He actually raised a hand, like he was some proper British schoolboy looking to see if there would be a test on this. I nodded at him, hoping he’d rise to ask with his hands neatly clasped in front of his crotch, but no dice.

“Have you any qualms with the capture of live animals?” he asked, leaning forward, an almost manic gleam in his eyes.

I whistled through my teeth. “Just what are we talking about?”

He tapped his nose and winked.

“Confidential. Right. Mind giving me a clue? Is it bigger than a breadbox and full of claws?”

Worthington chortled. “I assure you, it is of moderate size and is not an apex predator, and I have brought all the necessary equipment to trap and contain it.” He sighed. “I do hope you don’t take offense at this. After the debacle with Doctor Biggerstaf and the Two-Bulged Snipe, I’ve found it paramount to maintain a certain level of discretion when it comes to these things.”

It says something about my life when I can hear things like that and not even blink. “I hear you. It’s the height of bad manners to go interfering with another man’s snipe.”

Worthington beamed and clapped his hands. “Excellent! Then we are of accord!” He scooted his chair over to my side of the table. “Now, let us see about these maps.”

I pointed out the various features of the island, important landmarks and paths as well as the shacks we could use to hide from the three o’clock deluges. As the rain outside tapered down, we picked a preliminary scouting path.

***

I’ll say this for Worthington: he has the gams for hiking. When the rain stopped pouring and the heated ground stopped steaming, we set off on the most difficult path on the island. It’s the one I generally only take the douchebag gym-bunny pricks on to try and tire them out, but Worthington took it with a bounce in his step and a grin under his terrible, terrible moustache. He kept a hand on his bushwhacking knife, unneeded as it was. He would have probably been singing a jolly hiking song if I hadn’t made it perfectly clear to cut that shit out. Then again, he was probably too busy paying attention to everything we passed. Every time I looked back when the sound of his footsteps had stopped, he was bent down, eyes wide, lips whispering names in Latin.

Something in the bushes caught my eye. “Hold,” I said, raising my arm in the traditional ‘stop yo shit’ motion. It was unnecessary in this case, since Worthington was already stopped, hand curled firmly around the handle of his knife. It was still sheathed, which was a good sign that things weren’t about to escalate.

I locked eyes with the beastie in front of us. “You don’t want to do this, darlin,” I said softly. I drew my sword and held it over my head, blade pointed down like some lopsided sabretooth tiger. I glared at him, the very picture of ‘don’t start none, won’t be none.’

“Walker!” Worthington shouted just as the sneak attack came. It was from the left, just as I predicted. I switched my grip, swinging my sword like a baseball bat. I caught the attacker in the side with the flat of my blade.

“Not today, Marley!” I yelled, following it up with a sharp kick to the ribs. He whimpered and rushed back into the woods, partner following him. “You’re getting the short end of the stick, Marley! Make Bob do the dirty work sometimes!” I shouted after their retreating tails.

I looked back to Worthington, who had drawn his blade and turned to protect my right flank–good instincts, if unnecessary in this case. “It’s okay, Perfessor. Those two only ever hunt together.”

“Ah, I see,” Worthington said, putting his sword away with shaking hands.

“Everything all right there?” I asked. I was worried that I may have traumatized the poor kid, which for once wasn’t my intention, but when he looked back at me, he was grinning wide enough to show every one of his oversized teeth. Adrenaline, then. I could relate.

“That was a fantastic scrum, Walker!” Worthington enthused. “The way you intercepted that sneak attack without even looking? Phwoar! I just hope next time you’ll let me have a bit of a scrap too, wot?”

I huffed a laugh and continued down the trail, Worthington following at my heels like a puppy. “Don’t be too impressed. Marley and Bob know a grand total of one strategy, which they use every fucking time. At this point, the only way they can hurt me is with secondhand embarrassment.”

I could feel the question mark forming over Worthington’s head. “But if they attack you every time, why don’t you–”

“Kill them?” I finished, cutting him off. I shrugged. “Don’t see the point. My job’s hard enough maintaining the ecological balance without getting rid of any more predators, and besides, if two homosexual life partners want to make it their life’s mission to eat me, who am I to judge?”

Worthington laughed loudly and clapped me on the shoulder. “Who are we to judge indeed, Walker? Well said!”

We continued down the path, Worthington following behind.

“Walker…those two creatures. Were they perhaps Amphicyonidae Orthipicus?” Worthington asked.

He couldn’t see my eyebrows rise, which was a real pity, since they so rarely do that. “Ayep. Gold star, Perfessor.” Worthington hummed happily. “They happen to be the mystery critter you’re after?”

“Ah, no. But a rare animal, and compatible with what I’m searching for? Oh yes,” Worthington said.

“Glad to hear it,” I said.

We soon came to the place we were looking for: the top of the cliff face which gave a good view of the east side of the island. We had a good hour of rest time before the sun began to set and we had to turn around and head back to the lodge. Worthington took out the spare copy of the map I’d given him, a compass, a pair of binoculars, and a few textbooks. How he managed to carry all of that up the super-steep hill, I have no idea.

I took the opportunity to lounge out against a tree and enjoy the view. The island had really recovered over the years since I’d bought it. The foliage’s coverage had gone from badly-used-fishnets to sleek-and-sexy-thigh-highs, and the noise from the birds trying to get laid or encourage other birds to get the fuck out of their territory was twice as loud. Yeah, I’ll admit it. I done good.

Worthington seemed to appreciate it too, from the way he was looking like he wanted to tear into the jungles below and strip them of their secrets. But, classy-like, like he wanted to make sure they had a good time, too, because he was a gentleman explorer at heart.

He finished marking things on his maps and stood up. “Pardon, Walker, just need to get a bird’s-eye view of the other side of the island, won’t be a moment,” he said and, with a move worthy of the finest bowtied stripper in Vegas, reached down and tore off the bottom parts of his pants.

Let me pause a moment here so I can wax poetic about his thighs.

Okay, first, a minor digression. I’m a good-looking man. The combination of living on the island and narcissism have given me a pretty perfectly toned body. I’ve been naked in front of the webcam enough times to have hundreds of loyal subscribers more-or-less tell me I’m the equivalent of a bronzed Adonis who can’t tan. A perma-sunburned Adonis. What I’m saying is, I’m cut.

Worthington was not cut. Worthington was like if you lifted weights real hard and the UPS guy came with your shipment of muscles and was like, “whoops, looks like they sent you a double shipment of muscles, do you want me to send the extra back?” and Worthington said, “No trouble my good man, just slap those extra muscles on wherever they can fit!” His calves swelled like party balloons ready to pop. This muscles of his thighs flexed and bulged like an undulating orgy of snakes. When he bent to hoist himself into the tree, the seat of his pants clung so tight I could see the dimples in each cheek.

I believe that he did not climb the tree so much as he wrapped his thighs around it, and the tree submitted to their will.

Which, to be honest, was starting to sound like a right fine idea.

This was going to be a heck of an awkward week.

***

The next morning, when the sun was just starting to peek over the hills, Worthington thrust his maps between me and my morning Franken Berry cereal. “Judging by the thickness of foliage and elevation levels, I’ve narrowed it down to these three areas,” he said, indicating the points circled on the maps.

I glanced at them, tapped one, and went back to my breakfast before the milk turned too dark a shade of pink. Not exactly a morning person here.

“Right-o,” Worthington said. “Any particular reason you’re choosing this place?”

“Think you’d like to meet someone,” I grunted. For the morning, this was goddamned erudite for me.

The trek wasn’t so bad this time–we curved around the cliff’s face so there wasn’t as much of an uphill trek, and Worthington’s legs kept up just fine. More than fine. He paused now and then to investigate a plant or insect, and every time he bent, I could just hear the fabric straining around his gloriously built ass. I spent the whole journey just thinking about those legs, the way the muscles must band and flex as he moved. I bet if you put a walnut between his cheeks, he could crack it with just one squat.

Oh God. I bet he does squats.

Fuck.

We reached the place I was looking for in just a few hours and a minimal number of awkward boners. I held up a hand for quiet again, and damned if he didn’t take orders well. I stuck my fingers in my mouth and gave three whistles: low, high, low. When there wasn’t a response, I did it again.

“What are–” Worthington began to ask, but I held up a hand again. A few moments later, the grass rustled, and out came a large, tusked, furry friend. She came up to me and reared up on her back legs, resting her front paws on my shoulder.

“Smilodon Gratuius,” Worthington whispered.

“Good catch,” I said, then had to close my mouth as she nuzzled the heck out of my face. I rubbed back, then turned my head to the side. “But I just call her Abby.” Her paw gently cuffed my head, bringing it back to her shoulder. “Yes, yes, I love you too, darlin,” I said, laughing. Worthington was laughing, too.

“You seem to have quite the bond,” Worthington said.

“Well, I am sort of her papa,” I said, settling Abby back to the ground. She nosed at my hand, so I bent over and scruffed behind her ears while I talked. “Her mama passed away when she was little, so I ended up raising her until she was big enough to look after herself.”

The brush rustled again. “Oh look, here comes the grandkids,” I said. Three more creatures came out, smaller than Abby, perhaps the size of a full grown human.

“Be careful,” I warned, when Worthington stuck out his hand for a cub to sniff. “Abby might be tamed, but these’uns ain’t.”

“Poppycock, they seem fine,” Worthington said, and playfully tousled the cub’s fur. The cub reached a paw out and casually knocked off Worthington’s stupid hat. Worthington lightly tapped its nose. The cub leaned in close and huffed. “One moment,” Worthington said to the cub, and removed his glasses.

“Walker, if you would be so kind?” he said, extending them in my direction. I took them and tucked them into a pocket.

“You sure you know what you’re…” My train of thought got derailed on account of sudden shirtlessness. My train of thought was so derailed the little conductor was fired and the little commuters were issued bus passes to make up for the inconvenience, because, damn, Worthington had some beautifully built arms hidden under that shirt, and the thin undershirt left very little to the imagination. I had to sit down.

A moment later, the legs of his trousers were also removed, and Worthington was getting into a wide-legged stance. The cub came up to him, stretching until they were nose-to-nose, each staring the other down.

At some signal, Worthington’s arms landed on the cub’s shoulders, at the same time its front paws started to rise from the ground. Worthington’s legs worked overtime, bracing himself on the ground as the two tried to push each other off balance. I suppose I should’ve worried, but the cub was keeping its claws sheathed, and Abby laid down next to me and put her head in my lap. If they weren’t worried, I guess I shouldn’t be, either. They were just two cubs playing.

One of Worthington’s legs buckled, the cub toppling over him, but Worthington managed to use his momentum to keep them rolling. Each struggled to stay on top, Worthington laughing madly the whole time.

“The guy comes all the way out here, and his first instincts on meeting a new critter is to see how well it can wrestle,” I said to Abby, scratching her head.

Worthington managed to pin the cub to the ground. He turned to me, all bright blue eyes and buck-toothed grin, sweat sliding down his arms, and said, “Walker! Do you want next match?”

Holy fuck yes please.

“No thanks, I’m good,” I said, waving him on.

He shrugged and let the cub up, ready for round two.

I looked at Abby. “Sad thing is?” I said to her. “I’d still totally let him put his dick in me.”

Abby looked at Worthington, looked at me, huffed, and put her head back on my lap.

***

I worked on my sketchbook that evening while Worthington sang in the bathtub. I wanted to record how big Abby’s cubs had gotten, and the image of the Perfessor wrestling wild animals wouldn’t leave my head. I did a few rough sketches before I realized that the sounds of singing had died off and the air was suspiciously steamier.

“I didn’t know you could draw!”

I didn’t jump. Why would I jump when there was an attractively ridiculous dripping wet man wearing only a towel standing three feet away from me?

God damn it. I hadn’t gotten this many awkward boners since that time way back in AP history when we had a sub who kept dropping his goddamned piece of chalk.

“Can I help you?” I drawled.

“Ah, yes, you’re out of talcum powder. Can’t finish drying up without it, it’s just not cricket!” he said cheerfully, leaning over my shoulder. The water from his hair dripped onto my neck. He smelled amazing.

“There’s Abby and the cubs! You have a real knack for this!” he enthused. He grasped the page’s edge. “May I?”

“Suit yourself.” Why yes, nearly naked man, I would like to show you my etchings.

He flipped through the book, looking at all the sketches of plants and wildlife I’d seen on the island. He cooed over the page that showed Abby’s cubs at just three weeks old. “Do you take most visitors to see them?”

“Hell no!” I blurted out. Worthington looked a little shocked. “I mean, I’m not likely to bring her out to meet someone who’d like to shoot her, is all. I save her for the folks with kids.”

Worthington nodded in understanding. “Ah yes, they’re the ones who are here to look at the wilderness rather than hunt.”

I gave him a strange look. “No, they’re the ones who’re here to shoot things, same as anyone else. But show them a mama with a bunch of cuddly, furry cubs, and your daddy wants to shoot them? That’s a recipe for tears like none other.” I laughed to myself. “Must’ve put a dozen kids off of shooting things in the past year alone.”

“Isn’t that a bit risky?” Worthington asked.

“Ain’t one papa who’s shot yet. And the kids are fine, all told. Heck, one at the end was talking about setting up a wildlife fund at her school.” I smiled proudly at the memory of the little girl with pigtails and a big dream.

Worthington laughed. “You’re a queer one, Walker.”

I pointed my finger like a pistol at him and winked. “You said it.”

He continued flipping back, until he noticed something other than my sketches that surprised him. “Are these the dates?” he said, pointing at the corner of the page. I nodded; he frowned. “How long have you been here?”

I leaned back and stretched, like I had to actually think about it. “It’s gotta be close on eight years now,” I said. “When I bought this place up, it was a miserable, overhunted piece of land. Sunk nearly all my money into it, too. Still not sure why, to tell the truth. I was a stupid, idealistic twenty-one-year-old, just out of college with nothing better to do. But the island’s gotten better, so that’s something.”

Worthington frowned again. “But if hunting was the problem, why do you let hunters come here?”

I shrugged. “Need the money. And I figure, if you give them a controlled way to hunt, I won’t have to worry about poachers. And also, tourists don’t hardly pay anything, and I need the money.”

Worthington hummed to himself in thought. I could see something forming at the front of his brain. “Wait one bleeding moment. You’re four years older than me?” he asked in absolute shock, and I couldn’t help it, I started laughing. After a few seconds, he started laughing, too.

He straightened up suddenly. “Oh! I’ve just had the most marvelous idea!” He rushed back to his room, holding his towel in place to my disappointment. A moment later he was back–no more fully clothed, thankfully, but he was holding a book and grinning at me, like I held all the secrets he was looking for.

I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to hold him down and shave his moustache, or at least lick it until it lost all power over me.

“What’s that there?” I asked. He sat down on the couch, thighs pressed hotly against my own.

“One of my grandfather’s books,” he said, opening to a certain page. “He was an explorer, like my father and myself. I’ve been attempting to find all the creatures he described in these pages.” He pointed to a page with an illustration of a plant with rather suggestively shaped purplish berries, each hung in a pair from a joined stem. “Have you seen a plant that looks like this?”

I flipped back a couple dozen pages, to the stuff I’d drawn my sixth year here. “This look like a match?” I asked. “Don’t know what they are. I’ve been calling them dongleberries on account of how they look like–”

“Yes, splendid, that’s it!” Worthington cheered. “And do you happen to know if any of them grow in an area with a lot of these?” He pointed to another page with a small animal, kind of like a vole.

I flipped to another page, which showed a little rat-like creature hiding under the dongleberry’s leaves. “That serve?”

Worthington leaned in even closer, hand gripping high on my thigh. “And do you happen to know if you can find both of these in any of the areas I’ve circled?”

I huffed a laugh and leaned back, praying to the ceiling for deliverance. “Perfessor, I think you’ve just planned out tomorrow’s journey.”

***

We’d laid several traps that morning. Worthington certainly believed we were in the right area, and by the quivering of his godawful moustache, I’d lay even bets he was right. The traps were an unusual design: slim, weight-sensitive, rectangular boxes with a right strange fabric covering, but Worthington seemed pretty sure that they’d work, and it was no skin off me either way.

The rains came. We moved to the nearest shelter–a lean-to, really, just three wooden walls and a roof on a padded, elevated floor, but it was enough to keep the rain off. Worthington pulled a pipe from God-knows-where and puffed at it as he thumbed through some hardcover volume. I noticed his name on the spine, though if it were this James T. Worthington or the two that preceded him, I had no clue. I didn’t mind the smoke, since it kept the mosquitoes away, and if he didn’t care about the scent alerting the other animals in the region, neither did I.

I sat by the open wall, eyes closed, breathing in the scent of the rain falling on my island, and felt myself drifting off to sleep.

“You truly love this island, don’t you?” Worthington asked.

“A-yep,” I said, keeping my eyes closed.

“Why don’t you try to get some more official protections for it?” he asked.

I sighed. “The home country don’t exactly like the idea of declaring all of this a not-for-profit sanctuary, and there ain’t a federation I’ve contacted that wants to spend the money sticking their necks out for this thumbprint of an island.” I made a face. “Don’t worry your pretty little head there, Perfessor. S’long as I’m here, we’ll be okay.”

I heard him slide on closer in, smelled the cloud of his tobacco get stronger. “I have…a bit of pull when it comes to these things,” he said awkwardly. Should’ve known it’d take the embarrassment of offering a favor to get the wind out of his sails. “If you’d like, when the week is out, I could perhaps advocate on your behalf?”

I opened one eye to look at him. “You know what, Perfessor? I’d sure appreciate that.”

Worthington beamed. “Oh, not at all, it’s nothing, truly. In fact, it should be a charm once I find–” He cut himself off, looking instantly guilty. “Oh dash it all, why not?” He turned to me, looking me dead in the eye. “Walker. Can you keep a secret?”

I looked left and right, at all the nothing that could overhear us. “Think I could be persuaded to.”

“Very well! I am on the hunt–” he leaned in closer, whispering the words “–for the One-Eyed Trouser Snake.”

I’ll give you a moment there. I needed one, too.

I dug my pinky into my ear, swirling it around a bit. “Beg pardon?”

“The One-Eyed Trouser Snake!” Worthington repeated.

Welp, if he insisted.

I reached over and took his pipe out of his hand, conscientiously smothering the glowing tobacco. Because, if I learned one thing from Saturday morning cartoons, it was that only me and a big anthropomorphic teddy bear could prevent forest fires. I took Worthington’s book and placed it, and the pipe, carefully to the side.

Then, and only then, did I jump on Worthington, pushing his back against the floor. He fell with only a slight exhalation to mark the point when he hit the ground, pith hat rolling across the floor. I took advantage of his momentary stupor to pin his arms above his head. I wrapped my legs around his thighs, bracing my feet under his knees. I leaned in, lips pressed next to his ear, and growled, “Shit, man, you only had to ask.”

Worthington laughed at that, a deep, rounded “Ho ho ho!” and I swear it made me taste British toffee on the back of my teeth. “I see! Fisticuffs!”

He bucked his hips, crotch rubbing against my already half-hard dick, throwing me off balance. He spun us around so he was on top, landing sideways across my stomach. He slid an arm under my leg, pulling it up into a textbook leg lock. “Nice moves, Perfessor,” I purred.

“Sorry, old chum. I’m an Eton boy. We scrum all the time.”

“Oh, do you now?” Did I say it was a textbook leg lock? It was a textbook leg lock on anyone except a guy who’d done yoga with his sister all throughout high school. I bent my leg back with the hold, all the way until my boots were at my nose, and wrapped my knee around the back of his neck, pushing him down again. I scissored my other leg under his chest and squeezed.

That was the plan, anyway, until he grabbed one of my thighs in each hand and pushed until I was spread eagled on the floor, exposed and panting. I reached for him, but he executed a beautiful flip, turning me onto my belly and pressing his full weight onto my back.

He reached an arm around my neck. I twisted my arm back around his. He leaned onto my body. I bent my legs back until they wrapped around his knees, ankles locking in place.

“We…seem to be at an impasse,” Worthington said, breathing heavily onto my neck. I could feel the bristles of his stupid moustache scratching my skin.

“Seems that way,” I agreed.

“Best of three?” he offered, but made no move to let go of his grip.

“I think we might find another way to settle this,” I said, shamelessly rubbing my ass against his crotch.

“Oh…oh!” Worthington said. I squeezed my legs tight around his thighs to get better leverage and gave another shameless rub, long and hard, against his crotch. And speaking of things that were growing long and hard…

“Ready to continue your exploration, Perfessor?” I asked, releasing my legs and giving him the sultriest look over my shoulder.

He sat back, blushing, and said, “Well, I am an Eton boy,” and I had no idea what the fuck that meant, but boy did it sound dirty.

He started to slowly unlace his boots, but I wasn’t having none of that. I grabbed each boot and yanked it off, giving him the option of either doing ballet points or losing a toe. I allowed him to unbuckle his own belt, then unzipped and yanked them off, too, throwing them in a corner because, seriously, fuck pants.

All he wore below the equator was a pair of plain white undies, a pair of socks, and–were those sock garters? Holy fuck he was wearing sock garters. I slipped a thumb under each elastic, just to feel the press against his rock solid calves. I leaned in and up until my cheek was pressed against his crotch, his dick hot and straining against the fabric.

I rubbed my face against the cloth, enjoying the heavy, salty scent. It had been a while since I’d had a dick on my face. I wanted to enjoy it while I could. I wanted to rub up against it, get its good, dickish scent all over me. I wanted to walk through my island after this and have all the critters go, “Hey, is that a giant walking dick? It smells like a giant walking dick! Wait, it’s just Walker. Way to get a dick, Walker!” and give me whatever version of a thumbs-up a critter could do without an opposable thumb.

Okay, largely I just wanted Worthington to keep making those little, hitched noises in his throat. I mouthed at the bulge under the fabric, working my way up its length, and giving a little extra suck at the top. I slid my hands up his calves to his thighs, feeling all those impossible muscles twitch under my hands. I grabbed the waistband of his underwear and pulled, sliding it off his hips, and tossing it to another corner of the room.

I reached up and snatched his eyeglasses, pulling them down for just a moment. I wanted to see his eyes, his amazing, bright blue eyes so dilated they were practically black. I pushed them back on–I wanted him to have a good view of what was coming next.

Making sure he was watching every moment, I wrapped my lips around the tip of his cock, giving the leaking tip a good, quick lick. Slowly, slowly, inch by inch, I lowered myself down his cock. God, his dick was amazing, all hot and firm and wide enough to give a real nice stretch. It didn’t hurt that all the while he was saying things like, “Oh bother that’s a right good jimmying there boy-o,” and other such Britishisms. They got more and more nonsensical the deeper I sank.

Fun biology fact: the neurochemical emotion known as “shame” originates in the gag reflex. Since I lack the latter, it explains why I have such a pathological lack of the former. Go ahead, ask Bill Nye, he’ll tell you. It’s science.

I grabbed Worthington’s hands and brought them to my head. After a moment he caught on, fingers gently closing in my hair. I rose up and sank down again, giving a little suck at the top. He groaned, fingers tightening, pulling at my hair. I moaned at that little bit of pain, working my mouth up and down his cock again, faster this time.

Worthington made a little humming noise, and when I glanced up, I saw him giving me a calculating look. His hands tightened in my hair, deliberately this time, and damn, it felt so good. I reached down and unbuttoned my pants, sticking my hand inside and grasping my cock, giving it a good tug.

Worthington’s hands went flat and still on my scalp. I looked up, questions in my eyes, dick in my mouth.

“Apologies, Walker, I’m not playing fair, am I?” he said. “One should give as good as one takes, eh?”

My mouth came free with a little pop. Worthington’s cock bobbled back and forth, glistening with saliva like it had been blessed by three royally kinky fairies.

“I ain’t complaining,” I said, though my jaw was a touch sore.

“Even so,” he said, and reached for the top button on my shirt. Before he could waste any time, I pulled my shirt over my head, then shucked off my pants, boxers, socks, and shoes in one quick move.

“Better?” I asked, stretching to show off my admittedly awesome physique.

“I would say so, yes!” He nodded in agreement and removed his own shirt, tossing it aside. I’ll admit I was a little disappointed–I was hoping he’d do that thing where you flex and the shirt tears into tiny shreds, because that would be awesome.

He bent to remove his socks, but I put a hand out to stop him, murmuring, “Leave them on.” He left them alone with a goofy smile. “Now where were we? That’s right…” I mused, and hooked a foot around his ankle. I gave a little yank, and he fell with me, landing on top. I wiggled around so my ass was in the air, pressed up against him, just like we’d been before.

“Looks like you win this round, Perfessor,” I said in a monotone voice. “What you gonna do now?”

“One moment, old chap,” he said, and I heard some rustling and the snap of a bottle. A dollop of something cold and slippery landed on my ass.

“This another one of your Eton things?” I said.

“Preparedness is one of Eton’s mottos,” he said proudly, and poked a finger into my ass. Dang it felt good, Worthington slicking me up all careful and deliberate-like. It’d been awhile since I’d had anything up there that wasn’t bright purple or run on batteries.

I smelled something sweet. “Is that…is that fruit punch flavored?”

He honest-to-God harrumphed at that. “Strawberry kiwi flavored, I’ll have you know,” he said with great dignity.

It was official. I was about to get fucked by the world’s most perfect man.

“You about ready to stick it in?” I asked. He got a nice, firm grip on my hips, lined himself up, and pushed.

I groaned as he slid in, feeling myself stretch around his cock. He was just the right size, not big enough to hurt, but wide enough that it took a little pushing to get in. His hands were hard on my hips, keeping me in place, and I hoped to God I’d have two matching hand-shaped bruises tomorrow to remember this by.

“You all right, chap?” Worthington asked, hand smoothing over my hip bone.

“God yes,” I said, and pushed my ass back on him a few times. He got the hint right quick, pounding into me with military rhythm and precision. I pillowed my head in my arms and lifted my hips, canting them at just the right angle so he’d hit that one perfect spot every time. Man was a machine, driving hard into me without slowing, and I learned one more reason to love those thick legs of his.

Wish I could say it lasted a long time, but it only took a few minutes of that relentless rhythm to bring me to the edge. Worthington leaned over me, fisted my cock in his hand, and sank his teeth into my shoulder, and I was gone with a shout so loud I disturbed a whole flock of birds.

Fly away, little birds. Tell the rest of the island how Jeb Walker just got fucked to within an inch of his life.

Worthington came a minute later. Silently, I’m sad to say, because if he’d yelled something like, “God save the Queen!” or “Tally-ho!” I would’ve been obligated to gay marry him right then and there.

He collapsed onto my back, all sweaty and heavy and perfect.

“A-yep,” I drawled, sighing happily.

“Rather,” Worthington agreed.

I winced a little as he lifted his hips and his dick slid out. He rolled off of me onto his back, spread out for all the world to see his collapsing penis in a pretty purple condom. He poked at it once, then rolled it off and tied it up, tucking it into one of the garbage bags. Good. I don’t truck with non-biodegradable garbage on my island.

I debated getting up to get my bag. I’ve got a deck of cards in there which should tide us over until round two (and oh yes, there would damned better be a round two), and I wanted to make sure I had access to my stash of condoms, which have silver stars printed on them and are therefore superior.

Instead, I rolled onto my side, gave him the biggest shit-eating grin, and said, “Sooooo…you find what you’re looking for?”

He kissed me.

I don’t know why that surprised me, but it did. He kissed me like he did everything: full of enthusiasm and a purposefulness that meant he was categorizing everything in that strange little head of his. His glasses clacked against my forehead, and his big buck teeth pulled at my lower lip, and his moustache…was still godawful, but it was beginning to grow on me, really. He kissed me until my head was in a fog and started thinking, you know what, sex is good and all, but I think I’d prefer just kissing this man and never ever stopping for the rest of my life.

He pulled back. “Hold one moment,” he said, whispering against my lips. His gaze was focused over my shoulder.

He crawled over to where I had tossed my pants in the corner of the room. In one quick move he pounced on my pants, hands wrapping around it like he wanted to strangle my invisible ankle.

A pink snake, body as thick as a prize-winning zucchini, slithered out of the other leg. It reared up, hissing at Worthington, who wasted no time grabbing it under the jaw so it couldn’t bite him. He wrapped his legs around its body so it couldn’t wriggle away. Worthington was bare-ass naked, fisting a giant pink snake clenched between his thighs.

It was, in fact, the hottest damned thing I have ever seen.

“Walker! The cage!” he yelled, but I was already on it, legs moving faster than I could think. I grabbed one of the spare cages, opened it up, and shoved it down on the snake’s head, slamming the door shut before it had time to turn around and slither out again.

“Got ‘im!” I shouted, rattling the cage a little to make sure everything was secure. The snake hissed at me, and I could distinctly see the single golden eye smack in the middle of its forehead. “Huh. So, Perfessor. That One-Eyed Trouser Snake you were looking for?”

“Yes?” Worthington dug a book from his pack, looking way too dignified for someone who was starkers and had just wrestled a snake.

“Turns out, that ain’t a colorful metaphor?” I asked.

Worthington blinked at me. “Whatever do you mean?”

“Nothing.”

“This is another excellent discovery to add to my collection! Come, Walker, look!” He waved me over, and I saw that the book he had was a scrapbook. He pointed to the photographs on the various pages. “This was my first big discovery–Oncorhynchus Barba, the Bearded Trout! After that I went to the tropics and found Tridacna Capilli and Acanthaster Connivi, the Hairy Clam and Winking Starfish, respectively.” He pointed to pages of him and various sea life.

“After that I went to the jungles of South America and found Mustela Pupure, the Purple Helmet Warrior Weasel.” He winked at me. “That was my greatest find until today.”

He turned to the next page, which was blank. “And here’s where our newest find will go. Of course, I’ll have to spend a good deal of time here, researching its habitat and life cycle and all that. Must be thorough, after all.”

“Of course,” I repeated.

“With this kind of discovery, I suppose there would be all sorts of grants out there to protect the habitat of such a rare creature, and I would need an assistant who knows how to navigate the wilds…” He continued giving me a meaningful look.

Huh. So that’s what hope feels like.

I coughed and turned away. “And once all that’s done?” I asked, never one to not ruin a good thing.

“There are always more places to explore!” He got a sly look on his face. “Would you be interested in joining my search? I think I have a good lead on a specimen.”

“And that would be?”

He leaned in close and whispered, “The Beast with Two Backs.”

When I was through laughing hysterically, I nodded, said, “Perfessor, I think I can manage that,” and tackled him to the ground again.