Almost four days had passed since he had accepted Mr Crowe's job offer, but for Joshua time had flown. Keen to ignore the excitement growing in his gut, he had busied himself ever since he'd left Pleasure Manor with preparing for the move. He had handed in notice on the tiny apartment he'd been renting the very next morning, and Harry had offered to pay for the next month's rent so that he could move in as soon as possible. His few necessities-- his school work, his books -- had already been packed into three storage boxes, and his other belongings, including his bed and TV, had been sold at a garage sale two mornings previously. Now he slept on the sofa that had been in the apartment when he'd moved in. It hurt to realise that he was selling away his only recently found independence, until he realised the wholly different kind of independence he was about to receive -- paying the rent and owning and stocking his own refrigerator was trivial.
Now he just had the last few of his clothes to pack in a suitcase before the apartment was no longer his home. Yesterday morning, all of his bags were packed, but in a moment of angst he had emptied his suitcase back into his wardrobe. Racked with apprehension and confusion, he spent the next few hours contemplating whether or not his plans were a good idea. He'd never felt any sexual attraction to men before his encounter with Harry, but now he couldn't remember ever being as turned on as he was when he was with Harry. He found himself fantasising about being with Harry again, what they'd do to each other, and he'd grow hard over the memories of Harry's strong throat teasing his dick, Harry's own thick cock lying on his leg, burning through his skin. And he'd shake the thoughts out of his head -- did they make him gay? Was he gay? But in the end, after some time to calm down over a cold beer, the memory of Harry's farewell, gently brushing Joshua's lips with his own, his tongue caressing his own, that made Joshua repack his bags.
Every time these images rose in his brain, his cock began to stiffen in his pants, and he had to urge himself to think of something else -- of what he was going to have for dinner that night, or when he was going to finish his essay -- because he was keen to adhere to Harry's final request.
"Don't touch yourself over the next few days," he had whispered to him, his warm breath tickling his ear, and with a playful squeeze of Joshua's crotch, "I want you begging for it when you arrive."
That night, the last night in his old apartment, he fell asleep on his mattress with a smile on his face and dreamt about the possibilities of tomorrow.
*
Unusually, it was Mr Crowe who opened the side door to Pleasure Manor early the next morning, wearing, once again, a white bathrobe. He smiled when he saw Joshua and his boxes of belongings, and gave him a warm hug.
"I wonder, do you live in that bathrobe?" Joshua asked jokingly. Harry laughed.
"I've been soaking up some sun in this heat," he explained, and Joshua observed that he
did
look tanned, "I thought it more appropriate to answer the door with something on. You've got plenty of time to see me without this robe on," he added with a wink, and Joshua felt his face redden slightly.
Leaving his luggage in the hall -- Harry told him it could be moved later -- Joshua was led through the marble-floored hall and up the grand stairs to the balcony above. The double-floored room was filled with light from the great glass ceiling-window above. On each side of the balcony, there was a smaller staircase leading up to different parts of the house, and a couple dark wooden to different rooms. The house was very symmetrical, but struck Joshua with an air of casual peacefulness. Harry led him up the smaller staircase to the left of the main one, and the phrase 'west wing' formed in his mind. The staircase led to another sunlit corridor, which branched to three wooden doors. Harry turned to the door on the left and opened it.
"Welcome to your new room."
Compared to the apartment he'd just come from, the room was luxurious. It was beautiful by any stretch. A large, deep mahogany four poster bed sat in the middle of the sunny room, with deep red bedclothes and drapes hanging like curtains from each of the four corners. A matching red sofa rested next to a mahogany chest of drawers and bookshelf. Awestruck, Joshua moved further into the room and saw a door leading to a marble en-suite bathroom.
"Do you like it?" asked Harry with a grin. Joshua just nodded. "I like to think that everyone has their own, private room," Harry continued, "where they can relax and be comfortable by themselves."
French doors opened onto a balcony, which overlooked a familiar walled garden. Joshua realised that his room was above the living room where Harry had persuaded him to take up the job four days previously.
"Take a look around, settle in," Harry told him, "take your time. Then pick out something from the bottom draw there," he pointed at the chest of drawers, "and put it on. Come and find me downstairs, I'll be waiting to show you around a bit, make you feel at home." He smiled and left the room.
Deciding to freshen up, Joshua undressed, threw his clothes onto the bed and took a shower. After letting to steaming hot water run over his body for a few minutes, he stepped out of the shower and dried himself with a large white towel that was hanging on a bar next to the bath. He hung the towel back on the rail, and walked naked back into the bedroom.
Remembering Harry's request, he opened the bottom door of the indicated chest of drawers. He couldn't suppress a smile: the draw was filled with an assortment of underwear -- thongs and g-strings, bikinis with cock pouches and revealing lace knickers. He frowned when he saw something that looked more like a tasselled belt than underwear. Rifling through the draw, he finally picked out a black lace thong. He put it on and stood in front of the mirror. The thong was perfect -- the low-rise waistband emphasised the curves of his abs and the thin material clung to his cock, teasingly not-quite-revealing through the translucent lace. Turning around, he was pleased with the way the thin strip of material disappeared between his buttocks so that it seemed like his ass was bare. He was sure that Harry would be impressed.
Joshua made his way back down the staircase, and out onto the hall balcony, and continued down the main stairs. The hall's marble floor was refreshingly cool beneath his bare feet. Oddly, he did not feel at all self-conscious about walking around in only a thong -- it was comfortable in the oppressive heat, and he supposed that a well-hidden exhibitionist nature was slowly coming out of him. There was no one in the entrance hall, so, instinctively, he walked to the sitting room in which Harry had met him on his first visit.
The TV was on -- an old black and white movie playing across the screen -- but the two men sitting on the sofa didn't look as if they were paying the film much attention. Joshua was only mildly surprised to see one of the men stroking the outline of a hard cock through the other man's black bikini. When they noticed Joshua at the door, they turned their attention quickly to him, but there was no embarrassment on their faces.
"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.
