Innocence Defied (New York) by Lainey Reese Read Free Book Online Page A

bit off more than you can chew.”
    Then he scooped one arm around her shoulders, one around her knees, and carried her to his bed.

Chapter Ten
    Zoe couldn’t believe she was naked in Gage’s arms. She’d been dreaming of this her whole life, and after this morning she’d been seriously afraid that it would never happen. There were about a million things she felt she should be saying or doing right now, but a strange paralysis had come over her. As he laid her out on his bed and arranged her, she let him without any resistance at all.
    “That’s good, darlin’,” he told her in his rich Southern drawl. “Stay just where I put you and keep your eyes on me for now.”
    She mumbled a breathy response and watched, mesmerized, as he began to remove his clothes.
    She’d seen him almost naked more times than she could count. As a teenager, he had spent part of every summer vacation with her family, so she’d watched him run around shirtless and in cutoffs or swim trunks. But from the age of twelve and up it became something different—something more. He was so much bigger than even her brother or Cade. His chest was twice the width of hers and the muscles there had cost her more than a few sleepless nights. With his chest bare now, with the dynamics between them changed for the first time, she almost couldn’t stand it and a whimper of need escaped her. When his hands went to the snap of his jeans and then slowly lowered the zipper, she thought it was the most erotic sight in the world. His stomach muscles flexed when he hooked his thumbs in the material, and then with a shove, his jeans and shorts were gone.
    He was magnificent. His shaft was long and thick and curled up toward his belly with a heavy sac underneath. There was a thatch of soft-looking hair around the base that was a darker shade of gold than the hair on his head. His lean hips and thickly muscled thighs were the perfect frame for his impressive groin, and Zoe let out another of those needy noises.
    Zoe watched in hungry fascination as he cupped one hand over his sac and gave it a firm tug before sliding back up to stroke the length of his cock. When he got to the head, he squeezed and twisted a little. Her mouth watered, and she had an almost irresistible urge to replace his hand with hers. Only the fear of doing it wrong and displeasing him kept her in place. His touch traveled back down to his balls and he did the whole thing again. Her legs started getting antsy and there was this intense sort of weight building in her pelvis that made her squirm on the bed.
    “I told you to stay where I put you, darlin’.” His voice was even deeper now, and Zoe dragged her eyes up from what his hand was doing to watch his face. “You don’t want to be testing me. Not tonight.”
    “Yes, Sir.”
    Her immediate compliance must have pleased him, because his eyes crinkled at the corners and he murmured, “Good girl. I won’t be tying you up tonight—it’s too soon for that. But you put those pretty hands above your head and grab on.” When she did with a gulp, those crinkles came back again. “No matter what happens, you don’t let go. If you do, there’ll be consequences.”
    Her hands trembled, and her answer was barely above a whisper because he’d crawled onto the bed beside her as he spoke. That gorgeous naked body was pressed up against her from the shoulders down, he was so hot it was like snuggling up next to a furnace. With gentle fingers, he tilted her chin up and looked into her eyes. “God, Zoe,” he said, looking so earnest she felt he could see straight through to her soul. “I can’t believe I’m doin’ this. I’ve loved you your whole stinkin’ life, but not like this. Never like this. You’ve got me so worked up I can hardly remember the kid you were up until a week ago. All I see now is you. The most beautiful fucking woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
    Then he kissed her.
    His mouth didn’t plunder so much as consume. He