“Perhaps… Perhaps it would be best if I were to return to my bunk, to allow you to prepare for the day without. Without my intrusion.”
Orin’s chest gave a painful squeeze, sending him scrambling for something to keep Ari by his side just a little while longer. He arranged his face into a gentle smirk, brushing the hair out of Ari’s face, each strand like satin beneath his fingers.
“Ain’t you gonna tell me good morning, gorgeous? It’s only polite.”
Ari offered a tiny smile, evidently unable to decide between staring up at Orin’s face and down at his bare chest.
“Good morning,” he whispered.
Orin pulled on their entangled hands, drawing him closer.
Because here was the thing about Orin Stone.
He might not know much, but if there was one thing he knew, it was that good things like this didn’t come by real often, and when they did, they went by real fast.
Best to keep hold of a good thing until either your grubby fingers broke or it slipped away again the way all good things did.
He brushed a kiss across Ari’s forehead, keeping their fingers wrapped up in each other.
“Morning, sweetheart. C’mere.”
He lifted Ari’s lean body with ease, laying him on top so that every inch of their skin was touching from neck to knees.
The bright pink of Ari’s skin clashed gloriously with his hair, his lips flushed a few shades darker. Orin couldn’t have turned away if you paid him.
Ari ducked his head, probably to escape Orin’s dumbstruck stare.
Damn. He really needed to play it cool. He’d been tripping over himself from the moment he fell into those pretty eyes, and he needed to pull up on the reins before Ari got spooked.
He needed to back off. In a minute. After Ari stopped pressing tiny little kisses under his jaw and rubbing his perfect body all over Orin like the sweetest little kitten you ever saw.
Aw, hell. He wasn’t made of stone, just named for it. It’d take a better man than him to pull away now.
He could feel Ari’s cock hardening against his stomach, thankful he’d gotten a good glimpse of it last night. Just as pink and pretty as the rest of him, and as sensitive as he’d ever come across.
Made him want to keep the professor in his bed for days and days, just bringing him over the edge until he turned his amazing brain to mush, all that fancy book learning set aside for a little while. Until he could only think of Orin.
They both hissed as Ari shifted, rubbing their cocks together accidentally.
Now, there was an idea.
They’d spent all night taking turns with mouths and hands, Orin’s standard getting-to-know-you routine. But nothing like this. Orin could definitely get behind some full-body mutual writhing.
He took hold of Ari’s hips, lifting and angling him so their cocks slotted together, the tip of Ari’s nudging under Orin’s cockhead with every nudge forward.
Ari pushed up to straddle him, hands braced against his chest and slender thighs forced apart by the bulk of Orin’s body, the sheets falling forgotten around Orin’s knees.
Orin’s mouth opened before his brain could catch up. “Yeah. That’s it, baby. There you go.”
Orin lifted his palm to Ari’s face, gently holding it against his mouth until he caught on and started licking. Holy shit, he was pretty as a picture, pink tongue slipping out to peek between Orin’s fingers, golden lashes trembling.
If he wasn’t careful, his big dumb mouth would run away with him again, babbling every nonsense thought in his head. Mostly just a running commentary on how unbelievably beautiful Ari was, as if a man like that didn’t already know. He was probably sick of hearing it, but Orin couldn’t help himself.
He licked his palm as well for good measure before wrapping his hand around them both, pressing them tightly together.
Ari shivered, staring down at Orin’s hand. Orin had been relieved to discover that, rather than being discouraged by Orin’s size, he seemed to revel in it. Orin had sometimes started up with partners with a lot more experience only to have them back out when they saw what he was packing.
The corner of his mouth kicked up with pride. It’d take more than what Orin had to frighten off Dr. Aristotle Campbell.
Orin wrapped his other hand around one narrow hip, encouraging Ari to resume his rocking motion, moving his hips in tandem so they pushed together and pulled away at just the right rhythm.
The helpless little moans panting out of Ari’s mouth dropped Orin’s own mouth open, words pouring out like a broken dam.
“Beautiful like this. Doing so good, baby. So perfect for me.”
The way Ari’s eyes rolled back whenever Orin called him perfect made Orin want to do nothing but whisper it into the delicate shell of his ear for the rest of his life. Wouldn’t exactly be a hardship, telling the truth all day.
Too bad he couldn’t get attached.
Ari, lips parted, raked his fingers through the hair on Orin’s chest before picking up the pace, watching Orin’s fist avidly.
Orin matched their rhythm with his hand, pleased when Ari clutched at Orin’s arm, squeezing along with the flex of his muscles, blissed-out little face like he was in heaven.
Orin could do better than that.
He rubbed his finger up under Ari’s ridge, causing him to shudder and whine and fall into a million beautiful pieces, spilling onto Orin’s stomach.
Orin swiped his palm through the mess before he flipped them over, hovering on his knees as he used the slick to strip his cock, rough with himself in his rush. Ari lay splayed out under him, hands gently curled and tucked up sweet on the pillow by his head. He caught Orin’s eyes with a flash of green under heavy lids, lips wet and quivering with every shaky breath. Orin fell over the edge like a man riding off a cliff.
Ari barely waited for Orin to clean him off with a corner of the sheet before he was pulling his trousers on, tugging his shirt over his head with his back turned, like Orin hadn’t been the one to leave that kiss stain on his hip. His skin marked up prettier than parchment, and Orin couldn’t wait to leave his signature.
Ari turned with his boots dangling from one hand, the rest of his clothing bundled under his arm. He attempted to smooth his hair as he took a deep breath, Orin grinning at the way it sprang back up defiantly.
“I should. Thank you for. For an exceptionally pleasant interlude. I really should get back to my lab now, stop wasting so much time,” he said haltingly, unable to decide between examining the floor or Orin’s face.
Orin pushed at the hurt that bubbled up at being considered a waste of time. No sense expecting anything more. Not much different than being a meaningless diversion, tell the truth.
He held out his hand, black silk ribbon garter dangling from his fingers.
“Ain’t you forgetting something, sweetheart?”
Ari snatched it with a return of his fiery blush, casting one more shy glance over his shoulder as he rushed from the room.
Orin fell back on the bed with a sigh, beating down the rising tide of feelings that wouldn’t do any good to anybody, resigning himself to spending the rest of the day reviewing his flight calculations for errors.
*
He had been doing just that for hours, hunched over his pad at the little table in the main cabin and stuffing his face, when he was interrupted by a shout from the end of the corridor.