Homecoming Hearts Series Collection

by HJ Welch

  “Yeah, poor Hicks in his million-dollar apartment,” Reyse scoffed, shaking his head.

  Corey looked around. “The place is kind of big with no one to share it with,” he told him.

  Reyse bit his lip. “You’re here now,” he said.

  “I am,” Corey agreed. God, their hands felt fucking amazing where the skin was pressed together. Corey slid his hand over until their fingers were interlaced. He heard Reyse’s breath hitch. “Do you want me to stay?” he asked.

  Reyse bit his lip harder.

  “I’ll go, if you want,” Corey continued. His voice was hoarse all of a sudden, barely more than a whisper. “But…I’d really like to stay.”

  Reyse blinked a couple of times, his eyes glassy with emotion.

  Corey was unsure how much to push this. But if Reyse was an ordinary guy Corey had met at a bar, he’d be trying just as hard. He was thrumming with desire. He wanted to taste Reyse so badly it was making his toes curl and his cock throb.

  “I…” Reyse said. When he bit his lip this time, he looked close to drawing blood.

  Corey reached forward and ran his thumb gently over the lip, cradling the side of Reyse’s face.

  Reyse looked at him with huge blue eyes. He was scared.

  “You’re safe with me,” Corey said.

  Where the hell had that come from? He’d never said anything like that to anyone he’d attempted to seduce before. But it felt so right with Reyse in that moment.

  How often did Reyse do this? Corey was sure he wasn’t out. He felt pretty confident if Hicks was gay, the whole damn world would know. Was he really interested enough in Corey to let go?

  “I shouldn’t,” Reyse said, his words slightly strangled. But he didn’t move away from Corey.

  “Why not?” Corey asked, leaning in ever so slightly.

  Reyse shook his head against Corey’s palm. “I can’t…I mean, it’s not…”

  Corey felt a pang of sympathy twang in his chest. “Do you want to, though?” he asked.

  Reyse nodded without hesitation. “Fuck, yes,” he whispered. His voice caught with emotion on the last word. Like he might cry.

  Corey didn’t want that. He wanted to make him happy. So desperately. He couldn’t believe he might have the power to do that. But sometimes, life took you strange places and you just had to deal with it.

  “I really want to kiss you,” he said. He slipped from his stool and stood between Reyse’s knees, cradling his face with both hands. “Would that be totally out of line?”

  There was a beat. Then Reyse Hickson grabbed Corey’s T-shirt and yanked his mouth down to crash into his.

  5

  Reyse

  This was actual insanity.

  Reyse moaned as Corey’s stubble rubbed against his jaw, his tongue strong and wet as it pushed into Reyse’s mouth. It had been years since he’d kissed anyone like this. For real. Not in some music video or with Bella for show. But because he just couldn’t bear it a second longer if he didn’t find out what the other person tasted like.

  What the hell was he thinking, though? He couldn’t kiss a guy! But…holy fucking hell it felt amazing.

  Corey had one of his hands around Reyse’s back already, pulling him to his feet as their chests collided. Reyse let go of Corey’s T-shirt and found the top of his pants, sliding his fingers along the firm, delicious flesh exposed there.

  Corey groaned, not pausing in his frantic kissing. Reyse was as hard as a rock in his jeans.

  But…this was wrong. He’d only just met this guy. He could screw him over so badly. How did Reyse know he wouldn’t sell a kiss-and-tell story the second he left the apartment? It was too much of a risk. Even kissing him had been fucking stupid. Reyse couldn’t have sex with him, he just couldn’t.

  “Hey, hey?” Corey’s gentle voice cut through Reyse’s suddenly frantic thoughts. His freak-out must have come through in some physical reaction. “It’s okay,” Corey assured him.

  “I can’t…” Reyse said.

  His voice was pained to his own ears. He clung to the bottom of Corey’s T-shirt and screwed up his eyes. Corey rubbed his back and rested his forehead against Reyse’s. Jesus. It felt incredible to be touched like this. To be held and desired and Reyse was going to break apart, he wanted this so badly.

  “We can stop,” Corey said, god bless him. He didn’t sound like he wanted to stop. His words were rough with lust and Reyse could feel his shaft, hard and thick, pressing against Reyse’s leg. “It’s okay.”

  Reyse shook his head. “I want you,” he whimpered. “Don’t…just don’t hurt me.”

  He sounded fucking pathetic. He cringed away, unable to face at Corey.

  But Corey cupped his hands around Reyse’s jaw again, forcing him to look at him. Corey was a couple of inches taller and gazed down at Reyse with those beautiful chestnut eyes.

  “I won’t hurt you,” Corey said. He didn’t blink. “I won’t, Reyse. I promise. With everything I have, I promise you can trust me. Whatever you need, I’ll give it to you. Just for a night. You’re free with me. I won’t tell a fucking soul.”

  Reyse could feel himself trembling.

  Could he do this? Take the leap of faith and trust a near stranger in the most intimate of ways? Trust him with Reyse’s biggest, darkest secret?

  In the end, it wasn’t so much that he chose to give in. It was that he didn’t have the strength to pull away.

  He attacked Corey’s mouth again with desperation, grabbing his thick, dark hair with one hand and slipping his hand under his T-shirt with the other, sliding it up his back. His skin was so warm it was practically burning to the touch.

  “Will you come to bed with me?” Reyse asked between frantic kisses, the words almost swallowed in their mouths.

  “Only if I can fuck you senseless,” Corey replied.

  Reyse shivered so badly he had to stop kissing and take a breath. Corey used the opportunity to kiss Reyse’s neck.

  “Or you can fuck me,” Corey growled. He kissed along Reyse’s jaw and licked into the shell of Reyse’s ear. “Or I could blow you and eat you out for as long as you want.”

  “Fuck,” Reyse moaned, clinging to Corey to stay upright.

  His knees were in danger of giving out. He couldn’t think straight. All he could hear was the blood rushing through his ears. All he could feel was his painfully swollen cock rubbing against his jeans, desperate for release.

  “You take charge,” he uttered.

  He buried his face against Corey’s neck and dug his fingers into his shoulders, loving the hardness of his muscles. The T-shirt was tight and damp against Corey’s body, so Reyse had already guessed he was toned. But to feel it was a whole new level of incredible.

  “I’ll do whatever you want,” he practically sobbed. “Anything. I’ll love it. Corey.” He knew he sounded desperate, but that was because he was. He didn’t care if he was begging. He had been craving the touch of another man for years, and the universe had delivered this angel right into his lap.

  Damn the consequences. Reyse was all in. If it came back to bite him in the ass tomorrow or sometime down the line, he didn’t care. Right now, it just felt so fucking right.

  He realized Corey was hugging him. Cradling him. It was so comforting Reyse felt tears prick in his eyes. “I’ve got you,” Corey mumbled into his hair. “I can look after you. I’ll make it memorable.”

  “It already is,” Reyse said. He breathed out and relaxed in Corey’s arms. “Jesus, Corey. Where the hell did you come from?”

  Corey chuckled. Then he surprised Reyse by picking him up. Reyse wasn’t exactly light, but Corey had his legs around his waist and his hands under Reyse’s ass in a flash.

  “I’m just a figment of your imagination,” he said with that lopsided grin that had stolen Reyse’s heart in the first place. “I’m just a dream. A fantasy.”

  Reyse shook his head and held either side of Corey’s face. Reyse wasn’t smiling. “You’re real,” he said firmly.r />
  Then he kissed Corey again and again, their lips coming together like waves lapping on a shore. Corey began walking, shouldering his way inside the bedroom with Reyse still wrapped around his body. Reyse had only turned a bedside lamp on when he’d come in here earlier. He was glad of that now.

  As they tumbled onto the bed, there was enough light to see each other but it was still dark enough to feel intimate. Through the window, nighttime LA glowed in a thousand tiny spots of light. People getting on with their everyday lives while Reyse’s whole world changed around him.

  Corey laid him on the bed, then draped his body on top, pinning Reyse down. Fuck, it felt good. His hands grabbed at Corey’s back, his ass, his neck, his hair, pulling him closer. The scent of his musk was strong, filling Reyse’s lungs with something so undeniably male. The tang of sweat and the taste of beer on his breath and lips.

  Without speaking, Corey peeled his own T-shirt off, then stripped Reyse of his.

  Reyse thought he might come purely from the sensation of their bare chests rubbing together. He groaned into Corey’s mouth, his nipples hard, tingling pebbles. He knew he was trembling but he wasn’t sure how to make himself stop. He wasn’t sure he wanted to.

  “I’m on PrEP,” Corey said. He stopped kissing Reyse and looked directly into his eyes, his hands holding either side of Reyse’s ribcage, their noses practically touching. “I’d like to fuck you bareback, but I totally understand if you’d rather use a condom.”

  Reyse didn’t know what to say for a second. PrEP? That was a pill you took to stop you getting HIV, right? You could still get other things, and he wasn’t taking it. So he wasn’t protected. Fuck, he didn’t want to spoil the moment, but…

  “I don’t have any condoms,” he said truthfully. He used to keep some handy. But they went out of date and after a while he just stopped replacing them. It was too depressing to keep throwing them away. Shit. He bitterly regretted that now.

  But Corey grinned and lightly ran his fingers through Reyse’s hair, playing with the ends. “I do,” he said. “I was planning on going out after work, and some guys insist.” He winked down at Reyse. “I’m a gentleman like that.”

  Reyse’s heart did a summersault in his chest. “Can we use one?” he asked. “I can’t risk anything. I’m sorry.”

  What he was doing was enough of a gamble. He couldn’t chance getting an infection – especially not HIV – and then the press finding out. That could out him as much as a photo with a guy.

  He was worried he had just killed the mood, but Corey didn’t seem to care. Instead, he kissed Reyse again and grinned. “Whatever you want, gorgeous,” he said. He hopped off the bed and headed for the door. “Don’t move.”

  Reyse shook his head and watched him dart back into the main area of the apartment. Reyse tried to slow his breathing down as his stomach flipped with nerves and anticipation. Not knowing what else to do, he rested his hands above his head and closed his eyes, focusing on taking slow, deep breaths.

  “Holy fuck,” Corey’s voice drifted softly over to him. He opened his eyes to see Corey leaning against the doorframe dressed only in his black pants, flipping a sealed condom over his knuckles like a coin. “Do you have any idea how stunning you look?”

  Reyse licked his lips, cautiously drinking in the sight of Corey’s half-naked body. “Not as stunning as you,” he rasped back. Corey had a gorgeous physique. Not overly pumped, but a washboard six-pack and sculpted arms. His cock was straining against his pants, making a bulge between his legs. Reyse wanted to taste it and touch it and feel it inside of him.

  He thought Corey might laugh at Reyse’s insistence that he was the better-looking one. Reyse wasn’t an idiot. His job was to be hot. But he was sincere. To him, Corey was by far the most gorgeous and desirable. Reyse wasn’t sure he’d even wanted a man more.

  Yes, he was handsome. But there was something about his eyes – there was a kindness there. His patience and understanding made Reyse feel safe.

  That was far more attractive than a six-pack. Although he had to admit the muscles didn’t exactly hinder Reyse’s good opinion of him.

  Corey walked slowly over, like a lion stalking his prey. His mouth was tugged into that half smile again and he licked his lips as he crawled over Reyse’s body. He held the condom in one hand and ran the other over Reyse’s chest.

  “God, I want to fuck you so many different ways,” he murmured, kissing Reyse’s neck.

  Reyse moaned, letting his eyelids fall closed. “You can fuck me all night,” he told him. After waiting so long, he never wanted this to end. He didn’t want to waste a single second sleeping. He wanted to try and take as much as Corey could give him.

  He needed enough memories to see him through the next god only knew how many years.

  He watched as Corey studied his face, then bit his lip. “I kind of want to keep it simple, though. Like this. So I can kiss you and see you.”

  Reyse was tempted to say to hell with that. He wanted it kinky. He wanted something wild he would never forget.

  But he realized that wasn’t true. He wanted something real. He wanted to memorize every inch of Corey’s face and sear it into his brain. Corey would be able to see Reyse any time he wanted. But Reyse might never see Corey again after tonight. The thought he might forget anything about him was already painful, even though he was still right in front of him.

  “You’re in charge,” he murmured, tracing his fingers down the side of Corey’s face. Corey captured his hand and kissed his palm.

  “We’re just two people,” Corey said, nuzzling his face against Reyse’s hand, “making a connection. I think you have enough people bossing you around. Let’s just see what makes us feel good and keep doing it.”

  Reyse laughed and kissed him again. “I like the sound of that,” he said. “I need a lot. I’m making up for lost time.”

  Corey studied him. Maybe Reyse shouldn’t have said that much, but he couldn’t say he regretted his honesty. Maybe he wanted Corey to understand how special he was?

  “I’ll give you everything,” Corey murmured, kissing him reverently.

  Corey unzipped Reyse’s jeans, watching ardently as Corey tugged them off his legs. Reyse lost himself in the here and now. For the first time in he wasn’t sure how long, he didn’t feel like he had a spotlight on him. He just felt like a normal guy having a normal hookup.

  It was incredible.

  He moaned and dropped his head back onto the pillow as Corey nuzzled and mouthed at Reyse’s cock, straining through his briefs. Reyse briefly thought how lucky he was to have just showered at the gym. Knowing he was as prepared for sex as he could be without having any clue it was going to happen helped ease his nerves.

  He didn’t want to disappoint Corey in any way. But what if Reyse didn’t live up to Corey’s expectations? There was every chance Corey could have thought about having sex with Reyse before. It was fucking weird to think of, but Reyse had been in the public eye for almost a decade.

  And in that time, he’d only had sex with one man. That had been years ago. What if he was shit?

  Corey brought him out of his thoughts by abandoning his cock and coming back to hover over Reyse, looking him square in the eye. “I keep losing you,” he said with a slight frown, cupping the side of Reyse’s face. “Are you really sure you want this?”

  Reyse let out a frustrated growl and balled his fists up, clutching the bed sheets. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “Yes, god, yes, I want this.”

  Corey licked his lips and nodded, his expression thoughtful. “I could tie you up or blindfold you? A bit of sub/Dom play might get you out of that pretty head of yours.”

  He smiled but panic flew through Reyse. “No, no,” he choked out, jerking a few inches up the bed.

  “Whoa,” said Corey, his mirth vanishing in a heartbeat. “Sorry. Cool, none of that. Don’t even worry about it.”

  “I’m ruining this,” Reyse whispered, closing his eyes. He wanted to crawl out of
his skin. How was it he could perform in front of eighty thousand people and love it, and yet this was scaring the crap out of him?

  “Reyse,” Corey said firm enough to make Reyse open his eyes. Corey lay down next to him and pulled on Reyse’s hip, encouraging him to turn and face him. Corey slipped his arm around Reyse’s back, hugging their bodies together side by side. “You aren’t ruining anything. This is incredible. I’m so fucking happy to be here with you. And not because…you know…”

  “I’m really famous?” Reyse suggested weakly.

  Corey chuckled and kissed his cheek. “Yeah, nothing to do with that,” he said. “I swear. You’re fucking hot and sweet as sin and…” He leaned back so they could look at each other in the eye. “We’re just two guys, having a great time. Right?”

  Reyse nodded. “Yeah,” he agreed with as much conviction as he could muster.

  Corey nibbled on his own lip. It was slightly plump and red from all the kissing. Reyse had done that. He touched it with the pad of his thumb.

  “I…” Reyse said, trying to get the words right. “I haven’t done this for years,” he settled on. “Years. So, um, I hope that tells you how unique you are, Corey Sheppard.”

  For a moment, they simply looked at each other, something unspoken passing between them.

  “Get under the covers with me, would you?” Corey asked softly. Reyse nodded. Together they shifted and pulled the comforter back, snuggling under the thick, soft material. Corey made short work of kicking his pants off, leaving them both in their underwear. Corey hugged Reyse side by side again, their limbs tangled together in a seemingly never-ending press of flesh on flesh. Reyse’s straining cock soon found Corey’s, the two hard shafts rubbing together. It felt so good even with their briefs still on.

  “Ohh,” Reyse moaned with a laugh. “I might come like this if you’re not careful.”

  Corey grinned. “You promised me all night,” he said playfully. “I wonder how many times I could make you blow your load.”

  Reyse snorted and smacked his arm. “I’m not eighteen anymore,” he said, rolling his eyes.