Paul, the Small Town Mechanic

I awoke with a startle. I didn’t immediately register where I was. The alarm on the bedside table read 2:17 AM. I sighed and laid my head back down on the pillow. I’d had a nightmare about getting in a car accident on the highway. The almost 12 hour drive had definitely affected me.

I stared at the ceiling and realized how tired I was. Hoping I would soon fall back asleep, I thought back to the day that had passed. Sitting across from Paul in the diner. I smiled. He had been so charming, so friendly, so hot.

He had smiled and looked down when I had asked him what it was like to live in a small town like this.

“It’s… comfortable. It’s where I grew up. It’s what I know.”

“Never felt a desire to live anywhere else?”

“Honestly, no. Whenever I’m in Denver, everything is so loud and crowded… And everyone I know is here. My friends, my family…”

Knowing that his father had died, I had suddenly wondered if he had a family of his own. A wife? Kids? Was he a closeted gay bachelor? I looked down at his hands and saw no ring.

I still wasn’t sure about Paul’s sexuality. The way he sat across from me and kept eye contact, it reminded me of a date. He was nice and polite in a way that I wasn’t used to from a guy, except if they were into me. I just couldn’t tell for sure. When our knees had touched, I felt like we both let it happen for a few seconds.

“Oh, I’m sorry”, he had eventually said, and moved his leg.

“I mean, it must have been hard for you to just leave your friends in St. Louis?”

I looked at Paul. Now it was my turn to smile and look down. I know I had been very career-focused at my young age. It was definitely how I was raised. I hadn’t even thought twice about leaving behind the friendships I had built. Amber, Bernie, Lee… I was definitely going to miss them. But they had played no part in my decision to move to San Francisco. Was that weird?

“I am definitely going to miss them”, I had answered.

Thoughts about why I’d been putting career opportunities above friendships had been swirling in my mind since.

Paul of course wanted to know what the job was that I was moving for. He seemed so interested that I told him all about what goes into building a mobile app.

“I don’t understand”, he’d said, “I don’t think I’m smart enough for any of that stuff.”

Yet he seemed so eager to learn at the same time. An expression of wonder came across his face. It was adorable.

“It… doesn’t happen often”, Paul had said, “that someone like you comes into my shop.”

I had smiled. I didn’t know what that meant. Had he been coming on to me? Had he been referring to me being Asian? Or maybe he meant that it’s rare a stranger walked into his shop, someone he didn’t know.

“Thanks?”, I just said.

He smiled at me. After a few seconds of silent eye contact he chuckled and looked down.

Even after sitting across from his beautifully dimpled smile for an hour in the diner, I had felt nervous accepting his offer of spending the night at his place. I didn’t know much about him. Eventually I had found out that he lived by himself in a house, not too far away.

“It’s Kiowa. Nothing is far away”, he had chuckled.

First he had driven me to his shop, so I could get the overnight bag I had packed for Denver. I would have a change of clothes, toiletries and my phone charger. Then he had driven me to his house, which indeed only took about 5 minutes. By this time, it was dark out and I had noticed there was barely any street lighting at all.

In the car, I had started to feel tired. I was ready for bed. Paul could tell.

“You look like you’re about ready to drift off”, he chuckled.

He had turned on the bright indoor car light so I could stay awake.

“That’s better”, I’d said.

Now I could also steal glances at the bulge in his tight jeans with Paul’s eyes on the road.

Once we had made it to his house, he showed me the bathroom and the bedroom.

“If you need me, I’ll be on the sofa, right here.”

I had smiled.

“You’re very kind to do this for me.”

“Not a problem at all.”

As we had kept eye contact, the silence was deafening.

“Right, I’ll…”

“Yeah, you get ready for bed.”

It had felt so very good to take a shower. As I cleared the foggy mirror, I had seen my face. My happy face. I had looked a little tired, but it had been so long since I had seen myself this happy.

After brushing my teeth, I had wrapped a towel around myself and walked to the bedroom. To my right, I had immediately spotted Paul. In nothing but his tighty whities. The curve of his hot ass had been mesmerizing. He turned his head and caught my eye. I saw his eyes scanning down my body.

“Hey”, had been all I could say.

“Hey”, he had replied.

A short silence.

“Goodnight”, he had uttered as he scratched the back of his head, giving me a view of his hairy armpit.

“Goodnight.”

2:48 AM. I really wanted to go back to sleep. I decided to get myself a glass of water. I got up and tried to find my way in this dark and unfamiliar house. Already in the hallway I heard snoring. Trying to be quiet, I found my way to the kitchen. There was some chilled water in the fridge. It took me a few tries to find the cabinet with glasses. I carefully poured myself a glass and took a few sips. I felt better.

As I wanted to walk back, the snoring just got louder and louder. My curiosity got the better of me. I walked into the living room and found the sofa. It took a while for my eyes to get used to the dark. The sofa looked comfortable enough to sleep on. And then I saw Paul’s form. He had a blanket, although it was barely covering him. His beefy, hairy body was a feast for my eyes. One arm was folded under his head, giving me a longer view of his hairy armpit. His white briefs were easily spotted. His dick was definitely hard as a rock as it pointed up and out from his crotch. His cock was about 6 inches hard. It looked thick. I even noticed a wet spot just under the waistband.

I stood there for a while, watching Paul’s sleeping form. There was something so hot about watching him, objectifying him, without him even aware. His snoring gave him something masculine and vulnerable at the same time.

Carefully I walked back to the bedroom, now hard as a rock myself. I went back to bed and started playing with my cock in my underwear. The mental image of Paul playing in my mind, I was so turned on. Yet I was tired at the same time.

When I woke up, I immediately saw Paul in the doorway of the bedroom, wearing a tanktop and jeans.

“Hey”, he said softly, “good morning.”

I smiled. I noticed the light coming through the curtains.

“Good morning”, I replied, suddenly realizing my hand was on my hard cock. I pulled it away. He clearly noticed.

“Did you sleep OK in this old bed of mine?”, he asked as he walked towards me.

“Yeah, it was fine”, I chuckled.

He sat on the bed, and I noticed he was no longer wearing the briefs. His hairy ass hung out of the back of his jeans.

“I just needed to get some clean underwear and I’ll head up to Denver to pick up that cylinder head. I’ll be back in a few hours. You’ll be all right here for a while, right?”

“Sure”, I said.

Paul opened the closet and bent forward to get a pair of underwear. His ass looked phenomenal. He pulled out a clean pair of white briefs. I smiled.

“I’ll bring back some breakfast”, he said as he left.

“That would be great”, I replied.

“I’ll be right back!”

Paul was so sweet. I looked at the alarm on the bedside table. 5:26 AM. He was making sure that he could have my car fixed as soon as possible so I could be back on the road to San Francisco. I wasn’t looking forward to another day of driving at all. Somehow I was liking the idea of a rest day in Kiowa. Or, at least, if it meant being near Paul.

I tried to sleep some more, but eventually I got up. I got dressed in my clean clothes. I found a banana in the kitchen and ate it, as I wandered around Paul’s living room. DVD collection. The Fast and the Furious? Would that make him straight? Or just really into cars? Other DVDs didn’t look familiar to me, but seemed to be action movies and nature documentaries.

I threw the banana peel away in the kitchen and made myself a coffee. I wandered out into the yard. It was another nice day. The air seemed so clean here. I sat down in the grass and sipped my coffee. I took out my phone and texted Amber. I told her what had happened yesterday.

‘Kiowa? Where the hell is that?’

I chuckled.

‘Will you make it to SF in time?’

‘Sure, I’ll be fine.’

Then I told her about Paul.

‘Oh wow. I never heard you talk about a guy like that before.’

She was probably right.

I really didn’t want to start driving to San Francisco today. The second leg of my trip was even longer than the first, and I just didn’t feel like it. Plus, of course, I wanted to stay here longer. I also realized I couldn’t really spend another night in Paul’s house just because I felt like it.

On my phone I tried to work out what other ways I could make my way to San Francisco with an extra overnight stop and still get there on time. One stop in Salt Lake City and I could easily spend tonight in Denver and still get to San Francisco by Sunday. And spending tonight in Denver would give me more time here in Kiowa. It was definitely an option.

Around 8:00 AM, Paul came back.

“Hi”, he said, seemingly happy to see me.

He was carrying a takeout bag.

“I didn’t know what you liked, so I got you lots of things.”

He was just the nicest guy.

Omelets, avocado toast, and a breakfast burrito, as well as some juice and smoothies.

“You really didn’t need to do this”, I said as we unpacked everything.

“I wanted to! You’ve got a long day ahead!”

Again we sat across from each other, this time at the table in his living room. As we ate, he said he got the cylinder head, but that it could still take him a while to replace it.

“I, uhm…”, I hesitated.

Paul looked at me as he sipped on a mango/banana smoothie.

“I am not in that big a hurry anymore”, I said.

“Why not?”

His frown lines made me think he was worried that the job fell through.

“After driving nearly 12 hours yesterday, I realized I should take it slower. I have more time, there is no rush.”

His worried expression changed into a smile.

“Cool. It’s not good to drive for too long in one go.”

After breakfast, Paul drove me back to the shop. He still got to work on my car immediately. Paul showed me the old sofa in the corner and told me to get whatever I liked from the break room. I grabbed a bottle of water, sat down and looked at my phone. I kept sneaking glances of Paul at work. His immaculately white tanktop got stained very quickly.

After three hours he walked towards me.

“It’s done”, he said proudly, “I did some of the work last night already.”

“Thanks so much”, I said.

Paul sat next to me on the old sofa. I could smell his sweat. It turned me on.

There was some more silence.

“So…”, Paul started, “If you’re not in a hurry… can I take you out to lunch? I mean… join you for lunch?”

I smiled. It was interesting that he changed his choice of words.

“Sure!”

We made eye contact again, and this time I knew the chemistry was tangible. For some reason, it was then that the penny dropped. Paul was into me. He was into me bigtime.

“I, uhm… I gotta be honest”, he then started. And all of a sudden I knew what he would say.

“I am not sure if this is what you’re into at all, but… I am a gay man. And…”

He looked away. He chuckled.

“I never do this, I’m sorry.”

“Are you attracted to me, Paul?”

He looked back at me. He was blushing. He shrugged.

“Like, yeah, totally.”

I smiled.

I grabbed the back of his neck. The expression of surprise on his face made it even better as I pulled him closer.