All In (Erotic Gems Short) Read online

  All In

  An Erotic Gem Story

  By Brynn Paulin

  Resplendence Publishing, LLC

  http://www.resplendencepublishing.com

  Resplendence Publishing, LLC

  2665 N Atlantic Avenue, #349

  Daytona Beach, FL 32118

  All In

  Copyright © 2011 Brynn Paulin

  Edited by Christine Allen Riley

  Cover art by Les Byerley, www.les3photo8.com

  Electronic format ISBN: 978-1-60735-415-4

  Warning: All rights reserved. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Electronic Release: October 2011

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and occurrences are a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, places or occurrences, is purely coincidental.

  C ~~ with love always

  Chapter One

  “A hundred bucks.”

  At his friend Dax’s words, Erik Porter glanced across the bar to where the subject of their discussion sat, leaning forward on his elbows. Erik studied his dark hair and wide shoulders. An aquiline nose held up a pair of dark-rimmed glasses, making him look a bit like Clark Kent. Did Superman lurk inside waiting to pummel a drunken ass?

  Only, Erik wasn’t drunk. He pushed away his beer. “You want me to go over there and kiss that guy? For a hundred dollars? Kiss him?” He shook his head, calling Dax’s bluff. “When did I get to be the gay man in this group?”

  Dax smirked. “Since you got wood watching True Blood. Just do it, and stop being a wuss.”

  Erik scowled. He’d argued too many times that it was the hot chick not the vampire who turned him on, but Dax was adamant. Why the hell had Dax been looking at his package anyway?

  “I’m not gay,” Erik muttered, thinking maybe he should have had a few more beers after all.

  “Prove it. Kiss him, and show how much you don’t like it.”

  “Then will you shut up about it?” He wasn’t proud that he was considering this, but the hell with it. He’d kiss the guy, apologize and see an end to this constant badgering.

  “Two hundred,” he demanded. “And I want to see the cash before I do it.”

  “Done,” Dax said as he slammed two hundred dollar bills on the table. “Do it.”

  Shit… This wasn’t remotely close to how Erik had thought he’d conclude spring break. They’d been here to check out the med school Erik would attend next year and, while they were at it, have a helluva time in Vegas. Tonight was a last hurrah in Sin City before they climbed on a plane tomorrow morning. They’d chosen a small, hole-in-the-wall bar way off the off-the-strip area. At least, the place was nearly empty.

  “Why that guy?”

  “He’s alone and, from the way he’s alternately looking around and staring into his drink, he’s lonely. Give him a thrill.”

  Leave it to the psych major. Erik supposed Dax would be great at his chosen career. He was a bit of an asshole about analyzing and pushing people’s buttons. Everyone was a case study, even if he was dead wrong, as he was about Erik. Erik wasn’t gay. Period.

  He looked over at the third man in their party. He’d remained silent as Dax had egged Erik into action.

  “Mace?” Erik asked, pleading for him to say one dissuading word.

  Mason snorted then took a swig from his beer. He pulled a hundred from his pocket and placed it on top of the other bills. “Three hundred,” he anted. “’Cause I’m pretty sure you don’t have the lady balls to do it.”

  Those were fighting words. Erik was on his feet and halfway across the bar before his brain realized he’d been had. Dax and Mace had probably preplanned this, but he wasn’t backing down. Squaring his shoulders, Erik continued to his target. He placed a hand on the bar beside the man.

  “Hey,” he said, realizing his quarry was a few years older than his twenty-two. And even Clark Kent-ier up close. Damn, Erik had always thought Clark Kent was kinda dorky-cool—but not hot, because Erik wasn’t gay.

  “Hey…” the guy replied, his response nearly a question.

  Before Erik chickened out and before his victim could deduce what was going on, Erik drove the fingers of his free hand into the back of the man’s hair then made a fist, holding him still and leaning forward. His mouth landed on lips that had parted with shock.

  Pretend it’s a girl, his reasoning screamed. But his body knew. Stran si knew. ge excitement speared through him at the firm lips. His pulse throbbed through his temples, his heart pounding in his chest. Instinctively, he stabbed his tongue into the man’s waiting mouth.

  The guy made a sound halfway between protest and groan. His hands went to Erik’s shoulders, but when Erik thought he’d be shoved away, fingers curled into his shirt. He leaned into the kiss, controlling it, exploring the beer-flavored recesses of the man’s mouth. His grip loosened, and he cupped the stranger’s head, his mouth still drinking of his dare’s warm lips.

  God, he needed to feel that warm body against his cock. Realizing his thoughts, Erik panicked. He released the guy and stepped back so fast the world spun dizzily. Wide-eyed, he stared at the man’s bemused face.

  “Jesus,” the stranger gasped.

  “Thanks,” Erik muttered. “Uh…I’m sorry.”

  Turning, he rushed to the table. He held out his hand, his look daring either of his friends to say a word. “Pay up.”

  Silently, Dax piled the bills into his palm. Erik shoved the cash into his pocket, took a last swig of beer to wash away the startling taste of the man he’d kissed then headed outside—going where, he didn’t know. Dax had the keys and the bar was nowhere close to their hotel. But he needed fresh air more than he needed to be with his friends.

  “Hey, Asshole!”

  Erik turned, already at the far end of the parking lot. A fist to his face took him by surprise, and he landed hard on the pavement. He stared up at the hurt face of the man he’d kissed.

  The guy shook his head, the hurt turning to distain. “Jerk,” he growled then turned away.

  Erik crawled to the grass a few feet from him and collapsed onto his back to wait for Dax and Mace. He’d have a black eye tomorrow.

  And he was, indeed, an ass of epic proportions.

  Chapter Two

  Alone in solitude was not to be Erik’s lot. As he laid there, staring at the moon, a dark form loomed over him. The shape was too Clark Kent-like to be either Mace or Dax. It was the stranger, back for more. Way to end a vacation, Porter. Bar fight ass-kicking…

  “I said I was sorry,” he tried, not really wanting to fight the man.

  “You’re not sorry. I saw your face…after.” The stranger held out his arm. “Give me your hand,” he ordered when Erik didn’t move.

  Well, that seemed like a horribly bad idea so, of course, Erik did exactly as asked. He’d already proven he wasn’t too bright tonight. In moments, he was pulled to his feet.

  “Now,” the stranger murmured. “This is how it goes.”

  He grabbed Erik and pulled him hard to his body. An iron-like arm wrapped around Erik’s waist. Before he could react, lips covered his and a tongue darted between them. Erik couldn’t complain—even if his mouth wasn’t otherwise occupied. The starry, electric feeling that had taken him inside the bar fell over him once more, and he found himself leaning into the kiss. His cock sprang to attention. It was impossible to be unaffected by the powerful man holding him tightly, a musky woodsy scent enveloping them both.

  Unsure what
to do, he pushed against the tongue with his own and was rewarded with a groan. The arms holding him tightened.

  Erik hooked an arm around the stranger’s neck while he fisted his other hand in the slightly taller man’s shirtfront. With his eyes closed, he focused on the mouth taking his in no holds barred possession.

  In addition to the purely masculine scent that taunted Erik’s senses, kissing this man was completely different from what he’d shared with women. The lips were firmer, the hold of the arms so much tighter. They were commanding. Unrelenting. Though he stood only an inch or so taller than Erik, there was no doubt who had control here and who wasn’t giving it up—the unnamed man taking what he wanted from a stupid frat boy.

  As a slight scrape of stubble abraded his skin, Erik did think he’d been pretty stupid, dumber than any pre-med student should ever be. And the height of it was…how on earth had he not known this? How had Dax known? Erik never wanted this embrace to stop. As if deemed by his thought, the man released him and stepped back.

  He wiped his bottom lip with his thumb as he narrowed his eyes at Erik. “That, friend, is a kiss. Next time you decide to take a bet, do it right.”

  A finger pushed his glasses up his nose then, once more, he turned to walk away.

  “No,” Erik denied, suddenly feeling the aches in his body from hitting the ground moments ago and the throb in his jaw where the fist had landed. He took a few steps before he realized he was chasing the guy like a lovelorn girl. This was a bet for God’s sake. He had to let it go and pretend as if nothing had happened.

  Tomorrow, he’d climb on a plane, leave Vegas behind and find one of the sorority girls who always came onto him back home—maybe two or three of them. A bevy of breasts would do the trick. No one would insinuate he was gay anymore.

  He’d forget all about how one unknown man had made him feel things no one else ever had.

  ight="0" width="48">For a second time, the guy stopped and came back. Erik braced himself. What now?

  He wanted another kiss. At the same time, he definitely didn’t.

  He felt…shaky. Hot. Rattled to the core of everything he knew. Wasn’t college experimentation for girls? Hell, he was almost out of college—part of it anyway.

  The stranger lightly drew his knuckles along Erik’s jaw. “Sorry, I hit you.”

  Erik shrugged. “I deserved it. I knew better.”

  “Hell, I wasn’t mad you kissed me. I wasn’t even ticked it was for a bet. I was pissed you walked away.”

  “It was because I’m not… I mean, because it was just…” Erik shoved his fingers through his hair. Shit. “I don’t know what’s going on with me,” he said truthfully.

  Warm fingers grasped Erik’s, and he was tugged in the direction the stranger had twice headed. “Come with me,” the man coaxed.

  That didn’t seem particularly bright, but Erik’s track record predicted he’d do exactly what he shouldn’t—which he did, following along behind a man he didn’t know.

  “Do you have a name?” Erik asked.

  “Joel. Joel Belo. You?”

  “Erik Porter.”

  “From Michigan?”

  “What—” How did Joel know that? Now, alarms went off in Erik’s head.

  Joel’s fingers tightened, and he pulled Erik closer. “Relax. I’m not a crazy stalker. It’s your accent. People from Michigan flatten their vowels and drop off their word endings.”

  “Oh.” Did he do that? “So you’re a linguist?”

  “No. A bounty hunter.” Joel looped his arms loosely around Erik’s waist and bumped his groin into him. “And now I’ve got my eye on a man of interest.”

  This was so over the top. He’d walked into the bar a straight man—he’d thought—and now he was contemplating going God knew where with a man he didn’t know and doing God knew what. And the more he considered just going with it, the more aroused he became.

  There was no hiding that he was interested.

  Right then, he consciously decided to see what this was, to get it out of his system and add a little exploring to his otherwise unexciting personal résumé. This man did excite him, and not for the danger of going off with a stranger.

  “Judging from the bar, you’re a bettin’ man, right?” Joel said as they walked down a well-lit street that led through a surprisingly suburban tract of homes. In the shroud of evening, Erik couldn’t get a clear picture of their colors, but every one of them looked identical.

  “Today? Yes, but not always. Where are we?” he asked.

  “Desert Line Road. I live over there,” Joel replied, pointing down the street. “I didn’t intend to get drunk tonight, but I’ll never have a drink and drive. My brother was killed that way.” He bumped Erik’s shoulder. “Sorry. More than you probably needed to know.”

  “It’s okay,” Erik said, unsure what to say. But he was glad it had been shared. It gave him some insight into this guy to whom he intended to give himself, and the insight into Joel showed Erik some of the man’s integrity. The brief peek calmed his lingering apprehensions.

  But, damn… Give himself seemed so weird. So weird, but strangely…right and okay.

  “Erik?

  “Yeah?”

  “Back to the bet … You need to decide. Are you in or out on this? I need to know before anything else happens.”

  Erik looked up at him. He was Superman in disguise.

  “I’m in. I’m all in.” Though for some strange reason, he hoped that it would be Joel who was in. Erik took a deep breath at the idea. Why had he never wanted a man before now? Why Joel? Why should he be the one with whom Erik wanted to experience this?

  Joel squeezed Erik’s fingers. “Stop thinking so much.”

  Erik shot him a sideways glance. “Just be gentle with me. I have a long plane ride tomorrow.”

  Chapter Three

  Joel’s full-bodied laugh warmed Erik. He pulled Erik into his arms and leaned forward so their foreheads were together.

  “I don’t do gentle,” he growled. “But I promise you’ll like it.”

  Turning, he walked away and headed for the front door of his house. He left Erik to follow, and Erik supposed that would be so he came of his own accord. Joel probably wanted to be assured that Erik really was all in and that he hadn’t changed his mind.n aed his

  There was no backing out now, not as far as Erik was concerned. He wanted this, and he’d see it to the end. He wasn’t as shaky now as he’d been earlier, but heat continued racing through him while his cock throbbed.

  Guessing what to do, he pressed against Joel’s back and fitted his erection against the curve of the man’s ass. Joel groaned. “Playing with fire,” he warned.

  Erik liked that. Thinking of what he’d enjoy if he were in Joel’s position, he ran his hands over Joel’s hips then up his chest.

  The front door banged open then Joel dragged Erik inside, tossed the keys in the direction of a side table and kicked shut the door in one smooth series of actions. He yanked Erik against his chest and pressed him to the wall as his mouth ravaged Erik’s. Grabbing Erik’s wrists, he held them firmly to the surface to either side of the man’s head. His groin rotated into Erik’s until Erik thought he might come from the friction.

  “Oh God,” Erik moaned as Joel momentarily lifted his lips away.

  Joel growled then covered Erik’s mouth once more, his tongue darting inside. Erik found that he quite liked the possessive, wild sound and was strangely comfortable with the control Joel exhibited over their encounter.

  His fingers flexed. He wanted to touch Joel all over and explore the male planes that had been foreign to him, save for his own. Touching a woman had always been somewhat rudimentary, but the idea of Joel’s skin beneath his palms sent fire through him. But Joel’s grip on Erik’s wrists was like iron and tightened as Erik moved his hands. While Erik was quite sure he could escape the hold if he wanted, it was the last thing he desired. It surprised him that he liked being restrained.

  Wasn’t t
his an evening of revelations?

  Erik would never be the same!

  When Joel hauled him through the darkened house, Erik went willingly. His insides flipped when they stopped in the bedroom, and Joel switched on the light. It was an excited feeling, eager to see where things went, but a little apprehensive of the unknown. Still, he had no desire to stop.

  Watching his lover, he pulled off his polo shirt and dropped it to the floor. His grin feral, Joel followed suit with the tee he’d worn. Erik swallowed at the sight of the hard rippling muscle that had been hidden beneath. He had a good build, and was no little whiffet, but Joel made him look like he should spend more time in the gym. Joel’s broad shoulders topped a triangular torso that ended in narrow hips. Defined rounded muscles covered his arms—Damn! Erik must have had on beer goggles to have believe this man wouldn’t pummel him back at the bar.

  Joel reached for the button of his jeans. His hands paused as he glanced at Erik. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, you’re just—God, you’re hot.” Erik shook his headh="ook his. “That seems weird to say.”

  “You can say anything you want to me. You’re looking pretty damn hot to me, too.” Joel stepped forward and traced his thumb along Erik’s nipple. A shiver went through Erik, though Joel’s palm was hot on his pec. He hadn’t felt this close to coming in his jeans since he was a teenager.

  Apparently, Joel sensed it. Perhaps, it was the tremble that worked through Erik.

  “You’re gonna come,” Joel said. There was no question, just stark observation. Before Erik could answer, Joel had Erik’s pants open and his hand around the straining cock inside. Unable to do anything else, Erik closed his eyes at the warm, callused flesh around his dick. With precise, expert action, Joel jerked his hand up and down the shaft. Erik breathed heavily as pressure built in his balls. His eyes opened to slits as he watched Joel jack him, then he glanced up at Joel’s face. One look, one glimpse of the hard male jaw, covered with the dark evening shadow and Erik lost it.