Survey Mission

by Jessica Payseur

  “Yes,” said Troy. As far as he was concerned, that was no secret. “But why did you think I’d be into you?”

  Kipp blinked. Troy smiled a little.

  “You didn’t think of that.”

  “You really aren’t?” asked Kipp, sitting up and fixing Troy with a sad look. Green-blue eyes now. How they changed so easily, Troy didn’t know, but they were drawing him. Kipp really was attractive. And his mannerisms had been growing on Troy, too, since the landing party had exited the shuttle.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” said Troy, glancing away. He couldn’t stand it. He wanted to kiss the upset away. Kipp frustrated him. “It’s not…”

  “What?” Kipp sat so close behind Troy, his breath curled over the back of Troy’s neck. Troy shuddered and moved to stand, but Kipp reached out and grabbed his hand. He turned back and was staring into those blue-green eyes in an instant.

  Troy swallowed.

  “You’re…” He trailed off and shook his head. “We can’t fuck on the med bed on a mission.”

  Kipp’s eyes gleamed with mischief. “Maybe I just wanted to make out.”

  Troy laughed.

  Kipp grinned. “There’s lube in the emergency appease-the-locals kit.”

  “How many missions have you been on where you’ve had to use that?” Troy shifted his position so he was half-facing Kipp. His hand was sweaty in Kipp’s.

  “How many have you?”

  “Oh, you know how that silver deposit was found on New Venus?” asked Troy, leaning closer. He wanted to be with Kipp, but he didn’t want to make the first move.

  “That’s the planet known for horny vacationers,” said Kipp.

  He released Troy’s hand and rested it on the side of Troy’s thigh. Troy knew he was about to do something he’d either regret terribly or be very pleased with. He hadn’t been with anyone he hadn’t picked up at port in too long.

  “Our landing party stumbled across one of those adventure orgies in the middle of the forest. You know how OriginCo tends to overlook permits for preliminary research…”

  “You had to secure their silence.” Kipp pulled his hair out of his face and licked his lips. “How many did you have to handle?”

  Troy grinned. “Your turn.”

  “Once I was recruited to solve an argument about who was a better lover in a group of three men,” said Kipp. “But I volunteered for that one.” He leaned closer to whisper. “This is getting me hard.”

  “I bet you decided it was you.” Troy dared to raise a hand and stroke Kipp’s hair out of his face, watched him respond by tilting his head in welcome. Still he hesitated to kiss him.

  “Want to try it out yourself and come to the same conclusion?”

  Troy’s breath caught in his chest. His heart pounded hard. This was the moment he would decide: pull away from Kipp or risk it. Kipp’s hand was sliding over his thigh.

  He panicked. If Kipp decided to report him, he’d be out of OriginCo permanently. Troy froze.

  “Kipp.” Troy didn’t want to pull back, but he was going to. He just didn’t know how to apologize.

  Before he could, though, Kipp pressed his lips on Troy’s.

  There was no pulling away after that. Kipp might have initiated the kiss, but Troy picked it up and carried it from there. Kipp’s mouth was warm and eager, opened readily for Troy’s tongue. Troy tangled his hand in Kipp’s hair, tilted Kipp’s head at a better angle. Kipp smelled like he’d hiked miles, mildly salty, the cling of a metallic breeze to him. It was an energizing scent.

  Kipp’s hand slid over Troy’s lap to massage his hardness and he groaned into Kipp’s mouth. He twisted Kipp’s hair in his hand and then pulled him back just enough to talk against his lips.

  “I wasn’t going to kiss you,” said Troy.

  “Then stop.” Kipp opened his eyes, glittering green with the dare.

  Troy yanked his head back and leaned into Kipp’s neck, drawing his teeth against the skin there.

  “Bastard,” he said. “You know I don’t want to.”

  Kipp grinned. Troy couldn’t stand that. He yanked Kipp’s mouth back to his, devoured him all the harder. Got rid of Kipp’s smug smile. The edge of the med bed was inadequate and he rolled, straddling Kipp, who leaned back with ease to accommodate him.

  Troy hoped Irene would not return now. As if in assurance, the shuttle shuddered with the wind and patter of a storm. None of the others would be traveling in this.

  Kipp grabbed Troy’s ass and Troy nudged his legs open with a knee. Kipp’s body seemed to respond to what Troy wanted with very little prompting, moving to the left when Troy stroked the back of two fingers down the right side of Kipp’s neck, giving Troy more space on the med bed. Kipp was used to taking direction, but took initiative, too. Troy felt him squeezing his ass, trying to pull him closer to press their bodies together. Kipp groaned into his mouth when he resisted, instead massaging him through his pants.

  Troy pulled back and shed his shirt, watching Kipp pant, eyes closed for once. His hair where Troy had grabbed looked tangled, and his pale face was flushed. He had a visible bulge in his pants. Troy pushed his knee far up between Kipp’s legs.

  Kipp’s eyes opened a fraction to look at him. Troy yanked Kipp’s shirt up.

  “You know these med beds have restraints, right?”

  “Is that a suggestion?” asked Troy.

  “My hands have a mind of their own.” Kipp put one hand to his hair, the other to Troy’s nipple. Troy gasped as Kipp twisted, hard, and a jolt traveled through his body. “See?”

  Troy grabbed the hand and pulled it away. If Kipp wanted to be restrained, he’d restrain him. The wrist straps held securely, and Troy focused on yanking Kipp’s pants down, revealing his hard cock. Troy dropped his own pants quickly, then tugged on Kipp’s ankles so he stretched to the limit of the straps, arms extended above him, hair splayed on the med bed. His ass came to the end of the med bed, legs dangling over.

  “You sure you know how to treat my condition?” asked Kipp.

  “Shut up or I’ll gag you.”

  “Should that scare me or turn me on?” asked Kipp, then sucked in a breath as Troy grabbed his balls with a hand. Troy tugged, hard enough to make Kipp gasp, watching the expression on his face. After a moment he tore himself away to retrieve the lube and slicked up, enjoying how Kipp bucked against his fingers as he lubed and opened him up.

  One of the benefits of working for OriginCo was the free protection. Troy never had to worry sleeping with another employee, as the shot that prevented both disease and fertility was mandatory. No awkward conversations or pauses, just his aching cock and willing partner. He grabbed Kipp’s hips and pulled him farther down the bed toward him as he entered in one smooth motion. Kipp swore as the straps reached their limit and his body stretched, muscles standing out under his skin.

  Troy moved forward a fraction, enough to ease up on Kipp but not enough to stop stretching him entirely. Troy pulled out, then thrust sharply back in, hearing Kipp groan. Kipp’s ass was tight and Troy could bury himself all the way; he knew he would not last long. To draw it out he paused, as far in as he could go, and stroked Kipp with a hand. Kipp responded by struggling against the restraints, but Troy was having too much fun watching him squirm, pinned. He spat on Kipp’s cock, grabbed it, and pumped without mercy.

  “Troy,” said Kipp through gritted teeth. “Going to…”

  “Good,” said Troy, not letting up.

  Kipp gasped and came, tensing on the bed, filling Troy’s hand with sticky warmth. Troy continued stroking until he whimpered, then wiped his hand across Kipp’s hard, sweaty abdomen.

  “Shit, you didn’t come,” said Kipp, then let out another groan as Troy began to pound him. His ass was even tighter now that he’d come, and Troy was glad he’d used a lot of lube. Kipp closed his eyes again and tilted his head back to ride the sensations as Troy drove into him.

  “Make sure you get it way up there,” said Kipp. “I don’t want t
o deal with it for a while.”

  Troy gritted his teeth and planted himself as deep as he could go before releasing. It had been a while since he had dealt with himself, and he could feel more than usual cascading out, the mass of his frustration large. By the time he pulled out, he was grinning.

  “Have fun with all that,” he said. “That’s a few days’ worth up there.”

  “And you saved it all for me? You shouldn’t have.”

  * * * *

  Troy had been tempted to leave Kipp strapped to the med bed for a while longer and repeat the fun, but was too anxious. Even if Kipp wasn’t going to report him, Irene might, so he released Kipp and cleaned up the best he could.

  “It’s fine,” said Kipp. “People use the med bed more for pleasure than business anyway.”

  Troy shot him a look and he shrugged, grinning.

  “Back to the everyday confusions, then,” said Kipp, running a hand through his hair. It caught on a knot and he pulled on it. As he moved to recheck his work on the cave creature, Troy went into the main area of the shuttle and scanned for the storm. It seemed to be tapering off at the moment, but with no communications, he couldn’t contact Irene and let her know they would have to move Heather and Patti. Troy frowned, gnawed on his lip.

  “Can your ass handle a hike?” he asked, leaning through the doorway.

  Kipp groaned. “Really?”

  Troy explained the situation as Kipp stared at him, arms folded, leaning back against the lab table.

  “Why don’t I help you repair the communications so you can report to Irene and the ship, then we’ll rip it all out to use for the shields when we’re done?”

  Troy stared at him. He felt ashamed he hadn’t thought of that.

  “Extra work? Is that like you?”

  Kipp shot him a smirk.

  “I’m full of surprises.”

  They worked side by side on the communications systems, Troy feeling more awkward the longer they said nothing. He hadn’t suspected after sex to be strange, not while Kipp was so good at banter, but the entomologist seemed satisfied for once, and the quiet left Troy too much time to think. He didn’t know where they were going from here. Finally he cleared his throat.

  “Was that a one-time thing for you?” he asked. Kipp should have no problem with him being forward.

  Kipp laughed and turned sparkling eyes on him, green now.

  “Looking for someone to settle down with? Plot of land on some planet, backyard garden, adopt a dog?” he asked, but he must have seen Troy wince. “I wouldn’t mind a repeat sometime. It took too many months to get to this point.”

  “Don’t tell me you think you wasted time on me.”

  “You just had sex. Don’t be prickly. Pass me the pad with the instructions.”

  They were quiet again. Kipp’s hair kept falling in his face and eventually Troy moved to tuck it back for him. Kipp looked up, surprised, and then Troy was kissing him again. Kipp kissed back, put a hand on Troy’s chest, but disengaged first.

  “If you’re going to ask me out,” he said, “I ought to warn you I have extensive bug collections. Some of them live.”

  “Great. Go out with me.”

  Kipp grinned.

  “So all I have to do to win you over is sleep with you? Easy. Once you’ve stopped ignoring me for five months, that is.”

  “Don’t make me take my offer back.”

  “Done,” said Kipp, leaning back. “You can try Irene now. And we can try the Fair Plate. I like their funnel cakes.”

  Troy nodded. He’d been to the Fair Plate, one of the restaurants aboard the Heavenhawk IV, and had found the food good as well as not too pricey.

  “Thanks. Looking forward to it.” He leaned forward and tried transmitting a standard signal. Scratchy interference came through the system, indicating the storms were still giving them difficulties, but after the fourth try, he raised her.

  “Irene Lambert here,” she said, voice coming through choppy. But Troy could understand her.

  “This is Iverson,” he said. “Have I got some information for you…”

  THE END

  ABOUT JESSICA PAYSEUR

  Jessica Payseur lives and writes in Wisconsin, where she spends the long winters solving murders. Fictional ones, of course. With a bottle of mulled wine and more cats than laps, she crafts cheesy mysteries with sexy sleuths and happy endings. She enjoys snail mail, trying not to get lost geocaching, and bicycle rides as long as they end at wineries. Follow her on Twitter at @jessica_payseur for updates on what she’s currently drinking. For more information, visit pgofcups.blogspot.com.

  ABOUT JMS BOOKS LLC

  JMS Books LLC is a small queer press with competitive royalty rates publishing LGBT romance, erotic romance, and young adult fiction. Visit jms-books.com for our latest releases and submission guidelines!