Read Innocence Defied (New York) for Free Online Page B

offered, “Nice meetin’ ya,” then tossed him onto the steps and slammed the door shut.
    When he turned back around, Zoe was on her knees in front of him with her head bowed, her legs spread and her hands behind her back. His heart stopped. To keep himself from reaching for her, he curled his hands into fists at his sides and focused on breathing.
    “Is this the right way?” Her voice was soft, tremulous and it stroked tendrils of fire over his cock. “Am I doing it right?”
    “Where did you learn about that, Oops?” He tried to keep his own voice level as his mind scrambled for reasons he should be running like hell right now. Problem was, he couldn’t think of a damn one.
    “I was on the net all night, reading and learning so I can be what you want.”
    His sigh was part groan, part whimper, and full of defeat. “Aw, baby. You shouldn’t have done that. That stuff is not for innocents. It’s for people with darker things inside them than you got, sweetheart. You are all sunshine inside, not darkness.”
    “I’m lying in my bed at the summer house and you sneak in my window in the middle of the night. I’m asleep so I don’t hear you. Without waking me, you slide the covers off and pull my panties down. Then you slip my nightgown up and I don’t wake up until you are kissing me between my legs.”
    Gage stood in frozen shock, the image wringing unwelcome lust through his body.
    “That was my first fantasy I ever had about you.” Her eyes lifted until their gazes met. “I was fourteen. And it’s also the tamest.”
    “Dammit, Oops—” he began, not having a clue what he was going to say when she interrupted again.
    “I have one where I’m running through the woods and I can hear you chasing after me. I don’t know why I’m running because I want you to catch me so bad, but I can’t help it. The running is making me scared a little and I can feel that you are going to make me pay for running and I kinda like that too.” He groaned and she stopped for a second before continuing. “When you catch me, you tackle me to the ground and you’re pulling off all my clothes and I’m still fighting you, but again I don’t know why because I can’t wait till you get me naked. And then when I am naked, I flip onto my hands and knees and try to crawl away, but you grab me from behind and you…you—God, you just shove into me and—”
    “Christ, Zoe, stop.” They were both breathing heavily, and Gage felt himself falling down an endless abyss. And he was terribly afraid there would be no going back.
    “My worst one had me so confused before today. I felt so guilty for having it. But it’s always there and now I know why. Do you want to hear it?”
    Gage didn’t answer her with words, but she apparently took his steady look as assent and told him.
    “It’s back in the Old West days. I’m a saloon girl and you’re a gun-slinging gambler. You’re at a table playing poker and there are four other men there with you. You have my hands strapped to the ceiling somehow and I’m standing in the middle of the table. All of you play your poker and drink your drinks and act like you can’t see me. You all can though, because every once in a while one of you will run your hand up my leg or reach up to touch me between them. Every time one of you wins a hand, the winner gets to take off a piece of my clothes. Once I’m completely naked, the stakes get higher and you get to do things to me. Like kiss my breasts or put your fingers inside me. All of a sudden you shove all your winnings into the middle of the table and bet everything you have on me. And you win. Then you drag me off the table and take me right there. Right in front of them while they all watch.” She spread her legs a little wider and lowered her eyes again. “Does that sound like sunshine to you? To me it sounds like I’m perfect for you, and everything I learned about today only makes me more sure about us, not less.”
    “Stand