STORY EXCERPT

Ralph Sellars dumped his jeans, boots, and black wifebeater into the locker, slammed it shut, wrapped the towel he’d been given around his waist, and marched down the hallway to the huge swimming pool area. The ceiling was glass, or something that looked like glass, so the sun shone down on the pool, making it almost appear to be outdoors, except it wasn’t. An outdoor pool would be too cold for his liking at this time of year. He dropped his butt onto one of the chaise longues around the pool and lay back, ready to people-watch for a while. Then he’d swim, maybe try out the sauna, and definitely hang out in the public shower room for a while.

His membership here at the bathhouse was his thirtieth birthday present to himself, and he hoped it’d lead to some hot sex. To his right there were three unoccupied chaise longues, and then two pushed close together. From the looks of the tented towel around one man’s waist, those two men were doing more than just holding hands. He wished them luck. He hoped to get laid today, too. It’d been way too long since he’d had any company other than his own hand. Coming here was the first step in his plans to get out more.

It was just that his fucking boss always seemed to be going through one crisis after another, and he always expected Ralph to save his ass. Well Ralph was getting tired of doing that. He was more interested in fucking a willing man’s ass than pulling his boss’s ass out of yet another fire of the man’s own making. From now on he wasn’t going to answer his cell phone out of hours when his boss called him.

Ralph looked over at several occupied chairs on the other side of the pool, but the men there were just lying back, relaxing, like he was supposed to be doing. No action there. He crossed his arms over his chest staring at the ink on his left arm. He had the full sleeve completed now, and every part of the picture was a symbol that had a special meaning for him.

He ran a finger over the rose that signified the baby sister he’d adored all through his childhood and teenage years. But she’d grown up and become a total bitch, which was why the stem of the rose was covered in sharp thorns. He never would have guessed she’d become an adult who was totally bigoted against gay people.

A splash made him look at the pool again. A slender red-haired man was slicing expertly through the water. He looked like someone who came here every day and swam length after length. But instead he swam only to the end of the pool and got out. He’d left his towel at the other end of the pool, and Ralph had plenty of time to stare at the redhead’s lean but wiry body and taut little ass. Now that was an ass that interested him. Especially since the man seemed not to care about being naked. Ralph liked a bit of exhibitionism with his sex.

The redhead picked up his towel, rubbed his hair and upper body, and then tied it around his waist before walking over to the door that led to the sauna. Ralph climbed off his chair and followed him.

Not being used to saunas, Ralph stayed on the lowest step, working on the idea that hot air rises, so it’d be coolest lower down. The redhead, however, was sitting on the top row, leaning his back against the wooden wall.

“Wasn’t the pool warm enough for you?” he asked, wanting to get to know this interesting man.

“Hell, no. I mean, it’s heated. It’s warm, but I think I’ll like it better after a sauna when I want to cool down. Now this heat, this is delicious. This I like.”

“I do, too. Of course, in another five minutes I might have changed my mind.”

The other man laughed. “Yeah, me, too. I’m Francis, Frank.”

“Ralph. What do you do for a living, Frank?”

“I’m a town planner. What about you?”

For the first time ever he told a stranger what he really did, not the politically correct, politely spun version of his job. “I’m the bogeyman. I expose insurance frauds.”

“I don’t see that makes you the bogeyman. If people weren’t lying and cheating already they wouldn’t have any reason to fear you.”

Ralph laughed. “I think you’re the first person ever to see it that way. Most people think the rules are there to be broken. They see the extremely rich finding ways to avoid paying tax and think insurance premiums mean the money belongs to them and that the comparatively small amounts they steal are fair game. But I don’t chase people for ten cents. I chase them for thousands of dollars. And that includes the wealthy as well.”

Ralph stretched out on the step so he could see Frank’s face better. They began talking about their likes and dislikes, and when the buzzer rang to say their fifteen minutes in the sauna was up, Ralph was really surprised. He didn’t feel too hot, and he sure as hell wasn’t ready to stop talking to Frank.

“I suppose we’d better have a swim to cool down,” he said reluctantly.

Frank joined him on the floor of the sauna. “After that, let’s come back here. I was enjoying our time together.”

Ralph gripped the smaller man’s arms and pressed a kiss to his lips. “I was, too.” He stepped back and opened the door. Damn, the man had tasted nice. His lips were soft and sweet and just the tiniest bit sweaty and salty. I want more of him. Tonight.

ADULT EXCERPT

Frank gazed at Ralph’s face. Ralph was concentrating on lubing Frank’s ass, his forehead slightly creased, his mouth a tight line, his head tilted down. But that just gave Frank an even closer, better look at his features. His dark brown eyebrows, several shades darker than the hair on his head, the left one pierced by a ring. His eyes, pools of dark brown liquid chocolate, calling to Frank on so many different levels. His tanned skin, the left arm completely covered in tattoos. Frank promised himself that one day he’d ask Ralph what the tats meant. He was certain they all had special meanings. Ralph didn’t seem the kind of person to him to rush off and get inked without thinking about it seriously first.

“I’m ready. I can’t wait any longer.” His voice was hoarse with lust, but from the way Ralph’s chest was rising and falling so quickly, and the fact his cock in its apple-green sheath was bobbing around, he knew Ralph was just as aroused as him. It was time for both of them to do what they were aching to do.

Ralph dumped the lube on the nightstand. He held quite still, his body tense. “Are you sure?”

Frank gripped Ralph’s arms and pulled him closer. “Hell, yes.”

“Good. I might explode if you said no.”

Frank gave a weak little laugh as Ralph wiggled closer and placed his bright green cock at Frank’s entry. Oh, hell he wanted this so much. He needed Ralph so badly. And it was Ralph he needed, not just a fuck. Already he knew he wanted more than one night with Ralph. That might not be possible, but maybe they could talk later.

Right now, the time for talking had passed. Ralph’s cock pushed at his entry and the tight ring of muscles held firm. Then almost as if they obeyed an instruction from Ralph, they opened and let him in. Ralph pushed firmly, but not roughly, and slid deeper inside Frank’s dark channel. Frank wiggled closer to Ralph, gripping his shoulders and wiggling his own hips to help Ralph slide the last inch or so inside. And then their bodies ground together. Ralph was fully inside him at last.

Ralph leaned forward and kissed him, wrapping his arms around Frank’s back, holding them tightly together. Their kiss soon went feral, teeth clashing, noses knocking, until they could angle their heads just right. As it seemed to be the way with all their kisses, they didn’t pull apart until a nanosecond before he would have passed out for lack of oxygen. But that was because he couldn’t bear to let go, to be parted from Ralph. Their kisses were too carnal to forgo.

Slowly withdrawing, and then pushing back inside him again, Ralph began to fuck Frank in earnest. Frank loved the slight burn, the passion of the thrusting, the feeling of holding Ralph’s larger, more muscular frame in his arms. He pressed his ass down hard onto Ralph’s dick at the end of every stroke and held his breath in the gap between the out and in movements. He knew his fingers were digging into Ralph and part of his mind hoped he wasn’t hurting his partner, but most of his brain was intently focused on where their bodies were locked together, not the peripheral parts of them.

Faster and harder they both moved, slamming together, sweat rolling off each of them and mingling. Frank was close now, the base of his spine already tingling with the need to come. He let go of one hand from where he gripped Ralph’s shoulder and began tugging on his dick. Ralph matched him, lifting a hand off Frank’s hip and placing it over Frank’s hand on his cock. Ralph let Frank choose the speed and method of his strokes, but kept his hand on top of Frank’s, making himself part of the action. Frank blinked. That was really nice.