Romeo
As I left the saloon, I was thinking about the bartender I’d just met. Greg had been very friendly as we sat and talked for an hour over the two beers he served me. I didn’t get the gay vibe when he talked to me, just the sheer cheerfulness which came off the man in waves as he talked about the town. He sure loved it here, loved walking in the woods alone or with his friends. He’d made me feel welcome and I was grateful for it. Maybe my move to Prosper Woods was going to turn out to be the best thing I’d ever done. So far, all the people I’d met had been friendly with the only exception being Sid Farrell who ran the general store.
As I stepped outside, I lifted my face intending to look up and take a minute to gaze at the stars in the clear night sky. Instead, an odd feeling stopped me in my tracks and I turned to look down the street. Parked outside of a row of brick buildings which accommodated a handful of stores, was a large moving van. Two men were carrying a red couch into the building but they were not who drew my attention. A man with shoulder-length dark hair stood on the sidewalk, looking my way.
The second our eyes met, I felt a pulse of electricity like a shock running through my body. It was stronger than the one I’d felt when I’d shaken hands with Sid at the store… and vastly different as well. The pulse slowly ran over my skin like a wave and went straight to my cock. Inexplicably, I felt myself growing hard.
What the fuck?
I reached down and pressed the heel of my hand against the zipper of my jeans, silently willing my erection to go away. I had no idea what was happening to me but when the man smiled and began walking toward me, chills ran down my spine. I’d never had a reaction to another man like this before. Sure, I’d picked up a lot of guys who’d stared at me in clubs or stalked me around a room until I promised to dance with them, but I’d never felt like I was being drawn to someone by an invisible thread.
I stepped off the curb, still watching the man intently, and began walking toward him. My cock was straining against the confinement of my jeans and that very fact could prove impossible to explain. Oddly enough, for some strange reason, it didn’t seem to matter to me at all. I felt like I was in some sort of peculiar dream state. When he was twenty feet away from me, I noticed the fullness of his lips and the squareness of his jaw. The stubble on his chin fascinated me as he came closer.
The way he moved, striding confidently toward me, turned me on more than I wanted to admit. I’d always been attracted to assertive men and though I didn’t even know this man, I could tell he was a force of nature. He carried himself with an almost animal grace coupled with some sort of regal or military bearing. I could see that his legs were long, thickly muscled under the loose-fitting jeans he wore. The blue-and-white checkered shirt he was wearing untucked in a casual style looked sexy as hell on him, open at the collar where whisps of dark hair peeked out, offering a tantalizing display of skin beneath his clothes.
I wanted him. What the hell was wrong with me?
When he was ten feet away, I could just make out the color of his eyes. They sparkled like bright yellow topaz. He stopped in front of me and I realized I’d stopped as well, standing a few yards from where I’d begun walking toward him. I was staring at him and though I should have been embarrassed, the way I looked at him didn’t seem to trouble him at all. His smile grew wider and he stuck out his hand.
“Hello. I’m Vincent Lasco. You are?”
He spoke with a deep voice and it came out almost like a purr. I instantly liked the sound of it.
“Romeo… uh, Rome. Rome Harmon,” I stammered.
Lasco’s smile grew wider and I realized I’d just stumbled over my own name. I was an idiot… an idiot with a massive hard-on. The man’s nostrils suddenly flared and he glanced down, his gaze seeming to zero in on my crotch. It was impossible for him to smell the precome that was leaking from me but without even looking down, I knew the bulge in my jeans betrayed the reaction I was having to him. I seemed to have no control at all over my own body.
Fuck me.
I shook myself as he casually lifted his gaze, meeting my eyes again. His seemed to be filled with amusement. I reached out to grasp the hand he offered. He looked back up just as my fingers closed around his calloused hand. This time, a jolt of electricity shot from my fingers all the way up my arm and if he hadn’t been clasping my hand, I would have stumbled backward. He smiled at me and tightened his grip, not letting go.
“It’s nice to meet you… Romeo Harmon.”
The deep voice that came out of him as he pronounced my whole name made me smother a gasp. It was as sexy as any I’d ever heard before and it took every bit of strength I had to let go of his hand. I wanted him soooo badly. I’d never had a reaction to a man like this before. I knew I was screwed.
“I noticed
