I rolled over and watched Paul get dressed. He was a short guy with blonde hair and so delightfully built. I watched him pull up his underwear and remembered how wonderful he tasted. Four straight nights after meeting at that small underground gay club and the entire weekend. I wasn’t used to so much time together with one person, especially one as perfect as Paul.

Hi, everyone. My name is William, Bill to most, and I have a fun job that has me traveling all over the place for a few months at a time on various projects. Living out of a suitcase will someday get old, but right now, it’s still pretty exciting.  I mean, I work on interesting stuff with lots of new people in new places three or four times a year. Right now, I am down in the Deep South working a government project on a military base. Since I am not military, it means I am staying at a hotel which has two restaurants, a small night club and easy walking distances to several other eateries, a shopping center, and a few other clubs. In other words, perfect for me.

The only downside to my job is because of all my moving around, I don’t get into any lasting relationships. There are good and bad sides to that, but the real downside is I’m not much into one-night-stands, so on many trips, my sex life is close to zero and my actual love life is non-existent. I enjoy sex, but I also am a bit of a romantic, so I love being in love as well.  As you can guess things rarely work out for love when you and your partner of choice know the suitcases will be packed within a month or two.

The desk clerk told me about this place that I had to try. I don’t know he figured out I wasn’t into girls, maybe watching me turn down several invitations from a couple of older businesswomen in the hotel bar.  You know the type, the ones away from the husband maybe for the first time ever and decided they were going to have a little fun. I guess a single man enjoying a glass of wine is a target of opportunity. In any event, the clerk pointed me to this club and that’s where I met Paul.

First off, he was — well, not handsome, but striking. I mean you would see him and definitely not look away. He was smaller than me, but then, most men were at my five-foot-ten-and-a-half inches, but we probably weighed about the same because he was really built solid with a wonderful chest. I know, I know, I have a weakness for muscles because I am on the thin side. I wouldn’t have said heavy, but he was close to it for his height. It didn’t matter because we really hit it off. We danced and talked the night away. He was very soft-spoken and I had to lean in close to hear him over the din of the club. At one point, when I leaned over, he licked my ear. A shiver went through me and I knew this wasn’t going to be a sexless business trip!

He said what I felt were the magic words, “Time to go back to your hotel, baby!”

Who was I to argue with a force of nature? So we did!  I was almost late to work the next day.  But it was a terrific night. As we walked in, the same clerk was on duty.  He gave me a thumbs-up as we made it to the elevator, laughing and touching each other. No, we didn’t get up to anything in the elevator, I kept fighting his hands off anything that might get us arrested, but once we hit the room all bets, and most of our clothing, were off.

My god, he was energetic and such a wonderful lover. He had no hesitation about anything, which in some ways was refreshing. It was like we had been lovers for a while. That next morning, with the scent of him on the sheets, I couldn’t help but touch myself — which is why I was almost late to the office. The next night, I went back to the club and he was there. It was early, so we went out to dinner and then back to the club before my hotel again.

I started learning more about him. Thankfully, he was single. I know that may not be important to many people on business trips, but it was important to me, even if I didn’t address it last night. I think I was a little overwhelmed and more than a bit turned-on by him being so forward. He mainly came to the club for dancing, but once in a while met someone. Being gay might not be frowned upon like it once was, but in some towns, particularly this far in the South, it was still something that can cause problems which was one reason the club wasn’t really a club, but the unused basement of an office building.

The bar was a portable one and even the sound system was nothing to write home about. Apparently, the club tended to shift locations and the word got passed around. Paul was one of the club’s organizers as well as a constant customer. He said the club didn’t make any money, but it didn’t lose any either, but it had become an important place for people to meet. He did warn me that outside of the club, you shouldn’t recognize anyone from the club itself. If you know them for other reasons, like co-workers or even neighbors, the club connection was off-limits.

As we got to know each other more, he told me lots of stories about married men spending time in the club, hooking up, and then going home to their wives and kids. He even told me about a married couple who accidentally ran into each other at the club and went home with two bi guys and the four of them moved out of town and the last anyone heard were still all living together in northern Arkansas. He did go into a bit more detail that night while we regained some energy between orgasms.

His description of the wife in a sixty-nine with her husband while both of the assholes were being fucked by their new partners was a real turn-on. Of course, him telling me that story while he was slowly licking me might have had something to do with that. Needless to say, we were having a great time together. It wasn’t just sex in the night. We started meeting for lunch. No, not afternoon delight, I mean really lunch, as on a lunch date.

I learned later that we were violating the unwritten rules of the club since it was our only connection, but at the time, I simply thought it was the next level of our relationship.  I mean we met, danced, had a bunch of laughs, made love, and now seemed to be dating. Okay, I know the order isn’t typical, but it was working for us. Over just several days, it was as if we were proceeding down the ‘normal’ path, just not in the normal order.  We became a regular fixture at the club and even those closest to him seemed to accept me as well.

It made for a vastly different business trip for me. Seriously, I had no trouble making friends, but getting closer was the challenge, as I explained before. The fact my time was limited seemed to make everything we did together move at a faster rate. I even did something I never do, I attended his church and even met his sister. Talk about strange! I think the last church I was in was when my grandparents insisted I be baptized and my folks agreed after, apparently, much discussion. As my mom explained it, it was going to be the only way for me to have any relationship with my grandparents.

I was totally honest with him, how my time in his town was going to end soon, but he didn’t even blink an eye; it was like he expected it. I already mentioned how I am a romantic, and I have to admit I was falling for this sexy southern guy with the cutest accent and a tongue that seemed to be able to be everywhere at once. I tried to delay, but the project I was on had ended and my company set me up for a contract in Dallas. I had three days to get there and it was about a two-day drive. I tried to say goodbye the night before, but Paul wouldn’t hear it. It was almost heart-rendering for the way he seemed to ignore my leaving.

But all good things must come to an end. I tried to say all the usual things, how we can get together in the future and keeping in touch, but he seemed to rebuff those efforts. My experience was that it doesn’t really work out.  I’ve tried long-distance relationships, but the distance between contacts gets wider and wider as time goes by until we became nothing more than a fond memory.

I woke up alone for the first time in the month since I met Paul and it hit me hard. I guess I should have expected it. There was a knock at the door, the breakfast service we had ordered the night before had arrived. It was impossible to eat, especially looking at the breakfast on the other side of the rolling table. I gave up after a few bites and grabbed a quick shower, another thing I hadn’t done by myself in a month. Packing didn’t take long, not with as experienced I was at it.  But it felt like it took a long time.

I dawdled over checking the bill, making sure I had everything to get reimbursed by the company. I kept looking at the door, hoping he would burst through it, but it was not happening. I felt heavy-hearted as I boxed up a few things to send to my house in NY, a few keepsakes including a strip of pictures of Paul and I being silly at one of the mall photo booth things. I almost didn’t include it, but experience told me I would regret it.

It was usually a fun time, being between contracts and going home to find several boxes of memories waiting for me. My car only holds so much, but after a couple of months in one place, you do tend to accumulate a few things. I knew opening this box was going to be bittersweet, but I also knew the good memories would outlive the feelings running through me right now. One day, I would be able to look at those pictures and smile.

I stopped stalling and called for my car to be brought up and a bellhop for a cart to get what will fit in the car downstairs. I carried the box and paid the usual fee to have the box shipped. The hotel clerk was happy to do it for me, for an appropriate tip of course. Her happiness felt like ashes in my mouth, but I tried to keep my face impassive as I turned over those memories for her safekeeping. I saw my car pull up outside and the bellhop loading the trunk. I got out a tip for him and went outside.

“Um, sir. All this won’t fit in the trunk. Should I put it in the back seat?”

I must have looked confused because I know those bags would fit, they were the same ones I have been using for years. While my car wasn’t huge, there should have been plenty of room. As I came around the edge of the car, I heard another voice.

“I told you I’ve never been to Dallas!”

I spun and there was Paul dressed for the road in comfortable jeans, a tee-shirt, and sandals. I was too surprised for words. I almost started crying as he hugged me.

“I dropped off my car at the folks. I got out of my lease, quit my job, and barely made it back here in time. I was afraid I would have to call you on your cell and have you come and pick me up!”

I guess I still had a seriously confused look on my face because then he said, “You know a guy as smart as you should have figured out I was going with you! I can’t believe you didn’t see this coming!”