The rustle of fabric slipping over his head seemed to echo in Ari’s ears.
Orin dropped his shirt to the floor, pointing to a shorter scar tucked between the ridges of his abdomen. “This one here was the first time I had to stitch myself up. Ugly as sin, right?”
Ari couldn’t breathe.
Every inch of the pilot’s torso was corded with muscle, moving hypnotically beneath golden bronze skin. A smattering of scars marred the surface, but the unusual sight of them only seemed to enhance his overwhelming masculinity. Dark brown hair dusted the broad muscles of his chest before tapering down into a thick line disappearing beneath the waist of his trousers.
Ari’s heartbeat throbbed in his fingertips.
Orin had fallen silent, watching as Ari stared at the expanse of skin for an obscene amount of time.
His throat tightened. Ari had to gasp an awkward breath before garbling out something about the med kit and disappearing down the corridor to fetch it.
He took a moment in his lab to press his burning face against the cool metal of the bulkhead, adjusting his trousers to a more discreet arrangement before returning to the galley.
Orin had restored his shirt, though his braces still hung in loops around his hips. He stood holding Ari’s plate, rapidly consuming the remains of Ari’s meal.
He seemed genuinely surprised at Aristotle’s return, lowering the plate from his face sheepishly. “Alright if I finish this up? Looked like you were done with it.”
Ari nodded, resting the med kit on the table in the space where his plate had been.
He sat, willing his hands not to shake as he unlatched the kit, donned a pair of gloves, and located the tube of regeneration fluid.
Orin grabbed the other plate from the table and popped them both in the small galley sonic before taking his customary seat across from Aristotle.
Clutching the tube, Ari forced his fingers to relax enough to reach out for Orin’s hand.
The heat of Orin’s skin as he rested his hand in Ari’s palm transferred swiftly through the glove. Ari looked up as a cleansing wipe was pressed into his other hand, sliding in to nestle against the regen tube.
Orin was watching him carefully, face guarded and dimples hidden.
Ari quickly dropped his focus to his task, gently cleaning the wound before applying a thin layer of fluid. The stitches would disintegrate in another few hours once the regen had done its job.
Orin cleared his throat, nearly startling Ari into dropping the cap he was fumbling back onto the tube.
“You got somebody special waiting on you back home?”
Ari flinched back in his seat, examining the pilot’s face for any hint of malice.
“No, there’s no one waiting on me, special or otherwise.”
Orin’s brows twisted skeptically. “No handsome university man crying into his microscope over you?”
The blood left Ari’s face, his numb fingers dropping the tube to the table.
“How— How did you know that I—that I have a preference for men?”
Orin appeared, of all things, concerned, holding both hands out palm up in a universal gesture of calming.
“Didn’t mean nothing by it. Just saying, I like looking at you, and I see the way you like looking at me. I was just wondering what was holding you back. Thought maybe you had a fella back home or something.”
Ari attempted to control his rapid breathing, struggling to remove his gloves.
“I don’t.”
Orin’s dimples reappeared as he replaced the regen in the med kit and latched it shut. He held it out to Ari.
“Well then, you and I could make this trip a hell of a lot more fun, gorgeous.”
Ari took the kit, hugging it to his chest. “What do you mean?”
The confident smirk on Orin’s face slid downward.
“I meant we could spend some time in my bunk, sweetheart. I don’t think I’ve been exactly subtle.”
Ari’s eyes widened as it finally sank in, his skin glowing as the rest of his body took immediate, humiliating interest.
“You’re sexually attracted to me?”
Orin huffed out a surprised bark of laughter. “Don’t think I could have been any more obvious after that striptease. Hell, what did you think all that sweet talk was for?”
Ari’s arms tightened around the kit. “I thought you were mocking me.”
The light in the pilot’s eyes dimmed, mouth drawing straight. “I wouldn’t do that.”
Ari nodded, tongue heavy and clumsy in his mouth.
“Alright, then.”
Orin leaned forward in his seat, lips curving back up at the corners.
“Alright what, honey?”
Ari couldn’t meet his gaze, adjusting the kit in his arms self-consciously.
“Alright, yes. Your. Your bunk. We should. That.”
The silence grew oppressive as sweat gathered across Ari’s forehead, prickling at the base of his spine.
“Nah,” Orin said.
Ari snapped his head up, a fresh wave of burning flush sweeping over his skin at the humiliation.
“Oh. Of. Of course. Of course not. I understand why you wouldn’t. With me.”
The rough edge of Orin’s thumb brushed softly across the meat of Ari’s lower lip before settling on his chin, lifting Ari’s face to his.
“It’s not like that. Just saying not tonight, is all. Give me time to prepare. I can pick up some supplies tomorrow morning before we head out.”
Ari scrunched his brow in confusion.
“Supplies?”
Orin searched his eyes, a surprised grin spreading across his face, instantly taking years off with a boyish sparkle that reached both dimples.
“You’ve got no idea, do you, baby? Holy shit, I’m a bad man.”
Chapter Four
Ari got very little sleep that night, a fact he would have liked to have attributed entirely to anxiety over the significant risk and high stakes of their upcoming journey. He could confidently say all of that was definitely a factor.
However.
He glared down the length of his body at his tented trousers as though the sheer force of his disapproval could rectify the situation. He was abysmally unsuccessful.
Deciding on the course of ignoring the situation until it improved, he busied himself with organizing the freshly delivered supplies, checking everything off on his pad as he went.
When Orin returned to the ship in the afternoon with a parcel under his arm, Ari ducked into his laboratory, face burning with the effort not to guess at the contents.
When they met at the table to discuss star maps and codes and compare calculations, Ari allowed his tension to melt away under the soothing repetition of mathematics.
Until Orin met his eyes with a slow smile, brushing broad fingertips over his own lips as if trying to wipe it away.
The situation resumed with an intensity bordering on painful.
The only thing that relieved the tension was the gut-wrenching moment when they strapped into their seats as Ari got his first chance to witness Orin’s capabilities as a pilot.
Used to the sensation of turbulence and ominous quaking upon takeoff, Ari could only observe in astonishment as they broke atmo without a tremor.
Orin shot a cheeky wink in his direction, eyes wild but hands steady on the controls.
“Like a hot knife through butter, baby!”
Nothing about that should have exacerbated Ari’s situation.