Captivated (The Verge Book 2)

by A. C. Thomas

  Jun took a step toward him, the generously sized bunk growing smaller with the closing distance. Theo found himself backing up until the mattress pressed against the back of his knees.

  Jun dragged his gaze in a scorching trail up Theo’s body, landing on the pale sliver of throat exposed above his cravat. He took another step forward, and Theo’s spats slid back until he scuffed his heel against the metal leg of the bunk. He would have spared a thought for the ruined polish if there had been a single thought to spare.

  All of Theo’s thoughts were much too busy screaming lewd suggestions.

  He might as well have said them aloud, for the way Jun’s expression darkened and burned.

  “This is your bunk.”

  Theo didn’t bother to check his surroundings. There wasn’t much to see. Just a standard ship’s bunk without a single shred of personality or decoration. Jun was by far the most fascinating thing in the room. Theo fiddled with his cravat as he tilted his head to give Jun his best angle, lashes lowered to a calculated degree. “How lovely of you to provide such charming accommodations. May I make one small request? Something that would improve the space markedly?”

  It seemed Jun couldn’t tear his gaze away from the movement as Theo loosened his neck cloth to a scandalous degree. “What do you want?”

  Theo trailed his hand down his throat and across his chest. He popped open the buttons of his waistcoat. “I’d prefer a bit of company. I’m afraid I’m not used to living alone, and that bed appears exceedingly empty. Do you have any suggestions for how I might fill it?”

  Inhaling sharply, Jun closed his eyes, his hands now rolled into restless fists at his side. His brow furrowed briefly before he pinned Theo with a gaze so hot it burned. The air between them crackled with energy. “Take it off.”

  His rich, deep voice stirred things hidden in Theo like pieces of a shipwreck breaking the surface of the water.

  “Take what off, precisely?” Theo asked breathlessly, his fingers already returning to pull at the fabric wound around his neck.

  Jun’s face was stark with hunger, muscles tense. “All of it.”

  Theo’s clothing practically melted away, tossed aside in careless heaps around the previously tidy room.

  Tracking every piece as it was pulled away, Jun trailed his eyes over Theo’s naked skin so heavily they might as well have been hands.

  Jun shrugged out of his heavy coat and dropped it onto the bed, then stepped around Theo and sat on the edge of the mattress.

  He reached out, snagged a small pillow, and tossed it to the floor between his splayed ankles. “On your knees.”

  Theo fell to kneel on the pillow as though his strings had been cut, his heart hammering in his chest and skin tingling with the charge between them.

  Jun cupped his jaw, angling Theo’s head to expose the bruise blooming along his cheekbone from his misadventure with the chair. Jun traced the edge of discoloration with careful fingertips, his face unreadable. “Do you want me?” His voice was unexpectedly, achingly gentle. “You’re free to say no.”

  Theo pressed his cheek into Jun’s rough palm with a helpless moan, shivering in the cold ship air. Tongue loose with desire. “Yes, I want you. Very much. More than I should, I’m sure. I so rarely do as I should anyway.”

  Jun released him to lean back. He opened his trousers and pulled out his cock. “Alright, then. Show me.”

  Tattooed fingers stroked from root to tip, foreskin pulling back on the downstroke to expose the dark-flushed head.

  He was thick and long and everything Theo dreamed about in his loneliest moments. He was literally mouthwatering.

  Theo swallowed the excess saliva, scrupulously keeping his mouth shut to avoid actually drooling over the sight. He swayed on his knees and leaned closer to watch Jun’s hand move away from his cock and rest against his thigh.

  The coarse fabric of Jun’s trousers brushed Theo’s naked shoulders, and he shivered again, looking up into Jun’s face. One dark eyebrow lifted just enough to present a challenge, the fraction of a movement as good as a dare.

  Theo could never resist a dare.

  He threw himself face-first into Jun’s lap and rubbed his cheek against the burning length of him as he buried his nose in the bunched-up fabric surrounding his jutting cock. He smelled deeper here, that same leather and ozone scent with an insidious underlayment of pure unfiltered lust.

  Theo wanted to rub it all over his body.

  He settled for nuzzling against him with every inch of his face. Jun’s breath hitched as Theo’s lips caught and parted against the underside of his cock, quickened as Theo’s hair slid over the head.

  Jun combed his fingers through Theo’s hair. He fitted his palm to the back of Theo’s skull, his hand heavy, perhaps with the effort of staying still and keeping himself in reserve.

  Theo didn’t want still and reserved. Theo wanted to crack Jun open and expose the source of that electric spark filling the air around them.

  Pressing back into the cradle of Jun’s hand, Theo extended his tongue just past his lower lip to rest the tip of Jun’s cock there like a satin pillow.

  Jun was leaking already, bitter and sharp against his tongue, the taste of him intensifying the ache between Theo’s legs. He swirled his tongue as he reached down to cup himself, and Jun followed the movement with flared nostrils. His hand tightened and released in Theo’s hair.

  Theo fitted one hand around the base of Jun’s cock, holding him in place as he opened his lips and sucked him down until he pressed against the back of Theo’s throat. They both made a sound at that, Jun’s low groan and Theo’s muffled whimper synchronizing effortlessly.

  Jun’s other hand petted over Theo’s shoulder and down his arm. Theo shuddered beneath his touch, every inch of his skin suddenly starving for contact.

  He eased back only to shove down farther, still unable to meet his fist around the base. He pulled off completely, letting the flared head pop past his lips, then licked his hand and slid it down Jun’s cock, squeezing the base in little pulses as he licked all around the head.

  Theo took a deep breath and sucked him back down, found his limit, and pushed past it, opening his throat to take the hot length of him even farther. Jun made a glorious new sound as he slid down Theo’s throat, a harsh, deep grunt of surprise that Theo silently vowed to hear again at the earliest opportunity.

  He found a rhythm, breathing in through his nose and out through little stifled moans of satisfaction, reveling in the sensation of being filled. Of finally being so full that his racing thoughts had nowhere to run.

  It was bliss.

  Jun’s fingers tightened in Theo’s hair, his hips lifting sharply until Theo choked, then retreating back. Jun’s hand fell away, and he held absolutely still, apart from his heaving chest, as apology dampened the heat in his eye.

  Theo lifted Jun’s hand and tangled it in his hair once more. He leaned down to drop an openmouthed kiss on the underside of Jun’s cock as he peeked up at him through his lashes.

  His voice was wrecked, whispering between them like shredded silk. “You can move. It’s okay, I like it.”

  Jun fisted his hair, brought Theo’s mouth up, and pressed the blunt tip of his cock past Theo’s lips with a smooth roll of his hips.

  Theo’s eyes rolled back with a shivery moan at the loss of control.

  Jun built up a slow, steady rhythm, nudging past the barrier of Theo’s throat with a bitten-back curse, gripping his hair just tight enough on the right side of painful.

  Theo had never experienced anything so perfect with anyone else. It was as if Jun had walked right out of his filthiest dreams.

  By the awestruck look on Jun’s face, it was even remotely possible Theo had walked right out of his too.

  Another strangled curse, and then Jun’s voice rumbled through Theo in time with his thrusts. “Touch yourself.”

  Theo had never been happier to obey. His hand flew over his throbbing cock, his pleasure amplified by the
thick slide of Jun down his throat, the tight clench of fingers in his hair.

  Jun choked back a low moan as he watched Theo, squeezing with his knees to cradle Theo’s shoulders while his boots slid out to nudge against his folded legs.

  The ridged soles pressed into the soft flesh of Theo’s thighs, just above the bend of his knees, forcing his legs to spread wider and wider until they burned with the stretch.

  Jun left his boots there, not exerting pressure, but resting firmly against Theo’s thighs. It was the strangest sort of caress, hard and rough, yet still more personal and meaningful than the dozen carelessly gentle hands that had touched Theo there before.

  Jun watched him with something deeper than lust lighting his eyes as his hips quickened their rhythm. “Good.”

  Theo keened high in the back of his throat as he spilled on the floor between them, shaking around Jun’s cock.

  No one had ever called Theo “good,” simply because he wasn’t. He was the bad twin, reckless and impulsive and irritating. Men had called him a “good time,” but that wasn’t what Jun had meant.

  That wasn’t what the light in his eyes had meant.

  Jun’s hips lost their rhythm, pushing harder and harder down Theo’s throat until he came with a growled sound that might have been shattered fragments of Theo’s name.

  Theo swallowed every drop and chased him with his tongue as Jun pulled out with a satisfied groan.

  To Theo’s dismay, he took his boots away too. He then pushed to stand and stepped away as he tucked himself back into his trousers.

  The chill of the room hit Theo with a slap, goose bumps erupting over his exposed skin as he wiped the back of a shaking hand across his mouth.

  Jun picked up his coat, and Theo turned away, staring at the rumpled dent on the bed as he waited to hear the sound of the door.

  He squeaked in surprise as the heavy warmth of black leather fell across his shoulders in a cloud of Jun’s scent. Strong hands lifted him up onto the bed, and Jun tucked him into the folds of his coat.

  Dark eyes studied him closely as Jun pushed Theo’s hair off his face, broad thumbs brushed against his cheeks.

  Without a word, Jun turned and went through the open doorway into the small attached washroom. He returned with a damp cloth and wiped Theo’s mouth like he was cleaning a porcelain vase, his face set with concentration.

  He cleaned the rest of him with the same focus, then swiped Theo’s mess from the floor and tossed the cloth back into the washroom.

  Theo melted against him as he sat beside him on the bed, posture as rigid as ever but breath still ragged in his chest. After a moment, the weight of his mouth pressed to the top of Theo’s head. Theo lifted his face for a kiss, only for Jun to turn away, fisting his hands on his knees while he faced the wall.

  “No kissing. Not on the mouth.”

  The odd request was one more jarring piece to this puzzle of a man, sending Theo careening into uncertainty. He sat up, holding the coat tight around his shoulders. “Whyever not? That’s a fairly ridiculous place to draw the line, considering what else you would allow our mouths to do.”

  Jun’s gaze flitted to Theo’s swollen mouth with a flare of heat. He shook his head and looked away. “If we do this—”

  At Theo’s inelegant snort, Jun’s mouth snapped shut into a frown. “Oh, I would say ‘if’ has quite flown past the view screen, wouldn’t you? We are well past ‘if’ at this point, Captain. If anything, we are plotting a course for ‘when.’ Perhaps toying with a detour through ‘are.’”

  Jun continued with a brief sigh, his voice as stiff as his backbone. “If. We do this. We need to keep it casual. Impersonal. This can’t interfere with my work. With our work.”

  Theo thought the bitter taste of Jun’s semen lingering in the back of his throat was rather personal but refrained from commenting on such. Because he was a gentleman.

  He focused on the slight movement of Jun’s hands, the tattooed fingers trembling ever so slightly against his thighs. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

  Staring at the wall as if waiting for it to move, June rubbed his Valor hand across his Honor knuckles. “I lost sight of it once. Never again.”

  Theo leaned close, running his hand down Jun’s arm to cup his knuckles where he seemed to be trying to rub away the ink. “Lost sight of what?”

  Breathing in deeply, Jun pulled his hand away and got up from the bed to step toward the door. He paused there, arms crossed tightly over his chest.

  “Of what’s important.” He said it in such a way that Theo was acutely aware the term was not meant to apply to him.

  Jun kept his gaze averted. The pattern of triangles shaved into the right side of his scalp shone pale and alien in the artificial light of the bunk. “Stay here. I’ll bring your work to you.”

  Theo stood on shaky legs. He dropped the heavy coat from his shoulders and threw it at Jun, hitting the back of his knee with a satisfying slap. He didn’t bother trying to cover himself, stood naked and brazen, glaring at Jun’s broad back. “Is that a suggestion or a command, Captain? Am I allowed to move freely about the ship, or am I your prisoner here?”

  Jun reached down slowly, picked up the coat, and held it over his shoulder. He hit the door panel, his voice as hard and impersonal as the polished steel walls of the ship.

  “Stay.”

  Chapter Ten

  The description had been accurate: pale, thin, male, green eyes, red hair. And yet Jun felt misled.

  There had been nothing in the initial description of his search to prepare him for the reality of Dr. Theophrastus Campbell.

  Nowhere had it mentioned that he was achingly young, and brimming with boundless babbling energy, and devastatingly beautiful.

  Jun had been struck down by the reality of him, completely unprepared. That was the only explanation for his behavior.

  Explanation. There was no excuse.

  Theo had looked up at him with those big green eyes and long red hair; hair that was just begging for a firm hand to wrap around it and pull, and Jun was…

  Jun was done. With that part of his life. He had to be. He didn’t have time to take a beautiful brat like Theo in hand.

  Theo was sweet, but he wasn’t meek. It was the sharp edges that pulled Jun in like a loading beam. Made him itch to see Theo on his knees.

  Holy shit, but he’d been gorgeous on his knees.

  Sonnets could be written about the way Theo looked on his knees. Jun wouldn’t read them, but he knew poetic beauty when he saw it.

  Despite rumors circulating in certain pockets of the dark, Captain Park was only human. He sometimes found it necessary to make an occasional stop, drop by a bar and find a warm body for the night. But this? This was something entirely different. He couldn’t do this.

  He couldn’t lose focus.

  Theo was the definition of a distraction. Shining with temptation, drawing Jun’s attention like a magnet.

  Ripe and sweet, needy for direction and guidance and love.

  Jun just couldn’t be the man to give it to him. The thought that this meant there would be another man coming around to give Theo those things made Jun want to punch a hole in the wall.

  Maybe if they had met a few years ago, but that was impossible. Theo had been deep in the Core attending university while Jun had been bashing heads with his old Crew. Piling on the mistakes until he had built a razor-wire cage of his own making. Cutting his own path up from hired muscle all the way to captain of his own ship.

  Now, it was worse than impossible. Jun was running out of time, and wasting any fraction of it chasing after Dr. Campbell’s adorable tail was unconscionable.

  Jun pulled up the translation database on his pad and laid out the single precious hardcopy of his parents’ notes alongside.

  This was what Jun should be focused on. He owed that to the memory of the greatest minds he had ever known. A pair of Core scientists who had fled to the Restricted Sector with a terrible burden of knowledge.
And one inadequate son.

  He might have been a bitter disappointment for most of his life, but he was seeing things more clearly now. The path before him was set, and no amount of distraction, however lovely, could divert him off course.

  The stakes were too high for that.

  He chewed his lip as he flipped through his findings.

  Twenty languages, and Jun was only three-quarters of the way through, every passage a new revelation and every revelation tightening the noose.

  There was no denying the timeline. Two months and three days.

  Seven hours, twenty-six minutes, and twelve seconds.

  Five passages left, and within them, the fate of tens of thousands.

  After opening a new document, Jun copied over the remaining passages, making sure nothing else carried over. The information was too precious to risk a leak.

  As innocent and harmless as Theophrastus Campbell appeared on the surface, Jun had been burned too many times to lay his trust at the feet of a man he had known for less than three days.

  Intimately, for less than two.

  Shutting that chain of thought down and throwing it in a padlocked box in the basement of his mind, Jun transferred the document onto a carefully disabled pad. He had painstakingly disconnected it and rendered all but basic word processing impossible as a precautionary measure.

  Sometimes it felt like every move Jun made was a precautionary measure.

  Except the way he had moved on Theo, shoving him up against the wall like an animal, every gasp and slide of soft, pale flesh a lightning strike bringing Jun back to life after years out here in the dark.

  Focus.

  Padlocked box. Basement.

  Two months, three days, seven hours, and twenty-five minutes now.

  The galaxy didn’t need him to get distracted by a pair of intelligent eyes in a pretty face.

  The galaxy needed a hero.

  Unfortunately for the rusted galaxy, all they had was Park Jun-Seo, prodigal son and reformed thug.

  Mostly reformed.

  He was working on it.

  It would be easier if everything weren’t so aggravating all of the time. His rage waited so close to the surface, only requiring a tiny scratch to burst through.