Bluff

by Gianni X., Gianni Holmes

It's my wife's grand idea to keep the fire burning in our bedroom.

I get to pick her partner for one night.

And she gets to pick mine.

But when she screws me over by choosing an unlikely lover to warm my bed, I'm ready to call her bluff.

Even if that means sleeping with her brother.

Genres: M M Romance, Erotica, Short Stories, Contemporary, Gay, Audiobook, Queer

ebook

Reviews

[Lilly [Hiatus due to School] · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but hot.

We have Max, whose wife suggests in order to keep their sex life "interesting", to give each other a free pass to sleep with someone, BUT the person must be chosen by the other and the sexual encounter recorded. Max does not want to do this but agrees. He picks his friend for his wife; when it's his turn, she picks her brother as a prank.

Griffin has had a crush on Max for a while, and his sister twists everything making him think Max wanted the free pass and chose him, sadly he also finds out he was played with.

This was a short fun read! I want more but I liked the HFN ending we get between Griffin and Max. I didn't feel bad at all for the wife she seemed pretty shitty. Hoping we will get a part two one day.

[25 Readings Or More · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75
My first audiobook 🤩🤩🤩🥳🥳🥳🥳
I'm really excited. I need to get used to It but i like it. And this book was perfect, because it's a short novella.
It's steamy and i loved the plot, in fact i wished there was more about the story...

I think i'm gonna take a look to Gianni Holmes' books because it was a nice discover.

[⋆｡°✮ Lucy InTheSky ✮°｡⋆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this short story was so freaking good. Why did it have to end like that?? I want to know more!

It's been such a long time since I've read anything related to taboo. I wouldn't call this one taboo though, just kind of taboo, but I'll keep it on the shelf just the same.

🟡 Hall pass, (straight) marriage
🟢 Husband + wife's older brother
🟣 Straight/gay
🔵 Crush, pining
🌶️ One sex scene on-page, some off-page, very good; t/b

You've got a progressive, but dysfunctional marriage, you've got a 42-year old husband who's completely straight but living with a wife who's not as good as it seems and she wants to fuck him and his big brother over - the gay big brother she knows has a strong crush on her husband.

What she doesn't expect, neither does the husband, is that the night turns out to be a one big life-changing bi-awakening for the husband. He gets this amazing hot sex with a great guy and he's done with the wife, done.

"This is her brother spread before me, his ass moving impatiently for me to mount him. Damn, that’s exactly what I feel with him in bed. Like I’ve given in to my baser animalistic instincts of taking what I want. That in this moment, as I steady myself between his legs and position the slick head of my cock at his hole, the only goddamn thing that matters in this world is taking what I want and satisfying the ache inside me. The ache to fuck and come, to own and wreck."



What I totally appreciated were Griff and Max's dialogues, very real and down to earth, not to mention talking about getting together some more - and they do - but that's where the story ends, sadly.
Max is still in the marriage, but he makes it clear to his wife he's not playing her games anymore. But he is making plans to see Griff again, without her knowing.

"I couldn’t make myself feel ashamed of something so raw and pure, completely void of deceit unlike the relationship I have with my wife."

Man, I want to know what happens to Max and Griff! 😭

[Smutty Sully · Rating 4 out of 5]

What?! This is fantastic! Nice short story about an open MF relationship (or one-off opportunity) backfiring. Hot, cute, a bit of a vengeful feeling, and a first time MM scene (with the wife's brother hahaha). No angst or drama or eww you're a man nonsense either. (There isn't any MF in the book.)

More of this, please! (Free on the author's website. Go get 'em tiger!)

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️ 4 stars ⭐️

He’s the expert here and I’m just along for the ride to stick it to my wife by sticking it inside her brother.

Oooh, saucy. Loved this little morsel of sexiness. The premise might be a bit ridiculous, but whatevs, I’m here for the spice. And it didn’t disappoint.

What if I get addicted to this? Then what?

CW and tropes (spoilers):
- Open relationship between MC & spouse (not between MCs)
- Mentions of cheating (not between MCs)
- Strict top/bottom
- Queer awakening
- Rimming

[Trio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audio performed by Todd Creel
Freebie from the author on Bookfunnel
There's no M/F sex in the story

Cute and oh so dirty! Wife and hubby agree on a free pass for sex, and the wife sends her brother... The two guys proceed, which is nicely done by the author. Plus a clever surprise at the end.

Three Big Stars

[m · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, fun, and sexy - I just wanted more. Either more detail during their one/first night together or a definite HEA with Max leaving his wife and ending up with the brother.

More of a 3.5⭐️ and more smut than plot although imo it’s not crazy spicy either 🤷🏼‍♀️

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This was a fun and sexy short story about a husband and wife who give each other a "free pass" on the condition that they get to pick the other's partner. While Max takes this seriously, his wife, Liz, decides she's going to mess with her husband by setting him up with her brother. It's actually pretty cruel, because the brother has had a crush on Max for years, but Max decides to go through with it and unexpectedly discovers a physical (and potentially emotional) connection that satisfies him like nothing else. The story ends abruptly, but the author is turning this into a full novel at the end of year, so I'm eager to see where this goes.

[Ed Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick and fun audiobook. Thanks for the free gift to all your fans. I wish he had told her, but I still enjoyed it.

[fishreads (back? from hiatus) · Rating 2 out of 5]

(2,75 stars rated down - currently still free at Prolific Works)

A married straight guy gets back at his manipulative wife by calling her bluff and sleeping with her gay brother. Unfortunately, while I liked the idea behind the story, it was too short to allow for any real exploration of Max's (the husband) and Griff’s (the brother) character motivations.

In the hands of another author, this could have been a perfect dirty, bad, wrong, guilty-pleasure erotica story, but this author didn’t exactly rise to the challenge. It’s a shame, because all the ingredients for a really great story were right there.

Themes: single POV, wife's brother, marriage hall pass, bisexual awakening

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very quick audiobook, to listen to while I was cooking.

I Give this Book a 3.5/5 Star Rating, Listing as 4 cause I didn’t want to list it as a 3.

Hmmm..its an Open Ending, and by the looks of it, It doesn’t look like there is a follow up.
I wish this book was longer or at least picked up in another book.

Formats Read: Audiobook
Audiobook Rating: 3/5
Narrator: 2.5/5, I Personally didn’t like the tone/voice for both men, it’s didn’t fit the images I was picturing.
Quality: 3-3.5/5, The narration is good other than the voices.

Relationship Type: (it’s hard to explain if you don’t read it?) soo.. MF technically, but is MM but is not in an actual ‘confirmed’ relationship, though you know that’s the way it looks like it’ll go.

Heat: 3-3.5/5

[LauraSt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Free audiobook given by author.

This was a steamy short. Wife and husband decide to have each a freebie, but each one is supposed to decide who their partners are with. But the wife decides to be a b*** and send her brother to her husband’s doorstop. Hubble decided to call her bluff, and ohhh did he enjoy it!

[Denise GremoryKohta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the perfect short read before I start a new series. It did have me wanting more though. I would love to see Max and Griff together and Liz can have Max’s ex best friend. I have no doubt there has been more going on there anyway.

[Don Bradshaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel bad for the brother in law.

[book_reader_addict · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this little short story ❤️
First time and a hot discovery 🔥
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

[Kory Steed · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a few minor spoilers here, but I don’t believe there is anything that will take away from your reading pleasure.

This is my first review of a work by Gianni Holmes and it’s long overdue, as I’ve been reading her stories for a few years now. Here, writing and publishing as Gianni X, her spicier nom de plume, I have to hand it to her. This one was a winner right out of the gate. I’m not usually attracted to conniving bitch-wife stories, but when I saw who the author was, I took a chance and downloaded it as a BookFunnel freebie when I saw she posted it in the Free MM Ebooks group at Facebook. I wasn’t disappointed.

Written in the first person narrative of the husband, “Bluff” opens with the briefest interaction between him and his wife, Liz. It wasn’t until just now, as I had to search for it, that I realized we don’t learn his name until midway through the story. It’s mentioned only twice. That’s how good of a writer Gianni is.

We discover at the onset that Liz has pressured her husband into allowing her to screw around on the premise that they need to spice things up in the bedroom. Once he has picked out a partner for her, she will reciprocate. He reluctantly agrees after she informs him that whether he participates or not, she is going forward with her plan. Liz has already had her encounter with, as it turns out, the husband’s best friend, Wes, and tonight it’s the husband’s turn. With the parting words of “Enjoy, love,” Liz is out the door, leaving the husband to wonder, and fantasize over who, from among her friends, she has selected for him.

When Liz’s brother, Griffin, shows up at the house, it all becomes clear. Liz, the bitch, has screwed her husband over once again. I could easily envision Griffin drooling over the prospect of an encounter with his brother-in-law, as we learn he’s had the hots for the guy for like forever. When Griffin witnesses his brother-in-law’s sharp, negative, knee-jerk objection, once he realizes what Liz has done, he is crestfallen.

What begins as an attempt to ease some of Griffin’s disappointment, and teach his wife a lesson at the same time quickly snowballs into the brother-in-law finding himself aroused by the possibility of his first man-on-man encounter, and let me tell you, snowball it does! It’s kind of cute (and titillating) how he vacillates back and forth between fear, shock, and arousal as Griffin’s ministrations start him on a fantastical journey of erotic ecstasy once he discovers the heights of pleasure a man can experience at the hands, tongue, and other body parts of another man.

Before we know it, he’s experienced Griffin’s head between his legs, blowing his mind and something else, to discovering the pleasures Griffin’s tongue creates as he moves from one erogenous zone to another, to him learning how to reciprocate as Griffin guides him through his first manly encounter while he moves from one end of Griffin’s body to the other. One might believe that sliding into the tightest, most stimulating hole he’s ever been in would be the crescendo of orgasmic pleasure, but let me tell you, Gianni, as a master of erotic description, has more in store for you. So as to not to take anything away from her method, I’ll let you find out for yourself just how HARD you’ll become at her physical descriptions of their bodies and lovemaking, let alone the mind-blowing, emotional rollercoaster they ride, repeatedly.

I love the way Gianni ends the story. Again, I’m not going to steal her thunder, but I will say it was wonderful to read how Liz was handled. Sometimes, the satisfaction one craves in screwing over others can be forestalled by the unintended benefit others might experience from the encounter.

A little housekeeping; I recognized only two typos. The first, “chest collides” instead of “chests collide” near the end of the story. Piggy backed to the repetition of “collided,” three words later in the same sentence, was a bit awkward. The second, “otherwi-se honest about,” where the line break is not between syllables, also near the end of the story tripped me up a bit. This could easily have been written as “honest about otherwise,” thus avoiding the necessity to hyphenate the word. I can easily forgive these, minor glitches.

I’ve intentionally left out quite a bit about “Bluff” so that you can experience for yourself just how good of a writer Gianni Homes really is. There’s nothing that displeases me more than to encounter major spoilers in a review, thus sabotaging the joy of discovering them for myself.

[Bluebelle-the-Inquisitive (Catherine) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Yeah, you think you’ll be that good the first time around?”
“To me sex is as natural as breathing.”
“Bet you never thought you’d be having sex with another man.” He shrugs. “I know you’re doing this for all the wrong reasons, but at this point, I don’t even give a fuck. I’ve thought about this too often to pass up the opportunity.”
It’s strangely flattering to know I’ve been his fantasy. It doesn’t creep me out at all. In fact, it kind of boosts my ego a bit. — Griffin and Max

Warnings: nothing of note

This is a very short and unexpected piece for me. I enjoyed it far more than anticipated. Gay for you/ bisexual awakening is honestly one of my favourite tropes, partially because it was the first trope I read in the genre partially because I love the way it potentially feeds into other sexualities. I digress. Gay for you is exactly the sandbox this plays in, while it is heavy on the spice there is a strong enough underlying plot to more than keep me happy. Bluff uses three characters (with references to a fourth) and takes place over less than 12 hours. It is sexual experimentation and joy mixed with a slow change in perspective and a moment of reckoning. The narration tone changes perfectly as Max changes in the situation, anger, trepidation, teasing, fun and happiness are all used.

The usage of the limited cast, the way they are written made me happy. The protagonist is Max, his bed partner (and brother-in-law) is Griffin and Max's wife/ Griff's sister is Liz. The referenced party is Max's best friend Wes who slept with Liz after being set up by Max as part of her game. I like that the two people outside the marriage Griff and Wes are painted as largely good people, not innocent but not guilty of anything other than helping another person out. Max and Liz are written in a much more complicated way. Liz is written initially as a manipulative b***h and a bad wife, Max as the loyal husband just wanting to keep his wife happy. The reality is that they are both flawed, their marriage is not traditional, both have tremendous independence and stubbornness, leading to a complicated situation. The idea that there is more to this relationship than appears appeals to me. Just because you are writing spice doesn't mean you can't also include some good characterisation.

Bluff is the first work Gianni Holmes wrote under her short and spicy pseudonym Gianni X. It is available on Proflicworks. She does note that not all of the stories will follow similar themes and are more a way for her to explore what she refers to as taboo topics including this which could be considered a form of pseudo-incest. The others I can see to date seem to deal highly with incest. Certainly, an author to keep an eye on if you like short, risky and spicy.

A representative gif:

[Miss · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. The chemistry and story between Griff and Max definitely has 5 star potential. It's incredibly hot with some angst potential given Griff's longtime crush of his sister's husband. The way Max responds to that, and to Griffin in general, is soooooo good.

I just wish it had been the wife genuinely wanting to do something nice for her brother and husband, rather than it being a joke to her. I'm all for open relationships and/or free passes, but the wife cheated on Max, got caught, behaved for a bit and then basically told him she would cheat again whether he liked it or not so the pass idea was their compromise. Max held to his end of their bargain, but she didn't. That, to me, is toxic and he should be considering divorce. Their relationship is no good and has the potential to destroy anything Griff and Max might develop.

I'd love to read a longer length story on Max and Griffin getting together.

[Sue Philips · Rating 5 out of 5]

One's wife isn't supposed to set you up with a sleeping partner, although this is what happens to our hero in this story. His wife has had affairs and decided to justify herself by setting up a "free pass" where he chooses a guy for her to sleep with (and video so they can watch it later) She is keen on her husband's best friend so it's set up and off she goes.
When it's the turn of her husband, she sets him up with her brother - not even considering the feelings of either.
Are the two men going to go through with this - including the videoing or will they walk away?
An amazing story about introductions to things uncomfortable.
Heartily recommended read.

[Kim B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok I loved this! Haha! Super short but also spicy! A couple who has been married for years decides to each take one free hall pass for one night. The only twist? Each spouse chooses who the others hall pass will be. The hubby chooses his best friend for his wife - someone he knows she has always been attracted to. The wife chooses her brother for her husband - the only problem is her husband isn't even bi and has never been with a man. What to do? :) You'll have to read it to find out.

[M's ☆~HEA~☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fuck, I refuse to act the woman in this. But it’s hard not to moan and ride his tongue. Fuck that, I’m riding his tongue anyway, my hips finding a rhythm I never thought I’d be able to mimic.

A definite HEA would have bumped this very short read into the 5 star category. It has just the right amount of sweet & spice and it seems like everyone will get what they deserve!❤❤

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting - a couple gives each other a hall pass, but the wife plays a mean trick by setting up her (gay) brother with her (het) husband. But it backfires when the husband goes through with it, and enjoys it. The sex is good, but the overall tone is kind of mean, and it made me uncomfortable.

Freebie from author.

[Sara Husser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a hot and sexy short read 🥵🥵. Max and his wife give each other a free pass to have sex with someone else and they video and pick that person for them. His wife picks her brother as Max is straight just to screw him over. What she doesn't know is that he will call her bluff and fall for the brother. Loved this and wanted more 🔥🔥🔥🔥

[Bobbi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bluff, Gianni X by Gianni Holmes. This book is one of Gianni’s short, hot, stories. Interesting story! I realize these are supposed to be short little interesting ideas for stories. Not a major novel. Great story! I would have loved to read more.

[soda · Rating 3 out of 5]

(2.75) i wish this story could’ve been expanded on, because i’m vindictive and want to see the wife’s downfall. 😶‍🌫️ anyways, this was short, so 3 stars is my default rating for short stories or novellas if i didn’t have any complaints.

[Jacquie Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Their marriage is messed up but he did have a free pass 🤷🏼‍♀️ I hope this story continues on but if it doesn't I can fill in the rest of the story myself. I already know how I want it to end 😂

[Siobhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought this was a good short story, but it leaves me wanting more!!

[Shirley (Secret Squirrel) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great,just wish there was more too it.

[Kel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liz is a bitch.

[... · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun! Cuckolding is NOT my kink, so I went into it with one eye squeezed shut, but the feelings I'd hoped for were there, and it was hella sweet 🥰