Jun abruptly released Theo’s wrist and pointed a finger in his face. “No. You’re not.”
It was a struggle not to become distracted by either the tantalizing stretch of Jun’s neck as he stood at full height to loom over Theo, or the dangerous juggling act Boom was performing off to the side, a third knife having been added to the array.
Theo focused on Jun’s dark, flashing eyes, lifting his brow imperiously. “How do you propose to stop me, Captain?”
He wasn’t imagining the way Jun swayed into him, nearly curled around him as Theo leaned back against the console.
“I could tape you to the chair again,” Jun growled.
Marco shouted “Gross!” through the coms at the same time that his sister made a tiny retching sound in the back of her throat. One of her knives fell to the floor with a tink. Axel just started crunching something that sounded as if it could not be any good for his teeth.
Raising to his full height as well, Theo jutted his chin defiantly. “I would simply gnaw through the tape and start pressing buttons on Axel’s console just to prove a point.”
Jun’s growl dragged so low it hit Theo in the gut like a ball of fire, melting his insides until his blood burned. “I could tie you up and toss you into your bunk to wait for me.”
“Guys! Turn off your coms, please!” Marco’s plaintive wail of protest was underscored by Axel spitting out a mouthful of shells and leaning over his com to shout back: “If we suffer, then so do you, Valdez!”
The rest of the Crew might as well have not existed for all the attention Jun paid to their antics. He was focused entirely on Theo.
It was the stuff of dreams, really.
Some of the molten devastation Jun had wrought trickled into Theo’s voice as he refused to look away from Jun’s glare. “Yes, I suppose you could, if you wanted to. I have a plethora of ideas regarding that scenario if you’d care to hear them. Hand me your pad, and I’ll draw up some diagrams for you.”
Theo batted his lashes fetchingly, endlessly amused when Jun actually blushed and glanced away.
Her knives secured in their holster once more, Boom groaned at Theo over Jun’s shoulder. “This is all very disturbing and far more information about Park’s private life than I, personally, ever wanted to know, so if you could just. Not. That would be great.”
Axel had to pitch his voice higher to be heard over the sound of his rapid typing and continued snacking, “Oh, come on, Boom. We knew. That scowl? That entire wardrobe of black synth-leather? Not to mention his raging, throbbing enthusiasm for being in command at all times.”
“Axel. Airlock,” Jun barked out over the tail end of Axel’s list, his shoulders tense and cheeks still flushed.
Axel raised one hand palm out while his attachment continued typing. “Sorry, sorry. It’s just, you’re not exactly subtle.”
“As subtle as a hunk of iron,” Marco muttered darkly, then dropped something that rolled away from the com with a slowly fading rattle.
Biting back a grin, Theo leaned his hip against Jun’s console and butted shoulders with the mortified captain. Stars, but he was cute when he was flustered. “He has a point, Jun.”
Jun grabbed onto his shirtfront with one tight fist, forcing a gasp from Theo as he brought him up onto his toes. Jun’s eyes were dilated, his lips parted around heavy breaths. It was only by the greatest force of will that Theo didn’t climb him like a particularly grouchy tree. “Theo, if you do not shut your mouth, I swear you will not leave your bunk again until this entire mess is finished.”
Sighing dramatically, Axel typed one last thing with a flourish. “See? It’s shit like that, Park. You’re calling yourself out, here.”
Theo wound his hands around Jun’s straining wrist. He allowed his thumb to sweep a tiny circle over the trail of ink that curved across Jun’s wrist bone, and Jun let go as suddenly as he had grabbed onto him.
“You’re staying here, and that’s final.”
Boom appeared astounded at the giggle that escaped Theo at Jun’s proclamation. She seemed to think he ought to be intimidated. More fool, her.
“Ooh, an ultimatum. I’m quaking in my spats, Captain.” Theo smirked.
Jun took in Theo’s aforementioned spats with a slowly dawning expression of triumph. “You can’t go to the Wastes. Not dressed like that.”
There had never been a time in Theo’s life when he’d been particularly receptive to criticisms of his wardrobe. A lifetime of bickering with his twin drew his spine up straight in affront. “Whyever not? I’m properly attired. I’ll have you know that my tailor is very well regarded in the most fashionable circles.”
Axel broke in with a wave of his arm, attachment switched back to the pointer. “Well, first off, wearing that? Around here? You’re practically a walking advertisement for a kidnapping.”
Theo smoothed down his admittedly rumpled shirt in a moment of contemplation. “Yes, I do seem prone to those.”
The pilot’s chair squealed with rusty springs when Axel hopped to his feet. “Secondly, I’ve got something that would help you fit in much better.”
Jun made a threatening noise in his throat as he whipped his head toward Axel, who blithely ignored him, too busy sizing up Theo.
He swept a disdainful look over Theo’s outfit, which Theo personally considered to be unwarranted. His trousers were excellent quality velvet, and as Theo’s tailor had been quite intimately acquainted with his proportions, they were perfectly fitted. Horacio had been great fun, if a little too gentle for Theo’s tastes.
Tailors had very nimble fingers, after all.
Arms crossed tightly over his chest, putting both muscles and guns on display, Jun glared at Axel. “Don’t even think about it. Dr. Campbell wouldn’t be comfortable outside of his proper little Britannian clothing.”
Theo would like to think that he tossed his hip out coquettishly, hair streaming over his shoulders in a waterfall of silk. The reality was
