Royal: A Sci-Fi Romance (The Jekh Saga Book 5)

by H. E. Trent

  Alex threw back his covers, moved the short distance between them, and put his knee on the edge of Luke’s bed. “Then what?” he snapped.

  “Go away, Duke.”

  “Not until you answer me. I won’t be ignored.”

  “You’re not entitled to answers. It’s not your business.”

  “Then whose business is it?”

  “Just mine,” Luke said.

  “And if I want it to be mine?”

  “What good would that do you? Hmm?” Luke rolled onto his back and, scoffing, glared up at Alex. “You want some information to lord over me? Or to bribe me with?”

  “I want some information so I can understand why you keep telling me no.”

  “You don’t need to know all that to understand that I’m not going to be your toy.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I don’t do that cloak and dagger shit anymore. If you’d ever been asked to hide what you were or risk having someone’s love rescinded if you didn’t, you wouldn’t dare ask.”

  Alex lowered himself to the edge of the bed, pondering that. He couldn’t fully empathize with where Luke was coming from, but he was trying. He was the only one who seemed to be trying. “Why can’t we just see what happens? It may be a moot point.”

  “Because I think of long term possibilities and not just about what’ll happen the next morning. You want to experiment? Okay. I get that. We all gotta start somewhere, right? I’m just saying, you’ve gotta find someone else to do that with.”

  “I—”

  “What?”

  “Forget it.”

  The rebuttal didn’t matter.

  Nothing Alex said would have changed Luke’s mind, so he shut his mouth. Though he didn’t have the right words, he could let his body speak for him.

  He settled into the bed beside Luke. A tight fit, but if Luke rolled onto his side, they’d be comfortable enough.

  “What are you doing?” Luke asked.

  “You said you couldn’t sleep.”

  “And you’re coming over here to be the benevolent dictator, or what?”

  “Yes.”

  “Whatever,” Luke murmured.

  For a while, he didn’t say anything else. He also didn’t shove Alex off the bed.

  But then, suddenly, Luke rolled onto his left side and moved closer to the wall. “You can be the little spoon.”

  Momentarily stunned, Alex gave his eyes a clearing blink. Luke’s expression was still as stone.

  Alex didn’t know if that was his poker face. Didn’t care, either. Alex scooted closer. He wasn’t in the mood for spooning.

  He put his face right in front of Luke’s and closed his eyes. “Deal with it.”

  “Fucker,” Luke whispered.

  Minutes later, though, Alex had a heavy arm slung over him and a knee wedged between his thighs. Luke’s breathing had gone steady and quiet.

  Asleep.

  So Alex closed his eyes, too, wondering why some people thought what he and Luke were doing was so bad.

  And trying to understand why it couldn’t be enough for Luke.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “If all you wanted was to look at my cock, there are other ways you could have gone about it.” Luke’s voice was ravaged by sleep and the exhaustion that still rode him. He didn’t even bother opening his eyes. The draft on his junk had woken him, along with the peculiar sensation of being looked at.

  Duke let the elastic of Luke’s boxer shorts snap inward. “I was just curious about whether you were having some sort of medical emergency, seeing as how it’s been stabbing me for the better part of an hour.”

  Luke shrugged and pulled his pillow over his face. “Was having a great dream.”

  Duke lifted a corner of the pillow and asked, “About what?”

  Luke grinned to himself. “Better question is ‘about whom’.”

  Duke said nothing, and Luke smiled harder. He knew what must have been niggling at the forefront of the other man’s mind. Was the dream about him? And if not him, someone he knew? But he was too cocky and too proud to ask.

  Luke settled onto his belly, peeled the pillow up just enough to check the light in the room, and then let the corner fall. Couldn’t have been so late. The room was dim, and the high windows were uncovered. Since there were no tall trees or other obstacles to the sun around the dwelling, the room would have been flooded with light as soon as the orb peeked over the horizon.

  “Go back to sleep, Duke.”

  “I considered that, but I understand the communal bathing room gets crowded after sunup.”

  “I’ll shower in my ship.”

  “You haven’t showered until you’ve showered in desert water. The minerals in it make the skin glow.”

  “I glow enough already. I’m Italian.” Luke lifted the pillow and gave Duke a pointed look. “And I couldn’t give a shit about how much I sparkle.”

  Propping the side of his head onto his fist, Duke smirked. “There’s nothing wrong with taking some care of one’s self. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

  “Go back to sleep, Duke.”

  “Perhaps I’ll actually be able to. Move over a few inches and perhaps I’ll be able to rest without waking to find more bruises on my person.”

  “If I really wanted to bruise you, I’d be more efficient about it.”

  “Oh?”

  Luke bobbed his eyebrows, closed his eyes, and cleared his throat.

  That dream had really been something. Sometimes, he astounded himself with his own perversion. His imagination apparently knew no bounds.

  “What do you think your betrothed is doing right now?”

  Luke opened his eyes. The fact he hadn’t given two seconds of thought to his so-called betrothed since stepping into the dwelling should have been an uncomfortable sort of clue for him.

  “Just send her home, Luke.”

  “You don’t get to make that decision.”

  “All I’m doing is trying to save you some frustration.”

  “You may have some suspicions about her, but don’t lie and tell me you don’t have ulterior motives. You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.” Luke forced his eyelids down. “Go to your own bed. You’re annoying me.” And Duke smelled too damn good, even after a night of sleep. He probably had cologne coming out of his sweat glands.

  “And you’re running from the truth,” Duke said. “Confront it, and you’ll feel so much better.”

  “I’m doing a bang-up job of staring down the truth, unlike some secretive assholes I could mention. I don’t believe in beating dead horses, though.”

  “Attraction to one man doesn’t make me a closet case.”

  Luke scoffed. “’Kay.”

  “I suppose you think you have thought this through for the both of us.”

  “Not my first rodeo. There’s no such thing as being a little bit bi. You’re either bi or you’re not. Unless you’re pan.” Luke waggled his eyebrows again. “I happen to be open to all contenders.”

  “How did you get to be that way?”

  “What do you mean? I was born like that, and I figured out how to unpack my attractions over time. Helped a lot that Precious came out when she was twelve. Not that she was ever not out. I think my parents gave up on thinking she was confused at that point. I started putting things into perspective after that.”

  “Interesting. Until I came to Jekh, I hadn’t spent much time around men who were with other men.”

  “How is that even possible? Certainly, you have some in your network, or at least had some you were cordial with in college.”

  “Perhaps I do and did, and they simply don’t discuss such things.”

  “So civilized.”

  “Live in my world a bit before you criticize it.”

  “I’m sure there’s plenty there to criticize.” Luke dragged his tongue across his dry lips, pulled in a deep breath, and settled in for a nap. He didn’t want to get up until his bladder said he had to, a
nd at that moment, his bladder was light as a feather.

  He’d settled back into that delicious place on the cusp between wakefulness and sleep when he was snatched back to wakefulness by the slight movement of the mattress beneath him and Duke’s soft, but ragged, breaths.

  “What are you doing, Duke?” He didn’t bother opening his eyes. He already knew what he was doing. Every teenaged boy knew the telltale whap-whap-whap sound of a fist meeting a certain turgid length of flesh.

  “Trying to get comfortable.”

  “You’d probably be more comfortable in the other bed, then.”

  “May as well keep the stimulus close for the moment.”

  “You’re killing me,” Luke said with exasperation. If he’d had even a tablespoon more energy, he would have pushed himself upright and acted out the scene in his dream. Duke on his hands and knees, with a gag in his damned non-stop running mouth, and so many welts across his ass that Luke had lost count of the strikes.

  “What do you expect?” Duke slid lower beneath the covers and breathed out an indulgent moan. “I’m sure this is perfectly scientific. If a man is near the person they’re attracted to, and that person is aroused, there’s a good chance that man will become aroused as well.”

  “Well, here you go.” Luke bolted upright and got on his knees. He crawled the short distance to Duke’s lap, straddled his hips, and tugged down his boxer shorts in the front. Luke’s cock sprung out, slapping against his belly. “Get up close and personal with the stimulus.”

  Duke’s hand faltered briefly and cheeks blazed in the dim light. He pressed his lips tightly together for a moment before letting out a sound that was a cross between a whimper and a moan.

  “Like that? Hmm? I know it’s not as pretty as yours, but I hear looks don’t count for shit when you’re inside someone’s ass. At that point, only three things matter. Size, skill, and speed.”

  He squeezed his fist around the base and slid it up to the tip, letting his thumb press the flange at the end. It would feel good to be inside of Duke. He’d take pleasure in being the first to touch him where no one else had. He’d revel in his resistance and then his reluctant pleasure. He’d sup on his complaints that would inevitably give way to pleas for more, for mercy. For him to please let Duke come.

  Luke pulled his fist back down and watched the bead of viscous pre-cum from his tip stretch down toward Duke’s chest. It hovered like a spider descended from its web; unsure of whether the landing was safe. Unsure if it should spin more silk.

  Duke parted his lips and sat up slightly, angled toward Luke, before lying down again.

  “You want to suck my dick, you depraved bastard? Want to see what I taste like?”

  No response from the royal pain in the ass, except the downward drift of his eyelids and the reinvigorated movement of his hand on his cock.

  “Well, maybe I’ll cut you some slack since you’re new to this and want to relegate me to a fetish you hide away.” Luke slid his thumb across that sticky bead and then shoved it between Duke’s lips. “There you go. Suck that off.”

  He nearly gagged on it. Not that Luke’s finger was all that far in his mouth, but the surprise intrusion had him struggling to put his tongue and lips where they should be. Had him gracelessly pushing Luke’s thumb around over his palate before finally closing his lips around the digit and drawing it in deeper.

  “There you go,” Luke whispered. “Clean it off. There’s more where that came from. Maybe I’ll let you have it since that’s all you’ll get from me.”

  Duke gave his head a violent shake and started to say something around Luke’s finger, but Luke clucked his tongue with disapproval, shutting him up fast.

  “I’m not yours. You don’t get to make the rules. You don’t get to demand more.”

  “But you’re not hers, either,” Duke objected.

  “Not yet.”

  “Not ever, if I have anything to say about it.”

  “But you don’t have a say, do you? Hmm?”

  Duke rolled his eyes. Then he reached up and nudged Luke’s boxers down a few inches more, catching them on his thighs, freeing his balls.

  Luke pulled his thumb from Duke’s mouth and watched as Duke’s fingertips skimmed softly over his sac, experimentally probing it, lifting and feeling its weight. Caressing the seam that ran between his nuts.

  “History is…” Duke drew in a deep breath and swallowed. “It’s filled with men like me who have lovers on the side. It’s not unheard of.”

  “So how would that look?” Luke moved away to shuck his shorts, then returned to his previous position.

  Duke put his hand right back where it’d been, breaths short and choppy, cheeks aflame.

  “We both end up married to other people and occasionally meet to fuck?”

  “Perhaps. I haven’t thought this through.”

  “Well, think about it. Would an arrangement like that suit you?”

  A long pause. Then a hard shake of Duke’s head. “I don’t…like sharing. I don’t want to be anyone’s second-place anything.”

  “We evidently have a dilemma, then, because I’ve been perfectly clear all this time. I haven’t wavered. Sit up.”

  Duke’s brow furrowed with confusion.

  Luke bent down, putting his lips right at Duke’s ear. “Sit. Up.”

  He did.

  “Put your back against the wall.”

  He did that, too.

  Luke grabbed Duke’s pretty cock and squeezed tight around the base.

  Of course, greedy bastard that he was, he thrust up into Luke’s fist.

  “You wouldn’t have to share me. Give me enough of what I need, and I’m a happy little camper. I don’t cheat. I don’t stray. I keep my eyes on my own paper. But you’re not offering me enough. You’re offering me leftovers, and see me as the same. You want me to be a meal you sneak downstairs to eat after midnight because you don’t want anyone else to know about me because I’m bad for you.” Luke lobbed a wad of spit onto his cock and continued his massage.

  “I don’t want that,” Duke said, bucking into Luke’s hand.

  “But you won’t do anything to change it. You’re a coward.”

  “Maybe I am. Maybe I have to do everything I can to assure that nothing gets in the way of me being able to use my influence in a way that’ll make positive changes.”

  “I see.” Luke eased back until his mouth was over Duke’s cock, and let his breath tickle the swollen flesh. He gusted his breath across the tip, and it jerked with every exhalation.

  Greedy bastard.

  “I’ll tell you what I was dreaming about,” Luke said. He lashed the tip of his tongue around Duke’s salty base. The last cock he’d had anywhere near his mouth had been Owen’s, and even then he’d only stolen a taste while Owen had been inside Ais. But he could have more than that with Duke. He could have more than covert licks and mercy touches. He could have…everything.

  “It was you,” Luke said. He pulled Duke’s tip into his mouth and got it good and wet. “I was fucking you. You had welts all over your ass and thighs, and I put them there. I was buried balls-deep in you, and all you could do to deal with the sensations was to bite the covers. You had tears streaming down your face, and even with your teeth clenched, you made sure to tell me not to stop. To keep doing that. Keep fucking you. Would you like that?”

  Duke nodded and tentatively fisted his hands into the blanket. He was probably conflicted. He’d certainly had someone put their mouth on him before. Hell, Luke had witnessed a pair of blondes putting lipstick marks all over his reclining body, and not straight from the tubes, either. Duke had been sucked off, and probably competently, but a man had never sucked him off.

  Luke wasn’t certain why he was volunteering to be the first, only that it needed to be done—that Duke needed the attention.

  He was careful with his teeth, taking in the long, thick length and letting his tongue massage the underside of him and he slid his mouth up and down. Duke tas
ted of salt and smelled of cedar and bergamot, as always. Uniquely Duke. So damned sexy.

  Luke cupped Duke’s balls as he sucked, wrapping his fingers around the heavy sac as he increased his suction. As he took Duke deeper and devoured not only the satiny flesh but Duke’s desperate sounds. There was satisfaction in his minute squirms and the flexing of his fingers. He didn’t know what to do with himself, and that was okay because Luke knew what to do with him.

  “I guess it’s a good thing I have a big mouth,” Luke murmured around him and rubbed the underside of Duke’s sac. He took his cock into his mouth until the end of him touched his throat, and then he swallowed.

  Duke reached for Luke’s hair but stopped the motion halfway—catching himself. He didn’t have permission for that, and Luke would have told him as much. Luke might have been taking him on a hell of a ride, but he hadn’t given Duke permission to hold on.

  He slid his hand up Duke’s chest, pausing briefly to circle the dark jut of one of his nipples as he made his way to his mouth. He slid his index and middle fingers between his lips as he increased suction around Duke’s cock. He got him wetter, slicker, and sucked him faster as Duke’s hips rocked upward.

  For the moment, Luke would forgive him for the aggressiveness. Duke couldn’t help himself. He’d never had his cock sucked right.

  Luke spread Duke’s legs more and slipped his hand between them, finding the delicate inch between sac and hole, and fondled it with his wet fingers.

  Duke stopped thrusting.

  Luke chuckled around his shaft, and then released him from his mouth long enough to say, “Don’t act like you’re surprised.”

  Duke’s swallow was almost loud enough to reverberate.

  “Worried that I’ll put a finger in your ass and you’ll like it?”

  No response.

  “Or two fingers?” Luke drew light circles around Duke’s taint and his hips bucked up. “Worried I’ll make you gape enough for a cock and then decide I shouldn’t let a good hole go to waste?”

  He laughed and put his mouth back where it needed to be. He could talk plenty of shit later, and Duke would probably expect it. Duke would probably be talking plenty of his own.