by Nina Crespo
He tossed the phone on the couch. “Cameras.”
As Grey closed the distance between them and took hold of her hips, a dawn of realization came over her face. When her mouth formed a soft O, it made his cock fill even more, and his balls grew heavier with the memory of the way her lips had fit so snugly around him that morning at her apartment. Cori’s eyes slightly widened, and her pulse flickered in her throat.
Jagged edges of need and frustration were riding him. He could only imagine what she viewed in his eyes. Whatever it was, it didn’t make her back away.
She dropped her shoes, curved her hand to his nape, and pulled him down for a kiss.
Grey plunged his tongue into the lushness of her mouth. Stroking. Tasting. Demanding she give him more. And she didn’t refuse him. As her tongue tangled and curled with his, she wound her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him.
His heart pounded in his ears as blood rushed inside of him, making him so hard he ached.
Breaking from her mouth, he trailed kisses down her throat and unzipped her dress.
As she peeled the fabric from her breasts and pulled it to her waist, he dropped to his knees and dragged it down her legs along with her bikini panties.
Cori freed one foot from the dress puddled on the rug along with the scrap of lace, but he couldn’t wait.
He settled between her thighs. As she grasped the back of the couch for support, he urged one of her legs over his shoulder.
Holding onto her hips, he darted his tongue inside of her and groaned. She was already wet for him. Want heightened, and he grasped her tighter. Gliding his tongue through her folds, he went back in, spearing deeper into her slick channel.
“Oh…Grey.” Hearing his name, feeling her body quiver, he lost himself in Cori giving herself to him.
He sucked her clit, and she gripped his shoulders, trembling harder and crying out his name in ecstasy. As her essence bathed his tongue, he continued to pleasure her until her knees gave out. His long last lick before moving away made her shiver and gasp.
Unrelenting need drove him to his feet, and he stripped off his shoes and clothes. Then he went to reach for her, but Cori stalled him with a hand to his chest. “Protection. There’s a condom in my purse in the bag.”
How could he have forgotten? As he rummaged through her green bag in the side chair, Cori tossed a woven blue throw and some of the pillows from the couch to the rug.
Luckily, the red package was easy to find. He put on the condom and turned back to her. The breathtaking site of Cori, laying on the throw surrounded by pillows, made him pause. How had he gotten lucky enough to have her in his life twice?
Grey joined her on the floor and took his place between her thighs. Her soft caress up his arms to his shoulders and back slowed him down. As he eased into her sex, her pussy enveloped and squeezed around his shaft, inch by inch.
Once again, unadulterated need consumed him, and soon, the roll of his hips became ones he could barely control. Cori’s nails dug into his back, and she tightened her legs around his waist. As he drove in deeper, her sex clasped tighter around him, and a look of pleasure washed over her face. The force of her climax rocked him, taking away the anger and frustration he felt toward his father. He let it go and allowed his own pleasure to wash over him, taking in what he needed, what he craved…and had always only found in Cori.
…
With the blue throw wrapped and tucked above her breasts, Cori carried two glasses of icy lemonade to the back deck.
Grey sat on the wicker couch wearing only his slacks, staring at the beach.
The rain had stopped. Starlight and moonbeams twinkled on the water, and a cool breeze blew in from the ocean.
She handed him a glass then sat beside him. As he wrapped his free arm around her, she tucked her feet up underneath her and snuggled closer to him.
Gas flames leaped in the round firepit. He’d lit it so she wouldn’t get cold, but there was no danger of that. He was toasty warm.
A comfortable silence sat between them that she didn’t want to interrupt, but she had to find out what their sexual encounter in the living room was all about. Yes, lust had a lot to do with it, but she’d also viewed torment in his eyes.
She’d told him that she only wanted something casual between them, but that didn’t mean she didn’t care if he was hurting or that she was good with him walling up his feelings or thoughts from her.
As he was about to sip from his glass, Grey caught her staring at him. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“What’s wrong? And please don’t say nothing.”
He smiled, but his expression was slightly guarded. “Why are you asking?”
She should have also told him he wasn’t allowed to answer a question with a question. “What happened with us in the living room earlier… I think dinner with your father kicked it off.”
“And what about you in that dress?” He nuzzled her neck. “You looked really good.”
She planted her hand on his chest and leaned away. “I’m serious. Talk to me.”
Grey sighed, put his glass on the wicker table beside him, and looked down at the flames.
Just as she was about to give up and leave, he spoke. “My father wants me to learn about the company from the bottom up.” He said it with a hint of a mocking authoritative tone.
“What does that mean exactly?”
“With my father, who knows? With me, he always takes things to the extreme. When I was eight, and he found out I was good in math, he hired tutors to train me, so I could become a mathlete. With football, it wasn’t just about the game. For him, it meant I had to attend some training camp for kids trying to reach the pro level. The fact that I was good at something was never enough for him. I always had to be better. I think one of the reasons I became a DJ was because I knew he wouldn’t get involved. He viewed it as a waste of potential. He still does.”
Listening to what Grey described about his relationship with his dad was like hearing a strange foreign language she couldn’t comprehend. “So, by asking you to join the company, you believe he has the same ulterior motive?”
“Of course, he does. I can’t just join the company the way I want to. He has to have a hand in steering my career. Knowing him, he already has my next steps planned out, all the way to me taking over for him. He mentioned bringing me up to par in mentoring and management.” Grey released a bitter chuckle. “I’m sure if I told him how well I’d mentored Liam, he’d change his mind about me joining the company.”
This time, she couldn’t ignore the lingering questions. “Liam. What happened to him?”
During the long pause, Grey shifted his gaze to the ocean. “Liam had been partying with friends at his apartment. Apparently, he was so drunk, he didn’t know what he was doing. Someone noticed he’d taken a prescription bottle from his bathroom. It was Oxy, legitimately prescribed after he’d hurt his back snowboarding over a year ago. He had some left that he hadn’t taken. They took the bottle from him before they left, but they didn’t check his pockets for pills. It was an accidental overdose.”
The pained expression on Grey’s face made her hurt for him. “I’m so sorry.” She laid her hand on this thigh.
Grey took her hand in his and stared down at them as he intertwined their fingers. “Two days before it happened, he’d really been on my mind. He’d missed a meeting, and that wasn’t like him. But we’d already talked about it, so I didn’t go back to see him before I left or call him. I’d planned to do it when I got back from playing at a club in Atlantic City. His hand reflexively tightened. “If I had just gone to see him, he might be alive today. Liam just wasn’t just someone I’d mentored. He was my friend. And I failed him.”
“No.” Cori put her other hand over their intertwined ones. She searched for the right words to comfort him, but it was so hard to k
now what to say in situations like this, especially since she’d never been through it. “It was an accident. You couldn’t have known the worst would happen. Otherwise, you would have been there. I know you don’t see it now, but celebrating his talent, the talent you helped bring out in him, and the moments he really lived is more important than blaming yourself for how he died.”
Grey blinked rapidly and cleared his throat. “Can we change the subject?”
He’d opened up to her. Pressuring him for more or coddling him would just shut Grey down again. Cori leaned against him and laid her head on his shoulder. “Sure, but if you ever want to talk, I’m here.”
Chapter Eighteen
On Wednesday morning, Cori walked through the living room and found Grey near the kitchen with a mug in his hand, staring out the window. She hesitated in interrupting him. She could understand why he was drawn to the view. The ocean, rolling up on the sand, was beautiful, and within the turbulence of the waves, there was a hypnotic peacefulness.
She’d taken plenty of pictures with her phone, but none of them could fully capture the magic of the past four days with Grey.
Every morning before dawn, he’d coaxed her out of bed for a run on the beach. Afterward, she’d worked two or three hours then headed for the beach. Or at least, she’d tried. The peach and the coral bikinis she’d packed had gotten her plenty of attention from Grey. He’d kept wanting to take them off of her, and most of the time, he’d succeeded. It was a good thing the rooms couldn’t talk because they’d baptized every single one of them.
For lunch, they’d gone to the local pier, trying out restaurants and listening to live music while they enjoyed the food. Most afternoons, Grey had gotten a harder workout helping her carry shopping bags with purchases she’d made at the boardwalk marketplace that was lined with quaint shops. She’d found anniversary gifts for her parents. And Grey had surprised her with a set of thin silver stacked rings.
At night, they made dinner and talked about anything and everything. Well, she’d done a lot of the talking, and he’d done most of the listening. Even when she’d found herself gabbing about Costa Rica, he’d listened as if he was hearing about that trip for the first time instead of the hundredth. And when she’d played around with ideas of what a program like that might look like today, he’d encouraged her to look into it. Not that she had the time. It was just interesting to think about.
Grey noticed Cori. “Did you finish packing?”
“Yes.” Cori went over to Grey. As she stood beside him, she wrapped an arm around his back. “And I checked the rooms. I think the house is in good shape.”
“By checking, you mean you cleaned, didn’t you?” He chuckled. “I told you not to.”
“I didn’t do much.” Cori slipped the mug of coffee from his hand. “Just a little.”
Maid service was scheduled to come by the next day, but her home training wouldn’t allow her to just leave without doing a basic wipe-down in the bathrooms and kitchen. And putting the linen and towels in the laundry room, as well as straightening the living room.
She took a sip from the mug. “Did the drop-off at the food pantry go okay?”
The beach house would be empty for weeks, possibly months. So, instead of bringing the perishable food back with them, they’d found a place that provided groceries for food insecure individuals and families.
“Yeah, it did.” Grey looked as if he wanted to say more but shook his head. He looked back out the window but not before she glimpsed the hint of sadness in his eyes.
She’d noticed the same look a couple of times over the past few days, but when she’d asked about it, he’d conjured up a smile and said he was fine. Was he thinking about Liam or the meeting with his father? If they’d stayed a few more days, maybe he would have told her.
Cori handed him back the mug. “It’s hard to go back to reality, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it is.” He placed a lingering kiss to her temple. “Would you like to come back here with me for a longer vacation sometime in the future?”
The future… Did she want more lazy, perfect days at the beach with him? Taking a six-month break from relationships wouldn’t change, but another vacation with Grey wasn’t a commitment. No matter what happened, she couldn’t picture her and Grey not being friends. And friends spent time with each other, didn’t they?
Cori laid her head on his shoulder. “I would.”
Chapter Nineteen
Hours after the long drive back from the beach, then taking Cori home, Grey walked into Damien’s condo. He dropped his things in the entryway, shut the door, and slipped off his sneakers.
Damien was playing in Philly and wouldn’t be back until tomorrow. He had the place to himself for the night.
The trip back wasn’t as tiring as on the way up since they weren’t pressed to be anywhere at a certain time. Caught up on work, Cori had also gotten behind the wheel and helped with the driving.
They’d talked almost the entire time—about everything. Favorite television shows they wished were still on. She was mourning the end of Scandal, and he missed Seal Team Six. Movie franchises they thought were the best. That one they agreed upon—Avengers. Current events and politics—they were concerned about the same issues and still shared the same views. YouTube videos and Twitter—both of them admitted to being pulled into scrolling through videos and their social media feeds when they damn well knew they had other stuff to do.
The hours on the road had flown by as they’d easily switched from topic to topic. When they’d pulled up to her townhouse, she’d turned off the ignition, and they’d just sat there for a long moment, staring out the windshield. When they’d looked at each other, he’d caught a glimpse of what he’d felt—the final sinking in and reluctant acceptance of their extended weekend officially coming to an end.
It had felt so natural to be with her over the past few days. Just her presence alone reminded him to enjoy the moment and let the rest go, especially during the times when his mind had wandered to Liam, as well as what he’d have to deal with if he worked for his father. She’d noticed his shifts in mood but hadn’t pressed him about it. Still, he didn’t want to keep burdening her with what was in his head. It was his load to carry, not hers.
But what about the brochure from the food pantry?
One of the workers had given it to him along with a handful of other brochures and flyers about the facilities’ programs as he’d been walking out the door. He’d thought he’d recycled them all at the gas station when he’d stopped to fill up, but when he’d gotten out of the car a minute ago and grabbed his stuff, he’d found one under the seat.
“The burden isn’t yours to carry alone…” The words on the front of the brochure came to mind, but Grey erased them from his thoughts.
He’d attended a support meeting in Austin shortly after Liam had died, but he hadn’t been able to get past the discomfort of sharing his feelings in a room full of strangers. And talking about Liam wouldn’t fix what had happened or bring him back.
At the beach, telling Cori about Liam, and having her just listen to him, had been a lot different. He’d always been able to talk to her, and it was a relief that he still could. It was as if only days, not years, had passed since they’d been together as a couple. But they weren’t a couple. Cori wanted casual, and that’s what he wanted, too, right?
Agitation pushed him to get up and grab his things at the door.
His phone rang. It wasn’t the ringtone he’d assigned Cori. Ignoring it, he continued carrying his bag and backpack to the guest bedroom. He’d done laundry at the beach, so unpacking didn’t take long. All he had to do was hang up what needed to be hung and stack the rest on the shelves.
Back in the living room, he used the remote to turn on the television and sat on the couch. Doctor Strange was on one of the streaming channels. Cori had mentioned it was one of her favorite m
ovies. He’d already seen it several times, but he’d watch it again.
A call came in. Not recognizing the number on the screen, he didn’t pick up. It was probably spam. He’d been getting more robocalls than usual lately.
His phone buzzed in another call. The name ID flashing on the screen drove him to sit up straight. Cold prickles came over him.
Who had Liam’s phone? Had some asshole spoofed the number?
Curiosity and anger drove him to answer. “Who is this?”
“Grey…it’s me, Sofia. I called a minute ago, but you didn’t answer. I thought maybe you didn’t recognize my number. But I knew you’d recognize Liam’s. But using his phone was a bad idea, wasn’t it?” Remorse hung in her voice. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”
During the long pause, Grey closed his eyes and the image of the slim, dark-haired twenty-two-year-old with freckles came to his mind. With her quiet personality, she’d balanced out Liam’s more boisterous one.
“No, it’s okay,” Grey replied. “How are you?”
“Honestly.” Her voice trembled a little. “I’m struggling at the moment.”
He understood. But what she felt, having been in a long-term relationship with Liam, had to be ten times harder. “If you need me, I’m here for you.” But he was in Baltimore and she was in Austin. What if she needed someone there for her now? A support group hadn’t worked for him, but maybe it would for her. What was the best way to ask? “Have you thought about joining a grief support group, if you haven’t already? It might be good to talk to someone face to face.”
“No. I mean yes, that could be helpful if I needed it, but that’s not what I meant. I’m at Liam’s place right now. Fallon, Liam’s sister, asked for my help in cleaning out his apartment. She couldn’t do it.”
“I’m sorry I’m not there to help.”
“It’s okay. A few people from Breakers came by and helped out. The reason I’m calling is that Liam’s twenty-fifth birthday is in two weeks. He’d talked about celebrating at the club. His table reservation in the VIP section is still on the books. He’d even ordered a cake, paper hats and horns, and Twister.” She laughed. “I have no idea where he thought everyone was going to play the game. Anyway…we decided to go ahead with it.”
