Rhett found the drawer and was back with the lube in his hand before I could even roll over. He stilled me with his warm hand on my leg. “Wait, I want to see you first.”

I laid back and waited for whatever he had for me. He unsnapped the lid, the plastic pop punctuating the silence of the room and poured some lube into his hand. He gave me a wicked grin, and my heart pounded with anticipation.

Finally, finally, we were going to be together completely. My cock stiffened further, watching him as he closed his hand and warmed the lube. He ran so hot, it wouldn’t take long.

He leaned over me, his presence looming in a sexy intense way. “I’ve never done this before,” he said.

“Had sex?” I teased, lifting my knees back up. The anticipation of him, of his size, of his presence, was taking over my mind.

He laughed. “No, bare. I’ve never done this bare. But it feels right with you.”

My heart surged. “Me neither,” I admitted. “I never wanted to, but now I do. I really do.”

“Are you okay facing me?” sudden concern in his voice. “I want to see your face but I want you to be comfortable.”

“I want to be more than comfortable,” I said. “Enough! You’re driving me crazy. Take me!”

A fire blazed through Rhett’s eyes. He knelt on the bed, settling himself between my legs. His hot fingers slid down in between my cheeks, slippery and hot. I tipped my hips up toward him. “Yes!” I moaned.

He held his cock in one hand and slid his hand down my thigh with his other. Soon he replaced his fingers with the tip of his large erection. He slid himself up and down against my asshole. The sensation sent shocks of electricity through me.

It had been a long time. I suddenly wondered how he was going to fit. I’d never been with someone as big as him. I wanted it anyway. If it hurt, I wanted that too. It would hurt so good.

I pushed myself against his cock and he pressed himself into my opening. It burned, so tight and hot, the stretching impossibly firm and almost unyielding. My body resisted him, the rim of my ass too small to yield to his push.

But he slid back and then pushed again. His eyes met mine, and in the semi dark, we fell into each others’ gazes as he pushed himself into the most intimate part of my body. Inside me. We breathed in sync, saying nothing and everything all at the same time.

The burning continued. It felt so good. Finally he was past the fire, and pushed one inch at a time, further and further inside me. He slid himself in, where nothing had ever been so wide and so far. Everything was him, everything was this moment, everything was this burning…pleasure.

And then, he slid against that spot inside me and everything burst into pleasure. I gasped. “Yes!”

He smiled, knowing he’d found me, knowing he filled me. He slid back and forth, pushing further each time until finally he was fully seated, balls deep. My own erection throbbed against his stomach.

There’s a fine line between pleasure and pain, and sometimes those two things inhabit the same space. Rhett’s cock, buried deep inside my ass, consumed me with pleasure and pain, and an intimacy I had never experienced.

He smiled at me and leaned over, caging me in his arms. He wrapped himself around me as I wound my legs around him.

We held our positions, not moving for a moment, reveling in the tight pleasure. Rhett whispered in my ear. “Oscar. I love you.”

Joy exploded inside me and my heart felt so full it was going to burst. “I love you too, Rhett.”

He held himself up a little and kissed me with his hungry mouth. I met his lips and tongue and we made out like there was nothing else in the world. He slid his hips back and forth, slowly moving his girth in and out inside my tight channel.

I ran my arms down his back and gripped his impossibly firm ass in my hands. I wrapped my legs tighter around him. I was going to come hands free. I was so close, and he was making sure to slide his stomach against my throbbing length as he moved.

I just needed a little more. Just a little more. I gripped his ass hard, and whispered in his ear. “Fuck me.”

That was all he needed. He groaned and shoved into me hard. Fast. My orgasm was right there, right at the edge. I just had to reach out and take it, but I held off. I wanted to feel this for as long as possible. I cried out, enjoying the ecstasy, knowing it would push him to the same edge.

Then he was fucking me. I mean like really fucking me. He jackhammered his cock in and out, slamming against me so hard all I could do was relax and hold on for the ride. He dominated my helpless reception, and the pleasure climbed higher and higher, more than I’d ever felt.

I felt my eyes roll back in my head as I moaned his name, each word punctuated by his pounding into my body. “Rhett! Rhett! Oh god, Rhett!”

And then I could hold back no longer, I couldn’t make it stop. It flooded over me, like a mile-high dam exploded, and nothing could hold back the infinite power of the river behind it. Come sprayed out of me, spurting in thick ribbons all over our stomachs.

Rhett kept fucking me, now sliding his stomach against my release that wouldn’t stop coming. His weight felt so good against my sensitive cock. The room filled with the smell of sex, the sounds of Rhett’s groaning, my heavy breathing, and the thick fleshy sounds of relentless fucking.

His cock jumped and thickened inside me. He roared and grabbed me tighter, jerking and pushing himself even harder and further, filling me with his hot seed. I’d never felt anything like it. I felt complete. Full.

His.

I held him close and as he came down from his orgasm, I stroked his back, rubbed his ass, and kissed his cheek. I ran my hand over his hair, pushing it back from his damp face. He smelled so good, like man and musk — and Rhett.

He panted and let me pet him as our fucking gradually turned into gentle cuddling with his slowly softening cock still inside me. Finally he withdrew and we rolled to our sides, still touching and stroking.

This wasn’t just fucking. It was making love. He kissed me on the lips and looked into my eyes. Our bodies were still entwined and come was everywhere. He smiled and rubbed it around and into our skin. I laughed, and finally relaxed. I took a deep contented breath.

“Thank you for coming home,” I whispered, my emotions suddenly bubbling up in my chest.

Rhett’s face burst into a wide smile that went all the way up to his crinkled eyes. “Aww, Oscar. Thank you for accepting my invitation to the auction and standing up in front of the town.” He tipped his head down and kissed me on the lips. “And for bringing me home.”

I kissed him back, full of love and happiness. “That was a scary moment for me, but I couldn’t stand being away from you any longer.” I stroked my fingers on his stubbled chin. He was so beautiful.

“I was going to do just about the same thing after the auction. I just had to get through all of that. It was a lot of reading to memorize…” he trailed off, frowning.

“Hey, you did great with that,” I said, forcing him to meet my eyes. “I know how hard you must have worked on that.”

He blushed a little. “Thanks. All the tricks we figured out helped me get through the prep. It helped a lot to have Tiger there with me too.”

“Speaking of you and Tiger,” I said. “I wanted to ask you something.”

Rhett lowered one eyebrow, like he was thinking and wondering at the same time. “Ask me?”

My heart pounded. I knew this was a big question. “I am not going to exploit our relationship, but…”

“But…?” Rhett puzzled.

“Can I tell the internet you are my guy? That we’re together? That you’re it for me?”

A laugh tumbled from Rhett as he grinned his irresistible smile. “I would be honored.” He smiled and looked thoughtful for a moment. “I like belonging to you. And to Tiger.”

I snuggled a little closer. “It feels good, doesn’t it.” For the first time in a long time — that I could even remember, I felt relaxed. Loose. Happy.

“It does,” he said, pulling me close. He buried his nose in my neck and inhaled. I snuggled up into his warm embrace.“I belong to you and you belong to me. And maybe someday…” He stopped mid-sentence like he thought better of what he was saying.

My heart filled with love for my Rhett. I urged him in my hug. “You can say it,” I said. “It’s okay.”

He sighed. “Deep down inside, part of me is still that boy who didn’t belong to anyone. Leroy and Norma taking me in and making me their son did a lot for me, and I know I am theirs. But there was still that little part that didn’t think I got to have — this.” He gripped me tighter and slid his cheek against my hair.

My heart surged for him again. “Except you do get this. Now you belong to me. And to Tiger.” I knew what he had tried to say, and decided to take the plunge myself. “And maybe someday, we can have our own wedding, and include our awesome dog too.” My heart pounded as I said the words, even though I knew or hoped he felt the same way.

Rhett leaned back and looked into my eyes, searching them back and forth in amazement. His blue eyes were dark in the moonlit room, but I could see them shining with tears. I realized mine were too. “I would like that very much,” he whispered.

He stroked my hair out of my face, and ran the back of his fingers along my chin.“We can build a family.” His voice was filled with wonder as he said the words.

I smiled, leaned into his touch and kissed his palm. “Oh Rhett, we already are a family. Like you said, we both knew what this really was, even from the first day.”

Rhett laughed, and ran his fingers up and down my arm. “You’re right. And all it took was some crazy misguided fan to send me a dalmatian puppy via courier.”

I laughed out loud and he joined me, amused at the absurdity of how we met.

“The universe works in mysterious ways,” I said. “And we both know just one dog can change your entire life.”

Rhett smiled happily. “He sure changed mine.” Just then, a whine and the sound of a jangling collar interrupted our cocoon of solitude. Rhett chuckled. “Dog,” he said, as if no other explanation was required.

I rolled back to allow him to extricate himself. As he sat on the edge of the bed putting his clothes back on, I admired his broad and muscled back. The contentment I felt earlier washed over me again. “I’m happy,” I said, meaning it.

Rhett stopped what he was doing, and then turned around to look at me. He looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, “You know what? I am too.” He smiled at me, and he looked like he was telling the truth. He considered. “It feels good.” He nodded to himself.

I scrambled to the edge of the bed and looked for my clothes. “I’ll go with you to take Tiger out.”

Rhett smiled at me. “Okay. I can’t wait to see the middle-of-the-night stars here this time of year.”

Tiger was raring to go. “I’m going to take him off leash,” Rhett said. “I bet he needs to run around for a minute.”

“Good call,” I said. He opened Tiger’s gate, held his hand out for mine, and the three of us stepped out through the doorway into the moonlit night.

The sky seemed more enormous than usual, and the stars filled up all the spaces. The fall air had a slight chill, and it made the whole world seem bigger.

After he did his business, Tiger came back to Rhett like he’d been taught. Rhett praised him and then threw a ball for him. Tiger barked, excited we were staying outside for a while, and zoomed after the ball.

Rhett put his arm around me and I leaned against him. “Has your new tenant moved in yet?” he said.

“Not yet. But he should be here soon,” I said. “I think you’ll like him.”

“Even though he did force me out of my home,” Rhett joked.

“It seems to have worked out,” I pushed my weight against him and then snuggled in closer. Then I remembered something. “Hey, so does this mean you will teach me to ride a motorcycle?”

Rhett chuckled and pulled me closer. “Actually, I was thinking I should sell mine.”

“Really?” The surprise threw me into full-tension mode. Why would he do that? “Why? I loved that feeling of wind rushing over me. I thought maybe we could do it together.”

I felt sad, maybe Rhett didn’t like me driving up the canyon with him after all.

Rhett pulled me back, and turned me around so he could gather me up in his arms. “Oscar. I don’t want either of us to unnecessarily risk our lives. I just found you.”

“Said the fireman,” I mumbled. I looked down at his shirt, staring at the buttons. I felt foolish and embarrassed, and I wasn’t sure why.

“I said unnecessary risks,” Rhett chided me gently. He tilted my chin up so I had to meet his gaze. “I thought I’d sell the bike and buy a convertible all three of us can ride in.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling even more embarrassed at my reaction.

Rhett grinned. “Life is pretty good when a convertible is considered a family car.”

I laughed and leaned against him, wondering what delights and adventures the future brought.

As if reading my mind, Rhett said, “We’re going to have fun. You, me, and Tiger.”

And I knew he was right.

~fin~

* * *

(You can see a gallery of all the Tiger illustrations all together at the end of the book.)