Caught by Menace by Lolita Lopez Read Free Book Online

teachers strike you?”
    She shrugged. “Sometimes it was for fighting. Most of
    the time it was for code infractions. My mom…” Her
    voice trailed off to nothing. “I didn’t always have a clean
    uniform for school. That was a big no-no. I finaly figured
    out how to do my own laundry. Then, after my dad died,
    I missed a lot of school or I was late. Eventualy I just
    decided it was easier to leave school than have a
    permanently black-and-blue ass.”
    Menace let that tiny glimpse into her childhood sink in
    and take hold. The similarities to Halie’s miserable
    childhood were so obvious. He finaly understood why
    Vicious had taken such a drasticaly different route with
    Halie—and why he was so overly protective of her.
    Halie—and why he was so overly protective of her.
    Wordlessly Menace strode to the wal and started
    yanking down the canes and crops and striking
    implements. He stuffed them in one of the drawers in the
    corner cabinet. Glancing back at the wal, he spotted the
    floggers. Those would have to go too.
    “What are you doing?”
    He started to take down the floggers. “I’m putting
    away the things that scare you. There’s no reason to
    keep them out if I’m not going to use them.”
    She stepped forward and hesitantly touched one of the
    soft tendrils of a flogger crafted for teasing and warming
    up a sub. “Why do you do it?”
    The siren cal of her body heat filed him with need.
    This was the closest they’d been without cursing or
    fighting. Calm and curious, she tempted him even more.
    He couldn’t help but compare her to the friend who had
    escaped him. He’d considered that one the epitome of
    his desires. Standing this close to Naya, gazing down into
    her dark eyes and breathing in her scent, he realized his
    first instinct had been dead wrong. It wasn’t the docile,
    sweet thing he needed. It was this young woman, this
    spitfire who drove him crazy.
    “It’s our way,” he said finaly.
    She frowned at him. “What does that mean?”
    “It means that our women are different than yours.”
    He placed his armful of floggers on the nearby restraint
    table. He selected the one she’d touched, the easy
    warm-up flogger, and handed it to her. “This is a flogger.
    It’s used for hitting fleshy parts.”
    “Fleshy parts?”
    “Buttocks, thighs, breasts…”
    “I see.”
    “There’s some new research that shows that the
    biochemical makeup of our Harcos women is vastly
    different than yours. Your bodies react much differently
    to endorphins, adrenaline and oxytocin.”
    She glanced away from him. “I don’t realy understand
    what that means. I never—I didn’t finish school,
    remember?”
    His gut clenched at the shame filing her voice. Daring
    to touch her, he tipped her chin and forced her to meet
    his gaze. “It’s al right. You may not have book smarts,
    but you clearly have street smarts.”
    She didn’t pul away from his touch. “You learn
    quickly how to survive. I can do math and I can read,
    quickly how to survive. I can do math and I can read,
    obviously. I just don’t have much of a science
    background.”
    “Would you like one?”
    She looked surprised. “What do you mean?”
    “Some of the wives have lobbied for a school
    program. It starts in a few weeks, I think. I’m sure Halie
    can fil you in on the details.”
    “Halie?”
    “My friend’s wife,” he explained. “She was Grabbed
    six months ago. She’s from Harper’s Wel. That’s close
    to you, right?”
    She made a face. “It’s nearby—and a helhole. I
    mean, even when my life was at its shi—crappiest,” she
    hastily corrected, “I gave thanks that I wasn’t born in
    Harper’s Wel.”
    His lips twitched with amusement at the way she’d
    skipped over the profanity. There was hope for her yet.
    “So tel me about these endorphins,” she instructed.
    He let his fingers drop from her chin. “Women from
    our planet require pain to find pleasure. It’s just the way
    their body