  Once he could drag his eyes away from her hand, he looked up and saw that her shirt was twisted so that one beautiful breast was bare. The dusky nipple sat invitingly atop a firm mound. It rose and fell gently with her breaths, and Gage stared with a deep appreciation of the beauty of her. She was everything a woman should be, and it was as mesmerizing as it was terrifying.

  He headed down to the kitchen, and thought he was definitely going to need to pick a flick with lots and lots of gore to get that image out of his mind.

  Chapter Six

  The jostling of the bed woke him for the seventh day in a row. All week he’d been tortured with this. Her bubbly and energetic presence throughout the evenings—after stressful and tension-filled days at work—eased him in ways he couldn’t express. Then there were the wake-up calls like this, before his alarm could sound in the mornings.

  The sight of Zoe crawling toward him on hands and knees galvanized him. She was wearing her flimsy nightshirt this morning. The front was gaping open and he could clearly see the lovely sway of her breasts as she drew closer. With an inner scolding, he lifted his eyes to look at her face, only he got distracted by the tempting upper curve of her ass that he could clearly see from his vantage point. That damn bow was back again. She was on all fours, beautiful, lush and in his bed and nothing his scrambling mind could come up with could make him see her as anything other than a woman. A beautiful, single woman. His normal morning wood transformed into morning steel, and he flung an arm over his eyes with a groan. It was the best defense he could come up with.

  “Morning, sleepyhead.” Her sleep-husky voice caused his throbbing shaft to twitch in response. She plastered herself to his side, and with one arm and one leg draped over him, she tucked her head onto his chest and gave him a full body squeeze.

  “Mornin’.” He wrapped his free arm around her shoulders and pulled her in a little tighter. This was normal for them. Her whole life, she hopped from one family member’s bed to the next in the mornings. Aunts, uncles, cousins and siblings had all grown used to her crawling into bed at the crack of dawn since she figured out how to escape her crib. He and Brice had spent many a summer break with her tucked between them for early morning cartoons or video games.

  The difference now was he simply could no longer see her as the baby sister. That was his problem, he told himself. He wasn’t going to hurt her feelings and ruin one of her favorite things because he seemed to be suffering some twisted midlife crisis.

  “What do you want to do today?” Gage’s question ended on a strained note he hoped she couldn’t hear, because that naked, toned leg she had draped over him rubbed from the top of his thighs all the way up to rest on his stomach. He assumed she didn’t notice the bulge over his lap. With desperation, he tried to bring back images of the blood and gore from some of the movies he’d been plying himself with over the last few nights. He hoped it would keep him from clasping that leg and using it to drag her the rest of the way onto him for some decidedly un-brotherly morning activities. When she inched it up just a little higher and hummed a soft little purr of contentment, he thought for the millionth time: I am so going to Hell.

  Zoe was starting to get discouraged. She dressed as scantily as she dared and he always noticed, she knew, because he would look at her in panic and then look everywhere but at her for the rest of the day. She left her door open every night, and she knew he saw that as well, because every morning it would be closed. She was also crawling into bed with him practically naked every morning. It was enough to hurt a girl’s feelings. He never touched her in a way that wasn’t his normal brotherly affection, and she didn’t know how to fix this.

  “How ‘bout we drive outta the city and take a day cruise with your brother and Terryn?”

  Gage sounded like he was already set on the plan, and Zoe bit her lip to keep from pouting. Every single night he took her someplace. Broadway—Mary Poppins, really? Do I look twelve?—dinner with family or friends, arcades and restaurants. They were never alone, and now that the weekend was here, she was desperate to keep them here and see if she could push that envelope just a little further.

  “Oh, do we have to?” Zoe’s first nudge caused a flush to burn her cheeks and a quaver in her voice, but she was playing for keeps and brazened through it. She shifted until she was lying right on top of him. Gage was six six and built like the Texas roughneck he used to be—thick with muscles bulging and a chest that rippled with strength whenever he moved. His lean hips were under hers and with her thighs tingling from excitement, she parted her legs and curled her knees until she was straddling him. It was impossible to mistake the ridge under her for anything
other than what it was.

  “I was hoping that today we could just hang out here. You know, watch some movies and take a swim. Just you and me.” She couldn’t raise her voice above a whisper, all her being was focused where they were so intimately pressed together at last. She used her hands on his chest and pushed herself up to a sitting position, afraid to lift her eyes and see rejection. She kept straightening until all her weight was centered on that throbbing pulse between her thighs.

  “Darlin.”

  She still couldn’t look up. He’d see what she was feeling. He’d know then and he wasn’t ready yet. He still saw her as a kid and he’d reject her.

  “Oops, look at me.”

  That voice. Zoe jerked a little, her hips doing a tiny rub that caused them both to gasp. She slowly raised her eyes. She never could disobey him when he used his voice like that. It was as compelling as the waves on the ocean to her.

  “What’re you tryin’ to do here, Zoe?”

  She couldn’t answer. He was looking at her like he’d caught her doing something illegal, and she was afraid this would be the end.

  When those big strong hands moved to her thighs as though to push her off, all her careful planning went out the window and she blurted, “Don’t! Don’t make me leave. I love you. I always have. I always will. Don’t you know that? Haven’t you ever wondered why I never had a boyfriend?” Her hands gripped his where they rested on her thighs and she went on with tears of desperation stinging her eyes. “I’ve been waiting for you. Only you. You wanna know why I can’t pick a major at school? It’s because the only thing I can think about doing with my life is being with you.”