“I was just wondering where Mr Crowe was,” Joshua implored.
The man in the black bikini smiled, but his blue eyes reflected a quiet kind of melancholy, “He’s just in the kitchen I should think. It’s two doors down from here,” he gesticulated a direction. The only word Joshua could find to describe the man was beautiful. He had the palest skin Joshua had ever seen, contrasting strikingly with his black bikini, and his toned muscles around a slight frame gave him an ethereal appearance. Fair, almost white hair accentuated his pale skin, and he wondered how the man didn’t burn in the baking sun. The other man was much darker skinned and more thickset, with a more masculine attraction.
Just as Joshua turned to leave the darker man said, “You’re the newest arrival, aren’t you. Joshua, wasn’t it?” Josh nodded, “I’m Philip, and this is Cole. I’m sure we’ll get a chance to introduce ourselves properly later.”
Harry was making the finishing touches on two margaritas when he walked into the kitchen. Smiling, he handed one of them over to Joshua and looked him up and down,
“Wow,” he whistled, and he did look amazed, “I could just rip that tight little number off you right now.” Joshua laughed, surprised by his mutual appreciation of Harry’s skintight swimming trunks.
For a few minutes they made small talk — had Joshua had any problems with his room? Was there anything he’d like to know? How was college? Joshua mentioned bumping into Philip and Cole.
“Right then, Josh, how about I show you around a little? I won’t show you round the entire house — most of it is very tedious and you can discover where everything is in your own time.” He smiled at Joshua, “you are not simply my guest or my employee. You live here now, this is your house, your home. You’re free to do what you want, when you want,” he paused, and added with a grin, “except, of course, when I want something.”
Harry led him around the rooms that branched off from the entrance hall — a luxurious dining room with a long oak table and an enormous painting of a naked man lay to the side of the kitchen. Harry told a story of how he had come into possession of the painting, which was a famous original, but Joshua was only half-listening. There was a large bathroom with a bath that looked as if it were made for quite a few people to share and a large walk in shower. As well as the sitting room where Joshua had met Philip and Cole, there were two other sitting rooms, both with varying furniture. In one there was a cinema-sized flat-screen TV, below which ran three shelves with an extensive collection of porn videos — both gay and bisexual. After a stunned looked from Joshua, Harry simply shrugged,
“What’s there to hide? You know how things work here.”
Harry quickly got bored of giving his tour and suggested relaxing by the pool and meeting some of the guys,
“There are nine of us including you and I,” Harry told him as they walked through a door from the kitchen, into the gardens, “but I won’t line everyone up and introduce them all — far too officious. You’ll meet them eventually.”
The pool was not far from the house, and was fronted by a large pool house. Inside were a bathroom, a games room and a small gym. Joshua’s mind span when he tried to imagine the amount of money Harry had thrown at the house. Around the pool were a number of loungers, and a single figure lay on one at the far end of the pool, illuminated in the sun.
“Marcus,” Harry called, and the man sat up, “come and meet Josh.”
The man rose from the sunlounger and walked to them. He was a couple of inches smaller than Joshua, with tanned skin the colour of roasted hazelnuts — he obviously spent a lot of time in the sun — and a well-defined body; everyone here seemed to work out a lot. He walked with a playful swagger and exuded self-confidence with a treasure trail of hair that ran from his navel to disappear into a pair of gold silk briefs. He wore sunglasses with gold-tinted lenses and looked like a model. He took of the glasses as he reached them.
“Hi, nice to meet you,” Joshua extended his hand.
Marcus shook his hand with a teasing smile on his face, and said, with a slight southern drawl, “Very well-mannered shaking my hand. But here we usually greet each other like this.” He pulled Joshua towards him and kissed him powerfully, his tongue darting quickly to brush against Joshua’s. Marcus’ hand dropped and grabbed his buttock, causing him to move into the embrace. He felt their cocks press firmly together.
“Marcus, you tease,” Harry laughed, “you two just relax, I’ve got a phone call to make. I’ll be back in a few minutes,” and he walked back to the house.
Joshua and Marcus made themselves comfortable on sunbathed loungers. Uncovered, the heat was not as intense as it was before and with the reflections from the rippling water dancing across the floor, the moment was completely relaxing.
“Beautiful isn’t it?” Marcus asked.
“It really is.” Joshua wasn’t sure what exactly he was referring to, as he couldn’t really see where Marcus was looking behind the sunglasses, but he couldn’t disagree. Everything was beautiful — the lush lawns of grass with well-kept trees and shrubs; the hypnotic dipping and rising of the water; he couldn’t even deny that Marcus was beautiful, with his chiselled body and flirtatious personality. A few minutes passed.
“So, how did Harry find you?”
“I was working at the gas station in town,” he explained, “he came in to fill up the car and saw me. He must’ve taken a liking to me.”
“I can’t imagine why,” Marcus replied sarcastically, and now it was obvious that his eyes were roaming over his body and staring at the bulge beneath his black lace thong.
“What about you?” he asked.
“I met Harry just over two years ago at a business function. Yeah, he’s retired but he’s still involved in the business. They couldn’t let him go. Anyway, I was working behind the bar at the hotel he was staying in. It didn’t take much for him to persuade me to come here with him. There was nothing to stay for anyway, my family practically disowned me as soon as I came out-”
“So you’re gay, then?” Joshua hadn’t really thought about a gay man working for Harry. He’d assumed that everyone would have been in a similar position to him.
“Oh yeah,” Marcus laughed, “I think I’ve always known I was gay. So you’re straight?”
“I’ve been straight up until now, but can you still call this straight?”
Marcus smiled, “You surprise me, Josh. I thought you’d be one to deny being gay forever.” There were a few moments of silence, “So that means you’ve only ever been with a guy once, with Harry?”
“Yeah that’s it.”
“You’ve never fucked a guy?”
“No, I’ve done nothing with a guy. Except what happened with Harry.”
Marcus laughed a jovial, careless bark, “Man, you’ve been missing out.”
It seemed as though he was going to carry on, when a call signalled Harry’s return.
“I have more margarita,” he said as he settled into an adjacent lounger and he poured out three cocktails from a jug. Joshua sipped at his, but Marcus knocked his own back in one go.