Kevin reached up to give a hand to Bruce, who leaned down and fell into Kevin's embrace. Bruce's body slowly slid down the length of Kevin's as Kevin lowered him to the ground. They stood chest to chest, in the gathering darkness, toe to toe just staring at one another as the lights around them slowly shut down one by one. Kevin could not only hear his own heart pounding in his chest, but he felt Bruce's also, pounding in time with his.

"Bruce?" he leaned lower with the question, his words a whisper, his face was close to Bruce's.

The promise of true panic arose in Bruce's mind — was he ready for what Kevin's eyes promised, he asked himself. He did and didn't want this … this closeness. It was alright with Darrin, because it had just happened.

He didn't want to be feeling what he was feeling, and sensing something frightening that lay in his soul. Bruce felt faint, slightly dizzy, and though he had always wanted someone to love and be loved by, did Kevin?

Was this just another moment when one or both would do the deed and then go their separate ways? Or was there the possibility of more, of something lasting longer, going beyond the night and still be there the next morning? Oh, God, how he was torturing himself.

Bruce was trembling, and he was certain that Kevin could feel it. It seemed like forever since he had felt fingers moving through his hair, felt a soft whisper against his cheek as he did when Kevin said his name.

Who was this man, anyway? he asked himself as he looked up into eyes that now were more cobalt than sky blue. He was a stranger, a man whom he'd met while taking in a Wild West show. He was an actor – a Carney, his father would have said – and yet, Kevin was a man's man.

Bruce knew, held against him as he was, what he had feared so desperately before. Bruce was drawn to the bredth of his shoulders, the pulsing heat of his chest, the length of his fingers as they wove within his hair.

Bruce liked … no … he loved … the rugged, handsome contours of this man's face, the masculinity of his voice, the strange adherence to his profession he had shown. And most of all, though he knew he couldn't fight it, he knew that he didn't want to, he was more than attracted to Kevin. It felt as if their souls recognized each other and were melding two into one.

Bruce liked being held this way, by him, breathing the scent of him, and he longed to feel a gentle touch – his touch – and all the promise that Bruce knew would come with it. He knew it went further than a gentle touch; it was a hunger, a hungry touch that he knew would devour him, heart and soul.

The realization of what exactly he was feeling washed over him like a sweeping wave of deep and shattering heat. Kevin's lips were touching Bruce's neck, igniting an inferno within him, which nothing could or would extinguish.

"Bruce?" Kevin whispered softly against Bruce's neck.

Bruce's mind told him to run, that this would only lead to him being emotionally crushed, but … oh yes, there was always that proverbial ‘but'. Kevin was masculine to a fault, sensual without realizing it, and the restless urge within Bruce to challenge, argue the rightness of this and … and what? Was there a right or wrong to this? They were both of age legally— well, he was – barely, Bruce thought.

He wanted to escape this moment, to come to terms with the emotions and depths of feeling that he was experiencing as he was held so tight in Kevin's arms.

"I … yes!" Bruce whispered, and the sound of his voice sounded desperate, and yet, his words were faltering, betraying his heart. "I mean … no, I must be going. If we have a matter of interest to discuss, it has to be done at another time, preferably in the light of day."

Bruce could see in Kevin's eyes that his words were stirring something in him. Was it anger, hurt? Oh God, please don't look at me like that, he thought.

"I must go, I need to go … now." He pushed against the granite wall of his chest, but it only caused Kevin's hold to tighten.

"Why? I need to know why you would let Darrin do what he did, but when I offer you so much more, you want to run?"

"That's the thing, Kevin, I did not allow anything with Darrin, and he simply took it without asking. Oh yes, he did ask after the fact, but the truth is, he simply took advantage of the situation and me. I don't need, nor do I want a one-night stand."

This time his attempt to push away succeeded.

But as he turned and tried to walk away, Kevin's hands fell upon his shoulders, stopping him and turning him around to face him.

"I wasn't offering a one-night stand, Bruce, I wanted more, hoped for more," he said and his eyes betrayed the hurt of his heart. "I won't lie and say I love you, when we both know that love doesn't happen like that. But what I am saying is this – can we at least explore what seems to be igniting within us?

Someone came out of the tent, waved and moved on; the show was winding to a close. Kevin pulled Bruce to the shadows of a nearby tent and stood without touching him. For a moment, Bruce's back was to him, his head lowered. Kevin grabbed onto a rope that held part of the tent, staring at the raven black tresses that seemed to so drastically contrast against the bronze of Bruce's body, and felt a burning again, so deep that it amazed him that he could still be so enamored with this person.

"Then stay, Bruce; spend the night and let's talk. I promise that I won't touch you," Kevin swore.

"It's not that I don't trust you; it's me. I don't trust me, that I want you," Bruce replied, turning back to face him. "Kevin, you are what I always imagined my true love to be, and much more. But the fact is, we just met and as strange as it sounds, something sparked between us and that spark is threatening a fire that neither of us will or could put out."

"With that being said, do you want to extinguish this fire, or let it burn until there is no longer you and me, but us?" The word was a simple whisper yet never could have a whisper been so loud.

There it was – that one word that Bruce longed to hear – 'us'. Kevin had said it, said with fullness of heart and emotion. He wanted to let this fire consume both of them until all that was left was 'us'.

Bruce reached out his hand, Kevin took it and together, in silence, they walked to Kevin's trailer. It was late when they entered his humble abode. The only light that burned was a glow from the microwave's clock. Kevin paused, not sure what or how to proceed. Bruce could see the bed ahead of them; he walked to it, lowered his loincloth and climbed beneath the sheets with his back to Kevin.

In the darkness, Bruce could hear him disrobe, hear each piece of clothing as he removed it and tossed it aside. It was then that the covers shifted, Kevin climbed into bed, and all that either of them heard was their labored breathing and the pounding of their hearts.

Then he felt the brush of fingers – his wondrous fingers – a touch so light and yet like lightning. Kevin's caress, almost like a whisper, moved with an excruciating slowness, up and down Bruce's spine. Bruce felt the hot, moist pressure of Kevin's lips against the nape of his neck and following the path that his fingers had taken. His arms moved around Bruce's waist, and his hand cupped and squeezed his chest.

Kevin's thumb moved with the same, almost tortuous lightness of caress around Bruce's nipple before sliding down his midriff, abdomen and between his thighs, his hand cupping the fullness of Bruce's balls lying low in his crotch. He moved his hand to the swollen stiffness of Bruce's erect manhood. There he stroked with an enticing practice of rhythm, knowledge, and purpose that brought a spasm racing through Bruce. When he turned Bruce to him, Bruce was glad of the darkness that would at the least cloak the mindless thirst that had seized him for more of his touch.

Kevin kissed Bruce. It was neither hurried nor feverish, but it lingered, deepened into a kiss that spoke more than words ever could. Bruce met the deep passion of his kiss with a hunger, a rage of need, and allowed his hands to fall upon Kevin. His fingers delved through Kevin's thick mat of hair on his chest, curled to his shoulders, dared to stroke along the length of his back, and feel the hard muscle of structure of his ass.

He moved his hand low against Kevin's abdomen, still consumed by the overwhelming force and seduction of Kevin's lips against his own. They did what came naturally, curling his long, slender fingers around the shaft of his swollen sex organ. The pulse and power of his erection only stirred the coil of desire within Bruce, and by the time Kevin pulled Bruce beneath him and eased his manhood deep into him, Bruce was near frenzy when his climax seized him.

Then it seemed that there was fire in his heart where only embers had burned, that the stars outside filled the darkness where there was nothing but the ceiling and yet, Bruce had never felt like this before, ever. Kevin was the first to take him in this place.

Bruce clung to Kevin's shoulders as Kevin's body moved within him, his rhythm neither urgent nor slow, but one of waiting – waiting for Bruce to come down and then rise with him again.

"Are you alright, Bruce," he asked, but instead of responding verbally, Bruce answered with a sensual, wet kiss.

Bruce moved to meet each thrust, his ass squeezing and massaging Kevin's fat uncut cock each time it buried itself deep within him. They were not fucking; Kevin was making love to Bruce.

No man could put such emotion, such power into this and it not be love. Bruce could feel Kevin's need, because his rhythm quickened, and his manhood, as if possible, had grown even larger while buried in Bruce's love canal.

"I'm going to cum, Bruce," he whispered against Bruce's ear, and when he began to pull out, Bruce wrapped his arms and legs tighter around Kevin's waist and neck, and rode his cock to hot cum bathing his insides.

Bruce whispered back, "Stay and fill me with your love," and then Bruce pushed his tongue into Kevin's mouth and kissed him.

With their mouths joined in passion, Kevin's cock erupted eight or ten times with volcanic force, sending his molten seed deep into Bruce's bottom.

"Stay the night, Bruce?" It was a question, not a demand.

"And what happens in the morning?" Bruce asked.

"We go together to the boss man and we find something for you to do in the show. I want more than this also, Bruce. I want to know what it is to hold you though the night and wake up in the morning to see you beside me. I want to feel you inside of me also."

"Really, Kevin, do you truly mean those words," Bruce asked, tears falling down his cheek as he looked at this man whom he didn't really know.

"I do, and I promise that you won't ever regret staying. I know that there may be things about me you may not like, but then, I am sure that you have a quirk or two of your own."

"Kevin, there's nothing that I can imagine not liking about you."

"My snoring sounds like a runaway freight train, or so I've been told."

Bruce became quiet; he even seemed to pull away from Kevin. Kevin sensing the sudden change pulled him back.

"What is it? Why are you hesitating?"

"What is Darrin to you?" Bruce asked, fearing the answer.

"Truthfully, Darrin was a friend with benefits, nothing more. Whenever we needed — Well, we were there for each other. But I promise you that if you stay, I'll never again see him."

"Never say never for it tempts the fates," Bruce said. "Darrin was good, but then you know this. The thing is, I want a monogamous relationship, and if that's something you see as a problem for you, tell me now, before my heart gets crushed."

"If it matters that much to you, we'll go to him together and tell him of our relationship and its rules."

"I'd like that, Kevin. I want our relationship to be built on love as well as trust. I also don't want us to ever go to bed angry. If it takes all night, we stay up and talk it out until we agree."

"I agree totally and just think, just imagine the great make-up sex we'll have," he said as he pulled Bruce atop him. "Now handsome, take me and make love to me," he said, lifting his legs around Bruce's waist.

Bruce eased his cock into Kevin and over the next half hour, they made love again.

"I'm falling in love with you," Kevin whispered in Bruce's ear.

"So am I with you, stud; now go to sleep," he said, wriggling against Kevin's tight asshole.

They drifted off to sleep with Bruce's cock buried deep within Kevin, and some time during the they awoke and consummated the act, with Bruce shooting a huge load of cum into Kevin's love tunnel.