Caribbean Cruise Chapter #2
Caribbean Cruise
Copyright © 2005
By Lee Mariner
This is a gay fantasy, and it will contain homosexual acts that some readers may find offensive. If you are not of legal age in your locality or you are offended by this type of material, please leave.
The disclaimer and copyright as published in Chapter 1, remains in force.
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Chapter #2
I'm not out of shape, and I am not a smoker, but I was breathing pretty hard by the time I reached my doorway. "Damn," I cursed to myself as I fumbled in my pocket for the magnetic key card. "That is still one hell of a walk from the elevator."
Retrieving the key card, I was just about to slide it though the slot when I was surprised by a soft feminine voice behind me. "Mr. Ward?"
"Yes," I answered jumping slightly and looking over my shoulder at the young lady who had walked up silently behind me.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," she said apologetically, extending a white plastic shopping bag as she continued. "Your purchase."
"Already!," I exclaimed, fumbling with the bag and almost dropping it and my key card.
"Yes, Sir," she replied politely. "May I help you with the door?"
"No thanks, I can manage," I responded, panicking at the thought that Petrik might be inside.
"Yes, Sir, have a pleasant evening," she answered, turning and leaving as silently as she had come.
I waited for a moment or two as she left before opening the door and entering. The beds had not been converted to a queen size as Petrik had said he would do, and a feeling of disappointment settled over me. "I guess he was busy and forgot about it," I thought as I extracted the bottle of JD from the plastic shopping bag.
There was still ice in the thermos bucket; and, after fixing myself a drink, I sat on the edge of the bed closest to me and removed my shoes before taking my clothes off. After hanging my things in the closet, I started to reach for my robe and then decided against it thinking, "the briefs are good enough since there is no one to hide anything from."
After checking the various switches to see what they controlled, I settled on two small wall sconces that left the room in a soft light. "They think of everything when they build these ships," I thought, taking a sip of my drink. "My own bedroom lighting is not this romantic."
For a moment a feeling of melancholy swept over me as I remembered earlier trips with Geoff after we first met. "Jesus, I take a cruise trying to get that mess behind me, and here I am thinking about Geoff and mooning over a young man who probably has other things to do more important than worrying about me and my fucking bed." I exclaimed out loud to no one in particular, trying to shake the melancholic state I felt myself falling into.
Wearing only briefs, I stepped out on the balcony into the darkness feeling the warm breeze created by the ship's plowing south through the dark Atlantic. The ship's lights reflected on the surface of the dark water, and there was the sound of water hissing as the ship's phosphorescent bow wave rolled away into the darkness. Leaning against the railing, I sipped my drink gazing at the millions of stars twinkling in the jet black sky and remembering the many days and nights that I had spent at sea while I was in the navy.
"Those were the days," I thought. Now I'm free and single with no Geoff to be concerned about. I no longer have to worry about whom he is going to fuck next or whom I might catch him in bed with, and I don't need to make excuses to linger in my office rather than going home. I had made a fool of myself during the four years we were together. I had not accepted that he was not ready to settle with one person and make a life. He had been great in bed; but, little by little, those times when we made love became less frequent with longer and longer intervals between them. His excuses of being exhausted from a bad day at the hospital or having to get up early for work always rang hollow, and I let them slip by rather than making an issue of the fact that we were growing further apart with each passing day. The inevitable ensuing arguments were painful, ending with him throwing phony tantrums and stomping out, leaving me alone to suffer in anguish at the fear of losing him even though I knew he would be meeting someone. Sometimes he would be gone two or three days before coming back; and then we would cry together, make up, and make love after expressing a love for each other that was no longer there. It went on like that for over a year until I came home early one day and found him in bed with a man whom I had thought was my best friend. That was the straw that broke the camel's back; and, in a rage, I threw them and their clothes out into the snow. Several of our friends had tried to arrange a reconciliation to no avail; and I remained celibate, foolishly swearing off sex and lovers.
Geoff had been my first and only lover, and my remaining in the apartment we had shared together didn't help. After a few months of my turning down invitations, the invitations stopped. It wasn't until my firm offered me a new position out of Philadelphia that I started to regain a sense of normalcy to my life. I still buried myself in my work, but being in new surroundings helped to relieve the deep-seated pain of having foolishly given completely of myself and then being rejected.
One or two of the people I worked with invited me out for dinner, and at first I hesitated before finally taking the big step of accepting an invitation for drinks and dinner. Charlene, one of the para-legals in the office, had invited me to her home several times before I finally relented and accepted. She was a few years older than I and married with twelve and fourteen year old daughters. Her husband was an attractive, intelligent man who worked in stocks and bonds. The dinner was excellent, and I was enjoying myself for the first time in months until I realized that I was subconsciously attracted to her husband and was comparing him to Geoff. The deeply suppressed feelings of needing to be with someone washed over me, and I wasn't sure whether he had caught my covert glances; but every now and then he would smile, looking at me as he took a drag from his cigarette with one ankle over his knee and his hand resting over the noticeable bulge in his crotch. I was probably wrong, but a cold fear washed over me at the thought that Charlene may have suspected why I kept to myself and had innocently mentioned it to her husband during a conversation. I quickly averted my eyes, attempting to suppress the tingling feeling in my groin and hoping the evening would end.
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That embarrassing experience returned me to the shell that I had built around myself. Charlene made one or two attempts at getting together again for dinner, but I managed to make satisfactory explanations to excuse myself. I had gotten pretty adept at making excuses, and they were becoming easier to make as I deferred invitations. The big problem was not satisfying the yearning and desires to be with another man, and masturbation was becoming less and less satisfying.
After bungling, and almost losing, two easily winnable real estate zoning cases, I realized that I had to get away and shake the ghosts of the past.
The unsolicited travel brochure that was in my mail one afternoon offered an excellent opportunity to do what needed to be done; and, after two or three calls, I contracted for a seven day Caribbean cruise to the Virgin Islands with stops in St.Thomas, St. Croix and St. John.
I had never been on a civilian cruise, and I was not sure what it would be like. Several of my co-workers had said that I would meet lots of people and that, with all of the different activities that were offered, it would be more fun than a barrel of monkeys. They also said that the only thing I had to be careful of was losing all of my money in the casino.
"Well, I've managed to meet a young man who has shaken the cobwebs loose and rekindled the fire in my loins, and I avoided the casino, so why am I in my stateroom alone?" I said aloud, draining the last of the now lukewarm drink.
"You aren't alone, Mr. Ward," a quiet voice said from behind me.
Glancing quickly to my right, I recognized the reflection of Petrik in the opaque panel of the stateroom door with linens in his arms.
"Christ, Petrik," I exclaimed loudly, almost dropping my glass as I spun around.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you; but I didn't know you had returned from dinner, and I used my pass key," he said smiling broadly, his green eyes twinkling.
"I should be the one apologizing for shouting at you, not you to me," I replied breathing in deeply and trying to regain my composure. "You did say you were going to change the beds; but, when I saw they hadn't been, I thought you had probably gotten busy and had forgotten about it. I was having a drink before retiring; and, since it was so warm, I was standing outside and apparently thinking out loud."
"We all do that at times," he said, dropping the linens on one of the beds, and stepping out on the balcony. "I often go up to the jogging track at night after I'm off duty if I feel a little lonely or want to get away and be by myself. No one is taking their exercise that late; and it's peaceful, just right for relaxing and thinking."
"Do you do that often, Petrik?" I said softly, painfully aware of the sudden swelling in the pouch of my briefs.
"Usually I go when it has been a bad day and I am feeling depressed from listening to too many demanding passengers or when I want to get away from the noise in the crew's quarters," he said chuckling, and smiling softly as he rested one arm on the railing and leaned sideways facing me as he continued. "Mostly, I think about home, my mother and friends. Sometimes I talk aloud as if I were talking with one of them, but I don't expect someone to be behind me listening the way I was behind you. "
His eyes had changed to an almost translucent turquoise, and his face shone a soft bronze from the reflected light of the wall sconces. I felt the urge to reach out and take him in my arms; but, breathing in deeply, I reluctantly suppressed the feelings building inside of me as I asked, "What about your father, don't you think about him?"
"No, not like I used to; I lost him in the war with the Serbs. He died in Bosnia two years ago. I lost him and a friend whom I was very close to," he said, turning and looking out over the water.
"I'm sorry, Petrik. I didn't mean to bring up sad memories," I said, feeling ashamed at prying.
"That's okay; it does not bother me like it did," he said inhaling deeply, and asking as he exhaled. "Do you mind if I ask what you meant when you said you had met a young man who had shaken the cobwebs loose?"
"Oh, Jesus, you heard me say that?" I asked feeling the blood rushing to my head. "Christ, I shouldn't have been thinking out loud."
"Why not?" he asked, moving a little closer. "You were relaxing and not thinking about anyone being behind you. I think we all do that at times without realizing that we do. I should have said something when I came in and saw you on the balcony. I really shouldn't have surprised you when I said what I did, except it just sort of came out; and, from the way you spoke, you sounded so lonely and upset that I couldn't help saying it."
"You caught me at a bad moment," I said, gazing almost impudently, searchingly into his eyes. "I was thinking back over a particularly bad time in my life, and I was expecting too much for this evening even though I didn't really have a good reason to."
"Expecting too much?" he asked, returning my gaze.
I could see, no, feel the beat of his heart from the way his chest was rapidly expanding as he breathed. For a brief moment, I glanced down; and, seeing the swelling in his crotch, I brazenly plunged ahead and whispered, "I was expecting, no, to be truthful that's not right. I was hoping you would be here changing the beds."
"That's why I delayed until I was off duty. I was hoping you would be here, and I could stay awhile with you if you felt the same way I do about you," he breathed softly as he melted into my arms, his full succulent lips opening slightly, revealing the tip of his tongue moving over his even white teeth.
A feeling unlike any that I had felt in a long time swept over me as our tongues merged twisting and searching. I could feel the power in his muscled arms as he drew me tightly to him; the pounding of his heart through his tunic and the touch of his steel hard cock pressing against mine sent waves of desire rushing through me.
All thoughts of Geoff disappeared in the instant we kissed, and my body trembled with the excitement of being in Petrik's arms. His lips were soft, and his tongue was probing, and I felt a tenderness radiating from deep within his hard muscled body. I almost swooned from the rapture of being with him when he suddenly slid his hand between us and grasped my aching cock.
"Jesus, Petrik," I gasped groaning as I pulled my lips from his. "Do that, and my cock is going to explode."
"Mine too," he said, leaning his head back and arching his back, his hard cock pressing against mine. Breathing deeply, he looked into my eyes letting me see the jade green of his eyes flashing with feeling and excitement. "Maybe I should fix the bed first?"
"That might be a good idea," I replied holding on to him as if I were afraid he was only an apparition, created out of frustration, and would disappear. We stood silently for a moment gazing into each other's eyes, the heat of lust and desire blazing fiercely; and I whispered softly, teasingly, "As horny as I am, any bed would be all right."
"Horny?" he asked questioningly as he released his arms from around my chest and started to unbutton his tunic.
"Here, let me do that," I said, breathing in deeply and feeling the heat of my emotions subsiding a little as I brushed his fingers aside and started to unbutton his tunic with trembling fingers. "You've never heard anyone say 'horny'? It means feeling hot for someone and wanting them or being really ready to make love, and wanting to feel the soft touch of his hot body and his hard cock pressing against yours."
"No," he replied breathing heavily, his eyes sparkling as he shucked his tunic and tossed it on one of the balcony chairs. " I haven't heard that; but, if that is what it means, that is the way I feel."
"Christ, Petrik, you're awesome," I said almost gasping as I looked at the magnificent definition of his pectoral muscles, the breadth of his smooth unblemished chest, the thickness of his biceps, his lightly hair-covered forearms and his almost obscenely narrow waist with the tantalizingly golden trail of silky hair extending down from his bellybutton in the valley between thick ripped abdominal muscles and disappearing into the waistband of his trousers.
"No more than you," he said running his eyes up and down my almost naked body before gathering me in his arms again holding me tightly as he spoke. "I was hoping we could explore each other together, but you cheated me out of that pleasure by undressing before I was here,"
"I wasn't expecting you, Petrik, remember?" I said gently.
"That was my fault, not yours," he said grinning, and breathing in deeply before asking, "Would you mind calling me 'Peter' when we are alone instead of 'Petrik'? All of my close friends call me by that name, and I like it. It sounds more intimate and less cold than 'Petrik this', or 'Petrik that'. 'Petrik' means 'Peter' in English, but I guess you knew that."
"I assumed that by the phonetic association of the two names, but I'll call you 'Peter' if you will call me 'Caine' instead of 'Mr. Ward'," I said, gazing at the warmth in his eyes while I ran my fingers up and down the nape of his neck.
"Caine," he mused for a moment as if savoring the name. "I like that, and I like the softness of the hair on your chest. Is it all as soft?" he asked as he twirled his fingers in the thicker portion that covered the sternum between the breast muscles.
"That is for you to find out," I said grinning and brushing his lips with mine.
"I hope it is; some of my comrades at home have such dark wiry hair all over their bodies that it almost looks like thick wire," he said as we released each other, and went inside.
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After locking the outside door in the open position, I slid the screen door shut. Peter moved the linens, that he had brought, to the couch and quickly stripped the old linens from the twin beds. It was fascinating watching his muscles rippling like steel cables under the smooth bronzed flesh of his broad back and watching his biceps bulging as he moved the beds closer together and latched them into place.
"It looks like you have done that often," I said as he straightened up, and breathed in deeply, the thick smooth muscles of his chest tightening as his chest expanded.
"I have," he said, grinning as he moved to the couch and retrieved what looked like a quilted bed mat. Shaking it out, I saw it was a fitted mat unlike the ones that lay loosely under the sheets.
"Would you like to help me with this?" he asked as he billowed the mat over the joined beds. "This is the difficult part."
"Not at all," I answered stepping forward from the doorway and catching the edge of the mat before it settled down on the bed. Following his lead, I snapped the corners in place; and the narrow separation, created by joining the beds, disappeared.
"Now the sheets, pillows, and a light cotton blanket, and we are finished," he said as he shook the sheets out and spread them over the bed.
It took only a few seconds for the bed to be changed from two small twins into a comfortable queen.
"You did that very well," he said, grinning as he tucked a pillow under his chin and slipped the pillow-case on.
"I've made a few beds," I replied, catching the pillow, and dropping it at the headboard as he slipped the other pillow into its case.
"I can see that," he said, grinning, his eyes twinkling. "Maybe you should apply for a job as a crewmen."
"And work on the same ship as you?" I asked, moving around the bed and slipping my arms around him.
"That might be fun, and we could both sit on the jogging track at night," he answered, placing his lips on mine in a long lingering kiss.
His lips were sweet and delicious, but a sudden urgency in my bladder interrupted the pleasure of being in his arms with his lips on mine, and I leaned my head back. "Sorry, Peter, nature calls," I whispered huskily, pulling out of the circle of his arms.
Dropping my briefs around my ankles, I leaned over the toilet just in time. A golden stream cascaded into the dark blue chemical water; and, for a moment, I felt an adolescent pang of embarrassment thinking he could hear it. It seemed like ages before the thick stream slowly dwindled to a trickle as the pressure on my bladder faded. As I milked the last few drops, my cock swelled slightly; and I kicked the briefs from around my ankles. Breathing in deeply, I swished Listerine in my mouth while I searched in my toilet bag for a long unused tube of KY lubricant. Spitting the mouth wash into the sink, I dampened one of the many face towels; and, grabbing a large fluffy bath towel, I palmed the lubricant and flicked the light switch throwing the bathroom into darkness.
The golden light of the wall sconces was more than enough to see by, but I wasn't prepared for what I saw when I moved from the bathroom into what had become the bedroom. I had already seen the mesmerizing beauty of Peter's upper body, but the vision of absolute loveliness waiting for me struck me speechless.
He was lying in bed propped up by the pillows with one arm behind his head, and the sheet pulled up to his waist. His other hand rested on his stomach; and his legs were spread slightly, revealing the thick outline of his cock . His thick hair absorbed the soft light, gleaming a reddish almost strawberry blond. The color of his eyes was a deep jade green, and the stark white sheets intensified the golden bronze of his magnificently muscled chest and ripped abdominal muscles. A feeling of intense desire swept over me; but, for several moments, I stood immobilized as I gazed at how radiantly gorgeous he was.
"My, God," I thought gazing at Petrik lying serenely against the pillows, the beat of my heart quickening as I gulped air into my lungs, "Apollo in all of his glory was never as stunningly handsome."
Several seconds past while I stood naked, immobile, my stiff cock hidden by the thick folds of the towels draped over my forearm.
"Do you think we might need those?" he asked glancing at the towels, his eyes shining as he flashed a brilliant smile.
"I...I didn't know," I stammered, my eyes glued to the elongated bulge hidden beneath the sheet.
"We won't know if you continue standing there like a Grecian statue," he said softly, teasingly running the tip of his tongue over his soft succulent lips as he threw the sheet back.
His thick hooded cock was supported by full testicles resting between his legs, its thick base surrounded by a forest of glistening, golden hair. His heavy testicles hid the soft under flesh of the perineum that separated them from his anus. Broad heavily muscled thighs and calves were covered by a golden down of silky fine hair.
"Jesus, Peter," I croaked as I slid into bed, dropping the towels and lubricant to the floor. "I've never seen anyone as gorgeous as you."
"You've said that already," he whispered, turning to face me and gathering my trembling body into his arms, my cock pressing against the hard muscle of his thigh. "Don't you think that you are as attractive and that I have the same feelings as you?" he said, gently moving his finger in circles through the soft silky hair around the hardening nipples of my breast muscles.
"Oh, God, I hope so; it's been so long since anyone has touched me," I whimpered, trembling from the gossamer touch of his fingers moving lightly through the silky dark hair covering my chest.
Peter's hands floated over the muscles of my back and down my arms like the wings of a butterfly; and, with each touch of his fingers, every nerve in my love-starved body tingled with excitement. The touch of his lips brushing over mine, the tip of his tongue invading the recesses of my ear, and his hands gently kneading and searching for the sensitive tender areas sent deliciously warm sensuous waves washed over me, filling me with a desire and passion that I had forgotten I could feel.
Moaning softly, I started to put my arms around him when he said, softly, as he pushed gently against my chest, "Easy, Caine, easy. Lie back and let me enjoy the pleasures that were hidden when I first saw you this morning. I've waited all day for this time to be with you."
"I've waited longer than that, Peter," I said, succumbing to the gentle pressure of his hand, my voice quivering with emotion.
"Then we both will enjoy this first time," he replied, lowering his lips, kissing and sucking on each hard nipple, the tip of his tongue creating waves of delicious bolts of energy surging into the depths of my testicles.
"Oh, God, Peter," I groaned running my fingers through his thick golden hair and holding his head as his teeth nipped at each granite-hard nipple.
Raising his head from my chest, he looked into my eyes briefly; and I saw the fires of desire burning in the dark green depths of his eyes. Smiling impishly, he lowered his head again, lightly kissing my breasts; and the touch of his lips sent delicious pangs of erotic pain radiating throughout my body. His hands gently caressed the most sensitive areas of my ribs and loins as he covered me in kisses slowly moving downward to where my drooling cock throbbed in anticipation. The fires of desire burned fiercely in my groin; and, when he wafted his hot breath over my cock, I thrust my hips upwards groaning, "Take it, Peter; take it, please."
"Not just yet," he said softly, gently pressing my pelvis down as he sat up and looked down at me, his voice resonating with emotion.
"I don't know if I can wait much longer," I whimpered reaching up and running my hands over his heaving chest.
"Just a moment longer," he said quietly, breathing in deeply, his eyes caressing me as he moved one hand up and down over my chest and stomach, tangling his fingers in the thick silky hair surrounding the base of my throbbing cock. Lowering his lips to mine, he gently kissed them and whispered, "Just a moment longer and we will enjoy each other together, tasting the nectar that yearns to be released."
Twisting around, he stretched his magnificent body out beside mine. Creamy white pearls of pre-seminal fluid oozed from the urethral opening of the hooded, blood-engorged crown of his smooth unveined cock. Moving closer, I inhaled the musky masculine odor emanating from his groin as I licked the precursor to the aphrodisiac that I had been craving for so long. His hips moved gently pushing his cock against my lips, and I responded to the feeling of his tongue licking and cleaning the crown of my cock. Pushing gently, we both opened our lips; and I felt his cock sliding deep into my throat as mine slipped into the hot depths of his throat.
As if we were one, we both moved one leg closer and rested our heads on the soft inner side of each other's thighs. Waves of rapture flowed over me from the feeling of my cock buried deep in Peter's throat, and a deep moan of ecstatic pleasure welled up from within my chest. I felt Peter shudder gently, and I knew he enjoyed the sonorous vibrations of my moaning washing over his cock. He started a slow piston movement driving his cock deep with each gentle thrust, and my hips responded matching his movements, and my aching cock seemed to sink deeper into his throat with each quickening thrust.
It was as if we were going through an erotic transmutation as we sank deeper into the euphoric haze of matchless masculine love. There was a feeling that we had evolved from two sweating bodies into one, and that feeling seemed to surround us as the pace of our love making increased. We raced to reach the maximum pinnacle of pleasure, that moment when all of our inner desires would erupt in one glorious flow of the life fluids churning, rushing to be drained from the hot overflowing crucibles deep within our loins.
That moment came in a crescendo of groans as the muscles of our bodies tightened, cocks swelling and hardening from a force we no longer controlled. It was an ecstatically satisfying millisecond when our cocks strained before erupting with a volcanic force that sent thick rivers of sperm rushing downward through gripping throat muscles into waiting receptacles that ached to be filled.
I felt the steel muscles of his arms and mine holding each other tightly as our cocks throbbed with each heart beat, jerking and gushing as we greedily sucked the elixir of life from slowly wilting cocks. With tight lips stripping the dribbling remnants of sperm from slowly softening cocks, we fell back momentarily separating as each other's cock slipped from the warm wet recesses of our mouths, both of us moaning and gasping trying to fill the lungs within our heaving chests.
No words were necessary as we lay quietly; both of us, for the moment, sated enjoying the feelings of rapture that slowly drained away to be replaced by a lingering soft after-glow of pleasure.
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I don't know how long we lay in an inverted position; but, when Peter swung around pulling the sheet over us, I reached for him. Sliding my arms around his chest, I hugged him closely, and our lips met in a gentle emotional kiss that expressed our feelings far better than any words could have. The loneliness that I had felt was gone, and I felt alive again invigorated by the strength of his arms around me and the tenderness of his kiss.
"Peter," I said as our lips parted and we laid our heads on the pillows. "You will never know how much making love to you meant to me."
"It makes me happy knowing you enjoyed it, Caine; but, it meant as much to me," he said, turning his head and looking into my eyes. "You said it had been such a long time for you, and it has been a long time for me as well."
"It has?" I said, turning to face him and resting on my elbow. "I would think you would have men clamoring to be with you. I know that I was, but the thought of sex with you frightened me at first."
"Why would you be frightened, Caine? I was trying to show you how I felt and what I wanted ever since you came on board."
"No, I said that wrong. What I meant was that I wanted you, but I was frightened that you would be offended if I made an unwanted gesture or comment and that you would reject me. I don't believe I could have stood it if you had, Peter."
"Who would..." he started to say stopping when I placed a finger over his lips.
"I think I know what you were going to say, but let me explain," I said, breathing in deeply. "It's like I told you earlier, it has been several months since the last time I was in bed with another man. The last person I was with was my lover, and we had a very nasty break up. He was nothing like you, but I loved him, and we lived together for several years. He had a lot of affairs with other men during that time; but, when I caught him and someone I thought was my best friend in bed together, we broke up. I haven't been able to bring myself to trust anyone since; and, after that, I drew within myself, and stopped going out. I was hurt once, and I didn't want that to happen again."
He lay quietly, looking up at me as he slowly moved his hand over my hip and thigh. His eyes glowed with compassion, and when I touched his cheek, he grasped my hand and kissed each finger. He said, " I don't understand why anyone would want to hurt someone they loved, especially someone as gentle and loving as you are. I can feel the caring sensitivity and compassion in the way we made love. Such a betrayal of love may happen in my country, but I know of no one who would have treated anyone they loved so badly."
"You have never had a lover, have you, Peter," I asked softly.
"No, I don't believe so, at least not such as you describe," he answered after thinking for a moment. "I had a friend with whom I was very close. His name was Josif, and we grew up together. We went to school together and played together; we did all of those things that young boys do in secret. We learned the mysterious changes in our bodies, and we learned the pleasures of those changes together. It was a long time before we realized that we had feelings for each other, other than the feelings that friends have for each other. Josif was much like you in his features, soft full lips with dark hair and eyes. His body was firm and beautifully built. He was exciting and fun to be with. The first time we made love was as if a new world opened up, and we knew we loved each other. I miss him greatly," he said softly, his voice trailing off and his eyes gazing through the screen door into the darkness.
"Don't you see him anymore, Peter?"
"No, I lost Josif in the war," he whispered, turning to look at me. "The Serbs took him captive in Bosnia, and we never knew what happened to him, and many others. I think of him often; but, much like you, I hadn't found someone with whom I wanted to share myself until I saw you. Tonight, you were my Josif, Caine; and I knew he would have approved."
There was a look of pain deep within the soft green of his eyes, and I leaned down and kissed his forehead, whispering, "I am so sorry, Peter. You make me feel so ashamed for telling you of my troubles."
"Don't feel that way, Caine. Josif and I had wonderful times together. Those memories will always be with me, and tonight we have been good for each other," he said as he pulled me close, resting my head on his chest. Stroking my hair, he said, "I haven't spoken with anyone about it until you told me about the pain you have suffered. It is good to talk about it, and you have made me feel better for listening and making love to me. Not as he would have but by the way you did and by the way we gave ourselves to each other."
"You listened to me, and it has made me feel better," I said as I slipped my arm around his waist. "I only wish we had more than just a few days to learn more about each other."
"We can learn much in seven days, Caine and, we will fill the evenings and mornings with love," he whispered drowsily, softly kissing my hair. "I want to know more about you."
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"And I want to know more about you, Peter." I whispered listening to the steady strong beat of his heart and his slow even breathing as he fell asleep with his arms around me.
A feeling of bliss surrounded me as I lay in his powerful arms, his warm body pressed to mine. Memories of when Geoff and I had lain holding each other that first time floated in the recesses of my mind, and my heart was filled with a feeling that was much the same then as I was feeling for Peter. I didn't want to lose that feeling again; but a little voice inside of me whispered, "hope does not always spring eternal, and he lives a half a world away in Macedonia."
The hiss of the water and the soft warm breeze floating though the open door filled the room as I drifted off.
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