by Lainey Reese
It took a full thirty seconds to realize Brice had braced himself for the worst. The shock and revulsion that coursed through Gage when it dawned on him what Brice had feared was bone-deep. “God, man!” he spat, horrified at the idea. “A week ago. Christ. What do you think I am? A monster?” He ran a shaky hand through his hair. “Holy fuckin’ hell. A week ago, I swear to God.” Just the fact that Brice had asked broke something inside him and he stumbled back as though he’d taken a blow to the midsection.
In a way, he had.
“I believe you,” Brice said and there was a glimmer of his friend in his face that hadn’t been there before. “I never believed it was possible but I had to ask.” His hands raised in the same helpless gesture Gage had made in the atrium.
Gage had to give him that. It was a valid question and as much as it made him want to vomit, he knew it was a question that had needed answering.
“A week, Brice, I swear to God. I never even thought of her as anything but a baby until I picked her up from the airport.”
“What a fucking mess,” Brice repeated and turned away to pour another shot. “You want one of these?” he asked and when Gage replied he did, Brice reached for another glass.
“I’m going back out there.” Zoe’s voice was frantic and Terryn had to bodily block the door to keep her in. “I can’t just sit in here, Terryn.” Zoe looked at her sister-in-law and hoped she could trust her to be on her side. “You saw what happened in the upstairs garden. Gage won’t fight back. He’s got some twisted idea in his head that he deserves to be punished for being with me and he’ll let Brice kill him.” The surety that she was right had her reaching for the door again.
“Oops.” Terryn blocked her once more and said, “Brice isn’t going to kill him. Brice is more than your brother. He’s Gage’s best friend and also a cop. They are going to work through this. We just have to give them the room to do it.” She reached out her delicate hands and cupped Zoe’s cheeks with a motherly touch that had tears springing to Zoe’s eyes.
“In the meantime. I have some questions for you myself.” The look on her face was pure affection and Zoe felt tears whelm in reaction. “Are you okay? Do you have any questions? Did he hurt you?”
“No, Terryn,” Zoe answered with exasperation. “Gage’d never hurt me. You know him better than that, don’t you?”
“I thought I knew him better than to ever touch you, period,” Terryn said with a heavy dose of bafflement. “Honey. He is much too old for you and his tastes in the bedroom are way beyond what a girl can handle.” Terryn seemed to realize how that sounded and she held up her hands with a grimace. “I’m not saying this right. It’s just. Just that he’s…well, he’s—”
“A Dom?” Zoe crossed her arms over her chest and lifted a brow. “I know. He told me what he was before we got together and I’ll tell you the same thing I told him.” She reached out to Terryn and held tight to her hands, willing her to understand. “I love him. We are supposed to be together.” Zoe felt a blush heat her cheeks but she managed to maintain eye contact. “When Gage told me that he was a Dom, I had no clue what that meant. So I researched it. And you know what I felt? I felt relief. See, ever since I was like fourteen I was having all these dark and confusing fantasies about Gage and I always felt so guilty about them.” She gripped Terryn’s hands harder, as if she needed more of her attention. “In the research I did, you know what I found out? I found out that all those guilty confusing fantasies are nothing to feel guilty about. Gage is perfect for me, Terryn. He’s perfect and he’s been nothing but patient and gentle and kind. You gotta know that he would never have touched me unless he was sure I was ready.” She stepped back and plopped onto the bed. “I was ready. It was time for me to grow up and be what I was born to be.” The look she gave Terryn stopped whatever the other woman had been about to say. “His.”
Terryn came forward and brushed Zoe’s hair from the sides of her face. “Oops, I’ve known you less than a year, but I’ve loved you like a sister from the first second.” She kissed her forehead and then sat next to her with an arm around her shoulders. “Sweetie, I believe you love him. I do. I see it in your face every time you look at him. But honey, a Dom/sub relationship…hell especially a Master/slave relationship like Gage is looking for isn’t a first-love relationship.” She looked at her and now gripped Zoe’s hands. “Can you understand that? Can you try to understand that this type of relationship is for people who have tried other relationships and can therefore make this choice from an experienced perspective?” She paused a moment and then added, “How can you possibly expect to know this is the right lifestyle for you when you have nothing to weigh it against?”
“You love my brother, right?” Zoe asked.
“You know I do,” was the answer.
“Okay, now let’s say you met him first. Before all the men that you dated who weren’t him. Before you had to dredge through the kind of sex that left you wondering if something was wrong with you. And before you had to go through heartaches and all the drama of breakup after breakup.” She stood and faced Terryn as she finished with, “Now, would you have walked away from him just because the timing was off? Or would you have held on to him as tight as you could and thanked your lucky stars that you found him?”
Before Terryn could answer, the door opened and Brice looked at her. “Are you packed?”
“What?” Zoe said, baffled. “Brice. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Yes, Zoe.” He stepped fully into the room, crossed his arms over his chest and faced her. “You are coming with me and that’s final.”
Zoe looked at him with her mouth hanging open in shock. He had always been her hero. She had two other brothers and one sister. She had cousins coming out her ears and a daddy that was larger than life. But none of them, not even her beloved father, was to her what Brice was. He stood over six feet, had thick dark hair and a face that she had secretly thought Superman would have if he were real.
He was the one who let her tag along wherever he went when she was growing up. He was never short with her and whenever someone picked on her or made her cry, it was Brice who came to her rescue. In all her life, he had never let her down and as far as she knew that was true for her to him, as well. There was a part of her—a large part—that wanted to tuck tail and do whatever he told her to.
It was not large enough. “I love you, big brother. I hope you know that, no matter what happens, that will never change.” As she felt tears gather anew, Zoe tried to will them back. It was important Brice see her as an adult making a conscious decision—not a child making an impulsive emotional one.
“You may not believe this but I thought about this choice for years before I took this step. What I feel for Gage hasn’t been a crush since—God, I don’t think it’s ever been one. I love him and being his, belonging to him is the only thing that I want to do with my life.”
“Bullshit.” Brice looked as impressed with her impassioned speech as if she’d just belched. “You’re a kid and you’re more than that, you’re my kid sister and I’m not going to stand by and let you shack up with a man more than a decade older than you.” He stalked into the room and finished with, “Now, since you didn’t pack you can send for your things later, because we are leaving.” When Brice reached to grab her arm, Gage’s voice from the doorway stopped him.
“I wouldn’t do that, son.” His voice was deadly soft and the accent was thick with his emotion. “You’ve had your say and you’ve heard us both have ours. Now, it is time that y’all be leavin’.” He stepped into the room and moved Zoe behind him. “But y’all will be leavin’ without Zoe.”
When Brice got nose to nose with him, Zoe gripped the back of Gage’s shirt, sure her brother was going to start swinging again. He didn’t, though Zoe could tell it was a close thing.
“You don’t want to do this, friend.” Brice spat the word out as though it were rancid in his mouth. “Don’t draw this line in the sand. I will cross it and I don’
t think you are heartless enough to make her choose between you and her family.” His head cocked to the side and, if possible, his expression got even more hateful. “Or are you?” Then he lifted a hand toward Zoe and leveled her a look that had less venom in it, but not by much. “Oops, I’m not going to tell you again. Let’s go.”
Gage clamped a hand around Brice’s wrist and shoved it away from Zoe. “Bastard.” Zoe couldn’t see Gage’s face, but she’d never heard that tone from him before, and his back was quivering in his rage. “I’m not the one drawin’ lines and makin’ ultimatums. That’s you. That’s all on you.” His hands raked through his hair in frustration. “Christ, man, I’m not doin’ anythin’ to her that you’re not doin’ to yer own wife.”
Both Zoe and Terryn gasped at that, because it caused Brice to launch at Gage with a snarl and the two men locked together like stags locking horns.
“You fuckin’ know me,” Gage panted as the two unyielding forces strained against each other. “No one, no-fuckin’-one on this planet would treat her with more care than I have.”
The two broke away at the same time and Brice turned his back with a frustrated curse.
“You said it yourself, Brice,” Gage said, his voice softer now. “You’ve been intimate with me even as far as sharing yer own wife. If ya trust me that much—with somethin’ so precious as that—where is yer trust now?”
Zoe’s breath caught as that sank in. Her mind sped right past the sharing part and landed on her brother and Terryn’s marriage. They were doing the Dom/sub thing and Zoe had never seen her brother so happy. If they could make it work, she was even surer now of her and Gage.
Brice didn’t turn to look at either of them, only took his wife by the hand and left after uttering only a single word in response.
“Broken.”
For the third time in the last week, Gage fisted his hands at his sides in an effort to restrain himself from tearing out of the house and beating Brice to a bloody mess. Zoe was quietly crying on her bed. She’d been there, doing that, for the last hour and he was going mad. The Dom in him wanted to find what was hurting her and kill it, but that was impossible when what was hurting her was her brother.
It was hard to believe it had only been a week since Brice had stormed out of the townhouse. Gage had done everything in his power to soften the blow of the fallout for Zoe. He was still taking her to work as his “intern” and had made sure to give her efficient and clever mind plenty of tasks to keep her distracted. Whenever work wasn’t enough, he found other exciting ways to empty her busy little mind. And every night he made love to her until she fell into a sated, exhausted heap, then slept like the dead. But the sadness still crept in and times like now, having to stand by helplessly and watch as she cried were tearing him to pieces. She flinched at every sound in the house as though she thought it was Brice coming back. When the phone rang she was sure it was her parents calling, and when the last time someone knocked on the door, Zoe had been sure it was going to be a family member sent to fetch her home.
He had been sure that she was prepared for the backlash when her family got wind of their relationship. She’d been confident and pragmatic whenever they had discussed the reception they were going to face. She had made it clear she knew her family would react strongly and that was why she had wanted to hold off telling them until later. Zoe had reasoned there were two components to her choice to keep them a secret. The first had been that, as much as she was sure she was going to love him forever, she didn’t want to upset her whole family if Gage grew tired of her and it was over after only a brief fling. It would be useless and cruel to put them all through the drama for something that turned out to be a short-lived affair. The second had been that she didn’t want a dark cloud overshadowing the first phase of their relationship. She wanted it to be full of joy and discovery, not tears and turmoil.
It made sense, so Gage had let her have her way. He even agreed with her. He wanted nothing to distract or take away from the happiness they were finding in each other and now, after Brice’s extreme reaction, he couldn’t say he regretted keeping them a secret. He wished they still were.
With a curse, Gage stormed to Zoe’s closet and grabbed one of her suitcases. It landed on the bed with a bounce and he started rifling through her closet with single-minded purpose. Arms loaded, he turned and stuffed the clothes in the bag with little care for wrinkles or fabrics. He had a course of action set in mind and now that he had a plan and a goal, he was focused.
“Gage?” Zoe’s voice was muffled behind a tissue and distorted from her stuffy nose. “What are you doing? You’re not sending me to Brice’s after all, are you?”
“No, darlin’.” He made his voice gentle as he caught the panic in hers. “We’re just goin’ outta town for a spell. We’ll give your brother time to cool off and you’ll be someplace where you won’t be worryin’ that he’s going to come bustin’ in any minute.”
With a sniffle she answered, “Okay. That actually sounds good. I’ll help pack.” She went to her dresser and reached for some underwear.
Gage felt a glimmer of a smile as he plunked a pair of shoes in. “Darlin’, you’re packed. I’m done.” He said and zipped up her bag.
She looked from the bag, to her dresser, to her closet. “But, Gage? You didn’t pack any underwear.”
From the way it felt, he knew his smile was pure evil. “I know.”
Chapter Twenty-One
After a series of phone calls and throwing his own bag together, they were on the way. One cab, private jet and limo ride later, they were strolling along a trail in the Hollister woods, hand in hand. Zoe looked around her in awe. The trees were huge and the leaves were lush and green with just the smallest hint of the coming change showing in the scattered few on the ground. The dappled light fell on her shoulders like a warm blanket, while a balmy breeze flirted with her hair and the hem of her red-and-white sundress.
“I still can’t believe we’re here. Five hours ago we were in New York and now we’re in Texas on our way to have a picnic in a meadow.” She squeezed his hand and sent him a smile full of warmth and gratitude. “I thought nothing would make things better. I was wrong. This is perfect.” She leaned up on her tiptoes and touched her mouth to his. As they resumed walking, Zoe watched the tips of her red canvas sneakers. “Are you sure about leaving New York? I mean, you guys are still in the middle of the whole merger thing and what if your leaving sets off some sort of panic?”
Gage shook his head a little and brought their clasped hands up so he could lay a kiss on the back of hers. “I told you, darlin’, bein’ the boss has its perks. Takin’ a few days off is one of them. Things’ll be fine there. I’ve got good people I trust lookin’ after things for me, and if an emergency comes up, I’m only a three-hour flight away. Besides, it’s just for the weekend. No need for you to be worryin’—leave that to me.”
He gestured with the basket he held and said, “Looky there. That’s our spot.”
Zoe let out a wistful sigh. Just ahead, the trail led to a meadow surrounded by a ring of trees. The grass was a deep lush green and wildflowers covered it in a pattern that was a riot of colors and scents.
“Oh, Gage.” Zoe stepped out from the cover of trees and into the sunlight. “I’ve never seen something so perfect and beautiful.”
“I have, darlin’.” When she smiled at him, Zoe noticed his eyes were only for her. “I have.”
As Gage spread out the blanket, Zoe dug into the basket. “I’m starved. I sure am glad your family has a cook on staff here. Oh, I think I’m in heaven.” She lifted a container lid and showed him three big pieces of fried chicken. “And look at this!” she exclaimed and pulled out another container. “Potato salad. And there’s veggies and dip and fresh rolls and—oh sweet baby Jesus, Gage—there’s cherry pie.” She looked at him in shock. “Homemade cherry pie? Did you call ahead and have her make this for us?”
He chuckled and took the pie from her, “No, Oops, I did
n’t. Just your lucky day, I guess. Mine too, since the staff is leaving in an hour for the weekend, so I get you all to myself from here on out.” He gave her a quick kiss on the nose and added, “Get the plates. I’m starvin’ too.”
Zoe was so stuffed she could barely move, but that didn’t stop her from pouring herself a second glass of sweet tea from the thermos. “I swear they put crack in this.” She took a big gulp as Gage rested on his side and twirled a flower stem in his fingers. “I think I’m addicted. If I can’t get your cook to show me how she makes this, we are going to have to figure out a way to have it flown in.” After another long drink, Zoe leaned back, rested her weight on her elbows and lifted her face to the sun.
She cracked one eye open to peek at Gage when he ran the wildflower over her brow and down her nose. She smiled as he traced her lips with the satiny white petals before trailing it down the slope of her neck and then across her collarbone.
Gage tucked the flower in the valley between her breasts. “Darlin’.” His voice was husky and caused a shiver to chase up and down her spine. “What’s your safe word?”
Zoe gulped. The meadow and surrounding woods seemed to be holding their breath as he waited for her reply. “Alamo, Sir.”
Gage sat up, bent his long legs and draped his arms over his knees. The tension in Zoe’s limbs multiplied by the seconds as she waited for him to start whatever it was that he had planned. When he finally spoke, he did so without looking at her, and the one word he uttered echoed like a gun shot in her ears.
“Run.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Zoe scrambled up with a squeak. Her pretty red dress with its white trim would be easy to spot in the lush greens and browns of the woods. Gage watched as she dashed out of sight, her laughter floating on the wind. He waited until he was sure she had a good lead on him before he sprang to his feet. A game like this was always more fun when the prey had room to run.