Mind (Naughty Wishes #3) by Joey W. Hill Read Free Book Online

other.”
    A muscle jumped in Chris’s jaw, and he lifted a shoulder.
    “C’mon, let’s get dressed,” Geoff said, though the last thing he wanted to do was get dressed. Chris’s underwear was still on the floor, so there was nothing under those pants but Chris. But while Geoff wasn’t the most patient of the three of them, he understood a house of cards required it, unless he wanted to see the whole thing collapse.
    As Chris moved to the door, so did Geoff. Once they reached it, Geoff gestured with a flourish. “Brawn before brains.”
    “Assholes always bring up the rear,” Chris retorted. Geoff left his hand out there, but adjusted it to the traditional handshake offering. Chris’s lips twisted as he recalled the middle school memory, as Geoff had intended. He clasped Geoff’s hand and spoke the Ashanti warrior quote they’d learned in history class.
    “‘In our land only the bravest of the brave shake hands with the left hand, because to do so we must drop our shields and our protection.’”
    Chris deepened his voice as they’d done it as kids, to sound like superheroes. Only Chris actually did have a deep voice now. Geoff wondered if he realized that. Deepening his voice now only made Superman sound like he had a cold.
    Geoff flipped the clasp up into the upright brotherhood move, then they automatically moved in and bumped shoulders in gangsta fashion, the version of the male hug that wasn’t hugging. It made them both grin.
    “Sam would say we’re goofballs,” Chris said, but his expression was easier.
    “She’d be right. But she’s a girl. She doesn’t get the secret handshake thing.”
    Chris smelled faintly of sweat and sex, and that ever-present aroma of earth and green things. Geoff took a deep breath of it and stepped back, releasing Chris’s callused hand. Was it because of all that had happened these past few days that his attraction to the man was sharper, more intense? If Chris didn’t stop studying him like that, his eyes lingering on Geoff’s mouth, dropping to follow the line of his body under his Nike T-shirt and jeans, for fuck’s sake . . .
    Geoff cleared his throat. “We better get dressed. After you.”
    Chris sent him an odd look but nodded. As he passed in front of Geoff, Geoff didn’t deprive himself of a good, lingering look at the muscular ass shifting under the camo pants.
    “There are benefits to bringing up the rear, Dr. Banner,” he said.
    During their sophomore year, some of the kids had started calling Chris “The Hulk.” It was Geoff who called him Dr. Banner, seeing the mild manner, gentle nature and intelligence behind the intimidating appearance.
    “Oh yeah? Like what?”
    “Means I can always watch your back,” Geoff said. “View doesn’t suck.”
    Chris glanced back at him, visibly surprised. No matter what had simmered between them for God knew how long, Geoff had never overtly dropped that card. Well, he was dropping it now. It was about damn time he did.
    * * *
    Amen to that. Coming back to the present, Geoff slowed down for a light. During high school, Chris had figured out that Geoff swung both ways. Geoff had been hesitant to drop those clues at first, but for reasons he didn’t examine too closely, he eventually lost that reservation. When he started visiting BDSM clubs on his work trips, Chris knew about that as well. Chris had even visited one or two with him, though he’d get a drink and merely watch what Geoff was doing.
    However, awareness wasn’t communication. Well, nix that. It was what Sam would call typical male communication—the lack thereof—with a roll of her lovely gray eyes that would make him want to smack her ass, no matter how right she was. They never talked about it. Not directly.
    They hadn’t been ready to do that, because when they did, the vital current that ran between them, that connected and held their friendship, would be tested and changed. If Sam had never come into their lives, would the catalyst