This story first appeared in issue 13 of the free gay fiction ezine Forbidden Fruit.

Night doesn’t fall in the forest; it creeps and slinks, twists and writhes and sucks you in before you know it’s there. One minute you’re tramping along, arrogant as only one of the human race can be. The next minute living blackness has you and you realize the dark is a sentient thing.

The sun still burned above the horizon when I left the cabin. I wanted to take some pictures of the sunset over the Smokies. A rock outcropping just over the hill provided the perfect vantage point. It shouldn’t have taken more than twenty minutes, thirty at most. I should have been curled up in the big armchair beside the fire well before full dark, sipping coffee and reading the cheap horror novel I bought at the airport.

I believe I lost the trail when I stopped to snap pictures of the trees on the way back. My God, what a sight it was, though. How could I resist? The level rays of the setting sun sparked a glittering fire in the ice coating the branches. The path seemed to wind through a cave of multicolored diamonds. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful. The obsessive photographer lurking inside me yawned, stretched, and calmly took control.

The beauty of the scene lured me one stunning picture at a time away from the trail, deeper into the forest. By the time I realized I could no longer see the branches, or the ground, or the sky, I was hopelessly lost.

I have no idea how long I wandered through the endless maze of trees, freezing and hungry and afraid. It felt like days. After hiking aimlessly until my legs gave out and I sank to the forest floor, I’d nearly convinced myself that it really had been days, that I had fallen into a dimension of never-ending night. I leaned against a massive spruce tree, too exhausted to feel fear or frustration. Above me, the rising wind sighed through the branches, sending a shower of snow onto my head. The tiny crystals made a tinkling music against the nylon shell of my jacket. It was lovely, and I smiled in spite of my frozen cheeks.

I’m going to die, I thought, and felt nothing. It seemed a peaceful enough way to leave the world. I’d led a full and adventurous life. My only regret was that I’d never found the one true love that everyone dreams of having.

No chance for that now, Dustin. I drew a deep breath of frigid air and let it out in a puff of white. I’d always said when it was my time to go, I wouldn’t fight it. This, I thought, was my chance to live up to that claim.

I tilted my head and gazed up into the winter night sky. A single white star shone through a gap in the branches, and I took a moment to make the obligatory wish, useless though it might be. To the east, the faint silvery light of the rising moon filtered through the roof of evergreens, sparkling in the mounded snow and ice-laced trees. The sight held such an ethereal beauty, I almost didn’t notice what it meant.

I had already snapped several photos before it hit me. The moon was rising. To the east. If I knew which way east lay, I could find my way back to my cabin.

I was no longer lost.

The knowledge drove me to my feet and sent me stumbling once again through the forest. Instantly, the darkness seemed to close in around me. Roots rose beneath my feet, trees loomed in front of me where I’d sworn the way forward was clear. Within minutes, the serenity I’d felt when I believed my life to be over was utterly gone, swallowed by a heart-pounding, visceral terror.

Behind me, something crashed through the undergrowth. I glanced over my shoulder, to see the branches whipping furiously in the wake of something that eluded sight. Something large, by the sound of it.

I didn’t wait to see what it was. Clutching my camera to my chest, I ran.

I ran until my lungs burned and my legs ached, but I didn’t dare stop. It seemed that every time I slowed, a snapping twig or heavy footfalls would sound behind me, and I would resume my punishing pace. If I stopped, I thought I would surely be torn limb from limb.

It seemed strange, I thought, that I should die this way. In my life, I’d laughed and cried, I’d experienced love and loss, soaring happiness and soul-deep sorrow. I’d debated philosophy with some of the greatest minds of the age and sat in eloquent silence with friends and lovers. Yet in the end, it came to this. Life or death. Putting one foot in front of the other until I dropped, or was caught.  I imaged this was what a rabbit must feel while running for his life with a hungry fox at his heels.

When a dark shape appeared directly in front of me, I couldn’t stop in time. I skidded, and my forehead hit something hard and solid with a resounding crack. The impact sent me falling backward into the snow. Pain flared through my skull and blurred my vision. I lay blinking at the huge fir looming over me. 

As consciousness began to fade, a shadow leaned over me. Within it I thought I saw a pair of eyes, big and bright and curious. Then the encroaching blankness swallowed my world, and I knew no more.

*****

When I woke, the first thing I noticed was that I was no longer cold. Magnificent warmth surrounded me, warmth I felt right down to my marrow. It was wonderful. I burrowed further into it, too comfortable to even open my eyes. Pulling the down comforter up to my ears, I let the crackle of the fire lull me into a light doze.

Wait a moment. Comforter? Fire?

My eyes flew open. I sat up, a little too quickly. When the nausea settled and the world stopped spinning, I saw that I was in a huge bed, piled with plump feather pillows and a thick red and gold comforter. The mattress was soft and deep, cradled in a simple wooden frame that smelled of cedar.

The room in which the bed sat was small and cozy, with roughhewn log walls and a floor of wide wooden planks strewn with colorful braided rugs. Plain red curtains covered the two windows. A sink, stove, and battered refrigerator clustered on the far side of the little room. A white wooden hutch stood against the wall next to the refrigerator. A small table and two chairs sat in the middle of the floor. To my right, a folding screen shielded the toilet and shower from view of the door that I assumed led outside. A fire roared in the large stone fireplace.

Obviously, someone had rescued me from the forest and taken me to their cabin. But there was only the single room, and it was utterly empty except for me. I wondered where my mysterious rescuer had gone, and when he or she would return.

As if in answer to my thoughts, the heavy door swung open, letting in a whoosh of icy air and a dusting of snow. I barely noticed the way my skin pebbled in the sudden chill, because what followed the cold and the snow was a walking wet dream of a man. Tall, broad-shouldered and slim-hipped, with golden-brown skin and rich mahogany curls peeking from beneath a dark red knit cap. A neatly trimmed beard and mustache framed the man’s wide, sinfully sensual mouth. Vivid blue eyes sparkled in the firelight.

The man smiled when his gaze lit on me, those lovely eyes crinkling at the corners. “Hey, man! You’re awake!”

I watched, stunned and tongue-tied, as the man set his armload of firewood on the hearth and pulled off his gloves.

“It’s about time, too,” he continued, removing his thick jacket and the knit cap and hanging them on a peg beside the door. “I was starting to worry. You’ve been out for a long time.”

I cleared my throat, trying to find my voice. “What... and, and who...?”

The clumsy words made me cringe. But my benefactor seemed to think nothing of it. Still smiling, he sat on the mattress beside me and pressed one enormous palm to my forehead. His hand was deliciously warm. I basked shamelessly in his touch.

He chuckled. “Well, you seem to have warmed up, anyway. You were half frozen when I found you.” His thick fingers felt delicately around the throbbing sore spot on my forehead. “You ran right into a branch. Knocked you out cold. It’s a good thing I was on the lookout for you.” Taking his hand from my forehead, he grasped my hand and shook it, his grip surprisingly gentle. “Name’s Jim, by the way. What’s your name?”

I cleared my throat. “Uh. Dustin LeFevre. What do you mean, you were on the lookout for me? How could you possibly have known I’d be out there?”

“I’ve heard of you,” he said, ignoring my question. “You’re a journalist. I heard you wrote a series of articles on the Iraq war that raised a few hackles.”  Jim kept my hand in his, one thumb rubbing slow circles on the back of my hand. His gaze held mine, blue eyes full of a heat that shouldn’t have been there. “So how’d you end up lost in my woods, Dustin?”

The way he spoke my name caused all sorts of turmoil inside me. “I, um, I’m renting a cabin just outside Boone. There’s a rock outcropping only a short walk from the cabin. I wanted to take some pictures. The sun was setting as I was walking back, and the icy trees were so beautiful in the sunset, so I kept wandering further off the path to take more pictures. It got dark before I noticed, and I got lost.” I glanced frantically around the cabin as a sudden thought struck me. “Where’s my camera? And you didn’t answer my question before. How’d you--”

“Your camera’s in the hutch. It’s fine.” Jim rubbed his free hand over his beard. “Damn, Dustin. If you’re staying where I think you are, you walked about eight miles before you got to my lands. You were damn lucky you didn’t go over the edge of the mountain. There’s a few pretty scary drops out there.”

He was right, of course. I was very lucky indeed to be alive, and I had him to thank for it.

“Thank you,” I blurted. “For rescuing me. I thought I was going to die out there.”

Letting go of my hand, he cupped my cheek in one large palm. My heart fluttered at the feel of his calloused fingers on my skin.

“The forest wouldn’t have let you die. It was sending you to me.”

I didn’t find that entirely reassuring. “What do you mean?”

“I’m glad you finally woke up.” Jim’s voice had dropped low. The blatantly seductive tone made me instantly forgive him for ignoring yet another question of mine. His hand trailed down my neck, eyes following the movement of his fingers. “I’ve been waiting for you a long time. I don’t want to wait anymore.”

Something, I thought, was not quite right here. Ignoring the surprisingly strong desire to jump on him and beg him to take me, I drew away and wrapped my arms around my bent-up knees. “Jim, you saved my life, and I’m grateful. But I think you should tell me what’s going on here. You’ve said some very strange things to me, and I don’t know whether to think you’re crazy, or I am.”

He gave me an infuriatingly serene smile. “Neither of us is crazy, Dustin. You need me, and I’ve been waiting for you. The forest brought you here now because the time was ripe.”

“There’s nothing mystical or magical about this situation,” I argued. “I got lost in the woods. I inadvertently injured myself. You found me and brought me here. Wherever ‘here’ is.”

“This place is where it is. No one comes here unless they’re meant to.”

“How enigmatic,” I mumbled. Sighing, I started to climb out of bed, and abruptly realized I was naked. I clutched the covers around me. Normally, nudity doesn’t bother me. But in the presence of a man who resembled a woodland god, I felt uncharacteristically self-conscious about my body. I looked positively undernourished compared to Jim.

“Jim,” I said. “Why am I naked?”

“Your clothes were soaked. I had to take them off.” Jim grinned. “Can’t say I didn’t enjoy it.”

Heat crept into my cheeks. The thought of Jim undressing me, touching my nude body, turned me on more than I wanted to admit. Blood pooled in my groin, filling my cock so that it tented the sheet covering my lap. I was glad of the thick comforter that hid my condition from Jim.

Jim evidently wasn’t having any hiding from me. In a movement almost too quick to follow, he yanked the covers off of me, baring my obvious excitement to him. His gaze swept down my body, then back up to meet my eyes, and time stopped.

It was a pivotal moment. I knew what happened next would depend entirely on my reaction. I could cover myself, indignantly demand that he refrain from such inappropriate behavior, insist on being given clothes and a ride to the nearest town. That would be the proper thing to do. Especially considering his evident lack of any connection to reality.

The other option was to give in. To ignore all the questions he hadn’t answered and give myself over to the man who had saved my life. A man who aroused my desire like no one else ever had. I hadn’t been with a man in far too long. My body craved a lover’s touch.

I was still debating with myself when Jim leaned toward me and pressed his lips to mine. The kiss was chaste and gentle, so light I barely felt it. He pulled back, a question in his eyes. He was clearly leaving the decision of whether to take it further up to me.

Maybe it wasn’t the smart thing to do. But the moment Jim’s lips touched mine, my decision was made. Burying my hands in Jim’s hair, I pulled him to me and kissed him again.

I’m not sure what I expected from him. Probably typical Alpha male behavior, considering his size and the sense of power that rolled off him in waves. I think I expected to be manhandled, to be taken forcefully. I can’t pretend I wouldn’t have enjoyed it, actually, in spite of my throbbing headache and persistent queasiness.

I quickly learned that Jim was a man who defied expectations.

Jim purred like a great cat when my tongue parted his lips and slipped into his mouth. He folded me into his arms, pulling me close. His hands were warm and gentle, and his skin smelled like earth and sweat and desire. His kiss was slow, tender and quite thorough, his hands mapping my body with infinite care. My skin sparked in the wake of his touch, until I burned all over. I thought the light of the fire inside me could surely be seen from space.

When he picked me up and laid me down on the mattress, my heart rate instantly doubled. Laying his big hands on my thighs, he pushed them gently apart, and I let him. He stared at my erection the way a man who hadn’t eaten for a month might stare at a lavish feast.

“Fucking hot,” he growled, then bent and took my cock into his mouth.

I let out a most undignified whimper. But his mouth felt so good, his lips and tongue working me with expert precision, I couldn’t find it in me to care how desperate I sounded. Relaxing against the pillows, I raked my fingers through Jim’s riotous curls and held his head still while I fucked his mouth.

I was a bit surprised that he let me do that, but my God, was I glad of it. I’d been working like a demon for months before this impromptu vacation, and I hadn’t been with anyone in ages. Jim’s forwardness brought out all the pent-up sexual need I’d been suppressing for so long. I couldn’t have stopped myself from taking what I wanted from him, even if I’d wanted to. And I didn’t want to.

The time that lapsed between Jim wrapping those luscious lips around my prick and me shooting down his throat was embarrassingly short, but I didn’t care. Something about the man put me completely at ease and evaporated the self-consciousness I might have felt with a different man. I lay there panting, my body tingling from head to toe, not minding in the least that I was naked with my legs spread while Jim was still clothed.

“Mmmm,” Jim hummed, licking his lips. “Tastes good.”

I gave him a happy, satisfied smile as he pulled his boots off and lay down beside me. “That was amazing, Jim. Are you going to let me return the favor?”

He scooped me into a warm, comforting embrace, cuddling me against his big body. “Maybe later. Right now, I think you should sleep some more. When you wake up, you should feel back to normal, and you can do whatever you want with me.”

I wanted to argue. I wanted badly to see, touch and taste the massive organ currently digging into my thigh through his jeans. But my eyelids were drifting closed, drowsiness engulfing me like a blanket. I rested my head against Jim’s wide chest, letting the steady beat of his heart lull me into sweet slumber. I drifted to sleep to the sound of his breathing and the feel of his arms protectively around me.

*****

I’m not sure how long I slept, but it must have been quite a while. When I’d fallen asleep, it had still been dark outside. By the time I opened my eyes, the little room glowed red with the light of the sunset seeping through the curtains. I’d rolled off of Jim sometime during the hours we’d evidently been asleep, and now lay curled in a ball, facing the wall of the cabin. I could feel Jim’s solid warmth at my back.

I sat up, moving carefully. The pain in my skull had faded away, and I no longer felt nauseated. As a matter of fact, I felt more rested and vigorous than I had in years. I grinned. It seemed ironic that getting lost in the woods and incurring a mild head injury could lead here, to this place, and this man.

I gazed at Jim, who lay sprawled on his back, taking up three-quarters of the huge bed. His eyes were closed, long dark lashes throwing lacy shadows on his cheeks. One hand lay curled on the pillow beside his head. The other groped blindly until it rested on my thigh. He rumbled and lay still. The heat of his hand spread in a wave to engulf my body, and before I knew it I was hard.

Jim’s fingers were so close to my testicles I could feel the electric pull of the almost-touch. I sat there, watching the sunset glow fade from the room and wondering how much Jim would mind if I woke him. Not much, I hoped, considering that I fully intended to beg him to fuck me.

Funny how I automatically assumed Jim would be a top. Or perhaps it was simply wishful thinking. I had no firm preference regarding top or bottom, but I felt I would die if I couldn’t have Jim’s cock in my ass.

I sat quietly for a few endless minutes, watching Jim sleep. Finally I couldn’t stand it anymore. Rising to my knees, I unbuttoned Jim’s jeans and tugged the zipper down. Jim stirred, brow furrowing, but didn’t wake. Watching his face, I reached into his black briefs and pulled out his half-tumescent cock.

It was impressive, even without being fully hard. He was uncut. I hadn’t sucked an uncut cock in a long, long time, and the thought of wrapping my lips around this magnificent specimen made my mouth water. Seeing no good reason to deny myself, I bent forward and took him into my mouth.

A low, rough moan emerged from his lips as I swallowed him down. I flatter myself that I’m rather talented in the fine art of fellatio. The speed with which his prick hardened seemed to bear out that opinion. Within seconds he was fully erect, filling my throat and stretching my jaw wide. I gulped down as much of his length as I could manage, rolling his heavy balls between my fingers.

I was so caught up in the feel of him in my mouth, his salty taste and intoxicating male scent, that I didn’t notice he’d woken up until he grabbed me by the hair and pulled me off of his cock. I looked up. He was staring at me, cheeks flushed and lips parted, azure eyes heavy-lidded and hot with lust.

“Dustin,” he said, with a delicious growl in his voice. “That mouth of yours is just made for sucking cock. But I don’t want to come in your mouth. I want that hot little ass.”

My mouth went dry. “Where’s the lube and condoms?”

He sat up, chuckling. “Lie down. I’ll get the lube.” Pushing me gently onto my back, he leaned over and kissed me. “We don’t need condoms. I’m clean.”

He didn’t seem to care whether or not I was clean. Luckily for him, I’d always been pretty anal -- pun intended -- about safe sex and regular testing.

I tried not to dwell on the fact that for the first time in my sexual history, I wasn’t insisting on a condom. Apparently my price for taking a man at his word was a cock so big my anus throbbed just looking at it. I told myself he probably couldn’t find rubbers to fit that monster anyway.

“I hope you’ll undress this time,” I told him, watching as he stood and crossed the room to rummage through the drawer of the hutch. “I’m beginning to feel a bit overexposed.”

“You’re meant to be naked here,” he said, reminding me how very odd he really was. Grinning, he sauntered back to the bed, a bottle of liquid lube clutched in his hand. He tossed it onto the bed. “Start stretching yourself. I’ll give you a nice strip show.”

My cock twitched, excited by the thought of Jim watching me prepare myself as much as by the anticipation of finally seeing the man naked. I opened the lube, coated my fingers and slid my hand between my splayed thighs.

Pulling one leg up to my chest, I pushed a single finger into my body. “I’d hoped to feel your fingers inside me, not my own,” I said, watching with hungry eyes as he slowly unbuttoned his shirt.

“Oh, you will. Matter of fact, I can’t wait to finger that sweet hole of yours.” He shrugged his shirt off, revealing muscular arms, six-pack abs and a defined chest liberally sprinkled with dark hair. “But my fingers are kind of big. You want that, obviously, but that doesn’t mean I’ll let you be hurt. So you start things off yourself, and I’ll take over when you’re ready.”

I smiled, touched by the care he was taking with me. I pressed two more fingers into myself, just to show him how ready I was. “Get naked, and come fuck me.”

“Goddamn,” he breathed, his gaze glued to my ass. Swiftly shucking his jeans and socks, he climbed into bed, pulled my hand from between my legs and pinned my wrists above my head. “You’re a hot little thing, aren’t you?”

“I try.” I licked my lips. His body was a solid weight between my legs, his nearness making me dizzy with desire. “God, kiss me.”

He did, capturing my lips in a kiss that curled my toes. His tongue darted into my mouth, quick and aggressive. The tenderness of the previous night remained in his gentle caresses, but his kiss burned with the same need that thumped through my body.

When he broke the kiss, I let out a cry of protest. He smiled and kissed my nose. “Turn over, Dustin. I can’t wait much longer to fuck you, and you need more stretching if you’re going to take my cock.”

He sat back on his heels. I took a good, long look at his naked form. God, he was incredible. “You’re like a dream come true, do you know that?”

Jim laughed. “Yes. I am your dream. Turn over.”

I knew that later, I’d want to discuss his alarming propensity for mysterious statements such at that. But at the moment, I couldn’t think past the need for sex. I rolled obediently onto my stomach. Keeping my chest pressed to the mattress, I tucked my knees underneath me, raised my ass into the air and spread my legs.

Jim’s sharp intake of breath told me what he thought of my wanton display. I turned my upper body until I could see Jim’s face. His mouth hung open. His blue eyes were locked onto my ass. One big hand circled his cock. The other reached out and stroked the length of my crease, one fingertip lightly circling my entrance. The feathery touch made my insides clench.

“Jim,” I moaned. “Please, please...”

I wasn’t sure if I was begging for his cock, or for something more. I didn’t want to consider what it meant if I already wanted more than sex from him.

“Don’t worry. I’m dying to get my dick inside you.” The warmth of Jim’s touch retreated from my anus, only to return a few seconds later, his fingers slick with lube. “But I don’t want to hurt you, and I sure as hell don’t want to do any damage. So let me play for a while. Let me warm you up.”

Jim’s fingers being the size they were, that was fine with me. I moaned and fisted my hands in the comforter when one thick digit slid deep inside me to nudge my prostate. “God, yes. That’s good.”

“Mmmm. Nice and tight.” He added another finger. My muscles tightened against the invasion, then relaxed as he pumped and twisted, fucking me with his fingers. “You open up just as easy as anything. I bet I could get my whole fist in you if we worked at it a while.”

The idea excited me more than it frightened me. But I didn’t think I was ready for that just yet. “Maybe another time. Right now, I want your cock.”

Jim poured more lube on my ass. It trickled down my crease, oozing a slow, tickly river over my balls. He wormed two more fingers inside me, and I cried out at the hot pain spiking through the pleasure. Surely he wouldn’t...

“Don’t worry,” he growled. “I won’t fist-fuck you until you want it. But damn, it’s tempting.” He drew his fingers out of me. “Get on your back again. I want to watch your face while I fuck you.”

Normally, face-to-face wasn’t my favorite position. But for Jim I’d make an exception. Watching those beautiful eyes haze over and that handsome face contort with orgasm would be worth the backache I was going to have later. I flipped onto my back, hooked my hands under my thighs and drew my legs up, exposing myself to him. The fire in his eyes told me he liked seeing me that way.

“God, Jim,” I murmured, staring into his eyes. “I want you.”

“You got me.” Opening the lube again, he poured a handful, tossed the bottle aside and slicked his cock. “You ready, Dustin?”

“Yes.” I reached down and spread myself open, loving the way Jim’s pupils dilated at the sight. “Take me.”

“Hell yeah.” Scooting forward until his knees almost hit my backside, Jim took his thick cock in his hand and pressed the tip to my entrance. “Breathe, baby. This is gonna be tight.”

If I hadn’t held his prick in my hand, hadn’t had my mouth around it, I would’ve thought he was overstating his case. But I had, and he wasn’t. I took a deep breath and slowly let it out, bearing down as he pushed. After a moment of resistance, the head of his prick popped inside.

“Oh God,” I gasped as his girth stretched me wide, the tight burn zinging through me.

Jim instantly went still. “You okay?” He stroked my thighs in a slow, gentle caress. I could feel my the tension draining from my muscles in the wake of his touch.

I nodded. “Fine. Feels good.” I rested my calves on his shoulders and ground my ass against him as best I could in that position. “Move now. Fuck me.”

Jim groaned. Turning his head, he dropped a kiss on my leg where it draped over his shoulder. Then he grasped the backs of my thighs in his hands, holding my legs up and apart, and shoved his cock deep inside me with one smooth thrust.

He held perfectly still for a moment. We stared at each other, and I felt as though those summer-sky eyes were piercing me right to my soul. His chest and abdomen glowed with sweat, muscles sharply defined. The light of the fire turned his crown of wild curls into a shining halo.

You’re beautiful, I thought, and he smiled as if he could hear me. At that moment, it wouldn’t have surprised me to learn he could.

When he began to move at last, the world shattered around me, and I knew I would never again settle for another. His shaft filled me like I’d never been filled before, pulsing inside me. I felt every inch of his massive prick sliding against my insides. He was big enough to hit my gland with each stroke, which soon had me writhing with impending orgasm.

I grasped my cock and started to jerk myself off. Jim slapped my hand away. I blinked stupidly at him, unable to articulate my protest. Grinning, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me up to straddle his lap, his cock still buried inside me. I wound my arms around his neck and tilted my head to receive his kiss.

“So close, Dustin,” he whispered against my lips, his voice tight. “Wanna come in your ass.”

I was beyond speech at that point. By way of answer, I clenched my hole around his shaft and kissed him deep. Keeping one arm firmly around my waist, he wrapped the other hand around my cock, pumping me in time with his thrusts into my body. His hips pounded hard and fast, driving his prick so far inside me I could practically taste it.

I came with his tongue down my throat and his cock slamming into me, and it was like being reborn.

Jim wasn’t far behind. My cock was still twitching dribbles of semen onto his hand when he went still, groaned, and came, coating my insides with his release. I kept kissing him, stroking his hair while his orgasm shuddered through him. Holding him while he poured himself into me, I felt lighter than air, giddy with the joy of feeling him come inside me.

How long we sat there with his softening prick inside me and my legs around him, kissing and caressing each other, I have no idea. Time had stopped for me, and I didn’t care if it never started again. I felt warm and blissfully happy, mind and body buzzing with an entirely unfamiliar feeling. It took me a while to recognize it, because it had been so long since I’d last felt it.

Here in this little cabin in the forest, with this strange and wonderful man I’d only just met, I’d found something I hadn’t encountered in years of searching-- peace.

I thought about that as our kiss broke at last and I rested my head in the curve of Jim’s neck. I’d traveled the world several times over. I’d wandered the teeming streets of Cairo, penetrated Borneo’s green jungles, and hiked the snow-capped slopes of the Himalayas. Nowhere, in any locale exotic or mundane, had I experienced the sense of belonging -- the sense of peace -- that I’d found here. And I knew without a shade of doubt that having found this, I could never give it up.

For the first time, I wondered if his ramblings about the forest bringing me to him were true after all. I found myself hoping they were.

“God, Dustin,” Jim sighed, fingers tracing the length of my spine. “That was amazing.”

“It was.” Lifting my head, I gazed into his eyes with a smile. Limpid pools, I thought, though I kept it to myself. A professional writer should never be reduced to speaking those words, no matter how true they are. “Do you suppose there’s a practical way for us to go about our lives with your cock remaining up my ass? Because I’m not entirely sure I want to let it go.”

He laughed and gave my rear a light smack. “Well, I don’t see how I can keep it up you all the time. But if you stay here you can have my dick anytime you want, which is almost as good. I’m hoping you’ll stay.”

My mind was in turmoil. I truly didn’t want to lose the feeling of him inside me; even semi-soft, he didn’t fall out of me, but filled me enough to cause a constant current of pleasure to hum along my skin. But the larger truth was that I didn’t want to lose him. When he walked through the door of the cabin and his eyes met mine, all the scattered puzzle pieces of my life clicked neatly into place for the first time. It sounded horribly maudlin, but it was true nonetheless.

“Dustin?” Jim’s worried voice snapped me back to reality. He was staring at me with apprehension written all over his face. “Don’t you want to stay with me?”

His words were utterly honest, full of a childlike innocence that should have been out of place in a man who still had his prick inside me, but somehow wasn’t. I gazed deep into his eyes, trying to find the right answer in them.

“I don’t want to leave you,” I confessed. “It’s completely crazy, I know, but I feel as though I belong here. With you.”

The happiness in his eyes was unmistakable. “You do belong here. It was meant to happen, Dustin. I’m what you need. Stay with me, and let me take care of you.”

I wanted to. God, I wanted to, and that frightened me terribly. My hand shook when I laid it on his cheek. “I want that. But I’m afraid, Jim.”

“Why?”

Why, indeed? I wasn’t sure. Jim didn’t scare me. Maybe he should have, but he didn’t. His essential gentleness was crystal clear to me, and instinct told me to trust him. What frightened me was the thought of leaving everything familiar in my life and stepping off the edge of the cliff into the unknown.

Maybe he sensed that, or maybe he saw it in my eyes. It didn’t matter how he knew, really. What was important was that he did know. He framed my face in his big, warm hands and gave me a sweet smile.

“I don’t know how to tell you what I am,” he said, his voice very soft. “Just know that I am yours. I’m your dream, your desire. You wished for me. Maybe you didn’t even know it, but at some point in your life you wished for me, and here I am. I’m made for you, and I’ve been waiting for you forever.”

Tears welled in my eyes. “Jim... I...”

He stroked my cheek, kissed my forehead. “Don’t think there’s no choice, love. There’s always a choice. If you want to go, I’ll take you to the borders of my land, and you can go back to your life. But I hope you’ll stay.”

I clutched him close, winding arms and legs tighter around him. “What would happen to you if I left?”

He gave me a sad smile. “I’m not sure. Maybe I’d stay here forever, all alone. Or maybe I’d just disappear. I don’t think that’s for me to know before it happens.”

The thought of Jim being alone, or not existing anymore, made my chest tighten with something like panic. I closed my eyes, laid my head on Jim’s wide, comforting shoulder, and tried to imagine returning to my life. My life without Jim. It seemed too empty and bitter to be born. In that moment, my decision was made.

“Will I be able to tell anyone what happened to me?” I asked, and kissed his shoulder.

“So you’re staying?”

I didn’t hesitate. “Yes. I am.”

He didn’t move, but a sense of pure joy vibrated through him. “Good.”

Lifting my head, I kissed his lips. He tasted sweet, like apples. I hadn’t noticed that before. “I can’t ever go back, can I? Not even to let anyone know where I am.”

“No. If you leave here, even for a minute, you won’t be able to come back.” He ran his fingers through my hair, and his eyes were sad. “I’m sorry it has to be this way, Dustin. But no one can live in both worlds. It has to be one or the other.”

I’d suspected as much, but having Jim confirm it hit me hard. Could I truly leave everything behind forever? I tried to think of someone who might wonder what had become of me, who might miss me or mourn my loss, and I couldn’t think of a single person. Oh, my agent would worry because of my outstanding contracts, the newspapers and magazines would run stories speculating on the cause of my disappearance. But I had no one waiting for me. No one whose heart would break if I never returned.

I had no one in my old life to love, who would love me in return. I had that here.

“Don’t be sorry,” I whispered. “I don’t believe I’ll miss that life.”

He smiled at me, and it made my soul sing. Cradling the back of my head in one palm, he bent and kissed me. I opened to him, tangling my fingers in his curls as the kiss deepened and grew heated. By the time we broke apart, his prick had begun to swell inside me.

“I’m hard again,” he growled, biting my bottom lip.

“I noticed.”

“Want to fuck you.”

I snickered as he thrust into me. “You already are.”

He grinned, eyes sparkling, and maneuvered us so that I lay on my back with him on top of me, my legs over his shoulders and his prick still firmly imbedded in my ass. “Are you happy, Dustin?” He pumped his hips, hitting my prostate and making me squirm. “I am.”

“Me too,” I panted, digging my fingers into his butt. “Talk later. Fuck now.”

He laughed and started to move inside me, and I forgot about everything else.

We made love for hours. At least I think it was hours. Time didn’t seem to mean much in Jim’s world. That was just fine with me. I never wanted it to end. I wanted to spend the rest of eternity in the grip of this all-consuming rapture.

When I came, with Jim shooting inside me at the same time, the thought running in a constant stream through my head was, And they lived happily ever after.

It was a good ending to the story of my life. An ending not many people had a chance to find for themselves. I wasn’t about to let my chance go.

Pulling Jim’s face down to mine, I kissed him, and we set about making our happy ending.