Thought he could do so again, did he? He had another think coming. Kit had condoms and lube in the pocket of his apron, because he’d felt sure Raine would be up for it again. He still felt sure and wasn’t going to go and nap on his bunk. He had to find Raine. Though this was a big ship, there were only so many places for the crew to hang out while off duty. He knew where to look first.
As soon as Warner dismissed him, Kit headed for the gym. A man didn’t stay looking like Raine by hanging out in the rec room with his feet up. Sure enough, he found Raine sitting on a bench doing bicep curls with some ridiculously huge hand weight Kit couldn’t have picked up without a block and tackle. He didn’t go in at once but froze by the door, admiring Raine. Kit hadn’t seen him with so few clothes on before. He wore long pants, but he had on a sports shirt, his big arms entirely bare. Sweat stood out in beads on his muscles, catching the light as he moved, making him appear to be dusted with diamonds. He wore a look of fiercely focused attention. Who knew it took so much concentration to lift weights?
“Need a spot?” Kit asked after standing unnoticed in the doorway for a couple of minutes. Raine started at the sound of Kit’s voice and looked over at him.
“Ah, no, not for bicep curls. A spotter is only needed when there’s a chance of dropping the weight on yourself if you lose—”
“You think I came here for a lesson in weightlifting?”
Raine glanced around nervously. They were alone. He lowered the weight to the deck and stood when Kit came in. As Kit approached him, Raine grabbed a towel and scrubbed it over his head, where sweat glistened in the bristly crop. More avoidance, Kit thought. He approached close enough to startle Raine when he stopped pretending to be busy with his towel.
“I just did the check-in with Warner,” Kit said.
“Um, good.”
“She’s pissed with me.”
“A lot of people are.” Raine started to gather up and rack the weights.
“You’re avoiding me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Sure you are. You think we shouldn’t be fucking, and you think not seeing me will mean you’ll stop wanting to fuck me.”
“You need to get over yourself. I’m off duty today and have other things to do besides orbit around you.”
The tone was a forced attempt at casual. It didn’t fool Kit for a second.
“You’re right about one thing.” Raine locked the weights down with a safety bar. Kit supposed one didn’t want heavy weights floating around if the gravity failed, ready to fall down and damage someone or something when the gravity came back.
“You’re right, we shouldn’t be…” He stopped, glancing around again. “We shouldn’t be fucking. And especially not in my office.”
“If the office is what’s bothering you, then let’s go to your quarters.”
Raine scowled at him. “Did you miss the first part of what I said?”
“No. Look, why shouldn’t we be fucking? What does it matter? And don’t start giving me your shit about me being your prisoner.”
“I’m the security chief, and you’re a stowaway and a thief. How much more inappropriate can it be?”
Kit almost snapped back to deny being a thief but remembered Raine emptying his duffel bag onto the desk. Finding the medical laser.
“Nobody else on the ship cares. You tell me to get over myself, but what about you? What makes you so sure everyone is watching to see who you’re going to bed with?”
“Because I’ve served on this ship for three years, and I can tell you that everyone
is
watching to see who everyone else is going to bed with.”
He might have a point. Kit and Gracie spent many an hour entertaining themselves with gossip sessions about the rest of the crew. The crew’s love lives were always their favorite topic.
“Okay, so they’ll know. So what? Like I said yesterday, this is just physical. I’m sure we’ll get tired of it soon enough.”
Raine looked at him for a long time before he spoke. “You think so? Just physical?” He sounded like he wanted reassurance.
“What, you think I’m in love with you? Think again. You’re an annoying bastard, and you drive me crazy. But I’ve gotta have you, Raine. You…feel the same way, right?”
Now
he
was looking for reassurance. Because if Raine had stronger feelings, beyond the physical, this could become complicated. Kit didn’t want to hurt him—annoying as he was.
Hard to read him—he wore a frozen expression. This bothered Kit. He liked being able to read people—it was one of his core skills. Frustrated, wanting to force him to react, Kit moved closer. Raine couldn’t step back without falling over the weights rack right behind him.
“You work hard in here, don’t you?” Kit said. He stroked one of Raine’s impressive arms. “The results are worth the effort.” The skin goose-fleshed under Kit’s hand, and Raine shivered. A flush rose up his chest, into his face.
“I bet you’re in here most of your off-duty hours, right? Nothing else to do? So I’m giving you something else to do. You can count it as exercise, if you like.” He leaned in for a kiss, and Raine gasped, opening his mouth to Kit, but only for a second, before pushing him back.
“We’re in a public place.”
“Then let’s go somewhere private.”
* * *
Raine couldn’t believe he had agreed, but he came out of the gym’s changing room to find Kit waiting for him, looking impatient.
“Come on. I have lunch service in a couple of hours.”
Raine led the way with Kit at his side and became instantly self-conscious. Whenever they passed anyone, they were the subject of a curious glance.
“Maybe you should put me in cuffs to allay suspicion,” Kit said, smirking.
“I think it’s too late.” He hated the idea of the crew gossiping about his sex life. Especially his security staff; it couldn’t be good for discipline. He suddenly took Kit’s arm in his hand and speeded up.
“Mmm, keen.”
Keen to get them both out of sight, more like it. Raine hoped he looked like the security chief dragging their resident stowaway off someplace. But since the someplace was his cabin, the playacting went only so far. He breathed a sigh of relief when they reached the crew cabins and went inside. Kit didn’t sigh; he shouted an exclamation as the door closed.
“Fuck me, it’s hot in here! Is there something wrong with the environmental controls?”
“I told you, I’m from a hot place. This is comfortable for me.”
“Comfortable if you don’t intend to wear any clothes the entire time you’re in here.”
Raine shrugged. “I wear clothes.” Kit was already stripping. Not from passion but because of the heat. “I’ll turn it down a bit.” Raine fiddled with the controls.
“What, are you part lizard or something?” Kit pulled his shirt off over his head, loosened his hair, and shook it out. “Do you have to lie on a hot rock to become active?” His pants went next, and he still had no underwear, so within thirty seconds of coming into the cabin, he was gloriously naked. His cock stood sort of at half-mast, filling, not yet full.
Kit jumped onto the bunk and sprawled in an enticing pose, seeming to take up the whole bed, despite his slenderness. His legs fell open, one knee up, resting against the wall.
“That’s better,” Kit said, of the temperature, Raine assumed, as cool air poured in through the vent. But sweat still broke out, gleaming on his skin, dampening his hair. “Come on over here, then. It’s your bed after all.”
Raine slipped off his jacket and draped it over the back of a chair. Nimbly, Kit sprang up to his knees and slid his arms around Raine when he came close enough.
“You realize I haven’t seen you naked yet, big fella? Me, you’ve barely seen me with my clothes on, but I can’t seem to get you to expose much flesh.”
Raine looked down into Kit’s face, turned up to him, silky black hair spread on his shoulders.
So beautiful
. How could he believe Kit wanted him?
Oh, stop that. He’s here, naked in your arms, ready to make love to you. What more do you need?
He dipped his head, closing his eyes, and their lips met. A softer, slower kiss than any they’d shared so far. Kit might complain about having only a couple of hours before he had to get back to the galley, but that gave them plenty of time. They got busy on Raine’s clothes, unzipping, unbuttoning, peeling off. Kit growled when he found an undershirt under Raine’s T-shirt.
“For fuck’s sake, how many more layers? I’ll have to go back to work before I get hold of so much as a nipple.”
Raine laughed and pulled the undershirt off over his head, giving Kit full access to both nipples. Instantly he flicked his tongue over the left one, and Raine moaned. Arousal and cold air made the nipples stiffen and poke out of the wiry hair on Raine’s chest. He felt self-conscious about the hair, hoping Kit didn’t find it a turnoff. He sometimes got rid of it if he was going to be ashore for a while.
Kit didn’t appear to mind. He ran his long fingers through it and teased Raine’s right nipple with his thumb. Kit himself had a trail of finer, dark hair dusting his chest and belly, and Raine traced it down to the thicker nest below. It was damp with sweat already. His skin glowed, and the musky scent of arousal rose from him, mingled with that of ship-issue soap and shampoo.
“I can turn the heat down some more,” Raine offered.
“It’s fine. Stand still.” He went to work on Raine’s pants, undoing the zip and easing them down. Unlike him, Raine had on underwear. “At least it’s not long johns,” Kit muttered. He shoved the pants down to Raine’s knees, but Raine stopped him.
“Wait, wait. Let me get my boots off.” He sat on the bed and hauled them off fast. The second one had barely left his foot before Kit pushed him down on the bed and stripped him of socks, pants, and underwear, tossing them aside. He leaned over Raine on all fours, hair hanging down.
“At last I have you right where I want you,” he said, grinning. Raine pulled him down for a kiss, and his hair bushed Raine’s neck and chest. The soft touch sent a thrill through him, making him push up against Kit involuntarily. His cock rubbed against Kit’s and made them both moan softly.
“Any requests?” Kit asked, smiling against Raine’s mouth, the smile more felt than seen.
He’d like to fuck Kit again, but there was no rush. And he felt he’d been too selfish the other two times—too quick to take his pleasure, barely thinking about Kit’s. Kit had had to
ask
Raine to finish him off, for God’s sake. A man shouldn’t have to ask.
“Whatever you want to do.”
“Then let me to show you what I’m best at.” He dropped kisses on Raine, dipping his head, pecking at him, pulling back quickly.
“Would that be teasing?” Raine asked. “You’re good at that.”
“You’d better believe it.” Kit pecked a few more kisses down Raine’s neck, flicking his tongue into the hollow at the base of his throat. “But I mean what’s earned me promotion on more than one occasion.” He laughed, and Raine stirred uncomfortably. Is this how Kit used to get on at work? Sleeping with men who could offer him promotions? Is that how things worked back on Drexler? He certainly didn’t seem shy about admitting it.
The kisses trailed down Raine’s chest, warm lips, warm breath through his wiry hair. Raine reached down and stroked Kit’s hair. It felt like silk. How he kept it so soft was a mystery to Raine but one he didn’t care to solve. He wanted only to slip his fingers through it and see the light slide across the surface of it, liquidlike.
Kit kept moving down, and Raine resisted any urge to push him faster. Why hurry? They had no need to rush to finish before anyone got suspicious. They could relish it. Kit touched Raine’s cock, encircling it with his fingers, but didn’t pump it, just stroked up and down slowly a couple of times. His kisses, meanwhile, had reached Raine’s naval, and he teased the little hollow with his tongue a few times before moving on. His fingers were cool and firm on Raine’s hot flesh, in contrast to those soft, warm lips.
Looking down, Raine couldn’t see much, everything hidden by Kit’s hair as it trailed down Raine’s body in the wake of his kisses. As lovely as Raine found the hair, he knew what he wanted to see more. He reached down and gently pushed it aside. Kit raised his head, smiling.
“Curtain up, show’s starting.” He dipped his head again, and this time his lips slid over Raine’s erection. Down he went, taking it in deep until his lips touched his fingers, which were still curled around the base of Raine’s cock. Raine couldn’t help writhing and arching his back. He wanted to savor this, but he wasn’t made of stone, and the reality of what he’d daydreamed about so often came close to unbearable in its intensity.
Kit’s hair tumbled over his face again, and he used his other hand to sweep it away to lie on his back. His head moved up and down, quite slowly at first, his other hand still at the base of Raine’s cock. He was squeezing, Raine realized, slowing Raine down. Understandable he’d think Raine had a hair trigger after the first two times they’d done it. Raine feared he’d still come sooner than he would any other time, with any other man. Even the short walk from the gym had been long enough for the anticipation to build in his belly. Not as ready to explode as he had been the other times but certainly not a cold start either.
Kit’s gentle squeeze must have had an effect, though, and they fell into a slow, easy rhythm. Raine thought he could last for some time, even when Kit teased his tongue up and down the shaft, flickered it over the tip. Even when Kit stopped squeezing and stroked instead, thumb running up and down the throbbing vein. Was he getting tired? Did he want Raine to come? Raine didn’t want to—not yet. This was too good. Too much warm, intense, bone-deep pleasure. He cried out in frustration when Kit raised his head, letting the cock slip out of his mouth.
“Please, don’t stop!”
“I’m getting a cramp. Fucking hell, Raine, I thought you came fast. My jaw’s locking up, and I’m ready to come from frotting your damn bedspread.” He gave a half-hysterical giggle.
He couldn’t stop, he couldn’t. Raine’s cock quivered, too sensitive to touch, so close. “Do…do whatever you want. Anything. Just need you.”
“Hang on. Where’s the lube?”
Raine’s eye widened, but he pointed at the drawers above the bed. Kit found the little tube, smeared a load on his fingers, then grinned down at Raine. “Let me get to the nub of the issue.”