“I like it when you call me that.” The moment I said it, I felt heat rushing to my face. “No one has ever called me anything that implies that we’re intimate.” I wasn’t sure why I felt I had to share that, but I was rapidly coming to the conclusion that my mouth and brain worked separately whenever I was around Joel.
The time for words was over when Joel got down on his knees, undid the button on my jeans, and pulled them down in one go with my boxer shorts. Before I could even react, I felt his mouth on me, warm and wet, and determined to make this a very short-lived activity.
I looked down and saw the sole focus of his attention was my rock-hard, ready-to-combust cock. He stroked, kissed, licked, and sucked with a determination I was quickly learning was a big part of who he was. I’d thrown so much at him, and he was still here, giving rather than taking.
Joel looked up at me, and there was no judgment in his eyes, just pure, unabridged pleasure and something else I couldn’t tell but could feel, and it was good.
I’m not sure what he saw in my eyes when our gazes locked because he quickly withdrew his cock from his shorts and brought himself to climax, moaning my name.
The shock of seeing him so tightly wound that he couldn’t wait to bring himself to orgasm was quickly replaced with my own need. The moment Joel’s mouth was back on me, all it took was a slight amount of pressure from his hand and him moaning around me, and I was gone. The familiar rush of pleasure traveled from my lower back down to my balls, and I cried Joel’s name as I released into his welcoming, warm mouth.
In my post-orgasmic bliss, my knees struggled to hold my body, so I let myself slide down to sit on the floor, my back still against the door. Joel straddled me and kissed me fiercely.
“That was the hottest thing ever,” he said. I could not find a bone in my body that would disagree with that statement.
We didn’t get on the road until lunchtime after another shower. Fortunately, the pancakes we had at breakfast were enough to fill us up, so once we were ready, we locked up and left.
We threw a coin to see who would do the driving for this leg of the journey, and I was ecstatic to come out the winner. I loved driving, but since I didn’t have a car, it was an activity I was rarely able to enjoy.
There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and barely a breeze, so we decided to keep the top of the car down. The roads were surprisingly clear. Our original plan had been to avoid the highway and take the country roads. It would have taken us an additional hour, but it would have also been a much nicer drive through all the towns.
Since our morning activities delayed us, we decided to take the highway instead so we could arrive in Évora in time to go to the two places our moms had talked about in their journal, the Chapel of Bones and the Roman Temple of Diana.
Thirty minutes into our trip, we’d left the urbanized areas of the west coast and were now in beautiful countryside. The highway cut through the green landscape of agricultural fields, and I could see the occasional farm animal grazing in the distance.
I glanced at Joel and saw him admiring the views. He looked relaxed and happy, and in his shorts, T-shirt, and baseball cap combination, he looked every bit the tourist.
“What?” he asked when he realized I looked at him. I couldn’t see his eyes behind the sunglasses, but I was sure they would be that shiny light blue they always were in the sunshine. I shook my head, smiling, but gave him no answer since I wasn’t sure we could have a conversation over the sound of the wind around us.
The green pastures of the West gave way to the yellow undulating plains the Alentejo region was known for as we got closer to our destination. From the highway, all we could see was the occasional small village surrounded by fields of wheat, cork oak, and olive trees. It was truly stunning, and I couldn’t wait to get off the highway.
As soon as we found a parking space under the shade of a tree in Évora and the car stopped moving, the coolness of the wind gave way to overwhelming heat.
“Jesus, it’s hot!” Joel said, getting out to help me get the roof of the car back in place.
“Yeah, this part of the country is quite dry and a lot warmer than the rest. Did you see the fields of wheat on the way?”
“Yeah, it was beautiful. It looked so peaceful. I loved all those little hills with a single tree on them.”
“Maybe we’ll see some more on the way to the hotel later.”
We each took a bottle of water from the cooler box we brought with us and went to find the Temple of Diana.
“It looks like one of those Greek temples,” Joel said as we approached the small square where the temple was situated. He was right. It did look like a Greek temple. I couldn’t remember much from what I learned at school, so we tried to look for an information board but didn’t see one.
“I’ll look it up on my phone,” I said.
“Look!”
Joel was pointing toward the landscaped garden in front of the temple, but I couldn’t see what he was so excited about.
“Stay here,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”
I took my phone out to get information about the temple and found that it was actually called the Roman Temple of Évora and that the association with Diana, the Roman Goddess of the Hunt, stemmed from a legend made up by a priest in the seventeenth century.
Before I could read any more, I had an ice-cream cone thrust in my face.
“What—” I took it and looked at Joel. He was the picture of happiness as he licked his ice cream. His wide smile and bright eyes reminded me of the Joel I knew as a child, and I was glad to see that side of him hadn’t changed as he grew up.
