The boy's blonde hair blew lightly in the wind. His eyes were a cross between the color of the ocean before  him, and the color of the sky above. His deeply tanned skin that covered the defined muscles of his body looked so sensuous as he looked out at the ocean, and the edges of his pouty red lips were turned up in a little smile. I had seen him walking up the beach shirtless dressed only in his cut-off denim shorts, and a pair of Nike sandals from quite some distance away. I'd watched him walk along glancing in my direction, until he stopped a few yards to my left to look out at the water. The sun hung low in the sky and it's rays bounced off his skin.

I had my dark sunglasses on, and watched the boy intently out of the corner of my eye. Now I had never considered myself to be a boy lover before. I found boys to be cute, but this was different. There was just something about .. "My name's Julian," he said as I realized I had been deep in thought considering my feelings.

"My name's Michael," I answered back as I took the hand he had extended in my direction. As our fingertips met I jumped slightly. It was almost unnoticeable, but Julian smiled at me happily and took a seat on the warm sand next to me.

"It sure is a nice day don't you think?" He asked still smiling.

"Yes it certainly is beautiful here." I said.

 "I hate it when it rains, but today's nice and warm and it's not even humid!" I guessed him to be about 14 or 15, although he had little body hair. His armpits were visibly hairless, and his legs were covered only with a faint layer of light blonde hairs. Still, it surprised me when Julian told me he was only 12.

"You've got a great body for a twelve year old," I said without thinking. "I mean.. your arms are pretty developed for someone so young."

He giggled, "well I do a lot of work! My mom's a doctor at the hospital and she's on call a lot of the time so most of the time I have to do aalll the housework and yard work and everything by myself." His smile with it's cute dimples was almost enough to drive me to a spontaneous orgasm, and I grew uncomfortable about having this kind of reaction about a little boy! I had only had one "gay" relationship as a teenager, fooling around with a friend. I had put that behind me now and was "strictly hetero". Julian looked back out to the ocean then remarked, "I've never seen you before and I come to this beach like everyday! Are you new around here, or are you on vacation? You talk kinda different too."

I smiled at his attention to detail. "I just moved here from Ohio," I said.

"Cool! Welcome to California!" he said smiling that brilliant smile again. We chatted back and forward about this and that, and I learned that Julian's father had left his mother for a younger woman. He lived less than a block from me in a house that was on a corner, and his favorite ice cream was cookies and cream. He loved to swim, and was on his school's track & field team, basketball team, soccer team, and played little league football and baseball. I asked him how he found the time for all that AND to walk along the beach everyday and he said it was easy once he got the hang of it. I told him about Ohio, and how I had been transferred to another division of the investment firm I worked for. "Hey do you know what time it is?"

"It's nearly 6:30," I said after checking my watch.

"Thanks.. Well.. I guess I better get goin cause I gotta finish getting dinner ready. Are you gonna be at the beach tomorrow?" he asked.

"I was planning to be."

"Great! Okay I'll see ya tomorrow then Mike! Oh wait do you mind if I call you Mike?" He asked suddenly concerned that he might have offended me.

I chuckled softly. "Mike is fine.." I said then added "you can call me whatever you like."

"Okay thanks Mike! Thanks for talkin to me and hanging out with me tonight!" Julian smiled as he dusted the sand off of his shorts. I stood up too and brushed the sand off of my legs since it was high time I got myself home. I gathered my things and began walking towards the parking-lot where my truck was. Julian walked along beside me until we got to the truck. I lived a fair distance from the beach and knew he did too.

"Is your mom coming to pick you up?" I inquired.

"Nope I gotta walk home."

"That's gotta be at least a 25 minute walk from here!" I said. "You make that walk everyday?"

"Yup," he answered eyeing my Ford F-350.

I thought for a moment turning the situation over in my head. I didn't want him to have to walk home, but at the same time I didn't think it was right to take him in my truck without his parent's permission. In the end I thought 'oh what the hell' and decided to offer him a ride. After all I had no foul intentions, and it was better than him having to walk that big distance. "You want a lift?"

"You mean it?" he asked as his eyes lit up. I nodded. "Thanks! Yes please."

"A couple minutes later we were on the road headed to Julian's house. "You know you shouldn't get rides home with strangers Julian." I said softly looking ahead at the road. "It's not safe."

"I never get rides home from people, but I know you won't hurt me." Julian looked over at me with a serious expression.

"How did you know that?" I asked curious.

"I dunno.." he said softly as he thought about it. "There's just something about you Mike."

I let the comment go deciding to just think on it instead of saying anything. We drove on for a couple minutes longer as I listened to Julian's chatter. He enjoyed sports, his favorite being baseball. "Where do I turn for your street?" I asked cutting in to his speech.

"Oh.. umm.. see the traffic light up ahead?" He asked pausing until I nodded. "You just turn right the next one after that and then take the first left onto my court." I tapped the gas pedal again giving the 12 cylendar diesel engine some more gas, much to the joy of the passenger sitting next to me. "This truck is soo cool Mike!"

"Thanks Julian," I said as we reached the turn, followed closely by the left turn onto a court with seven or eight nice-sized homes.

"7210.. the red one," Julian spoke up as I looked to him for further direction. "You can pull right into the driveway if you want.

"Sounds good to me," I said.

I pulled into the driveway and left the truck running as the boy opened his door to get out. Then I saw an attractive light-haired woman wearing a pair of dress pants, and sweater come outside. She looked at the truck, then Julian, then me. I shut the engine off and hopped out myself walking up to the woman. "Hi," she said rather flatly.

"Hey mom, this is Mike. We met at the beach and he's really cool, and he gave me a ride home."

"Julian what have I told you about talking to strangers?" His mother asked in a somewhat short tone. "You didn't just talk to a stranger, you got a ride HOME with one! Go on in and get washed up, I brought dinner home tonight." With that the boy went back inside after shooting me a smile and a wave as he bounded lightly up the front steps and into the house. "I guess I should say thank you for bringing him home?" She asked in a slightly sarcastic tone.

I smiled meeting her eyes with my own. "You've got a great kid there." I wasn't about to be pushed around, intimidated, or even made to feel bad by this one. I had been to board meetings with assholes who held my job in the palm of their hands, and had always met looks of skepticism with my own confidence. "I guess it was wrong in a way for me to give him a lift home, but the way I looked at it: better for me to give him a ride home and know he made it okay, than for him to be making that walk when there are sickos around."

"Look, I'm not really mad at you." She paused. "He's always hanging around at that damn beach. He says he's looking for something, but I'm always afraid he's going to find something that will hurt him." She stopped and looked at me dead in the eyes. "I guess if you had wanted to hurt him you could have easily enough."

"I'd rather take my truck into a brick wall than hurt a child," I said honestly.

"Well judging from the plates on your truck, you live here, but you're obviously new."

"It shows that much does it?" I asked giving her a half smile. "Judging from your clothes, and attitude, I'd say you're a doctor and you had a stressful day."

"Wow you're good.." she laughed for the first time.

"Yeah.. that and Julian told me you're a doctor." This sent her laughing again. I smiled as she laughed, then got serious for a moment. "Listen," I said softly. "I don't want to hurt your son. I have a nephew back home roughly his age that I used to spend a lot of time with. Anytime he needs a ride to the beach, from the beach, or whatever, just give me a call." Out of my pocket, I drew a business card with my home, and business numbers, and handed it to her.

Julian's mom looked at the card, then back to me with a slight frown, and her left eyebrow slightly raised as she examined me. "Why am I so inclined to trust you?" She asked.

"I dunno," I said plainly shrugging my shoulders and pouting my lip.

She laughed again, then held out her hand. "I'm Debra," she said with a smile. "I'll give Julian your number. Just remember any time he goes to the beach, he has to be home by nine." Then she gave me a queer look, and headed for her front door. I started back towards my truck and turned back to face the house as I got in. Julian was in the window over the garage waving happily. I shot him a smile and a nod and started the truck up again and headed home.

I sat in my living room watching television. The commercial flashed past and I soon realized I was comparing every boy, and every man to Julian. It started out more subtle, but soon I was really comaring them. Imagining the faces next to each other deciding which was cuter. "What the hell am I doing?!" I asked myself. "He's a little kid for crying out loud!"

Then in the back of my mind came the reply. "Yes he is a little kid, but there's just something about Julian...."