One of three things is happening here.

One, Maik is a massive tease, with all that talk about sausage.

Two, Maik is completely clueless about his effect on me.

Or three, he knows what he’s doing and he’s leveraging it to sell product to a potential customer.

I wish Charlotte was here to give me perspective but she’s gone and won’t be free until late. And now Maik looks like he’s waiting for a response. Thanks to getting intoxicated on those gorgeous whiskey-colored eyes, I didn’t process a single thing he said.

Oh, right. Samples.

I haven’t tasted any of it yet, but I’ve been filling my lungs with the aroma and I’m already salivating like a dog. What did he call them? Kinack-something? Maybe I should have paid more attention to what he was saying. Whatever.

I spear a piece of sausage with a toothpick and pop it into my mouth. The savory-sweet flavor assaults my palate and a groan rumbles from somewhere deep and primal within me.

“I’ll take all of it,” I blurt.

“All… of the k-nackutay?” Maik blinks a couple times.

“Yes. All the k-nackutay.”

“Okay, sure.” He weighs the links, deftly rolls them into butcher paper, and hands the package to me. “That’ll be twenty-two fifty-three.”

Shit, did I buy too much? Two pounds of sausage is a lot, but he’s already packed it. My watch tells me that the bus arrives in two minutes so I pay and run outside without thanking him. I don’t even have time to feel bad about it; my bus pulls up right when I get to the stop.

As soon as I sit down, I pull my flip phone out and shoot Charlotte a quick text. “Got some sausage. Come by after work if you wanna try.”

She doesn’t respond immediately, so my mind wanders to Maik as I watch the city roll by. Why did he open a butcher shop? Is he a local or a transplant? What would he look like in nothing but an apron? I can’t help picturing him—or at least what I think he looks like below the shoulders—all muscly and hard, with just enough padding on his body to make him real. Does he have chest hair? What color are his nipples? I’m so deep into my fantasies that I almost miss my transfer, but I eventually make it to my apartment.

The rest of the afternoon passes quickly, and soon my stomach is grumbling. I start up my trusty rice cooker and heat a pan on the stove, brainstorming different ways to create a meal out of sausages and rice, but it takes me one look at the pile of dishes in the sink for me to lose all my interest in preparing an actual meal. So I decide to just fry the links on a pan and eat them plain.

Bzzt. Bzzt.

Char pops up on my phone’s caller ID.

“Hey girlie. You coming over?” I raise my voice over the sizzle of the pan.

“No, but tell me about Maik’s sausage!” I can pretty much hear her eyebrows waggling.

“Oh, so you’re on a first-name basis now?”

She giggles into my ear. “Don’t change the topic!”

I roll my eyes. “He makes an amazing fusion frank. You have to try it.”

“What, because he’s hot?”

“I’m not answering that,” I chuckle.

“Oh please, I saw you eye-fucking him over the counter.”

“Charlotte! Could you not? I’m serious, he made me a sample of this kinack stuff and I bought two freakin’ pounds.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll pick some up when I get my shank. But let me know when you finally get a taste of the sausage in his pants.”

I snort and shake my head. “Aren’t you supposed to be working?”

Charlotte laughs again. “Don’t worry about me, Drew.” Now she’s really trying to mess with me—she knows I hate that name.

“My name is Andrew and I am not talking about this. Bye!” I close my flip phone and drop it on the counter with a grin.

When everything is cooked, I bring a plate to the kitchen table and sink into a chair. The aroma of spiced beef fills the room, filling my mind with images of Maik mincing premium cuts by hand, mixing in garlic and salt, and stuffing it all into casing. I stab a link with a fork and juice spurts out onto the heel of my palm, prompting me to lick it off with an indecent slurp. My tongue is hit with a smooth blend of paprika, garlic, and soy sauce, followed by a pleasant kick of peppery heat that makes my pulse race a little.

And as I close my lips around the thick, juicy shaft of meat, I can’t help wondering if his cock tastes just as good.