by Sami Lee
They began taking turns inside her depths, working together like alternating pistons. Corey would drive his cock all the way home, right to her G-spot. Then as he pulled back, Griff would slide into her ass. It was slow at first while the men got used to each other’s rhythm. Soon enough they started moving with almost mechanical precision.
But they weren’t machines, they were men. Hot, healthy and full of passion. Their breathing was ragged, their moans tortured. They both needed to climax, as much as she did, and were hanging on to their control by the tips of their fingers.
Corey bent his head, his teeth nipping at her neck while his hands moved up to cover her breasts. “It’s incredible,” he said. “I can feel…”
“We can feel each other, Erica,” Griff finished Corey’s thought. “Through that thin wall of tissue you have inside you. I can feel Corey’s cock sliding against mine.”
The cadence of Corey’s thrusts increased as though he could no longer exert mastery over the pace. “I’m going to lose it.”
Griff slid his hand between Erica’s legs. His knuckles brushed Corey’s stomach as he did so and Erica felt Corey’s recoil, heard the sharp gasp that fell out of him at the contact. “Griff…oh shit.”
Griff located Erica’s clitoris just as Corey jerked his release inside her. With fast-circling fingers, Griff pushed her toward her own climax. The sensations came at her from so many directions Erica hardly knew where or when her orgasm began. It was simply there, all around her like a rainstorm, inside her like a thousand tiny sparks of lightning.
Then Griff’s thrusts grew savage in her ass. Erica’s pussy clenched the remnants of her orgasm around Corey’s still-hard cock as Griff let out an all-mighty roar, his organ pulsing inside her with the fury of his release.
Corey leaned back against the shower wall, his arms banding Erica tight to him. Griff all but collapsed on her back, wedging her between them. She felt as heavy and immovable as a bag of wet sand, replete in a way she had never been before.
If these were her last moments on earth, she’d die a happy woman.
The thought gripped her in its icy fingers. A chill chased its way over her body.
“Baby, are you cold?”
Cold didn’t cover it. The steam still billowing around them was hot, but Erica was suddenly frozen inside. Reality had returned with the brutal force of an ice storm.
She’d die a happy woman.
But she didn’t want to die. She wanted to live.
“Hey, Red. What’s up?”
Griff pulled out of her body, his voice a soothing timbre. Erica levered away from Corey’s chest until he too released her. With shaking hands, Erica opened the shower door and grabbed her towel, wrapping it around herself.
It didn’t do any good. The chill was on the inside.
Someone shut off the water. Erica glanced back to see Corey and Griff stepping out of the stall, concerned looks on their faces. They were big, naked and wet. The reckless impulse that had compelled her to seek out this encounter made little sense to her now. She’d just let two men she barely knew inside her body. She’d let them fuck her, begged them to.
In her aunt’s shower—her conservative spinster aunt who would never have approved of this kind of behavior.
What on earth had she been thinking?
“I…I’m sorry.” She had no idea what she was apologizing for, but Erica was beyond cogent thought. Now that the whirlwind of crazy passion had died down, she was appalled at herself.
Without another word, Erica dashed out of the bathroom. She made her way to the bedroom across the hall, the one that had been hers since that summer she was twelve and life as she knew it changed irrevocably. She pulled her robe from its hanger and slipped it on.
“Erica?”
She turned to see Corey standing in the doorway to her bedroom wearing only his jeans and an expression of deep remorse. “Did we hurt you?”
Erica shook her head. She couldn’t let him think that.
“You’re upset.” He stepped into the room and put his hands on her shoulders. “Why?”
“I…I don’t know.” She offered the lie because she knew she couldn’t spill the entire truth to Corey. He was a nice guy—a wonderful guy. He would probably feel obligated to comfort her if he knew…
Erica crossed her arms over her chest, trying to warm her suddenly chilled fingers. She brushed the spot on the side of her left breast where it was.
The lump.
Erica trembled, horrified anew at the implications of it. The same implications that it had held for Aunt Claire a year ago, for her mother over two decades before that.
Oh God.
“Erica, you’re scaring me.”
Erica had been scared for as long as she could remember. That’s the person she was, timid, fearful. Not the bold, adventurous woman Griff and Corey had seen tonight. She’d wanted to remind herself she was alive, to live fearlessly, recklessly and completely, even for just a moment.
But that moment was over. Now, she had to face reality. She had to do what she should have done from the first. Make an appointment with her doctor and prepare for the worst.
Because the worst could be here sooner than she’d expected.
“I’m all right.”
From the hallway Griff heard Erica’s words and recognized the patent untruth. He zipped his jeans and headed for the bedroom.
Apparently Corey was as unconvinced by Erica’s assurance as Griff. “Tell me, baby. Are you upset because of what I…because you thought I was interested in Griff?”
Griff halted his strides, freezing in the bedroom doorway. His heart seized in his chest as he stared at Corey’s broad, bare back. Moonlight shining through the window and the light from the hall provided soft illumination. Griff could just make out the way Erica’s head shifted from side to side.
“I suspected you were. It doesn’t bother me.”
Erica suspected it? Griff had been sure he’d imagined those few hot looks Corey sent his way, the crackling awareness that had popped up between them. He’d figured it was all a product of his own wishful imagination.
But Erica had seen something too. Not only that, it didn’t faze her. Had Griff really thought she’d be the closed-minded, judgmental type? From her sexy performance in the shower and now this, Griff realized he’d been dead wrong about her.
She was in fact the perfect woman.
And Corey, Griff’s perfect man, his dirty little infatuation, was interested in him.
Holy fuck.
“Whatever else happened, it doesn’t change what I feel about you,” Corey was saying. “I care about you, Erica. I know you must think I do this sort of thing all the time, but I don’t. You’re special to me.”
“You’re special to both of us.”
The two of them turned, making Griff understand he’d said the words aloud. His palms started to sweat. He didn’t tell his one-night-women they were special because he wasn’t the lying kind. But the truth rang in his words, bringing a sense of déjà vu.
He’d been this quick with Anna and Jack. One night and he was a goner. Oh man was he in trouble.
Their declarations had the opposite effect on Erica than the one they’d intended. She stepped away from Corey, her face setting in grim lines. “You don’t have to say that. It was very nice of you both to bring me home and… Well, it was nice. Thank you, but I’m fine.”
Thank you? What was with this woman and all the gratitude? They ought to be thanking her, not the other way around.
“It was nice?” Corey’s tone was incredulous. “That doesn’t do it justice. Erica, come on. You’re not trying to say you want us to leave now. Are you?”
Even before she responded, Griff could see that was exactly what Erica was trying to say, in her too-well-bred-to-be-that-blunt manner. She wanted them gone, not five minutes after they’d shared their bodies. The swiftness of her dismissal stabbed at Griff’s gut.
Tonight Griff had gotten a glimpse of p
erfection. A sensuous, giving woman willing to push her sexual boundaries and a man who—God help him—he’d been quietly in love with for years reacting to him as more than a mate for the first time. The potential for the ultimate satisfaction was there, but it was out of reach if Erica wasn’t willing to explore it.
“I think it’s best if you go.”
Erica’s quiet statement confirmed it. She was kicking the both of them out of bed before they ever got in it.
“How can you say that, Erica? I thought we’d spend the night together. Don’t you want to?”
“Corey, I can’t.”
“We don’t have to do anything. We can just talk or sleep. Whatever you want.”
Griff felt his skin prickle. Wachawski was on the verge of making a huge fool of himself.
“Corey, please. I didn’t expect you to stay after we had sex.”
Corey took a step backward as though she’d punched him. Instinctively, Griff strode toward him, clapping him on the shoulder in case he needed the steadying hand. “Come on, Cor. Time to head off.”
“What? No.” Corey shook his head and implored Erica. “It was more than sex. You felt it too, I know it.”
“Corey, don’t.” Griff needed to do a little imploring of his own. He couldn’t stand to see Corey get snubbed like this and have the guy reduced to begging. Griff understood what he was going through. He also wished like hell tonight had lasted longer than this, but what could they do?
Not stay where they weren’t wanted, that was for damn sure. That was something Griff had promised himself he’d never do again.
Griff tightened his grip on Corey’s shoulder and urged him toward the door. Erica watched them move away, an unreadable expression on her face. It was as though she’d disappeared inside herself, throwing up a solid wall between her and the outside world. A barrier between her and them.
Instinct told Griff that barrier wasn’t coming down anytime soon.
Snagging their shirts from the floor on the way, Griff guided a stunned Corey out of Erica’s house. They didn’t say anything as they got into Griff’s car and he pulled out into the street. Corey remained silent for so long Griff felt the need to break the tension. “Rejection’s supposed to build character, you know.”
Corey snorted softly. “Jerk.”
Griff smiled to himself and kept driving. They made it to the street in front of Corey’s apartment complex before either of them spoke again.
Sounding resigned, Corey said, “I still really like her.”
Griff thought of Erica’s silly habit of thanking him for getting her off, of her blushing admission that she owned sex toys. He sighed weightily. “I like her too.”
“I think there’s something wrong. Something must have upset her to make her do…what we all just did.”
Corey’s words echoed Griff’s thoughts. From the start he hadn’t picked Erica Shannon as the threesome type. “Maybe, but that’s none of our business.”
He felt Corey’s gaze on his profile, sensed the myriad questions he considered asking. He wanted to broach the subject of what happened in the shower, or what might have happened between the two of them if they’d spent any more time in three-way heaven. He was wondering where they went from here, now that it seemed they both had an equal stake in the whole Erica situation.
“I won’t do anything about her. She’s yours if you want to give her a call, check up on her.” The offer tightened Griff’s chest. She’s only a woman, Griffin. Plenty of those around. “Just because she couldn’t handle two on one, doesn’t mean she wouldn’t be interested in hearing from you.”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Go on.” Griff forced a smile. “It’ll be a change-up, you having to pursue a girl for once. Usually they fall in your lap and beg you to fuck ’em. You’ve gotten lazy.”
Corey flipped him the bird, a grin playing on his lips.
Griff let out a quiet sigh of relief. If there was a dose of regret mingled in with it, so be it. He’d done what he should have done from the first—stepped aside and left the lovebirds alone. He knew he was cutting off any possibility that he’d get to explore Corey’s interest in him, too. Griff would never forget tonight though, or those brief moments where Corey had looked at him like he wanted to go down that road.
He had a bad feeling it wasn’t going to be so easy to forget about Erica Shannon either.
Chapter Five
“Are you going to the Sovereign tonight?”
Erica managed to hide her inner wince at Pam Spencer’s question. She even managed to answer in a normal voice, one that didn’t give away the truth. I had sex with two of those hunks the girls are always talking about and now I can’t ever go back there. “Not tonight.”
“Oh come on, it’s Julie’s birthday.”
“I’ll have to owe her a drink another time.”
Erica felt her colleague’s assessing gaze on her face. Suddenly she asked, “Erica, are you all right?”
The direct question surprised Erica enough that her façade of calm slipped. She choked on her answer, making it appear like the lie it was. “Sure I am.”
“No you’re not,” Pam concluded. “All day you’ve been so distracted and pale. You’re not sick, are you?”
The stress of the last few days seemed to fall on Erica’s shoulders all at once, and she trembled under the weight of it. Her voice quavered. “I hope not.”
Something lit in Pam’s hazel eyes, a flare of determination. “Come on. I’ll buy you a coffee.”
“Weren’t you going to the Sovereign?”
Pam waved a hand and twisted her lips. “I’ve never liked Julie that much.”
Astoundingly, Erica laughed. It released the pressure from her chest and made the sting of suppressed emotion moisten her eyes. “Neither have I.”
“We have more in common than I thought.”
They left the school grounds on foot, walking the two blocks to a small shopping complex that comprised a movie-rental place, several takeaway food outlets and a friendly neighborhood coffee shop the teachers at Ashton Heights often frequented. Now, the place was sparsely populated and none of the patrons were Erica’s fellow teachers. She and Pam took a booth table at the back and ordered a latte each.
After a couple of minutes of small talk about their respective classes, Pam said, “Listen, Erica, we don’t usually spend a lot of time together outside of work, but I know you’ve been through a lot this past year.” Everyone at the school was aware Erica had taken carer’s leave, and she’d been sent a lovely arrangement of flowers from the English department when Aunt Claire had passed. “And you only transferred to Ashton Heights in February. It had to have been hard to make friends with all that was going on. I just want you to know that if you need someone to talk to, I’m here.”
Pam was an attractive, freckle-faced blonde with light hazel eyes and a fondness for wearing zany earrings. Today a pair of colorful parrots dangled from her lobes. Erica had always thought Pam a nice person. And it had been difficult to form meaningful friendships at Ashton Heights when her year had been spent wrapped up in Aunt Claire’s medical issues.
Or perhaps her lack of deep relationships had more to do with her innate reticence than circumstance. She could have reached out to Pam at any time. Erica had always known she was a woman willing to lend a sympathetic ear.
“You’re right, I have been stressed about something.” Erica took a sip of her coffee without tasting it. Her heart started to pound. Just say it. She’s a woman, she’ll understand. “I found a lump in my breast.”
It was the first time she’d said it out loud. Erica was both terrified to have the words vocalized and relieved that the truth was out there.
Immediately, Pam reached across the table and touched Erica’s arm. “Oh, Erica. I kind of sensed it wasn’t the flu but I had no idea. How are you holding up?”
“I’m fine.” The answer was automatic, but Erica found herself annoyed by her own lie. Would it kill h
er to admit she wasn’t as strong as she wanted to be? “Actually I’m not fine. I found it last Friday morning, in the shower. I went to work for some crazy reason, and I felt like I was in a daze. Then I…”
Erica pulled back on offering the details of what she’d done Friday night. That was not something she was comfortable sharing with anyone. “I spent the weekend trying to sort it out in my head. I didn’t want to face it but I had to. Calling my doctor was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I don’t know what I was waiting for, I have a family history. I can’t afford to waste time.”
“Your aunt,” Pam concluded softly. “It was breast cancer, wasn’t it?”
Erica nodded, feeling the familiar painful pang that reminders of Aunt Claire’s last weeks still engendered. “Inoperable by the time they found it. We only had a few more months together.”
“I’m so sorry. That makes this worse, doesn’t it? You having a family history.”
“Yes. Sometimes I feel like searching for lumps has become an unhealthy obsession.” Erica tried for a smile. “But what choice do I have? I have a mutation on the BCRA1 gene—I went to genetic counseling last year, had the test when Aunt Claire was diagnosed. My chances of living to a ripe old age without contracting cancer are pretty slim.”
“Oh bugger.” A crimson flush infused Pam’s face. “I feel awful. Here I was all day feeling sorry for myself because I went on a blind date the other night with a guy who started picking his teeth with his fingernail at the dinner table.”
Once again Pam made Erica laugh when she was least expecting it. She wiped moisture from the corners of her eyes. “With his fingernail? That is terrible.”
They shared a laugh over the ludicrousness of it. Then Pam sobered. “Good Lord, it must make dating a nightmare for you.”
“I haven’t done much of that lately.” What happened last Friday with Corey and Griff did not constitute dating. “I was going out with a man a while back, but once he found all this out he couldn’t get away fast enough.”
“What a loser.”
Pam’s vehement statement sounded good to Erica. It was true—Doug had not been a winner, or even a nice man. Neither had he been a very capable lover. Recent experience had turned a glaring spotlight on that fact. Erica had no idea why she’d waited for him to break up with her.