Page 8 of Something Like Hail

“Come join me overhere.”

Noah rose and went to the middle of theroom. Then he laughed as Harold walked around him, like his dadused to do with cattle before buying them at auction.

“Cute smile,” Harold saidapprovingly. “You’ve got a boy-next-door vibe going on. That’ll dowell. Take off your shirt.”

Ugh. Noah did so, cursing himself for thefast food he’d eaten the day before, and the dinner he’d gorged onjust a couple hours after that. Living on the streets should havegiven him a rail-thin body. Instead he packed away food at everyopportunity, always worried about where the next meal was comingfrom and wanting to stay warm on nights when he was forced to roughit. Being skinny wasn’t good for survival. He was average at best,just like Nathaniel had said, when his clients would surely wantmore. He could tell from Harold’s neck alone that he was in goodshape. Not ripped, but he probably had a great body beneath thatrobe.

“Okay,” Harold said, “wecan work with this.”

“We can?” Noah said, nothiding his surprise.

“Yeah! You’ve got anauthentic vibe. You feel real.”

He wasn’t sure what that meant, and hedidn’t have time to focus on it, because—

“Take off therest.”

“My clothes?” hespluttered.

“Yup,” Harold saidmatter-of-factly. “I know you just got here, but that’s how it’llbe with some of these guys. You’ll show up, and they’ll want to getright to it. Most of them want companionship more than sex, butyou’ve gotta get used to people telling you to getnaked.”

Fair enough. Noah sat on the edge of thetable to remove his shoes, then stood and worked on his jeans. Heshot a glance at Harold, noticing the intense scrutiny, and decidedit was easiest to not look at him at all. The jeans came offfirst.

“Tighty whiteys!” Harolddeclared, sounding amused. “That’s so perfect. Down theygo!”

A second later, they dropped to his ankles.Noah left them there, hoping he’d be able to pull them back upsoon.

Harold circled him again. “I was hopingyou’d be uncut. That’s always worth bonus points.”

“Are you?” Noah shot back.If he wasn’t allowed any privacy, why should the other guybe?

Harold grinned, attention moving back to hisface but only briefly. “Wouldn’t you like to know? Body hair isminimal. Do you manscape?”

“No.” That required moreprivacy than the showers at the shelter provided.

“You’re lucky then. We’llkeep you this way. Nice and natural. You’ve got a great ass. Takeoff your socks.”

“I’m not nakedenough?”

“Nope. Some guys will bemore interested in your feet than anything else.”

Noah kicked his underwear away and raisedeach leg so he could remove his socks. That’s when Harold got tohis knees to inspect his feet. Awkward, because now his head wasreally close to Noah’s dick. Not that Harold seemed interested. Heasked him to lift each foot. All this time Noah had been fightingagainst getting an erection, but he was failing quickly. Harold’shandsome face was mere inches away from his cock, the distanceclosing quickly as Noah got hard. Just before the head could brushagainst a tanned cheek, Harold looked up.

And stared.

“At least we know you won’thave any trouble performing,” he said. “You’d be surprised how manyguys think they can do this, but when the time comes to… Damn!You’re a grower!”

If there’s one thing Noah had going for him,it was this. He had never thought his appearance would make him agood escort, but when most guys saw what he was packing, theytended to get excited.

Harold was no exception. “Hold thatthought,” he said, hopping up and rushing from the room. When hecame back he was holding a ruler.

“Seriously?” Noahasked.

“It’s a number we need foryour profile,” Harold said, shooting him a grin. “And besides, I’mcurious. Looks like you’re at full mast?”

If he wasn’t already, he became rock hardwhen Harold reached down and grabbed Noah’s dick so he could pressthe top of the ruler to it. He squeezed the head to get an exactmeasurement. “Just a smidge under eight inches,” he said. “Ifanyone asks, you’re eight exactly.”

He let go and moved the ruler away. Noah wasmortified to see a strand of precum dangling from the tip of hisdick.