Owning Corey (7 page)

“I’m there to save lives and help people get well, Corey. I don’t pay attention to all that gossip bullshit.” I don’t tell him how it really makes me feel to know that people talk about me that way, or that on the inside I’m about as far from ice as it gets. Or that I work the late shift because I have trouble sleeping at night after all of the death I’ve seen.

“You know they all worship you like a god, right?” He cocks his head to the side and bends slightly to catch my eye. “You’re their hero.”

“Get some sleep,” I say quietly, holding down a button on the wall near the door and watching the gauzy white drapes swing across their track to cover the front windows. “Let me know if it’s too bright for you to sleep during the day in here. The sofa is a pull-out. Not one of those cheap ones, either, so it should be pretty comfortable. But if you’d rather have a bed, I’ll buy you one.”

I take my leave before he can say anything else. It’s been a long day, and I’d like to draw my blackout shades and lie cool and naked in my bed for a while and zone completely out. As I drift away, wrapped in the cold sheet and seeing nothing in the blackness, I’m thinking that I really hope it’s not too bright for Corey in the pool house. Maybe I should have let him sleep inside.

5

COREY is doing push-ups with the drapes open when I get down to the pool house just after three o’clock in the afternoon. When I knock on the door, he startles and jumps up to let me in.

“Couldn’t sleep.” He’s wearing nothing but a pair of ratty dark blue sweat pants, and sweat glistens on his tan skin.

“Was it too bright for you with these white curtains and all the windows?”

“No, no,” he assures me. “I’m just a little wound up. It’s all good. I haven’t been able to get a gym membership yet, so I’m going a little soft.” He pats the ripples of his six pack, and I roll my eyes.

“Yeah, I see what you mean. I don’t even know how you can stand looking in the mirror with all that flab.”

He laughs and grabs the blue hand towel that used to be on the towel bar in the bathroom. “Nothing like a good sweat.” He rubs his skin briskly with the towel, giving it a rosy glow. “I’ve got to shower real quick. Give me five minutes, and I’ll be ready to roll.”

True to his word, he emerges from the bathroom five minutes later with a blue bath towel slung around his waist. His dark wet hair clings to the sides of his face, and there are water droplets on his skin. If I look at his bare torso much longer, I’m going to start having some serious self-esteem issues. In less than an hour, I’ll be performing alongside this freak of nature, and Christina is going to be comparing us. She’s told me I have the hottest body of any guy she’s ever seen in person, but once she get a look at Corey, I’m sure she’ll forget all about me.

While I’m pondering the intimidating perfection of his body, he inches past me and picks up his clothes from where he has them folded on the sofa. I’ve forgotten he has no bedroom, or more accurately that I’m standing in it, so when he turns his back to me and drops his towel, I nearly choke on my own saliva.

“Sorry, Ben” He looks calmly over his shoulder as he pulls on a pair of gray boxer briefs. “I hope you’re not shy.”

I try to sound nonchalant. “Nah… I guess I’d better get used to it, anyway. We’re about to be naked together at Christina’s house, right?”

“That’s the plan,” he says. “Do you mind if I ask you a nosy question?”

“Go ahead.”

“Your place is much nicer, and roomier. And you’ve got that amazing walk-in shower in your room, which I have to admit I’d love to take a spin in. So why didn’t you invite Chris over here for our little
love party
?”

“
Love party
…” I can’t help laughing at his choice of words. “I don’t know, I guess I’m just kind of protective of my space.”

“I’m here in your space.” He pulls on his green scrub pants and ties the string.

“Um, that’s different. You’re not a woman.”

He abruptly stops what he’s doing and stares at me with an confused expression. “What exactly do you mean by that?”

“Women have certain expectations, especially if they think you have money or that you’re what some would consider a good catch. You know what I mean? I’m afraid that if I invite one over here, within a week she’ll have her little pink toothbrush in my bathroom, then her millions of shoes in my closet, then her diet food in my fridge, then she’ll want to redecorate in pastels and florals… Next thing you know I’ll be married.”

“Wow,” he breathes, slipping his scrub shirt over his wet head. “When you put it that way, it sounds terrifying. So I guess I can assume you don’t want to get married?”

“Oh, I do…” We both laugh at my ironic choice of words. “I mean, in theory I’d like to get married one day. I guess I just haven’t met the right woman yet. But I do like the idea of meeting a soul mate, and having a family, and not growing old alone.”

“Hmmm…” Corey muses, but he doesn’t speak.

“Have I ruined your dreams with my bleak take on relationships?”

“No, Doc. My dreams are still very much intact. But when I first met you and Christina, I figured you were about to move in together or something. That’s just the first impression I got from the way she was talking. You might want to say something to her, because I think she’s got the wrong idea.”

“I doubt that. I’ve never—”

“She called you her fianc
é
.”

“Oh. That’s news to me. I had never even spent the night at Christina’s until you were there with us the other night, and that was only because we’d been drinking. If I could have driven, I would have come home.”

“And look at me,” he says with a grin. “I’ve already slept at her house, your pool house, a motel, and some biker chick’s trailer. I’m just a regular vagabond, huh?”

“Sounds pretty cool to me, actually. Sometimes I think I’ve gotten too settled. I don’t know how my mother would feel about that. She was always sort of carefree and loving. I know she wouldn’t like it that I spend so much time alone.”

“Well, now you can tell her you have a roommate of sorts. So you’re not alone.”

I give a little wistful smile, realizing there’s no way I could tell my mother such a thing. Or anything ever again, for that matter. “She’s gone,” I tell him. “Died when I was in college, so I just have to try to imagine what she might think, you know?”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, man. I didn’t know.”

“No way you could have known.”

The atmosphere has turned a bit gloomier than I’d planned. I need to liven things up, but I don’t know how. Before I can come up with anything, Corey has decided to take gloomy all the way to desolate.

“My grandmother is dead, too. She raised me, but she passed away when I was fifteen. Left me on my own, so I had to live on the streets.”

Shit, I thought my story was sad, but he’s just one-upped me. Not in competitive way, of course. Neither of us wants to be the victor in this conversation.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Corey. I guess we’ve both lost our anchors.”

“Let’s get going.” His tone changes abruptly, and he claps his hands together and heads for the door. “We’ve got a love party to get to.”

He’s more eager to do this thing than I am, and I can’t really blame him. He’s got nothing at stake. Any guy would probably jump at the chance he’s been given, to be the new guy in town and have free, no-strings pussy dropped right into his lap. But it’s different from my point of view, because I’m not a stranger. Even though Christina and I aren’t exactly serious, and I’m seriously considering breaking up with her, I can’t help but feel that this is a little like cheating. Maybe a lot like cheating.

*****

Christina is waiting for us in nothing but the expensive red baby doll nightie I bought her and the red heels from the Christmas party. Ever since I told her the shoes give me an instant erection, she wears them all the time. Of course I’m not complaining. Truth be known, I couldn’t give two shits about the nightie. I bought it to compliment the shoes, to encourage her to wear them when I’m visiting.

The gown is sheer lace, and it leaves nothing to the imagination. Since this is the first time Corey is seeing her body, I can’t help but try to read his reaction, but he masks his feelings well.

“Hi,” she says, looking through her lashes from one to the other us and back again, her eyes dancing with mischief. She wraps her arms around my neck before I even get through the door and presses her soft lips against mine.

I lick her lips with the tip of my tongue. “Mmmm… cherry lip gloss.”

“Do you approve?” she asks.

“I don’t know, let me get a better taste.” I suck her bottom lip into my mouth and worry it with my tongue and teeth, smacking my lips as I pull away. “It’ll do.”

Up to this point, I’ve been more than a little apprehensive, but she’s doing a good job of driving any negative thoughts from my head. I could definitely get used to this style of greeting.

I skim my hand over her lace-clad backside and squeeze. It’s round and feminine, and my cock stirs behind my scrub pants. I’m already picturing her on her knees, ass in the air, taking every inch of my cock.

When she breaks the kiss, she’s breathing hard, her lips pink and swollen. I’m surprised to discover I’ve got her ass cheek in a punishing grip, and I instantly let go. Guess I’m a little edgy.

From beside me, Corey watches with a mixture of fascination and amusement. “Why don’t you two get a room?”

“Hi, Corey,” she whispers, and suddenly she’s shy. He looks at her like a tiger sizing up his meal, and I’m mystified by my own reaction to it. Somehow, I find it incredibly sexy.

“Aren’t you going to invite us in?” he asks, his tone and expression so dark I barely recognize him as the same guy I’ve been hanging out with for the last forty-eight hours.

“Oh, sorry,” she apologizes with a breathy laugh and steps aside and to let us in.

Candles flicker on every flat surface in the room, and she’s got the place scented differently, with an exotic aroma that reminds me of Morocco.

I take a deep, calming breath. “Smells great, Chris. The candles are a nice touch.”

“I’m glad you like it. I was worried it would be too over the top, you know?”

Corey pushes roughly past us and sits on the sofa, his sprawl taking up almost half of it. “I could really use some sweet tea, Christina.”

“Oh, I’m being a poor hostess, aren’t I?” she asks with a coy twist of her hips. “Unfortunately, I haven’t poured the tea up yet. I can do it if you really want, but it’ll take a few minutes.”

“We’ve got time,” he says without even looking our way. He grabs the remote and flips the TV on to a rerun of
Criminal Minds,
kicking back like he’s in a man cave rather than the home of the woman we’re about to sleep with.

Christina frowns, and I offer an apologetic smile. But that doesn’t stop me from agreeing with him. “Uh… tea would be good.”

I join Corey on the sofa while Christina bustles off to pour up the tea in her lingerie. I assume from his attitude that he’s asserting his dominance over her, which is fine. I can play that role, too. Seems better than letting her orchestrate everything. Besides, he’s already proved himself to be quite the pickup artist, so who am I to question his methods?

“I love this show,” he says. “Those BAU people are geniuses the way they figure that shit out.”

“Or at least the writers are geniuses. I wonder if they work the plot backwards. Seems like it would be easier to write a mystery if you figure out the ending first and then fill in the clues.”

Corey stares at me for a moment and then grins. “Thanks, Ben. You just ruined the show for me.”

We fall into an easy silence as we watch the investigative team work their magic. I guess we can both relate to being part of a team that solves life-and-death problems for a living.

During the first commercial break, Corey surprises me by taking off his shirt. “You don’t think she’ll mind if I get comfortable, do you?” The question is rhetorical now that he’s naked from the waist up.

“Um… No, I suppose that’s what we’re here for. She was already comfortable when she met us at the door.”

“Yeah, she looks good, man. That outfit is hot. And the tits on her... You scored big time there, my friend. But I’m not surprised. You could have anybody you want.”

I feel my face turning red. “Thanks, but—”

“Take your clothes off, Ben.” It’s that same dark, authoritative tone he used with Christina.

He pulls off his shoes and socks, stands up and unties his scrub pants, and lets them drop to the floor before sitting back down. Thankfully, he leaves his boxer briefs on. My posture stiffens as I make a conscious effort not to look in his direction. I can’t possibly concentrate on what’s happening on the television now with him sitting beside me in his underwear.

When I haven’t moved in over a minute, he prods me. “Come on, man. You’ve seen me in all my glory already. It’s only fair.”

I take off my shoes and socks first, then pull my shirt over my head. Corey lets out a low catcall that makes me feel self-conscious, but he’s smiling playfully, and I know he’s just trying to loosen me up. “Nice bod, Doc. Let’s see the rest of it. Don’t be shy.”