20. MAX

Chapter twenty

MAX

I knew what I was doing. That hunger I used to have for women had felt so lost to me for a long time, but suddenly it was back, and it was for him. I knew that he wanted me, and now that I wanted to express my desire for him, too. I wouldn't have made him do anything he didn't want to do, of course. But he didn't resist it. Our desire was mutual.

The evening enveloped us as we waded further into the water, naked now. In the cool embrace of the river, the water was crisp against my skin, cold even, but I felt so tranquil.

Released of our clothes, we were released of our other inhibitions.

When we had come down to the water, there were still daubs of sunset splashed in the sky. But now the moon and stars hung overhead, unencumbered by daylight, the last of which was now gone. A silvery tint fell on the violet-colored water. The world shimmered with that soft, ethereal evening light.

I didn't know where this would lead. All I knew was that we both wanted to find out.

When we had gone skinny-dipping up here years before, it had not occurred to me that there might be something like this between us. It was not even in my head. But now I wondered: had I never felt it, or had I just never allowed myself to feel it?

It felt like the mystery of my connection to him was being – if not quite revealed – at least acknowledged as being real.

As we swam further into the depths, the world and its rules and identities faded, leaving only the two of us suspended in a timeless landscape, free of those rules and identities, literally stripped naked and being cleansed by the water and its intimacy.

With each stroke, I felt the weight of others' expectations and assumptions about me slip away, replaced by a sense of liberation. With him, I had always felt most myself, safest, freest.

But now, I felt those things in a different way: I wanted to share all of myself with him.

Together, we moved as if we were one, falling into the same stroke. Beside me, Eddie moved with a fluid grace as he glided through the water. I had forgotten he was a good swimmer, better than me, although my greater physical power helped me keep up.

We stole glances at each other as we swam, turning our heads to face each other. There was such a purity to the moment, a sense of vulnerability that bonded us, and an innocence – the innocence of true connection between two people.

As we continued to swim, I became acutely aware of the sensation of Eddie's body sometimes touching mine quite accidentally: sometimes our arms brushed or our feet knocked together in our strokes.

In the growing darkness, amidst the shimmering depths of the river, I felt a sense of connection with Eddie that I had never experienced before. I'd had sex with many women, and sometimes even thought I was in love with them, but I had never felt this way: so entirely with another person, all those good feelings, all that history, now bound up in our physicality together. It wasn't about sex: it was about connection.

He stopped swimming and began to tread water. I did the same.

"We can't go much further," he said. "We have to get back to Jared soon."

I didn't want the moment to end, although I knew it must and that he was right.

"Let's bob here for a few minutes," I said, nodding in the direction of a little rocky outcrop like the one upon which we had gone fishing. "If we get out here and walk back to the campsite, it will only be a few minutes. The river has a bend in it, so we haven't gone as far as it seems."

His eyes widened as I said those words.

"Alright," he whispered.

We swam toward it, and our bodies found purchase on the cold rocks but remained largely submerged. Each of us was still clutching our swimming trunks in one hand.

Our bodies gently brushed against each other again, but this time, more substantially. Eventually, we were almost wholly touching, and a shudder of electricity ran up my body.

"This is incredible being here," I murmured. "Like this, with you."

I looked at him then, his slim form in the water, his pale skin, blue eyes, blond hair. He seemed nervous.

And in that moment, bathed in the soft glow of the moonlight, I knew that I was falling – falling for Eddie in a way that I had never experienced before, a whirlwind of emotions that threatened to consume me whole.

But what shocked me most was I wanted it. I wasn't afraid of it. I wasn't ashamed of what I was feeling, up there in the mountains.

He turned his body to lie against the rocks, facing me, and I could see his form, so beautiful, so alluring in the dark. My penis became fully hard.

I knew what I would do. I let my body move toward his, my hands pulling him toward me, and let him feel my erection against him. As I did it, his eyes widened.

Our mouths were so close that I could feel his breathing. I pushed my erection against him again and felt him hard, too, as my penis slid up and down against his.

I felt him move his hands toward it and his fingers close around it. He was holding my cock in his palm, and he was beginning to jerk it. Our eyes met. I looked into his deeply and then at his mouth, his lips parted.

My body felt so good under his touch. He was looking into my eyes very deeply and whispered my name.

"Max…"

"Is this okay?" I asked.

He smiled. His pretty blue eyes widened.

"Yes..."

I leaned forward and put my cheek against his, but we did not kiss. I felt his breathing against my skin.

Around us, I could about hear the sounds of the evening coming, night birds in the trees, the soft buzz of insects in the dark, the slow trickle of the river. But it all merged into my moment.

His hand moved faster, and I could feel my balls start to tighten. I lifted my mouth close to his.

"If you go fast like that…" I started to say, but he kept going. I felt my legs start to tense, my toes to curl, my stomach muscles clench. In the water, I could see his penis very hard.

"I am gonna cum…" I whispered. "Eddie, I am gonna…"

"I am gonna cum, too," he said. He hadn't even been touching himself. I turned my body and let my cock push into his body as I pulled him even closer to me. I grunted, felt my cock swell and twitch, and then I shot my semen into the water, my fingers gripping his skin.

And just as I did it, he gave a low, soft moan, and his eyelids flickered. I looked down into the water, its darkness, and I could see just from how his hips were twitching, that he was ejaculating, not even touching himself.

And suddenly, everything seemed different.