M/M novella with subthemes of bdsm, older man/younger man and multicultural (American/English) by Elizabeth Coldwell.
Alfie Crane accepts a lift from Boston to San Francisco from fellow college student Brad as he's too broke to take the bus. When they argue, he finds himself being thrown out of the car with only his wallet and the clothes he stands up in. After walking for miles, he reaches the tiny town of Paradise, Nebraska. He is desperate for help, and is taken in by diner owner Ray Rendell, who's looking for a new bus boy. Ray has always hidden his true sexuality, afraid of the reaction of family and townsfolk alike, but he's strongly attracted to the cute young Englishman. Romance begins to blossom between the two as Alfie settles in to the slow, easy pace of small-town life. When Ray is threatened in a hold-up, Alfie realises just how much the older man means to him. But can they really find paradise together?
While Brad flirted with the pretty blonde waitress who kept refilling their coffee cups, Alfie went to use the rest room. There were two stalls in the men’s room. The door of the first was ajar, but when he pushed it further open he quickly realised it wasn’t unoccupied. He caught a glimpse of two men, the older dark and thickset, the younger more slightly built, with a shaven head. Both had their pants round their ankles. The older man had his companion bent over the cistern and though Alfie couldn’t see exactly what he was doing, the thrusting movements of his arse – and the little moans and gasps the shaven-headed guy was giving in response – were unmistakable.
Torn between backing away quietly before the men became aware of his presence and lingering to get a better look, Alfie felt his cock stiffening in his boxers. The scene was so reminiscent of all his filthiest fantasies of public sex – fantasies he knew he’d never dare make reality – and it reminded him of just how long it had been since he’d got laid. Being gay wasn’t the issue; on campus no one batted an eyelid, no matter what your sexuality. Rather, he’d got so caught up in studying and keeping up his grades that he’d almost forgotten what it was like to lie between crumpled sheets with someone, mouths locked together in a long, passion-filled kiss while hands grasped cocks, stroking and teasing …
The younger man grunted, muttering something about wanting it deeper. Someone called out in the corridor beyond the rest rooms, bringing Alfie back to his senses and reminding him he ought to be getting back to where Brad was waiting for him.
He scurried back to the booth.
‘You took your time,’ Brad said, not unpleasantly, throwing down enough bills to pay for his share of the meal.
‘Sorry about that. My stomach’s playing up,’ Alfie lied. ‘Shall we go?’
Out on the road again, it was somehow easier for Alfie to ignore Brad’s constant prattle and limited taste in music. He half-dozed, losing himself in a fantasy where he was back in the men’s room, spying on the strangers as they fucked. Only this time, the thickset man glanced over and saw him watching, and before Alfie could retreat to the safety of the corridor, the two men had grabbed him and hauled him into the stall. Telling him they’d show him what happened to peeping Toms, Thickset held him steady while his shaven-headed friend undid Alfie’s belt and zip, yanking down his jeans and underwear to reveal his cock, already surging strongly upwards. The next thing he knew, his hands were fastened behind his back with his own belt and he was being urged down to his knees, to lick and suck the two hard dicks that were presented to his more than willing lips. And once those two fat shafts were nice and wet, glistening in the fluorescent light of the bathroom stall, they’d bend him over so they could take it in turns to ream his arse ...
