Erica's Choice (14 page)

Remorse mingling with his simmering anger, Corey followed Griff off the field. They each headed to their bags in silence, drank water and wiped their faces on the hems of their ratty T-shirts. Although they didn’t face each other once, Corey was aware of every action, every sound Griff made as he threw his stuff back in his duffel and closed it. Corey zipped up his own bag and stood.

Griff stood in his path, his gaze steady in a way that made Corey’s blood skip. “Do we need to finish this discussion elsewhere?”

“My oath we do.”

“My place.” It wasn’t a suggestion, but a command. “Now.”

Chapter Nine

Corey never lost sight of Griff’s taillights as he traveled the same roads in his wake. Griff’s house was on the outskirts of Ashton Heights. Griff had bought it years ago before the suburb had boomed and spent the intervening time renovating the timber cottage into a three-bed, two-bath showpiece with floorboards polished to a high shine and a plethora of chrome fittings throughout.

Corey had been to the house on numerous occasions, but never like this. Anticipation made his heartbeat thump erratically. His tongue was so dry it stuck to the roof of his mouth. Whole body throbbing, Corey screeched into Griff’s driveway after him. He didn’t think to lock his car as he stalked down the front walk. Griff pushed the door open with his foot and tossed his bag carelessly down the hallway. Corey followed, his steps eating up the polished floorboards.

Griff didn’t turn to face him until he stood in the middle of the open-plan living room he’d decorated with modern black couches and red-patterned rugs. When he did, his expression was bland. “Come on, out with it.”

Corey hardly knew where to start. “What the hell was it about the other night? All that shit about how you didn’t want her and I should go for it?”

“I meant it. I lost my head for a moment, that’s all.”

“You lost it. That’s it?”

“Okay, so I lied too when I said I didn’t want to make a play for her. I only stepped aside so you could do your thing.”

“Thanks for the fucking favor,” Corey spat.

“Hey, you used me in your little phone-sex games. Knowing what you do about me, didn’t you think that would drive me out of my mind?”

“What Erica and I talked about has nothing to do with this.”

“Bullshit. You made it my business when you told me about it. You made me as horny as hell, and a man can only deny himself so much.”

Corey’s dick flexed as Griff’s admission penetrated.
You made me as horny as hell.
His anger morphed into something else, something equally as hot that gave him an instant erection. Concentrating on why he was pissed off became difficult. “How do you mean?”

“Knowing you two fantasized about me like that is hot,” Griff said, his tone lowering. “Three-way sex, it’s the ultimate payoff for me.”

Because he liked to be with a man as well as a woman. Corey’s blood pulsed, just thinking about it.
The ultimate payoff
. “Would it be that way for me, too?”

“Are you asking if I could make you love it, Cor?”

He was supposed to be furious, wasn’t he? How come all his bodily energy was now channeled into creating an erection the size of Queensland?

“I could, you know.” The turn of Griff’s lips was arrogant in a way that was more sexy than annoying. “I could make you scream my name ’til your throat’s raw, the way she did.”

Corey swallowed. “I thought you didn’t want to take the risk of getting screwed.”

“I won’t risk a relationship, Cor. I’m not going there again. But sex is a different story.” Griff took three languid steps toward him. “Since I can’t seem to help myself around either of you, I might as well reap the benefits.”

Corey’s dick twitched, receiving another blood infusion. His lips were so dry he had to wet them. Griff’s gaze tracked the movement of his tongue with a look that could only be described as predatory.

“I’m not going to push, Cor.” Everything radiating from him told Corey that was one of the hardest things Griff had ever said. “I know you’re not ready to go that far.”

Heart pounding without restraint, Corey asked, “What makes you think I’m not ready?”

Griff eyed him steadily for a long moment. In the vacuous silence of the open-plan house, the only sound was their combined breathing, raspy breaths drawn in with difficulty. Then Griff grasped the hem of his T-shirt and drew it over his head. The garment hit the floor, followed a minute later by his shorts and jocks.

He stood there, nude, administering some kind of test. Gripped by the determination to pass it, Corey let his gaze trail downward. At the sight of Griff’s red-flushed erection, he caught his breath, refusing to shy from what lay before him. A naked, aroused man. A line he’d never thought to cross until recently. Untold, unknown pleasures—if he had the guts to explore them.

Fingers trembling, Corey fisted his shirt at his back and hauled it over his head. He didn’t pause to think before removing his own shorts and underwear, letting them fall to the floor beside Griff’s.

Just as he hadn’t shied from ogling all Griff had to offer, he didn’t flinch when Griff now looked his fill. The thoroughness of the other man’s scrutiny made Corey hot with a tumultuous mix of pride and pure carnal excitement.

Without a word, Griff turned and walked to the bathroom. He left the door open as he got the shower running. Corey couldn’t stop staring at the taut globes of Griff’s ass. The shower stall was clear glass, and Corey’s view was unobstructed as Griff stepped under the spray and started soaping himself.

His breath shallow, Corey followed. Taking up Griff’s implied invitation, he opened the shower door and stepped inside. The last time he’d shared a shower with Griff, Erica had been between them. In some ways she still was. Yet Corey’s anger about how things had gone down with Erica drifted to the back of his mind when Griff wordlessly handed him the soap.

Unable to speak, Corey turned the soap to lather in his hands. Then he put those hands on Griff.

Griff’s eyes fell closed as Corey rubbed the soap into his skin. His flesh was smooth and hard, so different to a woman’s. Fear evaporated in the face of fascination. Griff’s muscles were as inflexible as boulders, the tension in them thrumming against Corey’s fingers.

Touching him felt better than good, and Corey’s groin burned in response. He’d seen Griff shirtless before, but the tactile sensation of his flexing muscles made him seem more impressive, hot and real beneath Corey’s fingers. Tracing the line of Griff’s armband tattoo, he said huskily, “I’ve thought about getting one.”

“Nah.” Griff’s own voice was threadbare. “Don’t mess with perfection.”

The compliment warmed Corey’s chest. He’d always been susceptible to the slightest hint of praise from Dale Griffin. The thought sobered him. Was that why he was doing this? Was he seeking Griff’s approval?

“Problems?”

Griff’s gaze had sharpened on Corey’s face. He was ready to put a stop to this any time Corey showed signs of hesitation. Corey sensed it in the way Griff held back, the fact he still hadn’t reached out to touch. But Corey didn’t want to stop. He had to see this through—he needed to. He didn’t want approval. He needed to see where this was going.

He needed Griff.

He shook his head. “No problem.”

Then, heart hammering, he reached down and curled his soapy fingers around Griff’s dick.

“Ah, yeah.” Griff swayed a little and his fingers dug into Corey’s shoulder. Encouraged, Corey stroked up and down his length, marveling at how it felt to touch another man this way, to feel that rod of smooth steel pulse within his grip. Familiar, yet a little awkward. “Jesus, that’s good.”

“Really?”

“Did you think you wouldn’t know how to do it?” Griff smiled. “You’ve touched your own enough times, I bet.”

Corey looked at him. “Is everything a joke to you?”

Griff sobered, studying the tension in Corey’s face. Without responding, he snaked his hand downward, seeking Corey’s erection. Using some of the soap from his own body, Griff cupped Corey, stroked him.

The touch of his friend’s hand made Corey grow longer, harder. He filled Griff’s grip as his hips rocked helplessly.

“Don’t stop.”

At first Corey thought he’d spoken his thoughts aloud. Then he realized he’d stilled the motion of his hand on Griff’s dick, was simply holding him tight while Griff drove him insane with the best hand job he’d ever had. “Shit. Sorry.”

“Shh.” Griff silenced Corey with a kiss that was little more than a wet glide of their lips until Corey opened against him, inviting him inside. Griff swept in and teased Corey’s tongue, never losing the rhythm and pressure he applied to Corey’s shaft.

Corey couldn’t say the same for himself. He was pretty damn sure he was doing a terrible job of pleasing Griff, but he was so overwhelmed by the sensations coursing through him that he didn’t have the mental capacity to make improvements.

Drawing back a little, Griff observed roughly, “You’re going to come pretty quick, Cor.”

Embarrassed to have it pointed out, Corey shuddered. “I want to see you…”

“I know. You will, after.”

“I loved watching you come inside Erica.”

“She was the prettiest, tightest little ass I’ve ever fucked. Made me unload so hard I saw stars.”

Corey’s achy balls contracted, drew up into his body. “She made me come too. On the phone when she told me what she wanted to do to you.”

Griff gave Corey’s shaft a squeeze. “And when you told her how you wanted this.”

“Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Griff
.”

Griff continued to stroke him, increasing speed when he sensed Corey needed it. A heartbeat later a gasp seeped out of Corey as he shot wet heat from his body.

Griff captured Corey’s lips, murmuring against them, “God, you’re gorgeous.”

Corey was beyond words, beyond actions. Lathering more soap, Griff eased Corey’s hand out of the way and started working himself. Still reeling from his own climax, Corey could do little but watch in rapt fascination as Griff’s breath came in staccato pants and his palm worked overtime on his hard cock. He let go within a minute, his semen arcing out of the tip and onto Corey’s stomach.

Hooking an arm around Corey’s neck, Griff brought him close until their cheeks touched.

Corey dropped his head onto Griff’s shoulder, weakened. He couldn’t prevent the way his frame shuddered with the aftereffects, even when Griff angled him into the spray and washed them both off, like he thought Corey needed taking care of.

Shit. He had to pull himself together. He couldn’t fall apart in front of Griff.

“How do you feel?”

“Fine. Good. Great.”
Fuck. Settle on a word why don’t you.

Griff didn’t tease him about his lack of adjectives. “You still shitty with me about Erica?”

“I…I forgot to be.”

“Don’t blame her. I started it.”

“All right, I’ll blame you.” But Corey couldn’t work up the ire to really do it. How could he hate the man who’d made him feel this blissed out? He sighed. “You’re the most frustrating prick I know.”

“Yeah, but I’m also hellishly sexy. Right?”

Corey let out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a groan. “Erica will never want me again.”

“I don’t think that’s true, Cor.”

“How could she want me after she’s had you?”

Griff swore and tightened his hold on Corey, placing his lips against his temple. The rough brush of his stubble made Corey’s pulse skitter.
So much different than a woman.
The post-orgasm dynamics had Corey’s mind reeling. He had no idea how he was supposed to act now. Women tended to look for reassurance after, which Corey was more than happy to provide. Griff was so damn sure of himself already that offering to hold him for a while would be ridiculous.

Acknowledging with no shortage of mortification that he was the one seeking reassurance this time, Corey took a step away from Griff, proving he could support himself. Griff turned off the shower and they both got out, using towels to dry off.

Corey could sense Griff’s eyes tracking the motion of his hands, and the heat that had left him with the furious burst of his climax returned. Then Griff started using his towel to dry Corey’s hair. A softness pervaded Corey’s chest, making his heart stutter. What the hell was Griff doing to him?

Griff finished and hung the towel around Corey’s neck, still holding onto the ends so Corey was forced to face him. “We won’t do anything else tonight.”

“Why not?”

“You’re not ready.”

Geez, now Griff decided to activate his protective streak. “Again with that. It’s me, Griff. I’m not a girl.”

Griff’s lips quirked. “I did notice.”

“Stop being so freakin’ gentle with me.”

Griff’s voice was serious, quiet. “Don’t think I can help it. Hell, Corey. I’m more gentle with you than I have been with women lately.”

Corey stared him down. “Did you hurt Erica?”

Griff stared back. “Nothing she didn’t want.”

Corey could well imagine the scene, remembering the way Erica had screamed Griff’s name when he’d taken her in the shower. He remembered too the many things he and Erica had discussed, the varied ways she’d said she wanted Griff to bring her to orgasm.