Free Erica's Choice by Sami Lee Page A

but you did tell me the other night you were interested. I thought it was mutual.”
    “I didn’t say I was interested exactly. I’ve never done anything…” He trailed off. Then he asked, with a pretense of casual interest, “You thought it was mutual?”
    Gathering the towel closer around her body, Erica sat on the couch. “I figured maybe the two of you had a history.”
    “Not that kind of history,” Corey clarified emphatically. “I’ve known Griff since I started in the fire service. In fact, he helped me get in. Gave me a recommendation because I’d put in volunteer hours, and helped me pass the written stuff. He’d give you his last twenty bucks if you needed it, he’s that kind of bloke. The best one I know.”
    Quietly, Erica said, “You love him.”
    “He’s my mate .” Corey let out a long heartfelt sigh. “At least that’s what I always thought.”
    “Corey, he’s the one you should be calling, not me.”
    “You’re wrong, Erica. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you, and whatever else is going on with Griff, it doesn’t change that.” His tone dropped several octaves. “I’ve been semi-hard since you picked up the phone.”
    Her body responded in kind to his suggestive words. Beneath the towel her nipples grew stiff, and between her legs the dull throbbing became more insistent.
    “Corey.” She’d meant to speak his name in a warning tone but ended up sounding breathless.
    “Please tell me I affect you the same way so I know I’m not alone here.”
    Erica closed her eyes, praying for the strength to lie to him. It didn’t come. At length she let out a breathy sigh. “Yes, Corey. You affect me.”
    It was quite the understatement.
    “This stuff with Griff, I’m a bit confused about it.” He scoffed softly, as though he’d made an understatement of his own. “Does it put you off?”
    “I think people ought to take happiness where they can get it. It doesn’t worry me how they make it happen.”
    “Does that go for you too? Aren’t you entitled to get what you want?”
    Closing her eyes, Erica thought of all she wanted. For this lump to be benign, to not be burdened with this horrid gene mutation. The first there was still a chance for, but the second wish could never be granted. The gene was in her, implanted before she was born. All she could do was deal with it.
    The other things she wanted had nothing to do with cancer. Someone to care about her, someone to love. A family, if that was possible. If her ovaries went the distance.
    And yes, she wanted sex like she’d had the other night. Sex with Corey and Griff, even when one of them would surely have sufficed for any red-blooded woman. But what they’d done last Friday had imprinted the two men in her mind as a duo. Although Corey had caught her initial interest, Erica could no longer think of him without thinking of Griff.
    But what kind of greedy, deluded individual asked for the attention of two men, when she hadn’t even been able to keep her last serious boyfriend around?
    “I don’t know,” Erica eventually replied. “I’d like to think so.”
    “Then think it. I want to give you everything you’ve dreamed of, baby. You only need to tell me what that is.”
    “Are you talking about…sexual things?”
    “I’m talking about everything, but we can start there.”
    His expectant silence made her heart pound. “Now?”
    “Yes, now. I’m not hanging up. Are you?”
    The challenge sounded cocky but there was a hint of vulnerability beneath the outward confidence that made Erica weaken further. She should never have picked up the phone. Corey Wachawski was proving impossible to hang up on. “No. But you might need to hold on while I get dressed.”
    In the heartbeat of silence that followed, Erica comprehended she’d once again said too much. “ What? ”
    Erica tried to explain. “I was in the shower when you called.”
    “God,” Corey groaned. “Don’t make me picture you like that. I