***

This was the wrong movie. His guest held his hand outstretched, three one-hundred-dollar bills, barely used, offered to him. How could he be so stupid? The man looked nothing like the guys who were usually part of those communities living in remote locations and only coming to the city as a rite of passage, but he sure behaved like one of them.

Danny felt like a bucket of water had just been splashed over his head. A bucket of dirty water.

“You want to spend the night here? You don’t have a place to stay?” he asked robotically.

“That is correct,” his guest confirmed. He seemed unnaturally patient and understanding, seeing how Danny had just accused him of being a rent boy. “Will you please take this money?”

“No,” Danny replied and pushed Ryder’s hand away. He used all the force in his arms to fold Ryder’s until it was tucked against his guest’s strong body. “I must apologize. Please, keep the money. And yes, you can spend the night here.”

The stranger appeared disappointed by his refusal. “Are you sure? If sex is included, I can’t possibly accept and then not pay anything.”

Danny felt his face in pain. Between the clueless city visitor and himself, he was the bigger fool. The poor man probably thought it was some weird custom to sleep with whoever offered him a roof to put over his head.

“Sex? No, no, no,” he insisted, although his cheeks grew even hotter. “There will be no sex. And no payment.”

“But you have such a nice abode,” Ryder said. “I already feel indebted to you since you offered me water and accepted me here.”

Tomorrow, he would kill Vince for getting him into this trouble. For now, he needed to offer his visitor the best he could to make amends for his mistake.

“No, it’s all right. You don’t have to do that.”

“What about our misunderstanding? Are we clear now?”

“What misunderstanding? There was no misunderstanding,” Danny said brightly. “Please, make yourself at home. Feel free to take a shower. I’ll look for some clothes that will fit you. Barely,” he added while taking in his guest’s muscular frame. “You can’t wear your street clothes to bed.”

“Can’t I sleep naked?”

Danny stuffed his tongue into one of his cheeks and began munching on it vigorously. “That will be, um, a little… strange?”

“Are you asking me?” Ryder stared at him, blinking in what looked like utter confusion. “I am only partially aware of your customs.”

“Right, right, you’re new to the city. I will search for those clothes. I must have something.” He was sure that nothing he had could fit the burly man, but it didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to try. The idea of having the handsome Ryder Asherman prancing around his small apartment in the buff made him too hot to be healthy. “The shower is over here.”

Making himself busy helped some. He energetically strode over to the bathroom door; he opened it wide to show his guest what awesome amenities he had.

“I don’t know how much you know about things like this. That is warm water, and that is cold water, and--”

“I know how to operate a shower,” Ryder assured him. He didn’t sound rude at all. Danny had a vague idea that if he stared too long at his guest, he might melt on the spot. The safest way to deal with the situation was to get out the door and pronto.

“I’ll leave you to it,” he said.

Ryder was already removing his jacket and t-shirt, revealing a nice hairy chest that Danny could see himself using as a pillow.

“Let me take those,” he offered, opening his arms wide, while angling his head away so that he wasn’t staring openly at the gorgeous man in front of him.

“I am not embarrassed by my nakedness,” Ryder assured him.

“Speak for yourself,” Danny mumbled, as he felt the weight of the jeans being added to the pile of clothes in his arms.

“That is everything. Thank you, Joe,” Ryder said as he stepped into the shower.

Danny made the mistake of looking right then and caught a glimpse of a perfectly curved ass on one side and the equally perfect curve of a huge cock on the other side.

He hurried out, mumbling a ‘you’re welcome’. He was in deep, deep trouble. And why in hell was Ryder calling him Joe?

TBC