GENRE: Gay Spicy Romance
LENGTH: 14,444 words
RATING:

Kirk Matheson rides the bus to work several times a week, intrigued by the attractive and quiet bespectacled man he typically sits behind. One day when the bus crashes during a storm, Kirk finally meets the shy stranger, Elijah Cartwright. Kirk stays with a seriously injured Elijah until the rescuers arrive.

After Elijah’s recovery, Kirk makes a date with Elijah. Though an unfortunate event brought them together, can they find their way to happiness?

EXCERPT:
Note: may contain sexually explicit scenes of a homoerotic nature.

"Come on, I'm hungry." Kirk realized he was whining, but he looked forward to the real food they planned to eat before Toby took him home.

"I knew it! The wheel is crooked."

"Just leave it alone and be careful."

Toby straightened and stood. "All right, but I can't be blamed if it turns to the side a bit."

He pushed Kirk down the hall and made a turn right at the end when given the choice between that or left. Coming down the long hallway toward them was another wheelchair, also occupied by a man. He was on the far end so Kirk couldn't make out his features, but there was something definitely familiar about him.

When Toby made to turn down the short hallway in the middle that led to the elevators, Kirk touched Toby's arm. "Wait."

"Forget something in your room?"

"No. I-I think I know that guy down there. Maybe from the bus?"

Toby squinted. "Hmmm. Want me to wheel you down there?"

"Please."

As Toby wheeled him toward the man, Kirk couldn't believe his eyes. For a moment he was certain he was seeing a ghost. Wasn't he?

The other man was likewise being wheeled by a man, but was still dressed in a hospital gown as well as a robe. His leg was bandaged and his arm swollen, and the glasses were different than the ones he usually wore. But that would make sense, since they'd been broken on the bus.

"Elijah!"

The man wheeling Elijah Cartwright stopped the chair just a few paces from where Toby stopped his. The man, very tall and movie-star handsome with dark, perfectly coiffed hair and blue eyes much like Elijah's, gazed at him quizzically.

"You know this guy, Eej?" the man asked, pronouncing it with an exaggerated double e and ja sound.

Elijah's face lit up with a smile. "Yes, this is my rescuer. The man I told you about."

"They told me you didn't make it," Kirk blurted out.

"As you can see, here I am," Elijah said with a little laugh. "Kirk, right?"

Elated at seeing Elijah alive, he grinned like an idiot. "Yes. I'm so glad you're all right."

"Well," said the man with him, "I wouldn't go that far. I'm Lucas Cartwright." His gaze went quickly from Kirk to Toby, where it lingered.

"OMG, the Lucas Cartwright? The one who stars in the detective show on cable television?" Toby squealed. He stared hard at the man. "It is you!"

Now that Toby said it, Kirk realized he did recognize the man who played Detective Pete Harrow on the popular cable series. He'd seen the show several times himself.

Lucas smiled, showing dimples and the perfect white teeth of an actor. "Yes, that's me. Elijah's my little brother. Elijah, why don't you introduce me to your friends?"

Elijah blushed. "Well, um, this is my rescuer, Kirk. I'm sorry I forget your last name."

"Matheson." He shook Lucas's hand. "We rode the bus together several times a week."

"I don't know the other man," Elijah admitted.

Toby, never one to hold back because of shyness, stepped around Kirk's chair and right in front of Lucas. "Tobias Sherwood. Like the forest."