Free Innocence Defied (New York) by Lainey Reese

for one. For two: he still thinks I’m twelve. And three: he’d never think that you would look twice at me, so even if he suspected something was up he’d never think it was that.”
    “I’ll give you one and two, Oops. But on three, I have to say somethin’.” He looked at her and felt every crazy mixed-up emotion he could name and a few he couldn’t. “I’m feeling guilty as hell over number three, darlin’. Guilty as hell. Your brother trusts me and as much as I’m strugglin’ with not feeling this way, I can’t help but feel like I’ve betrayed that trust.”
    “I know.” Her eyes welled as she looked at him, and he knew that she understood the impossible position she’d put him in. “I value your friendship with my brother—heck with my whole family—as much as you do. It’s made me feel guilty for years whenever I thought about what this could do to them.” She came around to his side, wrapped her arms around his middle so she could squeeze herself tight to his back. “If I could have fallen in love with someone else, it would have been so much easier. But never. Not once. It’s always been you. This is right and we are right and because we are, we have to believe that Brice and my family will accept us. Eventually.”
    Gage wasn’t so sure and for the hundredth time that day he asked himself why he was risking it. And for the hundredth time he didn’t have an answer—he only knew that she had become as irresistible as a siren’s call to him and there was no going back. So he’d ride it out and do his best by Brice and especially Zoe. He just hoped to God his best was good enough.
    The ringing of the doorbell had them both jumping. Gage shook his head and whispered, “In fer a penny, in fer a pound.”
    When she looked at him like he’d lost his mind, he smiled then went to open the door. She never got the joke when he threw out some of the odd ancient sayings his granddad used to quote, and her bafflement always cracked him up.
    “Oh my heavens.” Terryn was the first through the door and even as she hugged him, she was looking toward the kitchen. “Please tell me that wonderful aroma I smell is Oops cooking for us.” She didn’t linger in his embrace long enough for him to answer—she was halfway to see for herself before he’d even gotten a chance to hug back.
    Brice stepped in close behind her and was shaking his head as he closed the door. “You know, I’ve heard about people who have this magic metabolism and can eat thousands of calories a day and never gain an ounce. I never believed it. Not until that little redheaded beanpole came along.”
    Gage saw the bemused adoration on his friend’s face and thumped him between the shoulders.
    “Well,” he said, leading the way to the women, “I’ve seen your beanpole eat, too, so let’s get in there and make sure she saves some for us.”
    “Oops,” Terryn was saying when they reached the kitchen, “this looks so amazing. You didn’t have to cook for us, though. This is your vacation—we should’ve gone out to eat.”
    “Don’t listen to her, brat,” Brice told her as he wrapped her in a hug that lifted her off her feet. “I was dying for your spaghetti and I woulda cried like a baby if you hadn’t cooked.” With a loud smacking kiss on her cheek, he set her back on the floor.
    “You know,” Zoe teased while Terryn helped bring the food to the table. “I’m almost sorry I ever cooked it for you in the first place.” She shook her head in mock despair. “The first thing I learned how to cook in home ec and now I’ll forever be chained to the stove and reeking of garlic.”
    Gage stole a steaming slice of perfectly toasted garlic bread from the basket she was carrying, and a full half of it disappeared in one bite. “Mmm, it’ll be worth it.”
    The four sat down and happily devoured the spread before them. Zoe had made a Caesar salad using her own recipe for the dressing, garlic toast, and her