The Book Lovers: The Search For Happily Ever After

By Bradley Fox

A gay cruise, a blissful night of happiness, two broken hearts, a desperate search to find their happy ending...

London bookseller Ben hopes that his Mediterranean gay cruise adventure will lead to romance. It does, and Ben has the most wonderful night of his life with handsome Cruise Director, Lance. But when Lance is urgently called ho

• Language: English
• Publisher: Argosy Films Pty Ltd
• Release date: Nov 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9780995423404

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The Book Lovers

by

Bradley Fox

Copyright and Publisher Details

All contents copyright © Argosy Media 2016.

All rights reserved worldwide under the Berne Convention.

Except for brief passages quoted for newspaper, magazine, radio, television or online reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopy, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any trademarks, product names or business names are assumed to be the property of the respective owners and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement.

Published by Argosy Media

Postal: PO Box 7615, Melbourne, Victoria 3004 Australia

First published: United States of America 2016

Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction and is written for adult entertainment. The sexuality depicted is imagined and not representative of any individual, group or organization. Locations described may have been altered for dramatic representation. All advice and information given is general in nature and non-specific to any individual, couple or group. You are encouraged to seek your own independent medical, sexual, psychological and counselling advice. It is not a substitute for your own common sense. The author and publisher shall not be responsible for any person(s) with regard to any loss or damage caused directly or indirectly by the information in this book nor for any damages resulting from the misinterpretation of this work. All details given in this book were current at the time of publication, but are subject to change without notice.

Chapter 1

As the stranger ushered him out the door and into the cold night air, Lance once again felt the empty feeling that anonymous sex can give. The deep void of nothingness within his chest and stomach reminded him of so many other similar nights that also ended this way.

'Why did it have to be like this?' he reasoned to himself. 'It's 2004, and others can find love and happy monogamy with a nice gay man, what's wrong with me and my life? Where are those sensuous, romantic and focused men hiding?'

As the cold winds of early morning rushed to meet him, he began his walk home through the eerily quiet streets of the London suburb. Pulling up the lapels on his coat and wrapping his trusty old 'lucky scarf' around his neck, he was able to keep most of the biting wind from reaching his skin. Then there was the woolen beanie on his head, its history now almost lost in time. It was one of those fun-for-no-reason type gifts that Tony, his first real boyfriend, had given him. It was no fashion statement but it proved warm, could be pulled down over the ears and seemed to be made of something totally indestructible. It was a combination of wool and some other man-made fiber, the likes of which he'd rarely seen anywhere else. It had survived many a wash and - many a short term boyfriend.

'If only my partners could be made of the same tough stuff' he sighed to himself. And his thoughts continued back to that first great love in his life.

He remembered how they would walk Tony's dog from Tony's terrace house, down the side streets, along the canal and then into the park where the mayhem of canine games would begin. After the eager pace along the street, the park was a leash-free zone where all the local dogs could run free and eagerly sniff one other. With balls, and sticks, and a whole range of other toys that were known by the various owners as The Collectables it was all a matter of getting their dog exhausted so that when the two men got home it was then deemed their 'partner time' and the dog slept and demanded no attention while they made sensuous love together.

The park was also a wonderful opportunity to meet other men who were out walking their dogs. And such a diverse mixture of both dogs and men were there! There's no doubting the potential that having a cute dog can give when it comes to breaking the ice with a stranger. Simply launch in to a chat about the dog - its breed, its cuteness, its medical history or whatever comes to mind - and you have the beginnings of a conversation, a friendship and maybe even the occasional 'come-up-and-see-where-I-live' type invitation. And indeed several times that veiled invitation was reluctantly (from Lance's point of view) followed up and the owners had their own form of afternoon 'doggy' play.

When it came to a sexual history, Tony had a long and active one. And Lance knew that when he started dating him. But in his innocence he thought that he could divert Tony's interest away from lusting after other men and bring him around to his own way of thinking - that a partnership is about sharing, about growing together and planning a future together. About bonding two spirits together into a mutually exclusive oneness. About being sexually monogamous.

As he walked through the empty streets Lance was unaware as to how deep his thoughts and memories had become. The impact of Tony's personality, the joyous initial happiness that they shared and then the train-wreck of a conclusion to the partnership remained as vivid and as raw as the days on which they happened. Even though his mindset wouldn't accept it, Lance was still in mourning for that first lost love of his adult life.

He remembered the happy hours, especially the weekends away in the country with just the two of them. Alone in the car, alone on their long walks and passionately alone in those wonderfully decadent king size beds where love-making stretched from late afternoon through room service dinner and right through the night. They were totally hot for each other in every way - not just the sensual love-making but it was the constant foreplay. Their kisses were constant - there were the 'I'm-going-to-make-a-sandwich' departure kiss, the 'here's-the-morning-post' kiss, not to mention the 'you-look-stunning' kiss as one of them stepped naked out of the shower. Departure kisses were no mere pecks on the lips - hell no, they were sensual adventures in serious training for the World's Most Passionate Kiss competition. Deep, moist, succulent, passionate - they locked lips as two dedicated lovers who seemingly only had the deepest of feelings for the other.

And then there were the hugs, the stroking of skin, and the warmth of naked body snuggled in to naked body. To Lance, body contact was more of a sign of affection than any penetrative sexuality. Yes, penetration through either giving or receiving, (and he was very capable of both), could be an exquisite moment where both bodies merged as one - but it could also be hard work, occasionally a bit painful and not without its preparations and it's mess.

With being tactile it was all about giving and sharing and exploring all without having to think. To Lance it was the most natural thing in the world to use his hands and lips to bring pleasure to not only his partner but to himself as well. His hands and lips seemed to have a life of their own. If there was skin he wanted his hands to caress it, touch it, run along it and around it and repeat the journey back again. His lips and his tongue were not just to kiss another's lips - they were for making love statements all over a body. For sucking on the nipples, for sliding up and down the spinal column, for sucking on his balls and his big toe, for teasing earlobes and the back of the neck.

Lance enjoyed giving these pleasures to Tony knowing that many would not be reciprocated. But that didn't matter, for Lance was a giving person. He was capable of sacrificing his own pleasure to be sure that his loved one would receive the benefits of his sensuality skills. That was also part of his criteria for a happy relationship. Give but don't always expect to receive. Share the biggest portion to him while being happy to enjoy the smaller part for yourself. Take part in whatever he wants to do even if it is not necessarily to your liking (and in Lance's case, some of the walks Tony organized were not always to his liking for distance or physical endurance. He also didn't like dogs as much as he liked cats but he wasn't going to tell Tony that).

To make a good partnership work even better it was always necessary to sacrifice a little in order to make things work more harmoniously. This is what Lance had observed in his own family home where his mother invariably deferred to the strong will of his father, the bread-winner of the family. And so it was that Lance carried those ideals in to his own generation, Tony being the first recipient of his most generous and benevolent approach to life.

After several blissful weeks together (though not living under the same roof) it was their planned driving holiday to Scotland that saw the first moments of disillusionment for Lance. A motoring holiday, just the two of them - the wide open motorways and the fascinating byways, good food, those big (no make that HUGE) beds for endless sexy romps, the romantic walks beside the loch, the ancient history - what could be nicer?

When the suggestion was raised about putting the dog into boarding kennels for the duration of their holiday, Tony went ballistic. Lance was aware that Tony was the alpha male in their relationship and therefore he had always deferred to Tony's superior role. Lance knew that Tony was very masculine, somewhat domineering and aggressive if he wasn't getting his own way and often the intelligence level displayed at those times wasn't based on much more than street thuggery rather than intellectual and social manners. It didn't assist in the boarding kennel issue that Tony had already downed a few beers before the discussion arose and was on the point of being alcoholically aggressive. Normally this aggression could be redirected by Lance into a full-on hot sexual encounter where any thoughts other than