“I don’t run off. We fucked. It’s done. Why bother staying?” The question felt wrong and I cleared my throat. “But this time, why not use the captain’s private bathroom where I don’t have to worry about someone waltzing in to think I got off alone in the shower?”
Roys’ quarters weren’t exuberant. He had space for a shower, sink, toilet, and the two of us to stand side by side. Compared to the communal showers, though, this was a resort.
“I didn’t think you would care about that,” he said.
“I don’t want anyone to think I can’t get someone else to get me off. That’d be humiliating.”
“Oh yeah, we wouldn’t possibly want to risk ruining your image.” He leaned against the sink, facing me.
I drank in the sight of him, his hips and thighs made red and neck discolored from my ravenous attention. “Exactly.”
He brushed by me to open the shower doors, where my eyes refused to veer away from the firm muscles in his back and thighs. “Does that mean you won’t be getting in the shower with me?”
“Will there be make out time in the shower?”
Winking, he stepped inside.
I would be a madman to say no, so I swerved in and found my mouth glued to his before I fucked him against the shower door. Which we shoved off its hinges. Roys said it was my fault for being overzealous—he was the one telling me to go harder—that argument was ignored.
Roys finished his shower, careful not to soak the bathroom floor. He hadn't taken his armbands off. He seemed sensitive about the scars, regardless of my knowledge of them. I didn’t ask, and I was too busy struggling to learn how to put the door back on.
After fifteen minutes of frustration, I emerged from the bathroom to find Roys lounging on the bed of clean sheets. His boxers did nothing to conceal him, and his shirt hugged him perfectly. Although I had seen him plenty, my cock twitched thinking about having my hands all over him, my mouth and tongue and teeth.
The bed beckoned me to the empty space beside him, Roys even more so. He lay on his back, one arm behind his head and eyes shut. I thought about curling into his side, where he’d draped his arms around me and we’d fall asleep like that…
Sitting on the edge of the bed, I tugged on my clothes. “Will you be joining us tomorrow on the safety run, Captain?”
“Do you want me to?” The bed creaked. I imagined him lying on his side, trying to taunt me with that open space.
“So long as you know I am in charge ofpiloting.”
He laughed. I shivered when he ran his knuckles down my back. “Of course, I’ll be there.”
“Okay.”
“Goodnight, then.”
“Night.” I left the room and banged a fist against my chest over a heart that wouldn’t steady even long after I lay in bed alone, wondering what it’d have been like to be in that space beside him instead.
031
“Wearegladyouare joining us, Captain. Should anything go awry, it will be helpful to have you on board,” Iylene said from the co-pilot seat. The door to the cockpit remained open. Roys sat in the cabin to my right, visible out of my peripheral vision.
“Let’s hope you won’t need me. Based on your scans, this route should be good, but I definitely don’t want a repeat of what happened last time,” he replied.
“Nor do I, although Lucky had the situation under control once, he could do so again.”
“Don’t put pressure on me. I might panic.” I caught Roys’ cute grin before he put his visor on.
“Once we land, Ethin will stay on the shuttle. The rest of us will fan out to secure the area. There can’t be any risk to the researchers,” Roys explained.
“Yes, sir,” the cabin replied. Iylene pinched me for not following suit. If they knew how often I said it in bed, they wouldn’t be so stingy. Besides, I had questions.
“Why am I staying on the shuttle?” I asked.
“You’re the best pilot. If we need you to get us, you can, and if you need to leave, I trust you will get the shuttle back.”
The blackout on Iylene’s voice hid their face, but the tilt of their head gave away the truth. A sense of distrust remained from what happened with Lilea. My fingers flexed, and we pushed on.
