Revised version copyright 2007 by the author.
*
When I went on that business trip to Houston with Joel Rogers, the gay guy from my company, I never thought I'd end up having my first taste of man-to-man sex.
After all, I was a happily married man--still am. It was a hectic time, though, as my wife and I had just had our first child, a beautiful little girl. What with recovering from childbirth and getting up several times every night (don't worry, I did too) she was exhausted. Our sex life had dwindled to almost nothing. I tried to be supportive but it was hard. Maybe I'm oversexed, but even jacking off didn't provide relief--I felt as though I was carrying a lead weight in my crotch. Working out at the gym helped some, but not enough.
I didn't know Joel well, nor did I want to. When my boss told me that we were going to Houston together to pitch our communications system to a firm headquartered downtown, I protested. My objections fell on deaf ears.
"Look," Lee, my boss, said, "You and Rogers have been marketing the Telnex system from the start. You're the top men for the job. Period."
"Couldn't we stay in separate rooms at least?"
He raised his eyebrows. "So that's the problem." He leaned back in his chair. "Cal, our firm has a non-discrimination policy. You know that."
"So?"
"So, we walk the walk. I don't juggle assignments or book extra hotel rooms to cater to your prejudices." "Well, he'd better not come on to me. I just might take a swing at him."
His eyes turned cold. "You'll do no such thing." Then he smiled in a way I didn't like one bit. "Rogers is smart. A guy who's really going places. You could too, Cal, if you'd open your mind a little."
I caught his drift. There was nothing more to say.
So I went to the airport with a bad attitude. I'd avoided meeting with Joel in the days leading up to our trip, e-mailing him the stuff for our presentation. He didn't seem to mind and sent me polite replies thanking me for the info. The moment couldn't be postponed any longer, though. I didn't have the nerve to ask for separate seats on the plane, and besides, we had to do at least some planning before we took on the bigwigs at the firm.
Joel was already at the gate. He was slender, shorter than me, with fair skin, reddish hair and blue eyes. I'd always thought of him as a skinny wimp, but up close I saw that his clothes hung on what was actually a tight, toned body. He always looked spiffy and now was no exception. Next to him I felt stale and rumpled.
He shook my hand and smiled, but seemed to know that I wasn't interested in idle chitchat. It wasn't until we were in the air and had finished our drinks that he turned to me.
"Ready to work?"
"Uh, sure." While I was still fumbling in my carry-on for my folders he had his materials all spread out. When we started going over the stuff I was impressed in spite of myself. Joel had added pages of notes to the photocopied presentation materials, stuff that he had researched himself.
"You sure are prepared," I observed.
"Have to be," he answered. "These guys are hard cases. They'll pick up on any fumbling or faking in a flash."
"I feel like the guy who forgot to study for the test." I was starting to get nervous.
Joel smiled. "You'll be fine, Cal. I'll set you up and at the right moment you'll take over."
As luck would have it there was a stack of planes at Houston Intercontinental and our landing was delayed. I drummed my fingers on the arm of my seat. Waiting was torture.
"Looks like we'll have to head there as soon as we land," Joel said. "Good thing we prepped on the plane."
Once we finally touched down we picked up our luggage and found a shuttle into downtown. I wished I'd had a chance to freshen up but there was no help for it. Joel, on the other hand, looked cool and collected, every hair in place.
Houston traffic on a Friday afternoon was as awful as we had expected. We finally got to the downtown high-rise where the firm was located on an upper floor. The elevator whisked us up to the office, where we were ushered into a spacious inner sanctum. The carpet was an oriental rug, the furniture mahogany. On one side of the room a projector was all set up and a built-in screen was down from the ceiling. Joel plugged in his laptop, clicked the mouse a few times and was ready to go, not a second too soon. Just as he centered the first PowerPoint slide on the screen the door opened and three men in expensive suits walked in.
I had to hand it to Joel. He ran through the presentation as if he had done it a hundred times, cueing each new slide up at the proper time, never losing his place. About halfway through he turned to me and said, "And now, my associate Calvin Adams will explain the technical aspects in more detail."
I had been dreading this moment, but Joel had set things up so well that it was like talking to a group of friends.
We finished and they asked us a few questions. A round of handshakes and pleasantries and it was over. I didn't realize how tense I had been until we had packed up our stuff, said thank you to the receptionist and were on our way down in the elevator. All of a sudden my knees turned to rubber and my head started spinning. I leaned against the wall, shut my eyes and started taking deep breaths to try and calm myself.
"Cal, are you all right?"
I nodded, still feeling strange. "I'll be fine."
"Let's sit down a moment after we get out."
We found a bench in the lobby and sat down. After a few minutes I finally started to feel better.
"You okay?" Joel asked again. He was looking at me with genuine concern.
"Yeah, thanks. Guess getting up early and worrying just caught up with me."
"After a good dinner and a night's rest you'll feel a lot better." He smiled and offered his hand. "We did it, guy."
I shook it. "You did it. It was all you." I hated to admit it but it was true.
"Nah. You had the specs down cold--showed them how much money they could save. That's what really impressed them. I think they're sold, don't you?"
"You never can tell until the contract's signed, but yeah, they liked it."
Joel clapped me on the shoulder. "I think this calls for a celebration. I know a really great place to eat right near the hotel we're at."
"Sounds good to me. I need to shower before dinner though. I must stink after all the sweating I did up there."
We headed out of the building and caught a cab to the hotel. In the room I whipped off my shirt before I realized what I was doing. Well, what the heck? I wasn't going to spend the weekend acting bashful just because a gay guy might catch a look at me.
All the same, I looked over at Joel to see if he had noticed. His back was turned and he was taking off his own shirt. Unlike me, he was wearing a t-shirt underneath. He unbuckled his belt, and my jaw dropped when his pale, bare butt appeared. Had he gone commando the whole time?
Joel turned partway toward me and I realized that he had been wearing something underneath his dress slacks after all. A pouch made of some stretchy material covered his privates, hanging from an elastic waistband. That was all. It was a strapless jock. I had never seen anything like it.
"Cal?"
"Huh?" I looked up and saw that he had caught me red-handed, staring at him. I could feel a blush spreading across my face.
"I said, did you want the shower first?" If Joel had noticed me checking him out he was being too polite to say so. A funny little smile was on his face, though. I was sure he HAD noticed.
"Uh, sure. Thanks."
I hurried past him into the bathroom, got the rest of my clothes off and jumped in the shower. The warm spray calmed me down a bit, but funny thing, I had the beginnings of an erection. I soaped my dick and gave it a few strokes. It felt good and I thought about keeping going, but it felt weird to be jacking off with Joel just beyond the bathroom door, even though I knew he couldn't hear me.
When I came out, wearing my boxers, Joel was lying on one of the beds, his hands behind his back, naked except the funny jock. His body was all muscle and sinew, not an ounce of extra fat on it. Before I looked away I caught a glimpse of curly pubic hair peeking out from the pouch.
He took his dinner clothes into the bathroom with him. By the time he came out, I was dressed too.
The restaurant was as good as Joel said it would be. We ordered a bottle of wine on the company expense account. As we drank our second glasses I finally began to relax around him. He was asking me lots of questions about my new baby and how me and my wife were doing. It must have been the wine talking, but I found myself telling him some pretty personal stuff.
"I love her to death," I said, "But these first months since the baby came have been hell. I've been climbing the walls."
Joel looked sympathetic. "Your love life isn't what it used to be?"
"What love life, man? She's either taking care of the baby or asleep. I get so horny I can't think straight. Even thought about other women, but I could never do that." I fixed him with a slightly drunken stare. "It's so easy for you gay guys. All you have to do is go out and pick up someone when you feel the urge."
It was a pretty insulting thing to say, but Joel didn't take offense. He smiled and shook his head. "Actually, Cal, I don't do that sort of thing. I'm pretty selective." He picked up the bottle. "More wine?"
By the time we got back to the room it was past nine. I took off my shoes and socks and flopped down in an armchair.
"Jesus, I'm tired. But it's too early to turn in."
I stretched and yawned, then winced as I felt a twinge from a tight muscle in my back. Joel noticed and came up to me. Before I could protest he was kneading my shoulders, his fingers surprising me with their strength.
"Hey, you don't have to do that."
"Shh, just relax," Joel said. "You look like you could use a backrub. I've had massage training. I'll have you as good as new before you know it."
His hands were doing wonderful things. I closed my eyes and sighed with relief.
"You know, I could do a better job if you took off your shirt and laid down on the bed."
By now my resistance was gone. I did as Joel asked. He got a bottle of hand lotion and continued to rub until I was putty in his hands.
