During the Union retreat from the American Civil War battle of Port Republic, Virginia, two soldiers from opposite sides find themselves alone in the ruins of an old mill. In the tense moments of their meeting, the wounded Union sergeant, Able Jenkins, experienced in warfare and guile but troubled by the thought of men coupling with men, must scheme for his survival, while the Rebel private, Josh Hardy, inept at war but known by men, is beset by temptation. Both men survive the encounter, but neither does so unmarked. And what they each think is a shameful end to their forced relationship is destined to become anything but that.
Josh stammered his agreement, lost more in the sensuous way he thought Paul spoke those suggestive words than in the innocent meanings that no doubt were behind them. Since his sexual awakening, Josh felt like he was reading a new dimension into everything another man said. And it was all too new for him to be able to separate the reality of it from the possible fantasy. He watched Paul chewing at a cold chicken leg, a bit of grease running below his full lips. Paul’s tongue flicking out to catch the grease, and Josh had to look away, in embarrassment.
He should clear the table so that they would have a place to study, but he had turned hard at listening to Paul’s rich, deep voice and watching him eat lustily—and just imagining all sorts of desire-rooted possibilities. It might have been logical that Josh’s so recent sexual congress with five men would shock him so badly that he would pull away from any suggestion of sex with a man. But it had had the opposite effect on Josh. Each night since he had dreamed of Paul and had awakened to find himself fisting his **** and streams of semen running down the shaft into his reddish gold, curly pubic hair. It was just as well that his *other had not been here the past two days.
