by Ariel Tachna
“Between the storm and being here, it’s been five days since I had a shower,” Derek replied, hoping he hadn’t given them away. He didn’t think she’d have a problem with it, but it was still too new and precious to share with anyone else.
“Uh-huh,” Lyrica said. “Did Sambit tell you we moved your cot and bag?”
“He mentioned it when I saw him earlier,” Derek said. “I appreciate it, but I want to finish up in here so I’ll be able to get a good start with the rest of the modifications in the morning. I’ll be in later.”
“Don’t rush on my account,” Lyrica said. “I pushed aside a desk in another office and moved my cot in there because there wasn’t really enough room in my office for all three of us. For the cots, yes, but not really for three bodies on top of them.”
“I don’t want to wake Sambit up when I come in either,” Derek said. “Does he know you’re sleeping elsewhere?”
“I told him when I saw him just now,” Lyrica replied. “I’ll let you finish your work. Enjoy your night.”
“I’m sure I’ll sleep very well,” Derek said neutrally, even as he imagined all the other ways he could have an enjoyable night alone in a locked office with the man he was falling for far too rapidly for his own good. He wouldn’t do any of those things because that wasn’t the way he wanted to start a relationship with Sambit, their interlude in the shower notwithstanding. He could follow through on his offer to give Sambit another massage, though, and show Sambit that he was as capable of restraint as he was of action. He put away the last of his tools and supplies. “Good night, Lyrica.”
Lyrica smiled and walked down the hall away from the office Derek had helped clear an hour earlier. Derek went in the opposite direction, heart pounding as he approached the office where Sambit would be waiting. They wouldn’t really be sleeping together, with the two separate cots and no real way to make a single bed, but it would be just the two of them in the room, a far more intimate situation. It was, in complete innocence, more than he had shared with most of his past lovers. An only child, he’d never had to share his space with anyone else until he got to college. He’d run off two roommates his freshman year and had moved off campus after that rather than have to deal with anyone else. Since then, he’d occasionally let a lover spend the night or, slightly more frequently, had spent the night at a lover’s house, but he’d never invited anyone to move in with him or accepted such an invitation from anyone else. He liked his solitude, and he liked having everything in its own place. Having other people around complicated that because no one seemed capable of respecting those places. Sambit hadn’t bothered any of Derek’s belongings since they’d been here except to move them this evening. While that might have bothered Derek under different circumstances, at the moment he could only be grateful. He reached the office, still wondering how to explain the crazy thoughts running through his head to Sambit, but Sambit had fallen asleep waiting for him, his soft breathing the only sound in the darkened room.
Derek stripped down to his underwear now that Lyrica was sleeping in another room and lay down on his own cot, patting Fido’s head a few times when the dog whined at his side. “I know, boy,” he said. “You’re having a hard time here. I am too, but I think we’ll be going home soon. You’ll have to help me get my house fixed up because I’m actually thinking about inviting someone over. We can move some of the robotics stuff out to the garage and clear out one of the upstairs bedrooms so he has an office of his own. Think he’d like that, Fido?”
Fido licked Derek’s hand, circled around a couple of times, and lay down beneath Derek’s cot, leaving Derek alone with his thoughts and his planning. He was getting ahead of himself, thinking about rearranging his house to make room for Sambit when Sambit didn’t even believe Derek would be interested in him once he left. Derek didn’t know how things would work out, but for once, he was willing to fight for their future rather than write off the relationship because it would require more work than he was willing to put into it. Sambit had touched something inside him that no one had ever managed to do, tripping Derek’s protective instincts while being more than capable of taking care of himself. Derek had known men who appealed to his protective side, but their general helplessness, real or feigned, got on his nerves before long. He had also known men who were disgustingly capable and appealed to his desire for an equal, but their refusal to accept his occasional need to look out for his lover had driven him away. Sambit appealed to both sides, refusing to back down from Derek in an argument but willing to bend when Derek got protective over his headaches.
Now he simply had to convince Sambit to believe him.
He hoped his attentions in the shower had helped rather than hurt. Sambit hadn’t pulled away, which was a good first start, and he’d certainly seemed to enjoy their interlude as much as Derek had if the mess on his hand had been any indication. Even more than that, the way Sambit had leaned against Derek so trustingly, as if he knew Derek would not let him fall, made Derek hope Sambit was beginning to believe Derek’s promises. Derek certainly intended to keep them because he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had such an explosive round of sex, and that was just a hand job and a bit of frottage. The mere memory of thrusting through the channel formed by Sambit’s thighs made Derek’s body react again. He couldn’t even imagine what it would feel like if Sambit ever returned the favor.
Derek rolled to his side, peering through the near darkness at the outline of Sambit’s body on the nearby cot. The man wasn’t classically handsome, but everything about him pulled at Derek on a visceral level. His dark skin contrasted with Derek’s paler coloring, the juxtaposition drawing Derek’s attention again and again as they touched. Sambit had more of a swimmer’s build than the muscular bodies Derek tended to fantasize over when he was between lovers, but Derek had seen the strength in the lithe muscles as they practiced yoga. Sambit might not be muscle-bound, but he was strong and fit in probably a healthier way than the pinups Derek admired. More than that, he had been warm and responsive beneath Derek’s hands, making Derek’s senses spin with heady desire. Derek could still feel the friction of Sambit’s body hair against his erection as he moved between the other man’s legs, a different sensation than sliding into a hot piece of ass both because of the coating of hair and because of not needing a condom. The frottage against bare skin had been unbelievably erotic, enough to make Derek want to try it again to see if the magnitude of sensation would continue over time. If it did, that could quickly become a favorite way to make love.
The choice of words, even in the silence of his thoughts, drew him up short. He didn’t think in those terms. He never had. If he needed to be polite, he talked about having sex, but usually he was perfectly content to call a fuck a fuck. So why couldn’t he bring himself to dismiss this encounter the same way?
There was no easy answer to that question, and the frustration of not being able to pin down his feelings followed him into sleep.
DEREK almost refused when Sambit woke him up to do yoga, the need to finish the robots and start testing them combining with the vague memory of troublesome dreams to leave him feeling unsettled and grouchy, but he stopped the refusal before it formed. The robots could wait an hour while he learned a little more of what Sambit could teach him about yoga and about controlling himself. Maybe the yoga would even help him find his balance again after the night of fitful sleep, and if it didn’t, at least he’d know he’d tried. To that end, he really focused on the breathing exercises Sambit had him do before they started, drawing in energy from around them as he inhaled and forcing out negativity with each exhale. By the time they started the Salute to the Sun, Derek could already feel the stress starting to fade.
When they had worked out for half an hour and Derek had taken care of Fido, he sat down to tinker with the robots and marveled that despite the inherent stress of the situation, he felt calmer and more in control of himself than he had in a long time. “Maybe there is something to this yoga thing,” h
e said to Fido as he worked. “Think Sambit would be willing to keep teaching me? He’d have to get up a little earlier if we’re going to do yoga before I leave to drive to Clear Lake if he expects me to stay in College Station with him.”
Fido didn’t even look up from where he napped in the corner. Derek shook his head indulgently and went back to work. When he looked up again, several hours had passed and Sambit stood in the doorway, his quiet cough drawing Derek’s attention. “Are you getting sick?” Derek asked immediately.
“No, I just didn’t want to startle you,” Sambit said. “I came to see how you were doing on the new robots and whether you’d be willing to take Number Five out again if the new ones weren’t ready.”
“I’ve got one ready to test,” Derek said, “although I’m not ready to declare it finished yet. We can give it a shakedown run, though. You can start learning how to control it since I’ll have to teach someone before Tucker makes me leave, and I’d rather teach you than have to work with any of the night crew.”
“So you’ll just make me work with them instead,” Sambit said with a grin.
“Or you can be the only robot operator and they can just monitor the situation at night,” Derek replied. “I don’t care if you don’t teach any of them how to control the robots.”
“Melanie isn’t that bad,” Sambit said. “You could teach her.”
Derek shrugged. “We’ll see. Here, take this. The joystick is just like you’d expect. Forward, backward, left, and right. Let’s get it to the control room and hook up the cameras to one of the computers there, and then we can start working on the other controls and things like getting it to climb stairs.”
Sambit took the controller and guided the robot to the control room without any problem. “See, it’s easy,” Derek said.
“Somehow I doubt it’ll stay that easy when it’s uneven ground or stairs or other obstacles, but I suppose it’s a good start.”
“You have to start somewhere,” Derek agreed, handing Sambit the other controller that moved the robot’s arms and activated the various sensors. “Now play around with that one while I install the interface.”
“What are you doing?” Lyrica asked, coming over to where they were working.
“You’ll need the robots to interact with a computer besides mine,” Derek said. “I’ll need admin approval to install the interface on this computer, unless there’s another you’d rather I use.”
“I’ll put my password in when it asks for it,” Lyrica said. “This one is as good as any other.”
Derek finished installing the software and turned back to Sambit. “Getting the hang of it?”
“Not really,” Sambit said, “but I suppose practice is the only way to get better.”
“That’s right,” Derek agreed with a wink. “Lots of up close and personal practice.”
He could have sworn Sambit’s dark skin darkened even more as his eyes darted toward Lyrica. If she thought anything of Derek’s comment, she gave no indication, continuing with her work as if the men weren’t even there.
“Sorry,” Derek said, lowering his voice. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”
“It’s not that,” Sambit said, “but it’s none of their business, and I prefer to keep my private life private. I’m not ashamed of what we did, before you get that idea in your head, but I wasn’t raised to talk about certain things. I can’t be that casual about it.”
“I wasn’t being casual,” Derek assured him. “I was going more for flirtatious, but I obviously blew that one.”
“Just not around anyone else, okay? I have to work with them after you leave, and I’d rather keep things on a professional footing as much as possible.”
“Okay.” It went against Derek’s nature to curb his tongue or his actions simply because someone else might not approve, but Sambit had asked so Derek would do his best to follow through, another sign of how deeply Sambit had wormed his way into Derek’s esteem. He’d ended relationships in the past because the man had asked Derek to change. It made Derek’s willingness to bend now that much more baffling.
He put the thought aside for later. He needed to concentrate on the robot now.
“HOW much longer before those robots are ready?”
Derek looked up from where he was working to see Tucker standing in the doorway, a much less welcome sight than Sambit’s interruptions always were.
“I tested the first one this afternoon,” Derek replied. “It needs a few more adjustments, but it should be ready to go by tomorrow. I haven’t gotten the second one ready to test yet because I wanted to see what worked and what didn’t on the first one.”
“Well, get busy,” Tucker snapped. “I want them both operational by the day after tomorrow. There’s a supply convoy coming at noon, and you’re leaving with it.”
“I’ll do my best,” Derek said, “but even I can only work so many miracles without a break.”
“I thought you were supposed to be the best NASA had to offer,” Tucker sneered.
“There’s a robot rebuilt from the chassis out,” Derek pointed out. “I’d say that’s pretty damn good for two days. If you want the other one done, go away and let me work.”
Tucker scowled but left as Derek had demanded. Derek took a deep breath, using the techniques Sambit had taught him to breathe out his temper rather than throwing something at Tucker’s back.
“You all right?” Sambit asked. “I saw Tucker storming out.”
“He’s decided I’m leaving on the next supply convoy,” Derek said, “so I have a day and a half to get the robots ready to go and teach you how to operate them. I don’t think I’ll be getting a lot of sleep.”
“Let me tell Lyrica and I’ll be back to help,” Sambit offered. “I can follow directions even if you still have to figure out what to tell me to do.”
“You sure?” Derek asked. “This isn’t your job.”
“Maybe not, but it’ll benefit me as much as anyone else if it’s done right rather than rushed because Tucker didn’t give you enough time to finish. I’ll be right back.”
Derek looked over at Fido lying in the corner and then back at the robot. He couldn’t stay, not with Tucker determined to get rid of him and someone willing to hurt his dog to get to him, but he could spend the next thirty-six hours giving Sambit a crash course in robotics.
BY THE time exhaustion led Sambit to call it quits for the night, his head was spinning with all the information Derek had imparted in the ten hours since he had offered to help. The biggest surprise hadn’t been how much Sambit had to learn but how good Derek was at explaining it all in terms Sambit could relate to. Granted, he was himself a highly intelligent man with a PhD in nuclear physics, but there was only so much overlap in the two fields. Sambit never felt like Derek was talking down to him, but at the same time, he hadn’t been lost in the vernacular, picking up the rationale behind the choices Derek made for the robots, giving each of them special features rather than trying to make both of them capable of everything they might need to be able to do. Sambit wasn’t an expert yet, but he wasn’t nearly as overwhelmed by the thought of operating the robots and maybe even maintaining them without Derek as he had been earlier in the day.
He stretched his arms above his head, arching his back.
“Keep doing that and I’ll get ideas.”
Sambit spun at the sound of Derek’s voice. “I’m too worn out to do anything but sleep.”
“I bet I could convince you otherwise.”
“You probably could,” Sambit admitted, “but that doesn’t make it a good idea. I’m tired and my back hurts and I’m fighting another headache. I need a good night’s sleep because tomorrow we have to test what we did today, and you have to show me how to make any changes that need to be made because I’ll have to keep tweaking them after you leave.”
“Say the word and I’ll fight leaving,” Derek offered.
“What about Fido?” Sambit asked. The dog lifted his head at hearing his name,
but when Sambit made no effort to call him over, he put his head back down and settled for wagging his tail.
“We keep him with us at all times,” Derek said. “It’s not ideal, but it’s never been ideal. All you have to do is ask, and I’ll stay.”
And postpone the inevitable.
“If I get in over my head with the robots, can I send you an e-mail for help?”
“E-mail, text, call, or anything else,” Derek offered immediately. “Get your phone. I’ll program all the numbers in.”
Sambit unclipped his phone from his belt and handed it to Derek. Derek tapped on the keypad for several minutes, including punching the call button so Sambit’s number would show up on his own call record, before handing the phone back to Sambit. “There. All the ways you could possibly need to get in touch with me. I put my home, cell, and work numbers in there as well as my personal and work e-mails. Obviously I’d rather you only use the work number and e-mail for robotics stuff rather than personal conversation, but you can call or text my cell anytime you want. I don’t know how long it’ll be before Kenneth expects me back at work at NASA, but if it’s not a convenient time to talk, I can always choose not to take the call.”
“You don’t really want me calling just because,” Sambit demurred, “but thank you for the numbers. If we have an emergency, it will help to be able to reach you.”
Derek grabbed his shoulders, shaking him lightly. “If you don’t want to call or text, that’s your choice. I’ll be disappointed, but I’ll live with it, but don’t put words in my mouth. You can put other things there all you want and I’ll happily suck on them all night long, but I meant what I said about wanting to hear from you.”
“Everything goes back to sex with you, doesn’t it?” Sambit asked, the off-color comment rubbing him the wrong way. “I’m going to bed.”
“Why are you so determined to avoid me?” Derek demanded. “I don’t know how many more ways I can try to prove to you that I’m serious.”