Innocence Defied (New York)

by Lainey Reese

  With a groan, he filled his hands with her breasts, squeezing the mounds together so the nipples almost touched. He used them as his anchor and took five deep hard thrusts to the back of her throat. Evan reached up and pinched each nipple between his fingers, tweaking and pulling on the sex-roughened flesh with harsh treatment as his mouth worked double time on her clit.

  Gage knew there was no holding back from this. She didn’t have the training or experience to withstand such an assault. For two more thrusts he let her suffer—punishment for earlier—then he gave her the keys to her cell, “Come for us, darlin’. Come for me.”

  Zoe came unhinged. There was no describing the glory of her release in that moment. She flailed within the limited space they provided, screamed around his thrusting cock, and came. And came. And came.

  When Evan sat back, his black shirt front was clinging to his chest with her juices and the entire bottom of his face glistened. His lungs worked hard and the look he leveled at Gage conveyed a wealth of signals.

  He wanted her. Bad. She had taken him to a place with her open response that Gage knew was rare indeed. He knew, too, that Evan would do nothing to upset the Dom/sub balance that they had established. Zoe’s uninhibited response had pushed them to a higher level than they had prepared for. Evan, being the kind of Dom that he was, would not proceed without knowing Gage was aware of the shift in dynamics and was still in the proper headspace to control it.

  Zoe was floating in deep subspace. Her body and emotions an open book for all to read and dissect. In the wrong hands, this would be devastating. In the hands of a Dom with a broken moral code, it could ruin her. Create damage that could last a lifetime.

  She was not in the wrong hands. That Evan backed off and waited for Gage to direct only reinforced Gage’s decision to have him be the first invited guest to share his Zoe with. It showed him Evan was a Master in every sense of the word, and understood what it meant when you had a woman give herself so completely to you.

  At a signal from Gage, Evan nodded and stood. As he unfastened his pants and rolled on a condom, Gage knelt down and got Zoe to look him in the eye.

  “You’re ready, darlin’,” he whispered to her as he caressed her face with trembling fingers. “You are so fucking beautiful. You’ve made me so proud tonight. God, Zoe, I don’t know what I did to deserve you.” Then his lips sealed against hers, and she rocked his world with her tongue against his as much as everything else she’d done this evening, and it was him that moaned around the kiss this time, not her. When he straightened, his knees were in danger of collapsing and it was only that she trusted him to be the strong one keeping him upright.

  As he once again slid into the heaven that was her mouth, Gage looked up and met Evan’s eyes. Evan clenched his teeth, along with every muscle in his body and slowly penetrated Zoe. As he sank deeper and deeper, his jaw dropped and a sound of helpless lust rumbled in the other man’s throat.

  Gage couldn’t blame the guy. Being inside Zoe was a nirvana that had no comparison, and it was easy to see that Evan understood the precious gift he’d been given.

  Sweat glistened on Evan’s head, and the muscles along his jaw trembled when he met Gage’s look and challenged, “Race you to the finish?”

  Gage rumbled a laugh. “Man, she’s got you tied in all kinds of knots, huh?” His taunt was ruined, though, because Zoe chose that moment to remember how much he loved it when she swallowed while his shaft was lodged in the back of her throat.

  Fuck bravado. “You’re on.”

  Gage and Evan both started thrusting deep and hard. Gage thought there was no way Evan could win because he was so close already, but the other man started bucking with a familiar frantic abandon that told Gage just how close he was.

  As soon as Evan lost his rhythm and went wild, Zoe started to come again. Her mouth fell slack and delirious screams reverberated around his plunging cock. That was it. Zoe coming. Apparently that was his trigger now. Watching her come unglued sent him flying after her with an explosion of grunting curses and praises alike. As her tender body absorbed the blows from two men and quivered in the rapture of it, Gage opened himself to a truth that could no longer be ignored.

  He was in love.

  With his best friend’s baby sister.

  Fuck.

  Gage continued to pant and quake even after the other two had long regained their composure. He had the presence of mind to step back and let Evan slide Oops down on the table until her head no longer dangled, but that seemed to be the limit to his cognitive thinking at the moment. Reeling. That simple revelation had left him reeling. It shouldn’t be this hard to process. He’d always loved her. Since the first time he’d looked into her pink and wrinkly face the day she came home from the hospital, he’d loved her. Only that had been an entirely different kind of love. A shift from brotherly love to this kind shouldn’t be so earth shattering. Should it?

  After all, he’d already taken the leap and taken her to bed. Why was the realization he was in love with her filling him with such paralyzing confusion, when fucking her had been a comparatively easy step?

  Thank God Evan could be trusted to keep focused and on task. Gage watched as he loosened Zoe’s restraints and checked her for any signs of damage. He was murmuring to her in soft whispers, coddling her while his hands stroked in comfort over her limbs. Every couple seconds, Evan shot him a look that clearly asked when he was going to get his head back in the game and take care of his sub. Gage, however, was frozen in shock and he needed a couple more moments to pull it together so he could touch her without falling apart.

  Evan sat her up and brushed her curls back from her face tenderly while she sipped from the water glass he’d handed her. It was when Evan laid the gentle kiss on her forehead while glaring at him that Gage was finally able to snap out of it and get his ass moving around the table to her side. Fuck whatever it was he was dealing with. She was his and still so innocent, he should be ashamed for letting even a second go by that his focus wasn’t on her.

  With gentle hands, he folded her in close to his chest and rested his cheek on her sweat-dampened curls. “How you doin’, darlin’?” he asked in as normal a voice as he could muster. Then he realized just touching her wasn’t enough and scooped her up. Once he’d settled in his chair with her all warm and snuggly in his lap he was able to meet Evan’s look with most of his shit together, but not all.

  Evan was a smart and intuitive man, and by the look he was leveling at Gage, he knew the guy was clued in to what was happening for him.

  “You are an amazing and delightful young lady, Zoe,” Evan told her while he ran a tender hand along her cheek. “Thank you for tonight and the pleasure of your equally amazing and delightful young body.”

  Gage chuckled when Zoe blushed at his joke and shyly said, “I should be thanking you. That was incredible. You were so perfect and—”

  “Shh, darlin’,” Gage interrupted. “Let the man give you his gratitude. A proper sub says ‘you are welcome and thank you as well, Sir’ then leaves it at that.”

  When Zoe started to repeat her proper response, Evan beat her to it with, “Sweet little Oops. Don’t worry yourself over it. As long as I have the promise from your Master that we can continue to have visits such as this, you and I are good.”

  She blushed and hid a smile in Gage’s chest, causing a wealth of tenderness and affection to well up inside him. His arms squeezed her just a fraction closer, and he locked gazes with Evan over her head.

  With a final tug on a lock of her hair, Evan stood and said, “I’m going to cut the evening short, I think.” When Zoe started to protest, he stopped her off with, “It’s for the best for tonight. You and your Master have some things to discuss. Not the least of which is a lesson in the proper use of safe words.” He reached out and shook Gage’s hand before turning and walking quietly from the room.

  Gage stood with Zoe clasped to his chest and headed for the stairs. She was malleable as a warm and sleepy kit
ten in his arms. He took her straight to the bath connected to his rooms, set her on the lid of the commode then turned on the taps for a nice hot soak.

  “You will probably be a little sore in the mornin’, darlin’,” he said as he added Epson salts and some of the bubble bath that was kept under the sink. “But a little time in here should minimize that. C’mon, in ya go.” Gage steadied her as she stood on wobbly legs and helped her ease down into the fragrant foam and steaming water. Since the sunken tub was big enough for five, he shed his clothes and joined her.

  Once they were settled with her lounging against his chest, he combed his fingers into her hair and started a pressure-point massage on her scalp and neck. Within seconds, she was purring in contentment.

  “Now’s the time to talk, darlin’,” he said softly, never easing up on her rubdown. “Tell me how you felt tonight.”

  “Hmm, well.” Zoe’s voice was slurred and breathy, Gage smiled at the boneless way she moved against him as he worked to loosen her muscles. “It was exciting. At first I was scared—goodness, that feels incredible please don’t stop—but Evan was really nice, and I liked that he didn’t touch me until you told him to.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it—I don’t know—I guess it just sort of reinforced that you were in control, you know? Like I knew I was okay because he wouldn’t do anything you didn’t want him to.” Her delicate shoulders shrugged against him as she tried to put her feelings into words. “There’s a part of me that is kinda weirded out. I mean, I was so okay with being with two guys tonight. I waited so long for you, and never wanted anyone else to touch me before now. How is that even possible? But I don’t know. He was great, he really was, but it was more about you and that you were—I guess, like directing it or something? It was almost like Evan was—I don’t want to insult him or anything—but it was like he was just another toy or tool you were using on me. Does that make sense?” Zoe snuck a look at him over her shoulder and her cheeks were flushed a dark rose. Gage was sure it had nothing to do with the water temperature. “With you there, it was different and when I looked at you and saw that expression on your face when you were watching us…” A shudder swept through her body and Gage saw goose flesh prickle along the arm she had resting on the ledge of the tub. “That look on your face was so intense. You looked at me like…” Her voice trailed off.

  “Like what?” His voice was rough as sand paper.

  “Like there was nothing else in the world that you wanted more. I’ve heard people describe men looking like lions stalking prey, I just never thought it would be so…so…” She paused, seemingly at a loss.

  “So what, darlin’? Tell me.”

  “Riveting.”

  The whispered word caused an immediate reaction in his lap, and Gage had to take a deep breath and remind himself that she’d had enough for one day.

  “Well, I have to agree with you there, darlin’. Watching you two definitely had me riveted as well.” Truth was a two-way street, he needed to be as honest with his reactions as he expected her to be with hers. “It was harder for me to watch than I’d thought it would be.”

  Zoe scooted out a little and turned to look him directly in the eye. “How so?”

  What Gage saw in her face reassured him. He was no mind reader, but this was a girl he’d known her whole life and she never hid what she was feeling. From him, anyway. He saw the same conflict in her that was boiling in him.

  “Oops.” He cupped her chin in his palm. “I told you when we started this what I wanted from a slave. Complete dominance and control. The joy of having you as mine, to share and display. But, God, darlin’, there was a moment there I thought I was going to rip his dick off and choke him with it for daring to lay his hands on you.” He shook his head when she opened her mouth to speak. “Let me finish gettin’ this out.” As he continued, he ran his fingers over the delicate features that made up the loveliest face he’d ever seen. “I’ve had a full-time slave before, and there was never this conflict when I shared her. With you, I don’t know that any other man is going to have that privilege ever again.”

  Her smile bloomed like sunrise across her face, and it was a balm to his soul. “As much as I enjoyed it, I’m glad to hear you say that.” The smile dimmed a little, and she worried her bottom lip between her teeth before she said, “But the night we started this you told me what you wanted. What you liked and—”

  “Yes,” he interrupted, “what I wanted and what I liked. What can I say, Oops?” He looked at her, and let her see his emotions, raw and naked. “Turns out what I wanted back then has nothing to do with what I want now. You changed that. You. I’ve seen it happen to other Doms and Masters before. I just never thought it would happen to me.”

  He chuckled and hugged her close to his chest when her eyes welled up with unshed tears. He told her. “Cade and Trevor are never gonna let me live this down. I’ve been ragging them for years for hogging Riley all to themselves. Sharing is part of the lifestyle, so I never got why they were being such selfish assholes before.” As the truth of his feelings settled deeper in his heart, he kissed the top of her head. “Now…God, darlin’, now I get it.”

  He felt her take that information in by the way she seemed to draw in on herself. Zoe was an intuitive and bright young woman—she had to know what he wasn’t saying. He would save the actual declaration for another time, though. When he told her he loved her for the first time, it wasn’t going to be with the memories of another man’s touch still fresh in her mind.

  She was snuggled in close and content with the way this evening had turned out, and he decided he couldn’t leave it at that. Gage grumbled out a warning just to keep her off balance. “Don’t think because of this you’re going to get out of the lesson you got comin’. Prepare yourself, Oops,” Gage said with a grim smile. “I think it’s time I introduce you to a little thing called ‘funishment’.”

  It was comical the way her entire body froze so quickly, even her breathing stopped. Like a rabbit that had just spotted a wolf. “I think we will discuss this in my dungeon tomorrow,” he added. “Though, considering who I am and where I live, I’ve got the Texas version—it’s called a barn.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “This, darlin’, is a Texas dungeon.” Gage stood just inside the enormous building and gestured with one arm while he kept Zoe tucked close under his other.

  He hadn’t let her dress this morning. She’d woken up to breakfast in bed before he’d carried her right out here and she was quite content to stay plastered to his side as long as he’d let her. The place was all wooden and smelled of hay and leather. There was a loft that created a semicircle around three quarters of the building with four wooden stairways for access from different areas. There were beams and crates and saddles in addition to all manner of things that, up until a couple of weeks ago, would not have caused her to think twice about. She would have taken everything at face value and just assumed this was a very clean and beautiful, yet ordinary barn.

  Now she saw it through the eyes of a sub, and every hook, box and rope had endless possibilities that caused her body to tingle in a combination of trepidation and eagerness. Looking at all the different equipment and devices caused images to flash through her mind—of herself and how she could be strapped on or against them at the hands of her Master.

  “Kneel here.” Gage’s voice had that undertone to it that somehow made it impossible for her to deny. Her legs folded without thought. His hand stroked over her hair. “Legs spread. Wider. That’s good. Now, arms behind your back—that’s the way. Stay exactly like that.” He walked away from her with his long stride, and didn’t look back when he added, “I’ll just get some rope.”

  “Dammit.” Brice hung up his cell and threw it onto the end table with enough force that he would be surprised if it wasn’t ruined.

  Terryn came into the living room, wide-eyed with two cups of coffee in her hands. “What is it? Are you okay?”

  Bric
e took a couple deep breaths and kept himself seated. When Terryn reached out to hand him his coffee, he took the cup in one and urged her onto his lap with the other.

  “I just talked to Gage’s admin,” he told her. “The son of a bitch took Oops to fucking Texas. She told me that he could be reached at the Houston estate in case of an emergency.” Worry and anger, betrayal and heartache waged a war inside him.

  Terryn said nothing for a moment, only settled deeper into his arms and rested her head on his shoulder.

  Brice felt her tense after a bit and then she said, “She loves him. I really believe she loves him. Do you honestly think that the two of them together would be so bad?”

  With a silent curse, Brice stroked a hand over her fiery curls. “She’s too young. Too innocent. No way is she emotionally equipped to handle a D/s relationship. Christ, Red, she’s barely out of high school. She should be dating guys that count themselves lucky if they get to second base with her—not a man more’n a decade older than she is who wants to tie her down and whip her.” As a horrifying thought occurred to him, every muscle in his body turned to steel. “What if that asshole shares her or loans her out?” His mind went black at the thought. “It’s what he loves. His favorite thing in the world is group sex, Red. You know that. Can you imagine Oops strapped down on a bench, with a dozen men going to town on her?” The black in his mind boiled like a sea of vipers, writhing and spitting with venom. “I swear to God, I’ll kill the bastard if he even thinks of doing that to her.”

  Before she could answer to that, the front door opened and Cade, Trevor and Riley spilled into the room with a chorus of noisy hellos. The commotion was a welcome distraction, and both Brice and Terryn got to their feet with smiles.

  “Yay!” Terryn squealed as she ran to embrace Riley in a hug. “Why didn’t you let us know you were back? We could have met you at the airport.”