Regi settled next to him, an island of heat that Dante curled toward. Once he could breathe, Dante reached for Regi. “Let me help you come.”
“Smelling your need and release gave me enough pleasure,” Regi said. Dante frowned.
“I feel selfish for coming without you.”
“You did not.” Regi kissed Dante’s nose and then one eyelid before he pressed his lips to Dante’s. Now that the sharp edge of lust had been dulled, Dante studied Regi. His ears drooped and his eyes were half-closed. Dante gave in to temptation and ran his fingers down Regi’s nose, stroking the skin between Regi’s eyes. Regi moaned and caught Dante’s hand before kissing the palm.
“I enjoyed that. I lack the words to describe the depth of how much I enjoyed it, so if my performance was acceptable, I am ready to stop avoiding you.”
“I love you too,” Dante said before his common sense could rein in his mouth. But the words were hanging out there in the silence and he didn’t know how to pull them back. Hopefully Regi wouldn’t recognize the word. Regi shifted so that his breath was warm against Dante’s neck, and Dante closed his eyes. He assumed that meant he hadn’t come off as too clingy. With that reassurance, he pulled the cover up over both of them and sank into his second favorite part of sex. Cuddling.
Chapter Eleven
The door chimed, warning him that someone wanted into his quarters, and Dante almost levitated off the bed. He was sweaty and cum-stained and half-dressed and drugged with sleep even though he could tell hours and hours had passed. But the idea of someone like Ter or the captain finding them like this was a nightmare come true. However, he got tangled in Regi’s legs and ended up face down on the floor while a chattering Peaches scolded him. At least that was what Dante assumed she was doing.
“Are you okay?” Regi knelt next to Dante on the floor.
“Humiliated, but fine.” He grabbed his sheet over himself. It was one thing to have Regi see him when they were both in the throes of significant lust, but it was quite another thing when they were both rational enough to take note of his flaws.
“Door open,” Regi said without any further fanfare, and Dante gaped at him, shocked because Regi was still very much naked with his non-inflatable penis on display.
The door opened and Vk stopped in the doorway, her nose dropping a good inch as it lengthened. Dante clung to the sheet, desperate for any sort of protection from her gaze.
Vk’s nose rumpled and then the entire appendage lifted a half inch. “Finally,” she said. And then she focused on Regi. “The larger of your two fathers is outside and he wishes to have a word with you.”
“Pertin,” Regi said, providing the name
Vk nodded. “Pertin. Understood. He says that he needs to speak with you immediately.”
“Is there a new disaster on the horizon?”
Dante groaned. Asking shit like that was like inviting the next disaster.
“Not that I am aware of, but with your people, anything is possible.”
Dante noticed that Regi made no effort to defend Kowri honor. Without commenting on finding her security chief naked, Vk walked out of the room, triggering the door as she left. Dante collapsed onto the floor and stared at the ceiling’s support struts. Regi glanced down at him. “I should see what my da-father wants. He is the most reasonable of my parents, and if he feels there is a topic we need to discuss outside the presence of others, he is most likely right.”
“You might want to get dressed first.”
Regi grinned. “Obviously. And I would like for you to meet him outside the temple.”
“Oh.” Yesterday had been awkward enough, but this felt like intentionally putting himself in more difficult meet-the-parents situations.
Regi studied him.
“I’ll get dressed,” Dante said.
Regi smiled.
By the time Dante came out of the storage room he’d turned into a pseudo-closet for the four mismatched outfits the crew had donated to him, Regi was in a new uniform and looking pressed and well-rested and not the least bit flustered. Dante had never been able to face parents with that level of aplomb. Not even his own parents. However, he swallowed and offered a smile before following Regi down to the exit.
The exterior door was closed and a security guard stood inside, but he stepped aside for Regi, triggering the heavy doorto slide away. Sunlight flooded the corridor, almost blinding Dante, so it must be early morning.
Regi held the rail as he walked the uneven ramp, but before he reached the bottom, a loud voice called, “Regi, son of my soul, I have missed you.” Pertin smiled until the fur at the corners of his eyes fluffed out from wrinkling. He stood at the bottom of the ramp and held out both arms.
Regi grabbed his father’s forearms, creating a two-handed greeting Dante hadn’t seen yet. “Father. I have missed you as well. There were many times in the last few years that I wished I could've come to you for counsel.” Regi’s words were warm, but they still had a stilted, formal quality. Dante wondered if that came from the translator or if this reunion was as awkward as it seemed.
“And I wish you could have come to me.” Pertin pulled Regi closer and they ended touching noses. Only then did both let go.
