Twalley’s grin was the opposite of everything Varik was feeling. Not only was the captain going, meaning Varik couldn’t commandeer the ship, but he’d have to leave Jarn behind because he couldn’t risk the captain finding them together. Not this trip.
“I can’t believe you don’t want me to go.” Jarn crossed his arms concealing a large portion of his perfectly lean chest.
“Captain insisted on a skeleton crew. It’s just for a few cycles.” Varik glided fingers down Jarn’s cheek. “I need you here. Keep our quarters together. Listen for any jobs that come up for ships leaving sooner.” Varik had convinced Jarn that his funds were limited, and they needed to find a crew that could take them both, and that Captain Twalley’s research trip might not pan out. If nothing else, it kept his expenses low and gave his young lover something to focus on besides Varik’s seduction of Twalley
“Fine.”
“I’ll make it up to you when I get back.” Varik shifted his hand under the cover and grasped Jarn’s cock, stroking it firmly, brining it back to life. His lovers hips twitched. Fuck, Varik was going to be late. But so what? Twalley would wait.
He flipped the coverlet back and straddled Jarn. Arms still crossed, Jarn glared up at him. Varik pressed his shoulders back until Jarn relaxed on the bed. “Before I go, I’m going to give you a reason to forgive me.”
Varik shifted between Jarn’s legs. Lifted him by the knees, pulling him into the perfect position. The gasp that left his lovers lips when he tongued the sweet hole he’d used all night went straight to Varik’s empty balls. He circled his lovers still gaping pucker, teasing up to his balls, and wrapping his hand around Jarn’s hardened cock. He squeezed and released. Spit into his palm and proceed to stroke and lick his boy to a screaming orgasm.
Jarn was still shaking when Varik slapped his ass and rose from the bed. “Be good. I’ll be back soon.”
“Okay.” The tiny hint of whine in Jarn’s voice reassured Varik his new lover would be waiting.
On the ship, Varik spent the next cycles checking systems and teasing Twalley. The captain tried to get Varik to sneak in and out of his bed so the crew wouldn’t know what was going on. Varik used the late night invitations to tease the captain. Sending filthy texts and even an image of his hard cock spewing. So what if Varik lied and said it was for Twalley. He sent the same image to Jarn with the message, “Miss you. Be home soon, baby.”
Twalley hadn’t questioned the path Varik had charted with the navigator that would lead straight to Din’Gale. But two cycles into the trip,The Treasurepassed close enough to register in Varik’s tracking software. He considered hurling the device against the nearest wall. Cyra was headed in the opposite direction. Back to Cassan.
Varik stormed off to the engine room. As the only engineer on the ship this trip, not even a junior tech had been invited, he could do what had to be done without eyes on him.
Later that cycle, red lights and system warnings blasted through theHarlan Johnson. Twalley leapt up from the captain’s chair on the deck. “What’s happening?”
Varik pressed his lips together to keep from laughing. Twalley was no captain. Varik spun in his chair. “There’s been a critical breach in the engine room, sir. I’ll seal it off immediately, but we need to turn for Cassan now. With any luck we’ll make it back close enough that a rescue ship can be called in. I’ll do what I can to close the breach and keep us from further damage.”
Varik raced from the deck to the engine room and, once the doors had sealed, laughed himself silly.
Chapter22
“Veda,will you please take a tray to Dez when you’re done?” Cyra asked while eating her own first meal of the cycle. It was just the two of them in the galley, Blaize and Rhysa had already eaten and left.
“No.”
“What?” Veda never told her no.
“No, Captain. I will not take a tray to Dez. I’m not going to be in the middle of this.”
“Veda?” She chastised her friend with the single word, still in shock at her defiance.
Veda left the galley without another word. Cyra would have to take his tray if she didn’t want him to starve since he’d refused to come to the galley to eat. It wouldn’t be right to ask Blaize or Rhysa to do it. It sort of fell under a medical directors purview as eating was required for health. At least that’s what she told herself as she choked down the god awful mess Blaize had made.The Treasureneeded more crew.
“I brought you a tray.” Cyra set it down on the narrow shelf that dropped from the wall of the small room. He really should have a chair.
“You need not have bothered. I’d just about rather starve than eat the mess you have made of the fine foods my family gave you.”
“Look. I didn’t even cook this morning. I can’t help it if I don’t have a chef. An engineer and a navigator seemed a little more important, and I don’t even have the funds to pay them. They’re really my partners, not my employees.”
“You should let me cook?—”
“I have, but we all agreed to take turns.”
“All the meals.”
“I can’t take advantage of you. You’re not an employee. You’re—” She bit back the word cargo.
“It would be my pleasure to have a way to care for my mate, even if she doesn’t want me.”
