Every story has a beginning; this one begins in a few more paragraphs. Ryan Nathan Alexander will be riding his blue New Holland tractor in the nude. It's a Boomer tractor designed to be used on hobby farms. Boomer tractors are compact twenty-six-horsepower tractors sold to successful upper-middle-class people who never grow crops. They own enough land that a sixty-inch belly mower is needed to cut all the grass they cult...

The traveller plodded along, astride his weary stead on a narrow winding trail. It was late afternoon and both animal and man desired an end to the long day's journey. It was the year 1855, well-nigh twenty years into Queen Victoria's reign, a sunny Spring day, nightingales singing, insects humming, green hillocks ablaze with wildflowers. In short, a splendid day to be alive and roaming through the countryside in merry ol...

A few days had passed since Lisa had contacted me. Given the circumstances, I should have been surprised, but not much Lisa did seemed to surprise me anymore. I didn't want it to happen, but I knew I was falling under her control, losing any form of resistance to her. My messenger displayed the simple message that I should be at her house at two o'clock for a bike ride. That was it, not a question of whether it's convenie...

”I found one!” Lilly wrote to Matt. Matt had just arrived home from work, signed into Lush, and checked his messages, where he had received this note from his favorite feisty friend, LillyM. It’s the Mardi Gras Masquerade Ball at the Castle McCulloch near High Point, North Carolina. February 29, 2020. Leap Day! Do you think we can do it? Matt and Lilly had met on Lush about a year ago and had communicated haphazardly but...

"Almost a year." "In a few weeks."Who would have thought--""I did, Honey," Jacob interjected. "I hoped. These eleven months together have been wonderful."My brown eyes locked in on his. "Loving you is awesome." In the depth of our town's forest, I looked at the nearby banyan tree. "That's where we had our first kiss.""That's why I selected this spot for our picnic." On our patchwork quilt, Jacob unpacked the lunch he had...

Lina could only focus on two things as she finished the last leg of her run: the cold beer in the trunk of her car, and the solar shower she'd set up hours before. It had been a long few days hiking, climbing, and camping. Her friends had left earlier in the day and she couldn't wait to unwind and take in the desert one final night on her own. Finally she reached the car, kicked off her shoes, grabbed a cold beer and her...

It was July seventeenth and the day of our group’s annual picnic. Ever since we’d graduated from college ten years ago we’d had a summer picnic. The first one had been to blow off steam the weekend after we’d learned that we’d passed our exams and would be graduating. We had started out as twelve but, as some moved to other cities, our numbers had decreased. This year besides me, Janet and her husband Greg, Jim and his wi...

Breeana and I weren’t friends. We’d known each other since elementary school. We had a lot of the same classes together. But by high school, we were in different social circles. I was an uncool nerd who used my wit to avoid being a complete outcast. She was an aloof hipster who hung who didn’t care about fitting in. I’d always had a thing for her, but it didn’t matter in the high school dynamic. She dated guys who were tr...

I had never even seen a picture of Alex before I got on a plane to meet her. We had emailed and chatted, mostly about writing and sex.  Every now and then the conversations would get flirty, but they never turned into anything promising. Believe it or not, there was a time when just writing on the internet could lead to a meaningful relationship. This was in the early 2000s.  I was posting erotica on a blogging site and h...

"Let's go for a walk."  It was the end of our senior year, and we were at my best friend's secluded lake house. All of our friends were heading down to the water to dive off the dock or go canoeing. But you suggested we hang back at the house for a bit. It was morning, and we had all just finished breakfast. As soon as the last of our friends shut the door, you grabbed me by the back of the head and kissed me, your tongue...

The first part of Simone that Ray saw were her toes.  He looked over from his digging to the edge of the pit, and there they were—brown, perfectly formed, and decorated with purple nail polish—in flip-flops.  Not cheap Walmart flip-flops but nice leather ones from a high-end department store. Ray looked up.  The sun was directly over her head, so he only saw a shapely silhouette in a summer dress, large sunglasses, and a...

The waves crash along the shore, bringing with them a multitude of tiny shells, some whole, others broken. The sun has long since set and the moon has taken its place, it’s reflection on the water helping to light our way. We sit on a blanket under the pier holding hands and marveling at the beauty that is our own backyard. My head on your shoulders as you kiss my forehead, delighting me with your easy affection. We’ve be...