The morning sunlight warmed every muscle in my nude body as I stood up and stretched in the master bedroom of my penthouse. Tension melted away as I let my arms fall, and I looked out over my stunning view of Manhattan. It was another crisp fall day, and I was going to make it mine.

I glanced at my empty bed as I crossed the room to my dresser to pull out my usual jogging clothes. The bed was a little emptier than I liked around this time of year. The colder it got, the more I appreciated waking up next to a man with thick arms and big hands to keep me warm. A little something to relieve my tension in the morning wasn’t half bad, either. There was something special about waking up early next to a guy with a voice like distant thunder to whisper something dirty into my ear and head to the bathroom with me first thing.

The number of times I started the day pressed up against the cool glass of my own massive shower was almost embarrassing. But I knew what I liked, and a glance down at my thick shaft reminded me how long it had been since I’d enjoyed a morning like that.

It would have to wait a little longer. For now, I’d make do with my routine jog.

I slipped into my outfit, tied my shoes, and gave myself a once-over in the mirror. I had to smirk softly after that as I hurried out the door and headed downstairs. I liked looking good, but if I couldn’t laugh at my own vanity every now and then, I’d have to check myself.

Downstairs, I breathed in the brisk fall air and felt my heart beating faster at the sight of the endlessly blue skies above and the sound of leaves skittering across the sidewalk in the light breeze.

“Morning, Mr. Davenport,” said the doorman, an older gentleman named Colin. “Out for your morning jog?”

“I’m a creature of habit, Colin,” I said with a cheerful smile, already taking off and giving him a quick wave. “Couldn’t stay still if I tried!”

“Fine day for it,” he called after me, waving back.

I loved this time of year. Neighbors were out in droves, either jogging or heading out for picnics and any other outdoor fun they could squeeze in before rain struck again. I took off toward Central Park, jogging along the wide sidewalk that wrapped around it. I didn’t like to use earbuds. The sounds of the city’s morning buzz woke me up, and over time, I got to know some of the familiar sights, sounds, and even the faces of people who jogged around the same time as I did. Each morning was something slightly new, but never too distracting.

Today was shaping up to be no different until I saw an ass that almost stopped me dead in my tracks.

It belonged to a stunningly gorgeous, rugged man crouched on the pavement next to what looked like a lovingly restored, cherry-red antique convertible. He wore a scowl on his handsome face as he changed the rear left tire, and somehow, that whole ensemble only did his look more favors. He had a jawline I felt the urge to stroke, a heavy brow, and dark brown hair I wanted to run my hands over. The ass that grabbed my attention was hugged by tight jeans, and his statuesque torso was hidden by nothing but a tight T-shirt that teased me with every muscle rippling under the thin fabric. When my eyes drifted to the edge of the thick bulge outlined in his jeans, my knees nearly went weak.

I slowed down, and as I got close to him, he turned to look at me.

A pair of the clearest, most magnetic blue eyes I’d ever seen hit me with a gaze that struck like an arrow and made me come to a halt a few paces from him. Despite myself, I’d already started painting a mental image of him, naked and looming over me instead of that car, but his full lips blew my fantasy out of the water. In a single glance, he looked like he was both demanding to know why I dared to look at him and challenging me to come see what those lips could really do.

When he raised an eyebrow at me, it dawned on me that I had been staring openly at him for longer than most people would deem appropriate, so I hastily averted my gaze and came up with something to say.

I cleared my throat and asked, “Hey, you need a hand with that?”

The man looked at me hard for a moment, as though he was sizing me up. I could feel those blue eyes positively penetrating into my very soul, and I found myself irrationally concerned that maybe he could read my mind. I hoped he wouldn’t pick up on the lust I was feeling. It was way too early in the morning for an interaction that awkward.

Finally, he just shook his head and grunted, “No, thanks. I got it.”

“Oh,” I said, a little crestfallen.

But I quickly rallied my spirits and shrugged it off with a smile.

“Cool. Have a good one,” I added as I kept jogging past him.

“Mhm,” he murmured absently, turning his focus back to the task at hand.

As I went on, I left him behind, and yet my mind just could not seem to let go. All I could think about were those hypnotic blue eyes, the way they stared me down so unrelentingly, without an ounce of guile or pretense. There was something refreshingly honest and primal about the guy, I thought, even if I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

Come to think of it, I found myself wishing I could put more than just a finger on it.

Even as I jogged, my thoughts circled around the fantasy of what that stranger would look like naked. I could almost strip away his clothes with my mind. I would tug off that white T-shirt, toss away the red-and-black flannel shirt he had slung over his thick shoulders. I could almost feel my fingertips running over the powerful, tensing muscles of his chest. Those bulky shoulders and strong arms could so easily lift me, move me, toss me around. He could pin me to the wall without expending much effort at all, and I knew I would let him do it, too. I would feel his hot breath on my neck as he leaned in to kiss me there, his teeth just barely grazing my skin.

I got goose bumps just thinking about it.

I could feel my hands roving down over his taut, perfectly defined abdominal muscles, the way they rippled and tightened under my delicate touch. It would be an almost ticklish sensation for him as I caressed his stomach and pectorals, feeling the barely bridled strength radiating out from his tight core. The man was well built and solid, the kind of guy who could really take charge. He was the man of my dreams-- or at least this specific fantasy.

I imagined the two of us in the backseat of that glorious old Pontiac as we parked down by the docks. It was a little risky being there, of course, but that only added to the thrill of the moment. We would fog up the windows, his hands groping me, pushing me around, guiding me to straddle him. I would feel his cock straining through the coarse fabric of those pressed, dark jeans. I would roll my hips rhythmically, rutting against his powerful thigh as I slowly, teasingly unbuckled his black leather belt. He would kiss me hungrily, like he wanted to devour me whole, like I was the most irresistible man he had ever encountered.

It would be a struggle to force myself to take it slow, as I would be overcome with desire. I could vividly imagine what it might feel like to watch his hard, thick cock spring free, stiff and erect in the humid air of the backseat. I would lock my gaze with his, watching the pleasure in those gorgeous blue eyes while I wrapped both of my hands around his thick shaft. I would pump him slowly, letting my thumbs slide up and down the sensitive underside of his cock. I would take great delight in watching him sigh and shudder, his cock twitching with need in my grasp.

I stopped jogging for a moment to catch my breath, trying to force myself to stop fantasizing about the stranger I had just seen, but it was no use. I picked up the pace again and allowed my thoughts to drift back to him.

I wondered if he would beg me to suck him off or if he would be the silent, authoritative type. Would he tell me what to do, or would he just take my hands and move them where he wanted them to go? Either possibility sounded equally sexy to me. I knew he would be the kind of guy to moan and growl as I lowered my head, sidling down between his thighs. I would gently tug the engorged head of his cock between my lips, the tip of my tongue rigid as I teased him. I would do everything in my power to make him feel good.

What could I say? I was a people-pleaser, especially in bed.

I lived for the moment when he would groan and press his huge hands against the back of my head, urging me to take his full length down to the hilt. And I would happily oblige, sucking him down until the head of his beautiful shaft brushed up against the back of my throat. It was a ticklish sensation, the kind that made my own cock twitch and throb with need. But I would be generous. I would be patient. His pleasure would come before mine, and he would come before I did…

Suddenly, the wind picked up, rustling through the branches of the trees and causing a shower of dead fall leaves to waft down over me as I jogged. I shook myself out of my fantasy, reminding myself that the blue-eyed hunk may be exactly my type, but I had no way of knowing whether I was his. In fact, I reasoned with myself rather sadly, he probably wasn’t even into guys. That would be so typical, so like me to build up this intricate, elaborate fantasy in my head about a guy who wouldn’t even be into me on principle. Besides, he was so surly and gruff he clearly was not in the mood to be fawned over by some complete stranger on the sidewalk. I shook my head and kept jogging, turning my attention to just enjoying the cool air and the pleasant sensation of a good workout.

I turned in through an opening in the high gate enclosing Central Park and headed down my favorite trail. That was just what I needed: some lovely nature to distract me from my filthy thoughts and refresh my mind in preparation for the day’s work. I had much more noble projects to lend my brains to than fantasizing about some random hot guy I spoke to on the street for less than a full minute.

I had inventions to dream up, problems to solve, and solutions to present. That was my chosen role anyway, my position in the hierarchy of the world. I truly believed I was put on this planet to try and make it a better place by whatever means necessary. I was lucky enough to have the kind of analytical mind and unfailing motivation that made me a pretty damn good inventor. And despite the fact that I was a billionaire – and all the usual trappings of and connotations that came along with that fact – I also benefited from what one might call an altruistic outlook on the world. I was powerful, and I knew it. The kind of tax bracket I inhabited labeled me an outsider, an outlier, someone who was by default above and beyond the majority of the population. I was destined for more than simply cashing in on my scientific mind and go-getter attitude. I didn’t want to utilize my smarts as a means to the end of resting on my laurels and watching the world pass by from an ivory tower. That wasn’t me. Maybe when I was a little younger, a little more selfish, it would have been easy to just sit back and relax. But not now. I had too much energy, too much idealism to go to waste.

The more I thought about it, the more excited I was to finish my run and get back to the drawing board, so I picked up the pace. I took one more small lap around a section of Central Park before heading back the way I came, toward the high-rise apartment building I called home. As I so often did on these morning jogs, I retreated into myself, the cogs of my brain turning and turning. I was content to focus on the nanopores, the formulas, the materials that came together to form the water purification technology that had become my pride and joy, my pet project and my passion. In fact, I was so lost in thought that by the time I was within a couple blocks of home, under an especially well-shaded and empty segment of the sidewalk, I realized I was being followed.

I realized with a jolt that there was a white, windowless van driving slowly alongside me – too slowly to make sense. No sooner had I glanced over at it in confusion than the van hit the brakes with a piercing screech and the side door slid open. Two young men around my age and build climbed out of the van and came rushing toward me, arms outstretched, and hands curled into combative fists.

“Shit,” I swore under my breath as I started running faster, adrenaline kicking in.

I did my best to evade their grasp, but they were too fast for me. The first guy leaped at me, knocking me into the brick facade of a building with a painful crunch. I could feel the coarse bricks scratching at my bare arms as I struggled with the first guy, the second one hot on his heels.

“I don’t have any money on me. Fuck off!” I hissed through gritted teeth, even as my heart pumped wildly in my chest.

The second man reached us and muscled his way in next to the first guy while I pummeled at them both blindly with my fists. One of them grabbed my left arm while the other took my right, and it hit me that they weren’t just beating me up. They were trying to drag me into the van. My heels skidded on the pavement as I pulled back, trying to resist them as best I could. The open door of the van was only a few feet away, and while I didn’t know what these guys had in store for me, I knew it couldn’t be pleasant.

So, I rallied my strength and twisted violently, catching them off guard. Before they had a chance to regain the upper hand, I kicked the first guy hard in the knee. He cried out in pain and crumpled to the ground, knocking the second kidnapper down beside him. In the split second they let go of my arms, I swiveled around and took off sprinting down the sidewalk, not even daring to glance back for fear of what I might see. My heart was pounding, every nerve in my body on fire as I made quick work of the block and a half to my apartment building. I hurried to the entrance, and judging by the shock and urgency with which good ol’ Colin opened the doors, I must have looked downright insane.

“You alright, sir?” he asked, concerned.

I couldn’t even spare a moment to respond. I was in fight or flight mode, and the flight aspect was not about to let me hesitate for a second. I bolted across the lobby to the elevator, slamming the heel of my hand against the UP button.

“Come on, come on,” I muttered to myself, glancing back over my shoulder as the elevator whirred down to the ground floor. I knew I was probably in the safe zone now, since there was almost no chance of my attackers getting past Colin, but that was little comfort to me. The metal doors of the elevator slid open with a DING! and I jumped in, pressing the button for my floor with a shaking hand. I forced myself to take long, slow breaths as I rode up to my penthouse apartment, and by the time the doors opened and I fit the key in my lock, I was finally starting to calm down a little.

As soon as I was safely inside the vaulted foyer of my home, I grabbed my cell phone and began to call the police. As the line rang, I thought to myself how incredibly lucky I was to have escaped with my life. After all, I never did quite perfect the self-defense techniques my chief security officer, Susan, had tried to teach me.

“Hello, 9-1-1, what is your emergency?” asked the curt voice on the other end of the line.

Suddenly, I thought better of it and hung up without responding. I pinched the bridge of my nose with a sigh, realizing that it would be more hassle than help to get the police involved. Normally, I was all for reporting and doing my civic duty, but this time was different. In a few days, I was set to fly out to London for the unveiling of my water purification system involving nanopores. If I were to get bogged down in a police investigation, they would probably ground me here and I would have to miss out on the opportunity.

It wasn’t so much the hit to my own reputation, ego, or bank account that worried me; I was more concerned with getting my invention out into the world and finally making it an accessible solution for marginalized communities. I had done a lot of traveling as a younger man, mostly in third-world countries, and what I had seen out there impacted me deeply. I saw children struggling to get enough nourishment for survival. I saw homes decimated by natural disasters, families torn apart by oppressive policies or just by poverty itself. And most of all, I witnessed entire communities without access to potable, safe water. That became my obsession, the conundrum that consumed my thoughts and inspired me to create the nanopores system I generated. I was doing important work, not for myself, but for the world. Hell, there were still places in my own country where children had to drink brown, contaminated water. I was determined to fix that, and if that meant not reporting an attempted kidnapping and assault, then so be it.

Still, I knew I had to do something, so I settled on calling up Susan. I leaned against the kitchen counter as the line rang. She answered with the same terse intensity as always.

“Yep?” she greeted me gruffly.

I had to smile to myself despite how nervous I still felt. “Susan, you’ll never guess what just happened to me on my morning jog,” I said, cutting straight to the chase.

The literal chase, that is. I gave her a brief but descriptive account of what happened, feeling a chill run down my spine at the recollection.

“Have you contacted the police yet?” she asked, a little incredulous.

“No. I haven’t,” I admitted. “And I don’t plan to.”

“You’re kidding, right? You have to report that, Jamie. Someone – multiple people – tried to kidnap you and put you in a windowless van like this is some crime movie from the seventies. You can’t just let that go. I don’t care how tough you are,” she reasoned.

“I know, I know. But here’s the thing: I can’t miss that convention in London, alright? I just can’t. You can lecture me all you want, but I’ve made up my mind. I called you because you’re Chief of Security and I thought you ought to know what happened,” I explained.

“Well, if you’re not going to call the cops, you have to at least let me hire you some security to keep tabs on you,” she said brusquely.

I wrinkled my nose. “Security? Like, what? A bodyguard?”

She sighed audibly. “Yes. Like a team of bodyguards.”

“Uh, no. No, thank you. The last thing I need is an entourage, Susan,” I protested.

“Jamie, you’re a billionaire living in New York City. You’re an inventor, and the stuff you come up with often makes you a direct competitor with some big, shady corporations who would rather use those ideas for profit than for world peace or whatever it is you’re after these days. You can’t just shrug off a kidnapping attempt. What if they’d been successful, huh?” she said.

“Well, yeah. But they weren’t,” I pointed out.

I could positively feel her roll her eyes at me through the phone. “Look, sir. You have two options: either call the police and file a report or let me hire you some security. Take your pick.”

I groaned, staring up at the ceiling. “Fine. But no team of security, alright? Just one bodyguard will suffice. Any more than that and I’m going to feel like a celebrity or something.”

“Okay. Well, that’s better than nothing. I think I might even know a guy.”

“Good.”

I sighed, although I was no more excited about the idea than before.

“I’ll reach out to my guy and let you know, A-S-A-P,” Susan said and promptly hung up.

I stared down at the phone for a few seconds, my mind reeling. It was barely nine thirty in the morning. I decided the best option now was to shower off the grime of the morning, so I could finally get to work.

I headed down the hallway, stripping off my sweaty jogging clothes as I stepped into the bathroom. I turned on the rain shower and slipped inside, sighing with relief as the hot water pelted my sticky skin. I closed my eyes and felt my shoulders start to lower, my body easing out of panic mode under the therapeutic touch of the water. Now that I was safe inside my own apartment again, my mind started to wander back, past the kidnappers, past Central Park, back to the hot guy I saw changing a tire on the sidewalk.

His image sprang to the forefront of my mind, and once again, I couldn’t help but imagine him peeling off his clothes. This time, though, I pictured him in my own bathroom, letting his clothing drop to a pile on the floor before stepping into the shower with me. I stood there with my eyes closed, vividly imagining the way his hands would slide down my body, stroking my shower-slick skin, groping my ass. I could almost feel him grabbing me by the hips and spinning me around to press me into the shower wall, his hard cock rutting against my ass…

“Damn it.”

I sighed, opening my eyes to look down at my stiff cock. For a moment, I considered rubbing one out, letting the fantasy in my mind flower and bloom. But I had work to do, and besides, I wasn’t that desperate. Not yet, anyway.

I hastily finished my shower routine and then stepped out, wrapping a towel around myself as I stood in front of the fogged-up mirror. With everything going on right now, between the nanopores, the trip to London, and the scary incident with two men chasing me this morning, I definitely did not have the time to waste on fantasies. Sure, it had been a long time since I last allowed myself that kind of release with someone, but this was no time for lust. I had better things to do.