I’ve every hope of being productive and efficient with our free time in the middle of the day and, after a very good lunch at the lodge, I’m all set to get online and check in with the office. I’m also keen to post a few photos on my Facebook feed and email Dad to make sure everything is okay at home.

Some of these things are apparently achievable, but I’m beginning to feel the effects of the earlier tzetze fly bites. I manage to email Dad and send a quick contact to Tracey at the office, but the rest has to be put on hold as I’m just too irritated to do anything and quickly head for the tent.

Brian is sitting on the veranda with a book, but he can see that something’s bothering me before I even make it to the steps. “What’s the matter, Mark?”

“It’s these bloody bites. I need to hunt some cream out.”

“I’m guessing you got bitten more than I did. I found about eight, but they’re not really bothering me now.”

“Typical. I’m always a bit sensitive to insect bites. I’ll be fine.”

“Well, take a cool shower and I’ll come and help with putting some anti-histamine on for you,” Brian tells me as I unzip the tent. “Just yell when you’re ready.”

Standing in front of the bathroom mirror is probably a mistake. Now I can see just how many times I was actually bitten. There are probably more than thirty that I can see and I think there are more on my back that I can’t see. They’re currently angry-looking red spots that it's very difficult to ignore.

I set the shower as cool as I can reasonably stand and let the stream of water take the heat out of the irritation. I’m pretty sure that the general heat of the day hasn’t been helping at all. I wrap a towel around my waist and call to Brian once I’m sat on my bed in the main part of the tent.

“Fuck,” he mutters when he comes inside. “They really did have a good go at you, didn’t they?”

“Yes, apparently so. I don’t think I even felt most of them. Look at these,” I tell him lifting one foot up to show several bites across the top of my foot. “The bastards must’ve bit me right through the fabric of my boot. That’s just wrong!”

“Well, they are evolved to bite through the hide of a buffalo, so I guess a shoe isn’t going to stop them,” he tells me with a sardonic grin. “Here, let me put some cream on the ones you can’t see or reach.”

Once again, his touch is gentle and reassuring. Just like earlier in the day, I feel myself wanting to lean into the touch. When his fingertips seem to linger for a moment on a single point on the back of my neck, I can’t resist any longer and move my neck sinuously against his fingertips.

Brian’s touch moves from gentle pressure to become a hold as his hand flattens out across my neck and his thumb rubs just below my ear. I half moan with pleasure as I turn towards him and see him staring at me with his head slightly to one side and a hint of a smile on his lips.

As he raises his eyebrows questioningly, he applies a little pressure to the back of my neck with that still-steady hand and my response is to allow myself to be drawn towards him slowly but inexorably. I’ve no idea what exactly is going on here, but I’m suddenly very keen to find out.

Brian slides slightly closer on the bed and draws me into a soft, tender kiss; his lips barely touching mine. It’s not enough for me, however and my hand comes up to grab the back of his head and press our mouths more firmly together.

All thoughts of irritating bites are banished by our kiss. Arms now around each other, we roll back onto the bed, Brian on top of me and lips still locked together. The towel wrapped loosely around my waist does little to protect my modesty and certainly isn’t capable of hiding my almost instant arousal.

As Brian rubs his pelvis against me through the towel, I can sense that he’s getting just as turned-on as I very obviously am. As he slides one hand down between our bodies, the towel can do nothing to prevent the tips of his fingers gently caressing my already sticky and throbbing cock. He uses the tip of his finger to gently force my foreskin back and reveal my taught glans, causing me to writhe beneath him in pleasure and anticipation.

“I’ve just had a cool shower,” I moan between kisses as Brian continues to tease my shaft with his delicate touch. “Fat lot of good that did!”

“Horny bugger!” Brian counters as he stands momentarily to shed his shirt and step out of his pants.

“Guilty to both of those,” I manage with a grin as I reposition myself more conventionally on my bed, leaving the towel to drop off the edge onto the floor. Brian drops to his knees, now in just his boxers that are straining against his tent-pole imitating member.

He stays close enough to the bed that I can reach out with my nearest hand and begin to explore the waistband of his boxers. As he plants a soft kiss on my shoulder and begins a trail of soft lips down across my chest, I slip my hand inside his pants and take a gentle hold of his firm shaft. He’s expectedly uncircumcised and his tight foreskin is already almost totally drawn back, revealing much of his glistening tip to my touch.

He lets his tongue circle my nipple a couple of times before kissing his way down my chest and across my abdomen.

All the while, his hand is gently stroking the length of my leg from knee to the top of my thigh then back down the inner surface, barely stroking my balls as it passes. Each touch on my scrotum causes my cock to twitch upwards totally out of my control.

As I finally manage to wrap my fist around his shaft, I sense the first heat of his breath as his mouth approaches my cock and the tip of his tongue touches the very end. At that very first taste of my pre-come, his own cock jerks in my hand and it feels as if it gets even bigger and fatter in an instant. Now with a firm grip that barely surrounds his thickness, I begin to stroke his length steadily as his lips engulf my own erection.

Now, his hand that was once on my thigh is slipping down between my legs and caressing my taint with exquisite skill. Each gentle stroke across my skin causes me to jerk my cock in his mouth, even as he takes more of my length and sucks on me hungrily.

As his head begins to bob up and down on my length, I manage to moan a whispered “Together?” and am encouraged as he somehow manages to get to his feet and straddle my head without taking his mouth from the task at hand. Now that his cock is hanging just millimetres from my face, I’m not sure that I can even get it into my mouth. I knew it felt big in my hand a moment ago, but now I can see that its thicker than any I’ve had the pleasure of before.

I lift both hands to stroke his hips and arse as I lift my head slightly to experimentally lick his deep red glans and get that first taste of his pre-come. He’s nearly as wet as I was moments ago and the sticky sweetness of him is intoxicating.

I’m a little tentative at first, but apparently, I can get him into my mouth much more easily than I imagined just from looking. Within a few moments I’m taking at least half of his length into my mouth and moving up and down in time to his own mouth on me. I concentrate on maintaining a good rhythm while I use my tongue to the best of my ability. I don’t think I’m as good as Brian seems to be, but I hope I’m at least doing my best to keep up.

I’ve not been with anyone since Simon, feeling lost and cheated by him and wanting nothing to do with casual encounters. No I’m rapidly coming undone as Brian expertly works his lips and tongue on my cock and his fingertips on my balls and the very outside of my hole.

At the very moment that I feel I can hold back no longer; I see Brian’s balls tighten in front of me and we both explode simultaneously.

Brian’s hot come spurts into my mouth and down my throat as I unload onto his tongue. He continues to suck hard through my orgasm, milking every last drop from me as I do the same to him. Finally spent, he rolls off and turns over as I turn onto my side to make room for him beside me on the small bed.

Brian kisses the back of my neck softly as he lets his arm drape over my chest. I think I drift off to sleep for a few minutes, but when I come round, Brian is still there and breathing more steadily.

“Brian?” I whisper softly, more to check that he’s awake than anything.

“Hmm…” he mumbles I gentle reply.

“I thought you were straight?”

“Sorry. All that talk about my girlfriend?”

“Yeah, I guess. That and the fact that you were in the army.”

“Not the boundary it once was,” he tells me with a sigh. “But, for the record, I’m bisexual.”

I relax into his arms and let this piece of information settle into my mind slowly. I almost feel like dropping off again, but that somehow doesn’t seem like a good idea.

“Brian, what time is it?” I ask him after a few more moments of silence. I took my watch off to get my shower and haven’t put it back on.

“Shit!” Brian moans after a quick glance at his wrist. “We need to be at the trucks for the evening game drive in less than twenty minutes.”

 

We’re both definitely a bit dishevelled when we arrive at the vehicles at a somewhat rapid pace. I honestly don’t quite know what’s going on, but I know enough to feel that I need to pretend that there’s nothing different, at least for now. I’m lucky that everyone is concerned with getting in their vehicle and finding their seats, leaving little time to take notice of our late arrival.

The extreme heat of the afternoon has lessened a little, but it is still hot enough for the breeze of the moving vehicles to be most welcome. The wildlife, however, is still very subdued and mostly hard to find. The first hour or more of the drive is spent moving around the park simply looking for anything of interest.

Finally, Joshua takes us on a different track, back almost in the direction of the main gate. The combination of the different route and the slowly cooling temperature seems to change our luck. Firstly, we see a magnificent long-crested eagle just sitting on a branch right in front of us. They’re actually quite comical, with their mohawk-like crest of feathers blowing about in the breeze. Seeing one so close does give a real sense of just how big some of these birds of prey get. I’m reminded by Ian from the front that these are one of the smaller eagles.

When we spot a group of giraffes, they are more accessible and easier to see than they had been in Nairobi and much closer to our vehicles. When they get within ten metres of us, you can’t help but notice how much they tower over the vehicles and us.

With the sun beginning to set on another day, we turn for camp. Joshua somehow manages to spot some lions in the long grass, but they are almost impossible to see clearly. I honestly have no idea how he even saw them from the driver’s seat. I can hardly see them when standing up in the back because the grass is so long and dense. A couple of grainy low-light pictures of ears is all I really manage.

By the time we’ve eaten, I’m pretty much done for the day.  I’ve had no chance to talk to Brian about earlier in the and I’ve no idea what is or isn’t going on between the two of us. I’m not exactly looking forward to the long drive tomorrow, although I’m keen to see the great escarpment that marks the western wall of the rift valley.

When I make it back to my tent after a rescheduled bird checking session with Geoff, Tim and a couple of the others, I’m ready to just slip out of my clothes and collapse into bed. 

Brian is awake when I get in, but already in bed and I’m too tired to talk. Once I’ve shuffled out of my trousers and thrown my shirt at the foot of my bed, he lifts his sheet and smiles at me. I hesitate for only a moment before slipping under the cover with him and, wrapped in his arms, fall into a long dreamless sleep.