Neither of those two seemed to notice or care they’d lost Mike’s attention.
Liam thought about the embarrassment he’d made earlier. He’d prefer not to repeat the mistake. “How can I tell you two apart?”
Steve spoke around a mouthful of food. “It won’t be hard once you reach full immersion, but—”
“Full immersion?”
Steve adjusted his sentence. “When we become more familiar to you, it won’t be hard at all.”
“Because you smile and he doesn’t?”
Steve barked a laugh. “It’s true he’s a bit dour these days.”
They again slanted a guilty glance across the room, this time to be treated to the vision of Mike’s backside as he stormed toward a set of swinging doors. Soldiers of both species dodged out of his way. Liam couldn’t imagine the expression Mike wore to make that happen, but it must have been a doozy.
As flounces go, he thought, that was a damned good one.
“But until then,” Steve resumed the conversation, “the uniform will tell. Mike wears a blood-stripe on his wrists. I do not.”
Liam checked out Steve’s fatigue shirt and found, yes, there was no strip of red around his wrist.
“Of course,” Steve continued, “there are the differences in body art. Those can only be spotted when he’s”—a silky, deliberate pause— “naked.”
Hunger streaked through him, drying his mouth and twisting his guts. He glanced toward Mike, more out of reflex than anything, and discovered the guy had vanished. The doors swung back and forth in a diminishing tempo, as if someone had slammed through them.
A three-note whistle pierced the air, sounding a pattern that pulled Steve’s attention. Liam followed the sound and saw the base commander waving his arm in a gesture he didn’t understand.
Steve did, however, because he straightened away from the table.
A couple of other soldiers were also in motion as they moved through the crowd toward the commander.
“My rank is summoned,” said Steve. “It was nice chatting with you, Liam.” He headed away from the table.
“Yeah. Me, too. Take care.” He was talking to the guy’s back.
Steve stopped after taking a few steps. He paused as he tossed his trash and looked as though he was debating something. He came to a decision and reversed his path, wearing an expression so serious it raised the hairs on Liam’s arms and neck. Once again at arm’s length, Steve leaned forward and inclined his head toward Liam’s.
“Don’t give up on him,” he said, low-voiced. “Mike needs you more than he will ever admit.”
With that, Steve left him.
Liam stood frozen, only barely aware of the fact he stood there, open-mouthed and gasping. He struggled to find his internal balance while the earthquake of Steve’s words shook his foundations.
It seemed the Urilqii were damned good at rocking a man’s world.
“Hey, Liam!”
He turned to the shout and saw Goodard coming toward him through the crowd. Abandoning his leftovers, he moved to intersect his buddy, tossing his plate and warm Coke into a rubbish bin he passed on the way.
“What’s up, Jace?” he asked when he got close enough he didn’t need to shout.
Goodard slapped his shoulder, smiled, and gestured behind him with his thumb. “Over here, man.”
“What?” Liam didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. A group of Urilqii stood beside a table, arms crossed and bearing disdainful expressions. “What’s up?”
“A game of space pool.”
Oh, a game of pool, was it? He was in, but to be fair he needed to warn the guy. “I can work a stick. Don’t bet against me.”
Jace laughed, loud enough for Liam to question how many beers he’d had. But what the hell, Jace isn’t driving, he reminded himself. And he could use some jack-around money off the. He’d given a warning. It was up to Jace to pay attention to it.
“You’ll suck…I don’t care how good you think you are.”
Jace’s face was flushed with merriment or alcohol, or maybe both.
“The game is four levels of play in teams of two. We’ve never seen anything like it. Those guys swear they’ll send us home to mommy.”
“Whoa.” Levels of pool? Liam’s mind spun with the game possibilities and the challenge. “Hell, yeah,” he said. “Let’s go kick some intergalactic ass.”
“I knew I could count on you.”
* * *
Mike didn’t know where he was, but he knew enough. He may not be familiar with the furnishings or the location, but he knew the most important thing. He knew the feel of a mouth around his cock. The face at his groin was both sex-flushed and familiar.
He was lucid enough to realize the facts. Liam was dreaming a sexy dream of Mike and had reached for him with the untutored mind-link. Mike, asleep, was along for the ride.
He didn’t mind.
* * *
Liam knelt between his legs and suckled his cock with long draws of liquid heat and suction that threatened to melt his brain.
He cupped the back of Liam’s head to hold him still and grabbed the backrest of the…
Liam knew the dilapidated, brownish log of painfully thin cushions “my sofa.” He knew the dream’s environment as “my apartment living room.” Neither of that concerned Mike in the least, since he could fuck anywhere. He’d even done it in the vacuum of space within the confines of a space suit. (His best effort to date; he wasn’t too shy to say it.)
Fine, he could work in Liam’s living room. No worries.
He gripped the sofa’s back, felt it give beneath the strength of his hand, and hitched his hips. His cock slid over Liam’s tongue and touched the top his throat. Liam gave a reflexive gag, his fingers tightening for a moment around Mike’s thighs.
The grip eased in a moment as Liam adapted to the sensation.
With a purr, Liam drew hard on Mike’s cock. He positioned Mike’s cock where he wanted it inside his mouth and took command of the sex-play.
His tongue twisted along Mike’s shaft as he worked it in his mouth, sending swirls of delight
