Innocence Defied (New York) Read Online Free PDF Page A

face. “No fucking way are we doing this, Oops.”
     
    Gage sat back from the cradle of her hips with a whimper he disguised as a moan. Nothing in his life had ever felt as right as Zoe in his arms. He told himself that was because he was a sick fuck, but that did little to diminish the insistent throb in his cock. He tortured himself by looking at her spread before him. Those mile-long legs were currently draped over his thighs and he thought his retinas were going to bleed when he looked at her pussy and saw all their messing around had stuffed the red scrap of her panties between her lips so they lay there, exposed, puffy and wet, just waiting for his hand, mouth and cock.
    Her hips were softly rounded, and as he surveyed them, something caught his eye on the right one.
    “Is that what I think it is, Oops?” he asked in a warning growl. Her eyes popped open, and she didn’t need to look down to know what he was talking about.
    “Yes.” She nodded without elaborating.
    He didn’t need to tug the elastic of her thong out of the way to know what it read, but he tugged it anyway to get an unimpeded view at his initials forever branded in a tattoo on her lovely hip.
    “When?” he demanded.
    “When I was eighteen.” His eyes flicked up to hers and she added, “For my birthday, as a present to myself.”
    Her words, and the blazing intensity behind them, caused a shiver to course up and down his spine. Without thought, his thumb traced over the bold G.H. that marked her otherwise flawless flesh. It was the family brand. His grandfather had designed it when he was born, and it was on everything from the cattle, to the stationary and even the sprawling gates of the family estate in Houston. They were in an old English script, and the artist had done an amazing job of getting the colors just right with the black edges fading to gold so it looked like antique jewelry. Something primal and raw struggled to break out of him, but he locked it back down ruthlessly and shoved off the bed.
    He was in the boxers he’d taken to sleeping in since she’d come, and though they didn’t do much to hide the full-throttle erection he sported, he was thankful for the little cover they did offer.
    “We’ll stay here today, Oops, but not like this. We got some fixin’ to do, and fixin’ we are gonna do, until you realize that you and me and this…” He waved a hand over the bed, trying to ignore the way she looked all tumbled and tousled in it. “This is never going to happen again.” Then he turned his back while he still could and stalked to the bathroom.
    He locked the door once he got there, and Heaven only knew if he was locking her out or himself in. He sure as hell didn’t.
     
     
    When he got out of the shower, he was relieved to find her dressed and in the kitchen making breakfast. She stood at the stove with all that raven hair piled on top of her head, while she flipped French toast with one hand and worried her thumb nail between her teeth with the other. He now had firsthand knowledge of what she looked like naked, so seeing her covered in the skimpy black tank top and yoga pants only fired his desire to strip her.
    “When did you learn how to cook?” he asked out of desperation—to think of anything besides her body.
    “I took a cooking course my senior year and for part of my college freshman year too.” She shrugged one shoulder and didn’t look up from the pan. “I thought that maybe, if I could cook…” She hmmm’d to a stop and peeked up at him for a brief second. “Maybe you’d like it if I knew how to cook.” She finished in a huff, like she was confessing a grave misdeed.
    “Huh.” Gage plopped down onto one of the chairs at the kitchen island and stared. He was more than a little touched at further proof of her crush. He still couldn’t get the image of his initials carved into her hip out of his mind’s eye. Almost two years ago she’d branded herself as his, and now he heard she’d