by L. A. Witt
“What do you think?” Daniel asked.
“It’s huge. Seems kind of empty, though.”
“Yeah, only because we’re in port.” Daniel gestured around them. “When we’re deployed, this is all aircraft and vehicles.”
“Aircraft?” Colin glanced at him. “How do they get up to the flight deck from down here?”
“Elevator. Come on, I’ll show you my shop.”
Colin followed, still looking around at the drab gray bulkheads and equipment that probably looked bizarre to a civilian. It had probably looked bizarre to Daniel at some point, but that was a distant memory now.
“It’s pretty quiet on board right now,” he said as he led Colin down a passageway. “Everything is a lot busier when we’re at sea. Right now there aren’t any planes on board, so we’re not doing much except fixing and calibrating our equipment. Not many crew, either.” They stopped outside of a hatch, and Daniel entered the combination into the cipher lock. Then he pushed open the hatch and gestured for Colin to step inside. “This is where I work.”
Colin looked around at all the narrow floor-to-ceiling rows of electronic equipment. “So you do . . . what exactly?”
Daniel shut the hatch and made sure it was locked. “I’m an avionics tech. Basically I repair and calibrate electronics for the Hornet.”
Colin whistled. “Damn. Sounds like that’ll help you toward a better job when you retire.”
“In theory.” Daniel shrugged. “Not sure I really want to do it for the rest of my life, though. It’s just what the Navy decided I’d be good at.”
“You don’t like it?”
“Eh, it’s just kind of boring. But it keeps me employed.” He led Colin down one of the narrow aisles. “So this is my workstation.” He shoved some binders aside. “Which is also where we’ll be eating.”
Colin smirked as he set the Subway bag on the narrow table. “Ooh, this place looks like it must have at least two Michelin stars.”
Daniel snorted. “Hey, just be glad we’re not eating on the mess decks.”
“That bad?”
“Not bad, just the same shit over and over. There’s a reason we all go batshit over any kind of fast food.”
“I believe it.”
“Seriously. When I first came aboard, one of the guys showed up with a bag from Taco Bell. I asked him where he got it, and he said the ship has a Taco Bell belowdecks.” Daniel rolled his eyes. “I’d been in long enough to know that was horseshit, but one of the other new guys was practically fresh out of boot camp. He spent an hour hunting for the Taco Bell.”
Colin laughed. “Oh my God. Really?”
“Yep. Gullible new kids are fair game, and they can be really gullible. Now let’s eat before I start chewing wires.”
They separated the sandwiches and drinks, and sat down in a couple of rickety swivel chairs to eat. All the while, Daniel tried not to think about the fact that they were alone in an enclosed space. Yeah, people might’ve gotten away with things on the boat, but it was too risky. Besides, he’d be in Colin’s bed tomorrow night. Just twenty-four hours. He could wait. Twenty-four long, frustrating hours.
At least he had some decent food, though.
“Wow.” He groaned after he’d washed down the last bite of his sandwich. “I’ve been back in port for a few months now, and real food still tastes amazing.”
“Makes you appreciate good food, doesn’t it?”
“You have no idea.” Daniel chuckled. “I mean, during port calls on cruise? The local restaurants probably make as much as the bars and whorehouses.”
“Seriously?”
“Oh yeah. Soon as the ship docks, we basically stampede off the ship and stuff our faces until we can’t move.”
“Huh.” Colin sipped his water. “And here I thought you all just ran off to find hookers and booze.”
“We do.” Daniel shrugged. “We eat, then we drink ourselves stupid and make every hooker in town rich. And if we have time, we try to run by the commissary and grab a few snacks and razors before we have to be back on the ship.”
“Wait. You can’t get that stuff on the ship?”
“Sometimes you can. But the ship store runs out sometimes.”
Colin nodded, absently playing with the edge of his wrapper. “So, how often does the ship go out?” He met Daniel’s gaze. “For deployments?”
“The short answer is whenever the Navy tells us to.”
Colin stiffened, and Daniel realized why he’d been asking.
He cleared his throat and sat up. “We just did our six-month cruise, and now the ship’s due to go to Newport News to spend a year in the shipyards. In fact we’ll be heading over there pretty soon. After that . . .” He shrugged again. “I won’t lie—they could put us right into a workup cycle and send us out within a few months, or we could sit here in port for another year.”
“Oh.” Colin searched his eyes. “Kind of unpredictable, isn’t it?”
Daniel nodded. “You don’t join the Navy so you can have a set schedule.”
Colin laughed softly, but it seemed genuine. “Yeah, I guess not.” The humor faded a bit, and he met Daniel’s gaze again. “So if you go to sea again . . .”
Daniel didn’t know what to say. This could go a number of different directions, and every one of them seemed like a possible minefield. He finally settled on, “It’s only a few months.”
“True.” Colin quirked his lips like he was mulling it over, then murmured again, “True.”
Daniel leaned forward. “We can . . . you know, figure things out. I know a lot of people can’t deal with it, so there’s a lot of breakups right before a—”
“No, no, no.” Colin put his hand on Daniel’s knee, and smiled. “I didn’t mean anything like that. I guess . . . I guess I just wanted to know what I was up against, you know? So I can be ready for it.”
“Oh.” A knot loosened in Daniel’s stomach, and he hadn’t even realized it was there. “Okay. Yeah, I should know fairly well in advance. Sometimes shit happens, but most of the time, we know.”
“Okay. And it isn’t like we can’t use Skype or e-mail while you’re gone.” His eyebrows lifted as if to ask, Right?
“Totally.”
“Then I’m not worried.” Colin leaned in a little closer and let his lips brush across Daniel’s. They held each other’s gazes for a moment, and Daniel’s heart raced. The shop’s door was shut. No one was going to open it. And if Colin kept looking at him like that—
Clearing his throat, Daniel sat back. “Anyway. Yeah. I’ll . . . let you know.” Idiot.
“Works for me.” Colin paused. “So, uh, you said the ship runs out of stuff on deployment. How do you manage in between? I mean, I could send you stuff if you need it, but . . .”
“A lot of people have stuff sent from home.” Daniel chuckled. “And while we wait for that shit, you have people running little rackets all over the place.”
“Rackets? Like what?”
“Well, like one guy’s wife would send him cases of chewing tobacco. When the ship’s store ran out of dip, he could sell them for twenty bucks a can. People did that with cigarettes, too.” Daniel chuckled as he wadded up his sandwich wrapper like a basketball. “I’ve heard you can get in trouble with the ATF for that, but it sure doesn’t stop anyone.” He tossed the wrapper, and it went straight into the trash can.
“Nice shot.” Colin laughed. “And wow, entrepreneurs everywhere.”
“You have no idea. Hell, one of the women in my department brought her sewing machine on cruise. People made fun of her about being a seamstress and all that, but then a shitload of people made rank and needed their new patches sewn on their uniforms. Nobody was laughing at her after that.”
“I’ll bet. And they get away with it? Even though they’re not supposed to run businesses?”
“Oh yeah. On a boat this big with five thousand people?” Daniel waved a hand. “You can get away with a lot if you fly far enough under the radar. I’m seri
ous—you can get away with a lot on a ship.” He held Colin’s gaze. “A lot.”
Colin arched his eyebrow. “Such as?”
Daniel grinned, his heart speeding up just thinking about it all. “Well, when we’re under way for weeks at a time, you better believe there are people fucking on the ship.”
Colin looked around. “Where, though?”
“Anywhere. If we’ve got Humvees on board, they’ll use those. Back when the Tomcat was still in use, people would fuck in the jet intake.”
“In the—” Colin blinked. “You’re kidding.”
Daniel shook his head. “No, you could fit two people in there, so I guess people took advantage of it. I mean, it makes sense. You’ve got five thousand people on board when we have a full crew. You better believe someone is fucking somewhere at pretty much all times.”
Which means we could if we—
No. No, we’re not.
Colin took another swig of water. “And they never get caught?”
“They get caught all the time.”
“Do they get in trouble?”
“Oh, yeah. Especially if they’re married. Like, to other people.”
Colin blinked. “So that really happens? People spend deployments cheating on their spouses?”
“There is so much adultery on deployment.” Daniel scowled. “On shore and at sea. It’s pretty sad.”
“Yeah, it is.”
But we’re not married. And we could do this without getting caught. Right?
Daniel cleared his throat. “So, uh, want me to show you around the ship?”
“Sure.” Colin wadded up his own wrapper and tossed it into the same bin. “Sounds like fun.”
* * *
Daniel took Colin on a grand tour of the ship, showing him everything from the mess decks they hadn’t bothered with to the flight deck. And of course, he had to point out all the nooks and crannies where he’d heard stories—some confirmed, some not—about people getting caught in the act. The maze of passageways had plenty of dark corners and places no one would happen past at night. There were the fan rooms—tiny spaces where in the old days, sailors would settle their differences with fists, and in more modern times, well, there was less fighting and a lot more fucking.
When he was on cruise, he’d marveled at how many places people could get away with it, but now that he was walking around with someone who might be interested in joining him, it was surreal. These were places he could—even on duty—sneak a kiss or more with the man who could make him hard just by looking at him.
God, I’m horny tonight. Get a grip, Daniel. Come on.
“I still don’t get how anyone managed to fool around on a ladder,” Colin said as they stepped into Daniel’s shop after the tour. “Just seems . . . uncomfortable.”
“Yeah, and this was at sea.” Daniel closed and locked the hatch behind them.
“So, all the fooling around on the ship . . .” Colin arched an eyebrow. “Do people always get caught?”
“Not always, no. Especially not if they’re smart.” Daniel gestured at the hatch they’d come through. “Like when they’re in a space that you can only get into through a door with a cipher lock.”
His teeth snapped shut as he realized what he’d just said. That those secret thoughts he’d planned to take to his rack tonight had made it to the tip of his tongue.
And judging by Colin’s playful grin, it wasn’t lost on him, either.
Daniel gulped. “I mean . . .”
Colin studied him. “How many people have the combo to that door?”
“Like thirty, I think?” Daniel paused. “But the only one who’s on duty tonight besides me is Reuben. Who’s . . .” His heart sped up. “He’s on watch until twenty-one hundred.”
“So what you’re saying is . . .” Colin stepped closer. “The only person on board right now who can get into this shop is on watch?”
“Well.” Daniel gulped. “There are others on board now that I think about it, but they’re off shift, so there’s no way they’ll—”
Colin grabbed the front of his blouse and pulled him into a kiss.
Daniel didn’t miss a beat. He pushed him up against the bulkhead and kissed him right back. To hell with worrying or fantasizing. He had a hot man and a locked door. Let’s do this.
Colin pulled him closer, but hesitated. “Shit. Don’t want to . . . touch your tattoo . . .”
“Don’t care.” Daniel kissed him harder. The tattoo still stung like hell, but he’d take his chances if it meant fooling around with Colin.
On the ship. In his shop. Right here in his shop.
The thrill of breaking so many regs sent a surge of electricity through him. They wouldn’t get caught—no one ever came in here unless they were on shift or on duty—but the CO himself could be strolling by in the passageway right now, and he’d never know they were here.
On the other hand, there were people aboard who had the combo for the cipher lock. All it took was someone forgetting something and swinging by the shop for a quick second, and they were busted. Which would be enough to make a smart man stop and wait until another night.
Instead, Daniel took Colin by the front of his shirt and led him toward the back of the shop. At least here, if someone started opening the hatch, they’d have enough time to zip up their pants and pretend nothing had been happening. Another bonus for a uniform that could hide a boner.
As soon as they were safely away from the hatch, Daniel doubled down. He slid his hands under Colin’s shirt and tugged at his belt.
“Think it’s worth the risk?” Colin glanced back toward the hatch. “I mean, think we’ll get caught?”
“I highly, highly doubt we’ll get caught.” Daniel cupped Colin’s cock through his jeans. “And I definitely think it’s worth the risk.”
“Do you? So you’re saying we shouldn’t stop and—”
Daniel shut him up with a kiss.
“Fuck.” Colin touched his forehead to Daniel’s. “You remember that first time? In the parking lot?”
“How could I forget?” Daniel panted.
“Remember what I said right after I kissed you?”
Daniel’s knees wobbled. “The part where you wanted to suck my dick?”
“Uh-huh.” Colin tugged at the buttons of Daniel’s fly. “’Cause I’m having some serious déjà vu right now.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” And just like that, Colin was on his knees at Daniel’s feet. They both had to fumble a bit with his pants because the Navy insisted on modeling their uniforms after Fort Knox, but finally, all the fabric was out of the way and . . .
Yes . . .
Colin’s lips were around Daniel’s cock.
Daniel stared down at him. It wasn’t a new sight anymore—Colin loved sucking dick, and he’d done it in the shower, in bed, on the couch, in the kitchen—but goddamn, it was hot. In an instant, he’d turned this dull, bland work space into a porn set. Surrounded by wires, metal, tools, and binders, he went to town on Daniel’s cock like this was the perfect atmosphere for a blowjob. Which it was, because anywhere was perfect to get a blowjob from Colin.
Daniel pressed back against the bulkhead, trying not to rub his new tattoo on anything, but also trying not to crumple to his knees. He combed his fingers through Colin’s hair. Jesus. Fuck! The things Colin did with his mouth . . . they just never got old. Never.
“Oh my God,” Daniel murmured. “Holy shit, I’m gonna come.” He kept repeating “gonna come, gonna come, gonna come” like it was a mantra—maybe it was—and Colin didn’t let up at all. He pumped Daniel’s cock faster and harder, and teased with his tongue until . . . yes . . . yes, don’t stop . . .
Daniel gasped. He braced against the bulkhead, and his hips jerked, and what little self-control he had left kept his lips pressed tightly together as he came in Colin’s eager, relentless mouth.
“S-stop,” he finally managed to say. “Fuck . . .”
Colin stood and wrapped hi
s arms around Daniel’s waist, and kissed him deeply, letting Daniel taste himself.
“That was so hot,” Daniel murmured between kisses. “Never . . . thought of getting it on . . .” Liar.
“Figured that would hold us both over until tomorrow night.” Colin kissed him again, sliding his tongue beneath Daniel’s lips. “Until you’re back in my bed.” He leaned against him, his hard-on rubbing Daniel’s hip.
Daniel slid his hand over it, squeezing gently. “Really seems like I should return the favor, doesn’t it?”
Colin groaned. “Well, if you insist.”
“Don’t think anybody’s going to catch us, so . . .”
As he started opening Colin’s fly, he kissed him, and right there in his shop, tucked away in a corner of an aircraft carrier, he damn sure returned the favor.
And nobody caught them.
* * *
That visit had turned out better than Daniel had expected. For one thing, they’d broached the subject of deployments, and Colin seemed okay with sticking around if Daniel went to sea. Unexpected, and a relief.
Breaking up the monotony of a duty day and showing Colin around the ship after some food that hadn’t come from the mess decks? Totally what he’d had in mind. A couple of hot, frantic blowjobs in the back of his shop while someone could have walked in at any moment and caught them? Whoa.
Never gonna look at that part of the shop the same again, that’s for sure.
Colin couldn’t stay all night, though. Daniel had a late watch starting at 2200, so at 2130 it was time to see him back to his car. They left the shop and followed the long-memorized path back to the quarterdeck.
As they started down the brow leading from the boat to the pier, Colin paused. “Wait. Wasn’t this . . .” He cocked his head. “I could’ve sworn it was steeper on the way in.”
Daniel laughed. “It was. The tide’s gone out, so the ship’s lower.”
“Oh. Yeah, that would explain it. Okay.”
They continued down and onto the pier. From there, they walked toward the gate, beyond which was the parking lot. It was well after dark, but the pier was still busy. Like Daniel, a lot of people lived on the ship, and were either heading out for the evening or coming back for the night.