He entered the code that activated the bio-locks and opened the chamber door without knocking.
It was his ship, damn it. The captain shouldn’t have to knock. Boom could shove her personal privacy bullshit down the garbage chute.
Jun wasn’t lurking. Boom always claimed he was, while throwing objects at his head when he entered a room without announcement.
He was the captain, and this was his ship. Simple as that.
Theo lay on his stomach on the bed, nude from the waist up, bare feet crossed at the ankle and swaying in the air above his pert little bottom as he lazily paged through a book.
He glanced up at Jun’s entrance, tossing his silky hair over his shoulder, beautiful face a picture of unconcerned inquiry.
Jun’s heart made an excellent impression of a battering ram at the cut of light across the delicate shadows of his collarbones.
Maybe he should have knocked.
Theo looked back down at his book, and Jun’s skin grew tight with displeasure. He wanted Theo’s attention as much as he wanted to put him right back where he had found him, and the conflict between the two made Jun irritable.
He stalked over to the bed, snatched the book, and held it up over his head. “Where did you get this?”
Theo sat up on his knees, feet tucked elegantly beneath him as he felt along the sheets for his discarded shirt. He held it up against his chest in a show of modesty that was far too little, far too late.
Jun had once been able to go about his days, blissfully unaware of the exact delicious shade of strawberry-pink of Theo’s nipples.
He could kiss that goodbye, now. There wasn’t a padlocked box big enough to contain all the images of Theo’s perfect body seared into Jun’s brain.
He was going to see creamy, freckled skin and bright, silky hair in his stars-cursed sleep.
Theo blinked wide, innocent eyes up at Jun as though he hadn’t been deep-throating his cock like a rusted professional not an hour before. “Axel gave it to me. He didn’t wish for me to die of boredom while you decided how long I was going to be locked away. He’s quite a jocular fellow; I can see why you would want him on your crew.”
Irrational jealousy threatened to rise in a surge of undeserved possessiveness. Axel was a good guy, if a little heavy-handed with his humor. He was personable in a way that Jun never was and never could be.
Despite knowing full well Theo was in no way Axel’s usual type, Jun had to suppress the urge to stake a claim.
Theo was his. Jun had him first.
A guy like Axel wouldn’t know what to do with him, wouldn’t be able to give him what he needed. Wouldn’t be able to make him shiver and cry out and roll those beautiful, intelligent eyes back in bliss.
No. Focus. No time for that.
Padlocked box, locked in the basement, flooded with ice water.
Jun dropped the book on the bed, pulled out the pad, and placed it alongside.
Theo let his shirt fall to his knees as he picked up the pad, his face an open question.
“There are five passages on that pad. Translate them. Tell no one what you find. Keep all notes on that pad only. I am the only one you can discuss this with. Is that clear?” Jun needed to keep this short, eager to leave before he did something he would regret. Again.
Theo fired up the pad, nibbling on his lip in a way that made Jun tighten his thighs against the urge to pounce and nibble it for him. “Nothing about this is clear, I’m afraid. You are something of an enigma, Captain Park.”
Jun had heard that before, from men he had picked up for the night. Waxing poetic over how mysterious he was. People never seemed to realize that sometimes a person didn’t talk about themselves because there was nothing good to say. “Get it done. I’ll be back in the morning.”
Theo sputtered out a protest that Jun allowed to bounce off of his back as he strode out the door. He locked it and sagged back against it in the empty hallway.
Six hours. Thirty-seven minutes and ten seconds.
Nine seconds.
Eight.
Theo’s eyes were so green. Jun hadn’t known eyes could be that vibrant without augmentation. He hadn’t known eyes could reach inside you like that, shining a light on all of the places Jun worked so hard to hide about himself. Soft, vulnerable places he tried to cover up with plates of armor and hard expressions.
Places that didn’t deserve to be seen, that he had hollowed out himself with a rusty spoon like a prisoner attempting escape.
Theo had cracked him open without even trying, and Jun was—
Six.
Five.
Four.
He was so. Fucked.
Chapter Eleven
“I thought you said you’d be back in the morning.”
Theo congratulated himself on his nonchalant tone, keeping the tremor from his voice by sheer will alone.
If there was one thing at which Theo did not excel, it was being quiet. If there were two things, they were sitting still and being quiet. If there were three things, they were sitting still, being quiet, and being left alone.
There were actually many things at which Theo did not excel.
But those were the top three, easily.
The hours had seemed endless as he stared at the four walls of the empty room, too shaken to focus properly on his translations.
“Eat,” Jun said, dropping a laden tray onto the small desk in the corner of the bunk where Theo sat.
Theo examined it, pleased to find better fare than the protein bar he had choked down that morning.
There was even some kind of fresh fruit, round and shiny green with thick,
