by Lainey Reese
When she’d tried to get out of bed this morning, her wince had made Gage chuckle like a fiend. He’d scooped her up and carried her into the shower, then bathed her so thoroughly she tingled from head to toe. He’d denied her shower sex, even though his body so obviously wanted it. She’d shyly tried to entice him into it but he’d kept the bathing strictly clinical.
After her shower, he’d wrapped her in a towel then carried her up to the rooftop atrium and placed her in the hot tub with strict orders not to move. She was only too happy to comply.
She’d had sex. Better than that, she’d had sex with Gage Hollister. With an inner happy dance and a smug grin, Zoe settled deeper into her place and closed her eyes.
“Now there’s a pretty sight.” Though his voice had been soft, he’d still startled her and her eyes flew open while she gasped.
“I didn’t hear you come back.” She willed her heart back to normal and watched as he sat on the edge of the hot tub, close to her hip.
“I brought you somethin’ for the stiff muscles.” He held out a glass of water in one hand and what she could only guess was aspirin in the other. “Sit up and take these. It’s ibuprofen, better for muscle pain than plain aspirin and your muscles could use it.”
The smug, knowing look on his face caused her to blush as she sat up and took the pills. Once she swallowed, she handed the glass back to him, but instead of lying back into position, she folded forward and laid her cheek on his thigh. When he stroked his blunt fingertips along her scalp in a massage, she purred like a cat.
“Darlin’.” His voice was soft, almost reverent, “Last night was damn near perfect—closest to heaven I know I’ll ever get.” He tugged and she lifted her eyes until they met his. “Thank you, Zoe. Thank you for lovin’ me and trustin’ me with such a gift.”
Zoe felt her heart do a lazy summersault in her chest and murmured, “I’m the one who should be thanking you. It was my birthday present after all.”
“Should you now?” The question was loaded and Zoe recognized the glint in his eye even before he spoke. “Maybe we should thank each other, hmm?”
He stood and slid off his sweats as he told her. “Up on yer knees, darlin’.” Gage steadied her as she obeyed. Then he positioned her until she was straddling one of the jets in the seat, while at the same time she was right in front of one mounted in the side. Zoe was moaning before he even reached into the water to make adjustments. His smile was fierce with satisfaction when she yelped as he got the one on the side wall angled right over her clit. Zoe instinctively tried to shift back, but his grip on her hair caused her to rethink that—along with his warning. “You move from where I’ve placed you, Oops, and there’ll be hell to pay.”
Zoe’s answer was muffled by Gage’s shaft as he slid it between her lips before the first word was out. She’d grown to love doing this for him. His scent, something she had always loved was more intimate here, more primal. The taste and feel of him in her mouth had become something she didn’t think she could live without. As she lapped and sucked, his moans drifted around her like a benediction and his legs trembled from the pleasure she brought to him. Zoe didn’t have words for the emotion that filled her knowing she did that to him. She was aware, though, that doing this for him felt more right than anything else she’d ever done.
Gage gripped Zoe’s silky raven hair in both fists and tried to rein in his lust. She had learned so quickly what he liked and what would send him over the edge. She loved him with her mouth as wholeheartedly as she did everything else and the Dom in him reveled in her devotion. As he watched his shaft slip in and out of her perfect lips, he had to remind himself not to plunder. His body quaked with the effort of holding back and it was a delicious torment to keep his thrusts in check.
“God, darlin’. So fucking good,” he praised. “Slide that tongue out more and let me in deeper. Yeah, like that. Ahh, goddamn that’s sweet. So…right…yeah there. There. God, we keep this up and I’m gonna explode.” He was surging in slow and deep, with her tongue bathing the fat underside along the way and the crown bumping into the back of her throat at the crest of each plunge. He wasn’t going to last. Not like this. Not with her naked and sucking him so sweetly while she quivered and moaned as the jets brought her own climax closer and closer.
“This is it, baby,” he told her, knowing they were not up to fighting off the pleasure any longer. “Come with me. C’mon, darlin’, scream your pleasure around my cock—”
From out of nowhere Gage took a full body slam in the side that brought him crashing to the floor. He didn’t register any one pain in particular—instead it was a whole body assault that thankfully took a backseat to the rush of adrenaline from his fight-or-flight response. He had no thought other than he was being attacked and he had to protect Zoe. Gage swung blindly even as they were still rolling. He felt the crunch of impact as his fists connected, even as he registered that his attacker’s fists were connecting too. He grappled for position to get his opponent in a headlock but the man’s fist made jarring contact with his ribs when he lifted his arm.
With a grunt of pain and his teeth gritted with effort, he switched tactics and went for the leg lock. Pouring everything he could into the effort he grappled until his thighs were cinched around his opponent’s waist. As he clenched his ankles and shifted weight to bring them to their sides, he squeezed his knees together for all he was worth and pulled his arm back for a blow to the face that he was going to make damn sure broke this fucker’s nose.
That’s when he got his first look at who was attacking him.
Brice.
“Fuck!” Just in time, he pulled his punch. A desperate feeling of sorrow mixed with frustration clamored in him and he now struggled only to keep his best friend from killing him, rather than fight back.
It wasn’t easy. Brice had no such qualms. Gage saw a murderous rage in Brice’s eyes, and he sure as hell wasn’t pulling any punches.
“Stop!” Gage shouted not two inches from Brice’s face, yet the other man didn’t register it with so much as a flinch. “Brice, goddammit, enough.”
Nothing. Brice kept swinging and Gage had no choice but to continue to try and deflect the blows as they rained down with the force and fury of a brother’s need for vengeance. He cursed as Brice slipped by his guard and landed a solid uppercut that snapped his teeth together with enough force to crack them, and had stars dancing in his eyes. He shook his head in an effort to clear his vision just as Zoe appeared over Brice’s shoulder.
“Get back, Zoe.” He shouted at her too, but she paid him no more mind than her brother had and wrapped her arm around Brice’s neck in an effort to pull him off. Brice only stopped long enough to shove her away. Even though she was unhurt, Gage felt a dangerous answering rage simmer to life inside himself that anyone—brother or not—would touch Zoe in anger.
He moved to take advantage of the distraction Zoe had provided and break away, but Brice was right back at him. As he landed another bell ringer, Gage cursed again and wished fervently the man had chosen a profession—any profession—that hadn’t afforded him hand-to-hand combat training.
Brice landed a knee dangerously close to Gage’s groin, and he broke out in a sweat as he considered he would have to start fighting back if he wanted to come out of this in one piece. He felt his heart sink at the notion though and realized he couldn’t. If he’d been the one to walk in and see what Brice saw—Zoe naked with some guy’s dick down her throat?—yeah he’d kill the son of a bitch too. Gage resigned himself to the beating and was just about to let go when Zoe came back and whipped a towel over Brice’s head, effectively blinding him. Brice cursed and reached both hands up to dislodge the towel and Gage took the small window of opportunity she provided to spring away.
Once Gage gained his feet, he was hit in the chest with his sweats. He caught them and looked to where Terryn was standing to give her a nod of thanks. She didn’t look any happier than her husband but at least she wasn’t trying to bea
t him bloody.
Brice stood with his fists clenched and his feet braced, looking like nothing less than a fighter waiting for the bell to sound round two. Gage felt a pang of conscience when he saw the start of bruises from the blows he’d managed to land before he realized who he was fighting. He and Brice had come to blows plenty growing up together, but it’d never been over anything important. Just healthy young boys blowing off steam. This was different, and when the dust settled, he’d make sure Brice knew his regret.
“This is not going to happen, Brice,” he said, meeting Brice’s look eye to eye. “I won’t fight you over this. Believe it or not, I agree with everything you’re feeling.” He spat the blood pooling in his mouth off to the side without taking his eyes off the other man. He kept his arms loose at his sides and turned his hands up in a gesture of helplessness. “I can’t think of a single fuckin’ thing to say to you right now that will ever make this okay.” As his mind scrambled to find something—anything that would make Brice understand—he was at a loss. All he could see was the betrayal in his friend’s expression. “You know what? I’m not even going to try.”
He saw Brice visibly force himself to pull it together. He then turned his head and looked at Zoe. Gage felt the slow simmer rise back up at the look. Brice had never looked at her with anything less than adoration, and now he shot her a glare so full of malice that Gage felt every protective Dom gene in his body flare to red alert.
“Go get some fucking clothes on,” Brice spat at her. “You’re coming home with us.”
Zoe had tears in her eyes, and was trembling in nothing but a towel as she looked at her brother. When Gage saw her face crumble at the venom in Brice’s voice, he started to forget he agreed with the man. Paramount in his mind was Zoe at the moment, and how no one hurt her—not even her brother.
“No,” he said, his voice deadly quiet. “No, she’s not.”
Brice gave him a look rife with hatred and stabbed a finger in his direction. “Don’t say another fucking word. She’s leaving with me and if you ever come near her again, I swear to God I’ll kill you.” Then he stalked to where she stood and grabbed her by the arm.
That was the wrong thing to do. Gage was on him before he even registered what he was doing. He just snapped. Seeing Zoe handled like that had triggered something dangerous in him. He grabbed the hand Brice had on her and swung him around. He clamped his other hand on Brice’s throat and shoved him into the closest wall.
“You don’t touch her. You hear me?” Gage leaned in ‘til they were practically nose to nose. “You’re pissed off right now and that’s great. I already told you I get it. But you be pissed off at me and leave your sister the fuck alone.” Gage shoved away and turned to Zoe, who was crying audibly now. If she was hurt, Gage would break Brice’s fucking arm.
“Darlin’, shhh. Are ya hurt?” He’d turned his back to Brice and now reached out to check for himself. The blinding pain of a jab to his kidney brought him to a knee with a surprised shout. The women jumped in then. Terryn flung herself full body against her husband, while Zoe dropped over Gage’s back like a human shield. Both were screaming for them to stop.
“Brice.” Terryn had her husband’s face cupped between her palms while she struggled to stay in front of him. He was trying to forcibly move her to the side without hurting her, but she wouldn’t move. Gage was grateful for it since he was having trouble drawing in a breath from that rabbit punch. Son of a bitch coulda been a contender.
“Brice, please!” she was shouting. “Come downstairs with me. Come on. We’ll wait for them there and then we’ll talk.” Brice grabbed her wrists and pulled her hands from his face with a snarl and Gage felt another surge of rage when he heard Terryn gasp in pain.
“Brice!” she went on. “Look at yourself. You’re scaring me.” That stopped him cold and he looked at her for the first time. Her voice gentled. “You’re hurting me.”
The cop’s body went loose so fast it looked as though he’d been unplugged, and he brought his wife’s wrists close to his face with a curse as he checked her over. “Christ. I’m sorry, Red.” He kissed each one in turn and then gathered her close. As he held her, he spoke into her neck, words that didn’t carry to where Gage and Zoe were, but Gage knew they were words of sorrow and devotion.
He must not have trusted himself to even look at them again because he just tucked Terryn under his arm and led her from the atrium. Gage grimaced and pushed up to his feet. He took another minute with his hands braced on his knees as he tried to remember how to breathe, and finally was able to stand straight.
Zoe was quietly crying and she used the corner of a towel to blot at the blood welling from his lip. “I’m so, so sorry, Gage.” Her face crumpled when he looked her in the eye. “This is all my fault. All of it. He’s your best friend and I knew it and I was stupid and selfish.” He tried to shush her but she rushed on. “It is. I am. I should have never pushed this. I just—just lo-lo-love you so much, I couldn’t think of anything else but me and now look what’s happened.”
“God, darlin’, stop. You’re killing me.” He pulled her in close as she fell into deep gut-wrenching sobs and Gage thought the pain of her heartbreak was worse than any of the blows he’d taken. “I’m a big boy, Oops. I knew what I was doing and what we were risking more than you did.” His sigh was rueful and weary. “Which is why he pounded on me and not you. I’m the one who needs to be sayin’ sorry, darlin’, not you.” He kissed the top of her head. “Never you.” When she tried to pull back and argue with him, he just held her closer and said, “Let’s go. Get dressed and then we’ll see if Terryn has managed to get your brother’s gun away from him so he can’t shoot me.”
His pathetic attempt at humor worked a small smile from her and Gage led her from the atrium the same way Brice had led Terryn. Even though it had been a joke, Gage did spare a moment to wonder if Brice had his gun on him. The man was seriously pissed after all.
Chapter Twenty
By the time Gage walked into the living room where Brice and Terryn waited, Brice had pulled himself together and was halfway through a shot of whiskey.
“Still can’t think of a thing to say to you, Brice.” Gage stood in the middle of the room and faced him head-on. He could think of no excuse because he knew there was none. Curiously, though, he also felt no need to apologize. It probably made him wrong as hell but to apologize was to say he regretted being with Zoe and would change it if he could, and that was just not the truth. He didn’t regret a single moment they’d had, nor would he change any of it. If that made him wrong then, there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about that.
“I’ve known you since we were kids,” Brice said, looking at him with contempt. “You were there the day she was brought home from the hospital. How could you do this?”
His question was full of anguish and Gage felt his heart break a little. Not a man in the world he loved more than the one standing before him.
Zoe walked in just then and he realized that his world had been upside down and inside out since the moment he’d picked her up at the airport.
Brice looked at her and Gage saw his expression tighten when he noticed the look on her face.
“Christ, what a mess,” her brother exclaimed and set his drink down before reaching out and wrapping her in his arms. “Oops, baby,” he said, kissing her on the top of her head as she burrowed in and hugged him. “I’m sorry if I hurt you up there. I’m still pissed and you are in serious trouble but you know I love you, right?” He waited until she nodded then said, “Good. I do, I love you ‘til I’m stupid with it and if you doubted that for even a second up there, I don’t think I could live with myself.”
“I’m sorry, Brice.” Zoe broke with a sob. “I’m so sorry I did this. It’s all my fault. Please don’t be mad anymore. Please?” She pulled back and looked up at her brother with tears pouring down her face, and Gage saw Brice flinch from the impact. “I did this. It was all me. I planned all along to get to sta
y here so Gage and I could be alone. I have been in love with him so long and I just couldn’t wait anymore. Please don’t be mad at him.” She turned those tear-flooded blue eyes toward him and Gage was as helpless against their impact as Brice had been.
“I love him. I know you think it’s a crush and I’ll grow out of it but you’re wrong. It’s real.” She looked back at her brother. “It’s as real as what you feel for Terryn and what Cade and Trevor feel for Riley. And you should know that I’m not sorry we were together, I’m only sorry that us being together hurts you so much.”
“Oops.” Brice’s hands rubbed up and down Zoe’s arms as if to ward off a chill. “Sweetheart, you are so young. Don’t”—he interjected when she opened her mouth to argue—”let me finish. You are young and whether you want to be or not doesn’t change a damn thing. You are also innocent. You can’t possibly be prepared for a relationship like what Gage will draw you into. It’s impossible.” He gripped hard on her arms and said, “Now, go with Terryn and pack. You are coming home with us.” She shook her head no and Brice added, “Don’t argue right now. Just go with Terryn. Gage and I have to talk and we’ll figure out the rest later, all right?”
Gage saw the reluctance in her as she nodded and followed Terryn out of the room. He could have reassured her she had nothing to worry about. She wasn’t going anywhere. He was confused about a lot of things when it came to his relationship with Zoe, but there was one thing he was crystal clear on. And that was she was his and there wasn’t a force on this planet that was taking her away from him.
“I’ve been intimate with you.” Brice looked at him like he was looking at a stranger. “I’ve shared my wife with you. I’d like to think I know you better than any other person on this planet.” He stepped close until they were toe-to-toe, and Gage saw deadly resolve in his friend’s face. “I’m only going to ask you this once and I want you to know that I’ll know if you are lying to me.” He paused as though bracing himself for the answer. “When did this start?”
