Chapter Ten

R egi stood statue-still for long minutes before he triggered the door mechanism, making it close with a heavy thunk . "I am not retreating. We spend a significant amount of time in one another's company, and given our political allegiances and our mutual desire to save Ter from the consequences of his own irrational temper, I imagine we will spend more time together."

Dante scrubbed a hand over his face. "We spend time together in a crowd. The minute the two of us are alone in a room... it's like you don't want to breathe the same air."

"The ship's air is regularly recycled to avoid gaseous off-product that is common in Coalition spaceports. So even though the outside air is fresh here, the mechanical systems still ensure that we breathe the same air," Regi explained.

Dante couldn't stay mad when Regi had such an earnestness in everything he said. "That was a metaphor."

After a moment of evident confusion, Regi smiled. "Ah. By breathing the same air, you mean we are physically close enough to literally exchange atoms through respiration without those atoms first going through a filtration system."

"Exactly," Dante said, although the way Regi had said it, that didn't sound like a metaphor.

"Huuumans use language so creatively," Regi said. The way he drawled the species name was getting more and more exaggerated. "I do not mean to offend you; however, I lack information about huuman customs. To engage in a less professional manner would be unwise, and I fear my common sense will not survive any prolonged exposure where we breathe the same air exclusive of filtration." He made the rejection sound inevitable and logical, but his gaze darted from one part of the room to another, never landing anywhere for more than a second.

Dante had never been so frustrated. "I am not a victim. You do not have to protect me from my own feelings or from the consequences of liking someone. You do not have to be so damn professional."

"We are not the same species. We would need to negotiate commonalities or arrange a schedule of mutual pleasures that would allow both of us to be satisfied." Regi eyed the door and even inched toward it.

Dante eased closer so he could cut Regi off if he tried to escape. "Are you telling me I'm not strong enough to have a relationship or that you are too embarrassed to negotiate one?"

"The obstacles are significant." When Dante moved, Regi retreated, putting him near the back wall where Peaches was making tiny grunting, snoring noises.

"Every gay man has faced those obstacles with every relationship. Gay sex is not as simple as Tab A into Slot B, although from what I've heard in locker rooms, it's possible that heterosexual people also have to negotiate sex. I don't give much thought to heterosexual sex, but I am an expert in negotiation. A frikkin' expert." Dante was grinning, but Regi's absolute lack of reaction made a new fear show its head. "Are you bothered that I've had multiple partners? Are Kowri monogamous?"

Dante sank onto the foot of his bed, nauseated at the thought he'd been shamelessly throwing himself at someone who was revolted. "Oh God. You can't have sex with me and I keep pushing. I apologize. I will make sure not to breathe the same air as you unless we have multiple individuals in that air." Dante scooted along the edge of the bed, retreating from the door to give Regi a clear retreat.

Stepping forward, Regi reached out for a scant second before letting his arm fall to his side. "No. That is not an issue. Kowri often have a period where they explore partners while deciding how to arrange their personal lives. My fathers committed to each other before they decided that their love for my mother could overcome my mother's love for her goddess. Monogamy is not an issue. However, I seek to respect you."

For the second time, reality shifted around Dante. He was getting whiplash. "Ironically you are disrespecting me," he snapped.

"How?"

"By refusing to have an honest conversation, you are implying that I don't know myself and that I have no right to control my body or who I choose to be intimate with."

Regi's mouth fell open. "I am not seeking to control your choice."

"Aren't you?"

Regi's gaze skittered to the side of the room. "I don't even know whether a relationship will biochemically change you or if I will cause you harm unintentionally. That fear is exacerbated by the dire politics."

"I am in those meetings with you most of the time. I might not talk often, but I am well aware of how dire our situation is and how much more difficult Ter has made it. And I don't think humans are biochemically changed by relationships."

Regi tilted his head to the side. "You sound unsure. I would not have you compromised. Vk's people rarely leave the planet because once they join an adult family, they chemically shift to become dependent on each other. If they lose enough family members that they are chemically unbalanced, it functions much like an addiction."

Dante winced. "Addicted to marriage? That feels awkward." Either that or it felt like the plot of the universe's most horrific horror movie. Dante liked to think that had his mother not been murdered, she would have realized she'd married a user and gotten divorced. That comforted him when strangers tried to tell him his father was a great man.

"I fear that whether it is a biological or religious or cultural difference, I will create awkwardness," Regi confessed.

"You are already creating awkwardness. Significant awkwardness. So if your goal is to avoid that, you've already failed, so you might as well have a little fun while you're failing." Dante offered a rakish grin.

"That is not comforting."

"I wasn't trying for ‘comforting'. I was trying for emotionally manipulative so that I would get my way." Dante pursed his lips and studied Regi.

For long seconds Regi stared at him. Dante stared back. About the time Dante decided he had made a serious tactical error, Regi huffed with humor. "Then you might be enjoying some success."

"Good to hear it. Now, can we possibly start negotiating what it might look like if we were to breathe the same air for a significant period of time?"

Regi sat on the far end of Dante's bed. "And you will not feel taken advantage of?"

Dante wanted to scream. "You have a one-track mind. I am hoping you will be equally obsessive once you get over this weird overprotectiveness. But for now, Regi, would it be okay with you if we touched?"

Regi studied him. "It would," he said. "May I touch in return?"

"I wish you would," said Dante. He held his hand out, palm up, and Regi put his own on Dante's. Dante shivered as the heat and velvet fur tickled.

"Is that a positive or negative reaction to stimulus?"

"Positive," Dante whispered. "How do I know if you are enjoying yourself?"

"If you are in the room, I am enjoying myself," Regi said. That sent another frisson of desire through Dante. He'd slept with many men, but he wasn't sure how many of those partners had wanted him as an individual versus them wanting a warm body in their bed.

Dante shifted closer and ran his hand over Regi's arm. Now they were inches from each other, and Dante could feel the heat of Regi's body and study his dark eyes. They didn't have the same pattern Dante expected in human eyes. As much as Regi and his people felt more human than other aliens, they weren't the same, and Dante was excited to discover the differences.

Regi turned his head, and his warm breath tickled Dante's ear. Dante shivered, and then Regi's breath was hot on the back of his neck.

With heat gathering in his belly, Dante bowed his head, offering more access. Regi shifted so their thighs were pressed together. Dante's head swam with need and a dizzying lust. He turned, cupping his hand against Regi's cheek before he kissed him. Regi made a noise that might have been surprise, but Dante was too lost to the spicy saltiness of Regi's lips. He slowed, parting his lips, and then Regi's hands caught him by his waist, holding him.

Dante groaned and his cock grew hard. He wanted this. He needed it. It scared him how much he needed it, but he turned his head so he could explore the curve of Regi's shoulder, kissing the place where arm and neck met.

"My people also enjoy..." Regi finished the sentence with a Kowri word that had far too many consonants given that Dante had few brain cells to spare. Then he pulled Dante close and kissed him so hard his few remaining brain cells failed. By the time Regi pulled back, Dante's mouth was hot and swollen.

"Kissing," Dante whispered against Regi's neck. "Pressing lips against someone else is to kiss them."

"I enjoy kissing," Regi said.

"Definitely," agreed Dante. "It's the best." He wrapped a hand around the back of Regi's neck and pulled him in for more kissing. This time their tongues tangled, and Dante rocked his hips against Regi, blind with lust. For months his cock had been missing in action, and even when Dante was alone in his room and trying to masturbate in his bunk, nothing had happened. He'd even wondered if the slavers had done something to damage him.

But now he was so hard he feared coming in his pants. Regi guided him with hands on his hips, tugging until Dante was straddling Regi's lap. Dante wriggled, his body demanding more until he lost all control.

Regi's hands were possessive in how tightly they held him. The whole situation felt unreal, like Dante had slipped into some fever dream in an effort to escape the slavers. If so, he didn't want to wake up. He wanted to live in this moment forever. Regi lifted Dante's shirt, and the cool air teased his sweating skin. Then Regi slid his hands across Dante's naked flesh.

A shiver ran through Dante's body, and he threw his head back as lust ripped through him. A moan escaped, and Dante was on the edge of orgasm, but it was too soon. He didn't want this to end, and he didn't want the pleasure to be so one-sided.

He slithered off Regi's lap, twisting to escape his grip. He landed on the floor on his knees, reaching for the fastenings on Regi's pants. Dante half-expected a protest, but Regi whined, his voice high and tremulous. Once Dante had opened the fastenings, Regi lifted his hips, and Dante slid the fabric down so it pooled around Regi's boots.

The longer fur of Regi's thighs was silken under his fingers, but Dante was focused on the long, thin cock lying in a curve along the inside of Regi's thigh. The thickness of two thumbs, it had a series of slits along the top near the tip. "Is that..."

"My di-male reproductive organ," Regi said, his voice far breathier than normal. He clutched at the edge of Dante's mattress.

"Cock," Dante whispered as he leaned closer and pressed a kiss to the base. It tasted of salt and spice, and Regi's high-pitched wail made it even better. He wanted Dante. He wanted Dante's mouth. This was so much better than cold fantasy in his bunk or even the desperate hot groping he'd shared with other men when he'd been younger. This was real.

When Dante looked up, Regi's eyes were half-closed and his fur stood on end with ripples sailing across his body. Dante licked the bare skin of Regi's cock, and the strongest ripple yet coursed across Regi's chest, his stripes undulating. When Dante went in for another taste, he licked closer to the end where the spice was stronger. As a Texas boy, he was fond of spice.

He fucking loved it.

The slits along the top felt like tiny seeds under the skin, and Dante explored the shape with his mouth, flicking his tongue along each slit. Regi fisted Dante's hair. "I can't... you can't. I'm going to..."

"Pick a sentence to finish," Dante teased. Regi was panting as though he had chased pirates through the ship for hours. Dante was proud of that. For all of Regi's self-control, he couldn't form a complete sentence. Dante had done that to him. He pressed breathy kisses along the sides of Regi's cock.

"I am going to eject reproductive material."

"Sexy," Dante muttered.

The translation matrix was going to give him a psychological complex. Regi pulled on Dante's hair, forcing Dante to give up his prize. Dante braced on Regi's knees and lifted himself so they were nose-to-nose. Before Dante could plan his next move, they were kissing. Regi gripped him hard enough to leave bruises and Dante's thoughts fled like birds from a hawk.

Taking advantage of Dante's distraction, Regi pinned him to the mattress and a twist of his hand opened Dante's pants. When Regi pushed them down, Dante's hard cock surged up.

"Knowing you are interested is an unexpected benefit of inflatable genitalia," Regi said with awe.

"Less talking, more touching," Dante said. Regi curled his hand around Dante's cock, and Dante's eyes fluttered shut. With Regi's weight pinning him to the bed, all he could do was writhe as Regi squeezed and stroked and explored. When Regi cupped his balls, Dante thrashed and kicked his heels into the bed, but he couldn't escape.

Regi sank down next to Dante, his hand splayed across Dante's bare chest. As Dante struggled to get his breathing under control, Regi studied him, his fingers tracing small circles on Dante's cooling skin. Dante's balls ached with need, but jerking himself off felt selfish. "I need to come," Dante whispered in desperation.

"Come where?" Regi tilted his head to one side.

"Come. Ejaculate. Eject reproductive material." Dante was almost shouting in frustration. He captured Regi's hand and pushed it toward his cock. Then he grew hot from both desire and embarrassment. But Regi didn't seem to mind. He wrapped his fingers around the shaft, and Dante thrust up into it and clutched at Regi's shoulders. He tried to reach for Regi's cock, but the angle was wrong. Then Regi tightened his hold and Dante came with a shout. Cum splattered against his legs, and his heart pounded painfully hard.

Regi settled next to him, an island of heat that Dante curled toward. Once he could breathe, Dante reached for Regi. "Let me help you come."

"Smelling your need and release gave me enough pleasure," Regi said. Dante frowned.

"I feel selfish for coming without you."

"You did not." Regi kissed Dante's nose and then one eyelid before he pressed his lips to Dante's. Now that the sharp edge of lust had been dulled, Dante studied Regi. His ears drooped and his eyes were half-closed. Dante gave in to temptation and ran his fingers down Regi's nose, stroking the skin between Regi's eyes. Regi moaned and caught Dante's hand before kissing the palm.

"I enjoyed that. I lack the words to describe the depth of how much I enjoyed it, so if my performance was acceptable, I am ready to stop avoiding you."

"I love you too," Dante said before his common sense could rein in his mouth. But the words were hanging out there in the silence and he didn't know how to pull them back. Hopefully Regi wouldn't recognize the word. Regi shifted so that his breath was warm against Dante's neck, and Dante closed his eyes. He assumed that meant he hadn't come off as too clingy. With that reassurance, he pulled the cover up over both of them and sank into his second favorite part of sex. Cuddling.