by Susan Hayes
Owen was already under the covers, leaning up against the pillows as he scanned the data tablet in his hands. He was wearing a shirt that clung to him like a second skin, the dark blue fabric hiding the view he’d been hoping for. Don’t be greedy. He’s here. That’s enough…for tonight.
“All clear?” Owen asked without looking up.
“Green lights across the board.” Royan peeled off his shirt and chucked it into the laundry chute. “What are you reading?”
Owen tipped the data tab closer to his chest. “Long range scans.”
Royan leaned in a little so he could see the screen. There were multiple files open, and while one of them looked like a scan display, the one on top was definitely not. “Tianna’s showing up on our scanners? That’s a hell of a glitch.”
“I was curious. Not to mention the fact that she’s now a passenger on this ship, which means I’m responsible for her safety. I can’t protect her if I don’t know anything about her.”
“You could ask.” Royan reached out and stroked a hand over Owen’s brow, attempting to smooth out the worry lines etched into his skin.
“I will. Tomorrow. She’s got the stamina of a fraxxing cyborg, but she needs more sleep. Until then, I’m just filling in a few gaps.”
“Tianna isn’t the only one who needs to rest. Put the tablet down and close your eyes, baby. It’s been a long day for us, too.”
“I’m fine. Medi-bots, remember?”
“Bless Zale for making sure we all had a dose of those little miracle-bots. But you’re still only human.” He yawned. “And so am I.”
“Then come to bed.” Owen patted the spot beside him in clear invitation.
Royan shed his pants in record time, crammed them into the chute and claimed his spot in bed with an unabashed sigh of contentment. This was what he’d been hoping for since Zura had told him Owen was now a member of the Sprite’s crew.
Owen snorted with laughter. “Is it possible to die from terminal smugness? Because I think you’re in danger of overdosing right now.”
“For that to happen you’d have to be naked right now.” He threw an arm over Owen’s stomach and deliberately snuggled up to him.
“Like we’d get any sleeping done if I were.”
“For that, I’d sacrifice my beauty sleep, but I know that’s not going to happen tonight.”
Owen exhaled softly. “You’re making it fraxxing hard for me to remember why this is a really bad idea.”
“Do you really believe that?”
There was a long moment of silence before Owen answered. “I used to. You know the reasons why.”
“I know them all. I heard you. All those times you told me no, I heard you.”
“I didn’t think you did.”
“Surprise.”
Owen chuckled and put aside the data tablet, then turned on his side and wrapped an arm around him. “Yeah, you were.”
A jolt of joy hit him like the purest pharma he’d ever sampled. “So were you, baby. I had a plan. Fly fast, live large, and leave a trail of broken hearts and epic stories in my wake. Then you had to go and turn me down. Me!”
“Ah, so I was a challenge you couldn’t resist?”
“Maybe in the beginning.” He didn’t know when the need to break through Owen’s walls started to turn into something more. It happened so gradually he hadn’t noticed until it hit him like a rogue comet, sending him spinning off his plotted course.
“And now?” Owen ran his hand up Royan’s body until he was cupping his face in one big hand.
“You’re the best part of my day. Every day.” He ached to close the distance between them and kiss Owen senseless, but he held back. The next move had to be Owen’s.
“For the record, I still think this is a bad idea.” He leaned in and brushed his mouth across Royan’s.
“I don’t.” He kissed him back, fighting the urge to push for more. He wanted to devour Owen, turn him inside out with pleasure, then curl up in his arms and sleep the way they had that first night.
“And that’s why I’m not fighting this any longer. I trust you…which probably makes me as crazy as you are.”
“I like your kind of crazy.” He kissed Owen again, sliding his tongue across the seam of Owen’s lips. He tasted of cherry pie tonight, and Royan knew he’d never taste that dessert again without thinking of Owen.
“If we’re going to talk crazy, maybe we should discuss what the hell we’re going to do about Tianna.”
Royan was wrapped around Owen, which let him feel the way the other man’s cock hardened at the mention of her name. He reached down to stroke Owen’s dick through his pants. “You like her.”
“Yes.” Owen’s answer came out as a soft hiss of pleasure.
“Do you want to share her with me?”
He hesitated.
“It’s okay if the answer is no.”
“That’s not it. I just – I’m not sure I can share her and then let her go. I’m not like you.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, baby. I think you are like me. Or you were. One day soon, I want to hear more about your family, and the man you were before you reinvented yourself.” Until today, Owen had never offered up the slightest hint of where he’d come from or who he’d been before they met.
Starting over was a way of life on the Drift.
“It’s not a pretty story.”
“I don’t care if it’s pretty. You know my story. I want to know yours.” His story was short and uninteresting. Born on Earth, he’d been twelve years old before his mother had even told him his father’s name. By then, he already knew he’d never fit into the neat, tidy life his mother had carved for herself. When he finally learned who his father was and what he did for a living, he’d followed in his footsteps and never looked back.
“I’ll tell you soon.” Owen’s hips rolled, pumping his cock against Royan’s fingers. “It’s difficult to have a serious conversation when you’re doing that.”
“Do you want me to stop?”
Owen chuckled. “Not yet.”
“Then tell me what you want to do about Tianna.”
Owen’s cock twitched. “I want her. If she’s willing to be shared.”
“Even if it means she walks away from us when this trip is over?” Royan slid his hand inside Owen’s pants and started jerking him off with long, firm strokes.
“If that’s what she wants, I’ll respect her choice.” Owen closed his eyes and groaned. “What do you want?”
“The three of us together. In every way I can think of.”
“And when she’s gone?”
“Then it’ll be the two of us against the galaxy, just like before. Only this time, we’ll be sharing a bed.”
Owen reached down, covering Royan’s hand and stilling his movements. His eyes opened and he met Royan’s gaze. “Will that be enough for you, though?”
Royan answered from his heart. “You don’t give yourself enough credit, Owen Connors. You are more than enough for me.” It had taken him long enough to see it, and it would take longer before Owen believed it, but it was the truth.
“Then I guess this trip is about to get a whole lot more hedonistic.”
Royan couldn’t help himself, he let out a wild whoop of joy and kissed Owen hard. “That is my favorite word in the whole damned galaxy.”
“I know, you lunatic. Believe me, I know.” Then Owen was kissing him, his hand wrapped around Royan’s cock, and neither of them had breath for words anymore.
Weeks of sexual frustration melted away in seconds. It wasn’t a sensation he was overly familiar with, and he was thankful to leave his dry spell behind. Abstinence had never been his thing, but he’d figured out quickly that if he wanted Owen, he was going to have to change.
After that, they stopped talking. Both of them knew what they wanted and went after it without finesse. He fisted Owen’s cock and matched him stroke for stroke, tongues dancing as they raced each other toward release. Owen uttered a low, fera
l groan that made Royan’s balls tighten in anticipation. A few more hard pumps were all it took to turn him inside out, his groans lost in the depths of Owen’s mouth as they went hurtling over the edge of control almost at the same moment. It was the best damned feeling in the world.
Tianna heard Royan cheer and wondered what the two of them were doing. Had Owen finally given in to the chemistry that sizzled between them? Where they making plans or making love? She closed her eyes, imagining the two of them tangled up in bed, hard bodies rubbing against each other…or against her. Fraxx, yes. Now there was a fantasy to distract her from dark thoughts that kept flitting through her mind. She didn’t want to think about who wanted her dead, or when they might try again. She’d have to deal with that reality soon, but not tonight.
She conjured up another image of Owen and Royan, imagining what kind of lovers they’d be with her, and with each other. Which of them would take control? Or would they take turns? Her hand slipped between her legs, her fingers stroking her clit in slow, lazy circles as she set the scene in her mind. Owen stood behind her, his hands cupping her breasts, his big body hard against her back as he kissed and sucked on her neck. He’d be an attentive lover, learning everything she liked and then methodically using his knowledge to bring her to her knees.
Knees -- yes, that was good. Royan on his knees in front of her, one of her legs draped over his shoulder so he could lick her pussy until she came. She could feel his breath on her thigh, and the soft rasp of his beard against her skin. She worked her clit harder as the fantasy took on a life of its own, fuelled by the muffled groans and sounds of pleasure that traveled from their room to hers.
The three of them on a bed, hands and mouths busy, an orgy of pleasures she had never dared to consider. Would she get off watching the two men touching each other? Kissing? A new image arose, Royan on his knees again, head bowed, sucking Owen’s cock. Her fingers grew slick and her breath came faster with each new fantasy. Her on her hands and knees, Owen’s fingers holding tight to her hair as he fucked her mouth while Royan pounded into her from behind, the two of them dominating her and worshipping her at the same time.
She shuddered, gasped, and came with a moan that was louder than she’d intended. Panting softly, she wondered if the guys had heard her. Part of her hoped they hadn’t, but another part wanted them to know what she’d been doing while they enjoyed themselves. It was the part of herself she’d locked down since the accident, the rebel who dreamed of a different life, one where she was free to choose for herself.
“Just this once,” she murmured to herself as she rolled over and snuggled down beneath the blankets, ignoring the headache that was starting to build at the back of her skull. Probably a delayed reaction to the stress of the last two days. She needed more rest, and for once, she was in a position to get it. For the next while, she had no duties to perform. No work to do. The universe was giving her a brief respite from her life. She’d be a fool not to take it, and anything else that was on offer for the next few days.
Chapter Seven
The next day passed quietly. Thanks to her enhancements, she was fully recovered from her ordeal, but she couldn’t act like it. She trusted Owen and Royan with her life, but what had been done to her was a violation of galactic law that could bring down her family’s empire. She had to protect her father and his legacy.
She slept well, and spent the rest of the day watching vids, laughing, and flirting with her companions. She could have accessed the ship’s database and started familiarizing herself with at least some of the things she’d need to know when she got to Astek station, or talked to Royan and Owen about what they knew, but she didn’t. It felt strange not to be working, but the work would be there when this interlude ended. The work would always be there.
The two men bantered and joked, flirting almost as much with each other as they did with her. There was no mistaking their interest now, but despite the sexual tension and near-constant flirting, neither of them made a move on her. It was the first time in her adult life she’d been accepted as herself, with no expectations or pressure, and by the second day she knew that giving it up wasn’t going to be as easy as she thought. This wasn’t like her previous brief escapes from her life, where she’d stolen a few hours away. This was a prolonged hiatus, with plenty of time to think, rest, and talk to people so very different from anyone in her usual social circles.
She was in the galley brewing coffee for the three of them when Royan’s voice came over the ship’s comm system. “Sweetheart, you want to come up to the cockpit? There’s something up here we want you to see.”
She tapped her bracelet, activating its communicator function but leaving Tink in stand-by mode. “Be right there. Coffee’s ready, too.”
“I swear, any time you decide you’re tired of being a rich heiress, you’ve got a job on the Sprite, sweetheart.”
“And I keep telling you the only way I’m staying on this ship with the two of you is if I’m calling the shots. You can bring me coffee.”
“My ship, my shots. I will volunteer Owen to bring us breakfast in bed every morning, though.”
She heard Owen’s laughter up ahead. He was standing in the doorway to the cockpit, watching for her with a smile on his face. “I let him back in bed and the next thing I know, he’s trying to kick me out. You’re a fickle bastard, Watson.”
“Not fickle, greedy,” Royan retorted. “Now take the pretty lady’s tray of drinks from her so she can come in here and see where we’re headed.”
Owen winked and took the tray from her, lifting it high enough she could pass beneath it and into the cockpit. There were electronics everywhere, reading and reporting on everything from engine performance to the temperature in the cargo bay. Royan had given her a guided tour of the ship yesterday. The moment she had stepped onto the flight deck her fingers had itched to take hold of the controls and put the Sprite through her paces. She was a workhorse with minimal comforts, but Tianna had quickly realized that despite her plain appearance, the ship was outfitted with power and speed to spare. Weapons, too, more than she expected to see, but knowing they were well protected helped her set her worries aside.
Royan pointed to the viewscreens that took up the entire front of the ship, most of which showed a large, grey and brown planet. “We’re approaching our next stop. This is Taza 4. It’s rich in ores and minerals but there’s not a lot of water, so there’s nothing down there but mining camps and processing stations.”
He tapped one of the screens and the view changed to show a pair of moons on the far side of the planet. “That’s our destination on the right. There’s a newly established colony on that moon. The plan is to grow enough food to support not only themselves, but the miners on Taza 4.”
“Which company owns this system?” she asked.
“That’s the interesting bit. It’s not corporate controlled. This is a cooperative. They’re trying to do this on their own.”
“That’s ambitious. Where did they get their capital? What government allowed them to stake their claim on this system?” She had a thousand more questions, but she doubted Royan knew the answers.
“This is Pheran territory,” Owen said, moving in behind her. They weren’t touching, but he was so close she could feel his body heat warming her back, and she had to fight the urge to lean back into the solid, comfortable bulk of his body.
“So, it’s a Pheran cooperative?” That would make sense. Most corporations were human-controlled entities. The other races had their own ways of doing things, ways that limited the amount of influence the corporations had in their parts of the galaxy.
Royan turned in his chair to look at her. “It’s a joint venture, something of an open experiment. There are Pherans, Jeskyrans, Humans, and even a few Torski involved. If you believe the rumors, the idea came from a group of miners who used to work on the Drift.”
“Torex and the other mining consortiums can’t be pleased about this idea.”
“I
’m sure they’re not, but despite how some corporations behave, this is a free galaxy.”
“Of course it is, but it’s also fraxxing huge. Someone needs to oversee the flow of goods and services. The corporations are a necessary element.”
Owen made a non-committal noise in the back of his throat, while Royan smirked. “Spoken like a good corporate citizen.”
It wasn’t the first time she’d heard murmurs of resistance to the corporate view of how they fit into the grand scheme of things, but given who she was and the world she lived in, she’d never had someone question it out loud. “You don’t agree?”
Royan shrugged. “I’m a freelance freighter jockey. I make my living moving goods and services. Some of it’s corporate cargo, some of it isn’t. Like you said, it’s a big galaxy. Big enough to have room for more than one way of doing things. The thing is, corporations like Astek are driven by their bottom line. That means beings like the ones down there are nothing more than cogs in a machine. I was born on Earth and grew up in a hive city in the northern hemisphere – the Klondike protectorate. I’ve been one of those cogs, and I can tell you, it’s not much of a life.”
“And you?” She looked back at Owen.
“I grew up outside the system. My family lived on the fringes of society, making do the best we could. In my experience, the corporations do more harm than good. Not all of them, and not all the time, but that’s the smart way to bet.”
Neither of them appreciated what she and her family’s business did for the galaxy. It was a startling revelation. “But without the corporations nothing would be accomplished. Who would build ships like the Sprite? Where would the goods and services we all need to survive come from? The Drift wouldn’t even exist without corporations like Astek and Torex. We’re a key component to well…everything.”
Owen put his hand between her shoulder blades, his thumb stroking over her spine. “Have you ever been to a hive city?” he asked, his tone gentler now.
