Who's Your Daddy? (43 page)

Griff never thought he’d get the chance to introduce Corey to the combustible delights of multi-partner play, until he senses the sheer volume of sexual energy surging beneath Erica’s repressed exterior.

A blazing night of passion has unexpected consequences. Corey is surprised to discover the woman of his dreams, and that he doesn’t mind sharing her—or himself—with Griff. But Griff finds his heart pulled down a romantic path he vowed he’d never venture again.

Erica? She’s got a problem on her hands. Hold two hardwired-to-rescue firemen at arm’s length—and away from her heart—until she’s fought and won a battle that may well destroy her.

Warning: One tortured woman and two hunky Aussie firemen indulging in three-way love. Scenes of the male/female, male/male, male/male/female and male/female/male variety (whew!). Also includes anal sex, mild spanking, cussing, phone sex, fire trucks and tearjerker moments.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Erica’s Choice:

Erica gave Griff her address and he pulled the vehicle out of the car park, having to reach between Erica’s legs for the gearstick. Corey noticed the way Erica stiffened, and winced inwardly. She must think him the classiest guy ever for cramming her in the front seat of a car like a slice of cheese in a club sandwich.

“Erica?” Corey asked after they’d gone a few blocks and the tension in Erica’s body didn’t ease. “Are you comfortable?”

She turned toward him and smiled. Corey recognized irony in the gesture. “Not really.”

“Would you rather sit on my lap?”

She made a tiny whimpering sound. Her face darkened in the dim light emanating from the dashboard instruments. “Do you make that offer to all the girls?”

“No.” He’d sent Madison away, hadn’t he? And thank God he had, or he wouldn’t be here with Erica. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

Erica quirked her brow in disbelief, apparently assuming, as most people did, that he never had to wait for any girl. Corey thought of telling her he hadn’t been with as many women as she seemed to think, that he wasn’t nearly as smooth as he wanted to be. A lot of the time his emotions ran away with him, so he wasn’t good at no-strings, casual sex. That was Griff’s department. Corey didn’t see the point of screwing some random woman whose name he could barely remember. Experiences like that left him cold.

Afraid Erica wouldn’t believe him, he simply tried to be as honest as he could without getting into all that. “Erica, I really like being with you. I’ve seen you come into the Sovereign before and I wanted to meet you every time. I wish I’d done it sooner.”

“You wanted to speak to me?” Her surprise was obvious. “Why didn’t you?”

Corey shrugged. Across the car, Griff coughed into his hand meaningfully.

Erica glanced at Griff. “Pardon me?”

“You’re not exactly the most approachable woman in the world,” Griff said baldly. “You have a ‘don’t touch’ look going on.”

“Jeez, Griff.” Corey groaned.

When Erica spoke her voice bordered on icy. “I see.”

“There it is.” Griff glanced toward her before returning his attention to the road. “The
look
.”

“Erica.” Corey tried for a soothing tone. “I think you’re a stunner.”

“But you also think I’m frigid, is that it?”

Corey could have sworn there was a smirk in Griff’s voice. “I never said that.”

“You’re just a bit…daunting.” Her eyes narrowed, and Corey hurried to fix the damage. “I mean to me. A bit. Because you seem really smart, and probably date doctors or lawyers, blokes with degrees, instead of guys like me.”

Guys who barely finished high school and had to take the aptitude test twice before they’d let him become a fiery. Corey figured his verbal fumbling was only highlighting the notion he wasn’t as intelligent as her or the men she was probably used to hanging out with. His heart felt heavy as he finished. “I thought you might tell me to take a walk.”

Her anger seethed in the silence for a few moments during which Corey was certain he’d blown it completely. Why did Griff have to open his big mouth?

Then abruptly, Erica spoke, her words coming out in a staccato rhythm. “The last man I dated was a history professor. His name was Doug. We dated for over two years. We had plenty to talk about, but he was hardly interested in touching me. I want someone who’s interested in touching me.”

Corey was so stunned by the idea that Erica’s ex-boyfriend hadn’t been all over her every minute of every day that he didn’t speak for a moment. Into the silence, Griff’s laugh danced. His voice was warm and raspy. “I think you can stop looking, Red.”

Corey watched in astonishment as Griff reached up and smoothed a hand over Erica’s hair. It was a gesture filled with surprising affection, with tacit apology for his frankness. It was also a liberty taken that Corey was amazed Erica allowed. But she didn’t upbraid Griff or wrench away. Instead she closed her eyes on a sigh, as though his touch contented her, made her…

No way. No way is Griff turning her on.

Corey curled a hand around Erica’s nape. Her skin was supple and soft, the dark discs of her eyes like pools of melted chocolate. Shallow breaths puffed out of her, as though she was excited.

Because of Griff or him?

The virgin isn’t the only one with something to lose…

The Closer You Get

© 2011 L.A. Witt

Self-described manwhore Kieran Frost is loving the single life. Two years after moving to Seattle, he still has his friends with benefits, Rhett and Ethan, plus a never-ending supply of gorgeous, available men wandering through the bar where he works. A relationship? Spare him the drama and heartbreak. He’s got no complaints about his unattached lifestyle.

When Rhett’s daughter introduces him to newly-out-of-the-closet Alex Corbin, Kieran’s interest perks up. After all, the quiet ones are always the freaks in bed. But Alex isn’t just shy and reserved. He’s a virgin in every sense of the word, having never even kissed anyone else.

Kieran is no one’s teacher, and his first instinct is to run like hell in the other direction. But his conscience won’t let him throw the naïve kid to the wolves for someone else to take advantage of. The plan is to introduce Alex to his own sexuality, pull him out of his shell, then go their separate ways.

It’s the perfect, foolproof plan…assuming no one falls in love.

Warning: This sequel to
The Distance Between Us
contains a curious virgin, a shameless slut, a trip to a sex shop, and one stubborn heart. Oh, and a dildo
.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
The Closer You Get:

While he took my place and aimed his first throw, I went for my drink. Alex took his first shot, then lined up his second. Even with his need for concentration and my preoccupation with the beer on my tongue, the silence was awkward. Tense. Needed to be broken, like,
now
.

I swallowed my beer. “So, what are you studying?”

“Pre-med.” He threw the dart and it landed firmly under the eighteen. Third dart poised in midair, he said, “What about you? What do you do?”

“I’m a bartender.”

The dart flew through the air and connected with the board with a
thunk
. “A bartender? So, you don’t mind giving money to the competition?” He gestured at the bar.

“Just don’t tell my boss I’m here, all right?”

Alex laughed as we switched places. “Your secret’s safe with me. I appreciate you coming too, by the way. I hope Sabrina didn’t twist your arm as hard as she twisted mine.”

I looked over my shoulder at him. “You had to have your arm twisted to meet me?”

“That’s not what I meant,” he said, sounding half-amused and half-unnerved.

“Just giving you shit,” I said. “Anyway, you staying in town for the summer or going home?”

“Staying here.” The words came out sharply, like he didn’t even want to consider the latter option. “I’m, um, I’m working full-time right now. Figured I should make some money this summer instead of wasting it going home.”

“And in between working, checking out the more fun things the city has to offer?”

Some color rushed into his cheeks, and he laughed shyly. “Yeah, that was the plan.”

I finished the turn, and after we’d switched, I said, “So, what is it you want to check out? Clubs, that kind of thing?”

Alex shrugged. “Guess that would be a good place to start. Somewhere I can, you know”—he looked at me—“meet guys.” We held eye contact for a moment before he turned back to the dartboard. It was a second or two, if that, but just long enough to create a tingle at the base of my spine.

I cleared my throat. “Not too many places like that where you come from?”

“Uh, no. I’m from a town that has three times as many bars as stoplights, and every one of those bars has dead animals on the walls.” He looked over his shoulder at me. “I don’t have the faintest clue where to go or what to do once I’m there.”

“Well,” I said. “I might be able to help you with that part.”

Shyness and boldness battled for dominance in his eyes, and I thought he might say something. He didn’t, though. Instead, he turned his attention back to throwing his dart.

Sipping my beer, I watched him. So he’d had a year at a university in a gay-friendly city. Probably dated a little, played the campus field a bit, and now he was ready to expand his horizons. Timid with the occasional break of matter-of-fact assertiveness. Oh, yes, this could be a lot of fun, especially if he wanted someone to help him explore some of the dirtier aspects of being a gay man in this town.

Someone threw their arms around my shoulders from behind, nearly making me drop my drink.

“Having fun over here?” Sabrina asked, more of a giggle in her voice than usual.

“Well, I am.” I looked at Alex. “You?”

Just before bringing his beer to his lips, he said, “I’m having a good time, yes.”

“Good,” she said. In a stage whisper, she said to me, “You’re being gentle with him, right, Kieran?”

I looked right at Alex. “Define ‘gentle’.”

He gulped. I grinned. Sabrina giggled.

“Okay, boys, don’t have too much fun.” She patted my shoulder, then wandered off to the rest of her friends.

Alex coughed into his fist. “So, how do you know Sabrina?” Still focused on me, he sipped his beer.

“I, uh, I lived with her dads when I first moved here.” I paused. “They needed a roommate for a while, so…” I made a dismissive gesture with my glass.
And I’ve
been fucking them on a regular basis ever since
.

“I have to say,” he said, “it blew my mind when she told me her dads were gay. She doesn’t bat an eye over it, and that’s when I realized I was living in a very different world now.” Amusement tugged at his lips, but there was something darker in his expression that made me curious what kind of world he’d come from.

“Well, get used to it,” I said with a wink. “Seattle isn’t one hundred percent gay-friendly, but you’re not in Kansas anymore.”

“So I’ve noticed.” He laughed dryly. “By the way, it’s your throw.”

“Oh, right.” I set my beer down and picked up the darts.

As I aimed, my phone vibrated. I groaned.
Fuck, please tell me Mom isn’t calling again
. I unclipped it from my belt. The screen lit up with Rhett’s name and a text message:

Having fun there, or coming back here tonight?

I chuckled. Had the message come from Ethan, it probably would have said “
Still want to get fucked tonight?
” Same meaning, different wording.

I looked at Alex. Then I wrote back:

Think I’m going to stay. Call you guys later this week. Have fun. :)

Then I clipped my phone back on my belt and resumed my game.

Alex eventually beat me at that round of cricket, but it was close. He only had me by three points, so that was as good an excuse as any for a rematch. Had to see who really was the better player, after all. Since I won that game, we decided to go two out of three. Then three out of five.

Seven games and three beers later, I pulled my phone off my belt to check the time. I blinked a few times, certain I was misreading the numbers. How the hell was it quarter to twelve already?

“Damn, it’s almost midnight,” I said.

“Is it?” Alex looked at his watch. “I’ll be damned.” He exhaled. “I should probably get out of here. I’m working an early shift tomorrow.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“It was nice meeting you.” His smile was still shy but decidedly more confident than when we were introduced earlier. “Thanks for letting Sabrina twist your arm.”

I grinned. “I think this was well worth having it twisted a little.”

We held eye contact, and as the silence went on, the color in his cheeks deepened.

I cleared my throat. “So, um, listen, if you want the grand tour of Capitol Hill, I could certainly show you around. Take you to some of the places on Broadway.”
And maybe show you the inside of an apartment a few blocks off Broadway
.