Fallout (16 page)

“I only care if you say it,” Derek replied with an absent smile, his mind still clearly on his robot.

Sambit shook his head with a soft snort and left Derek to work. He gathered his toiletries from his bag in Lyrica’s office, glad he’d thought to toss a towel in along with the couple of changes of clothes. He took his last pair of clean underwear—maybe he should wash out some of his dirty clothes while he was showering—and headed for the restroom Derek had modified. He hung the “showering” sign on the door so people would know he was inside and turned on the water before stripping down.

It wasn’t the relaxing spray of water like he had in his shower at home, but it was hot and running and it felt wonderful as it cascaded over his skin. He scrubbed at his scalp, the clean water making him all the more aware of how sweaty he was. He’d wash his hair and then soap it again and let it soak while he washed his body.

He sighed as he rubbed the bar of soap over his skin, feeling the stickiness of too many days without bathing give way beneath the cleansing foam. He arched his back, trying to get every inch of his skin, when a blast of cool air startled him. He spun toward the door to find Derek flipping the lock, something Sambit hadn’t bothered to do, and pulling his own shirt off.

“What are you doing here?”

“Getting my hands on you,” Derek replied. “You looked like you could use a hand.”

Sambit scowled, turning his back on Derek again. He refused to watch the other man undress. It would just make him want things he couldn’t have. “I learned how to bathe myself a long time ago.”

“That doesn’t mean it isn’t nice to have help now and then,” Derek said, his voice right in Sambit’s ear. Sambit froze as Derek took the soap from his hand and ran it over his back. It wasn’t all that different from the massage Derek had given him, except this time they were both naked and wet and in a locked room and Derek had been flirting with him all day and….

Sambit groaned as Derek’s hands left his back and smoothed their way around to his stomach, pulling him back against Derek’s muscled body. He told himself to pull away, but it felt too good to be held. Derek’s cock, half hard already, pressed against Sambit’s buttocks, and his hands, hard and callused, massaged Sambit’s chest as they had once massaged his back. The hair on Derek’s chest rubbed against Sambit’s back, sensitizing his skin, and he melted, his good intentions disappearing beneath the flood of attraction he’d been fighting since the first time Derek had snapped at him. He’d worry about regretting it tomorrow.

Derek must have sensed his decision because he kissed the patch of skin behind Sambit’s ear, the spot that always made him weak in the knees, and whispered, “You won’t regret this, I swear.”

Sambit didn’t know how Derek could realistically keep such a promise, but he’d already decided to leave those concerns for later. Instead he tilted his head to the side, inviting another kiss, and rested his hands on Derek’s forearms. Derek rubbed against Sambit more purposefully, making Sambit wish for condoms and lube. He’d had no reason to pack any when he’d gotten the call to come to the plant, and he was sure Derek hadn’t thought that far ahead either, but the feeling of Derek’s cock rubbing against him, slipping between his thighs to nudge his balls, made him want to say to hell with the dangers. He didn’t, of course. He was too practical for that, but it was more proof, if he needed it, of how invested in this his body, at least, had become. With his flirting and teasing touches, Derek had primed Sambit’s body for this moment, and now that it was here, he couldn’t do anything but tremble and give in.

“Next time,” Derek murmured. “Next time we do this, we’ll be somewhere we can plan ahead and have everything we need. Tonight, let me make you feel good.” As he spoke, one hand moved lower to circle Sambit’s shaft, stroking its length slowly and deliberately. Sambit groaned and pushed into the caress, the movement working Derek’s cock between Sambit’s thighs.

“Yes,” Derek said, the sound more hiss than word. “Just like that. It feels good.”

“Good,” Sambit gasped, squeezing his legs together more tightly, trying to give Derek a narrow space to thrust into. Derek moaned, making Sambit smile. He’d make this good for Derek too, one way or another.

He expected Derek to pick up a fast rhythm of thrusting and stroking. As needy as Sambit was, it was what he would have done if their positions had been reversed, but Derek had other plans, his hand moving leisurely, alternating strokes with tender squeezes. His thumb circled the hooded tip, playing over the foreskin before drawing it back. Sambit gasped when the hot water splashed against the usually veiled skin as Derek’s thumb probed the slit, his back arching in need.

“Which part of that did you like?” Derek asked immediately. “If it gets that kind of reaction, I want to do it again.”

“Your thumb,” Sambit said, his voice husky with desire.

“This?” Derek said, doing it again. Sambit moaned and bucked into his hand. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Sambit shook in Derek’s arms as he settled in with that simple, powerful touch, mixing whisper-soft brushes of the pad over the sensitive skin with probing passes of the tip through the slit. Sambit’s breath sawed in and out of his chest in hoarse little pants that, he hoped, conveyed the depth of his approval to Derek. He wished he could be more eloquent, but between Derek’s thumb and his cock still rubbing provocatively against Sambit’s balls, words were beyond him.

Derek’s other hand, which had been drawing soothing circles on Sambit’s stomach as if to hold him in place, moved higher, finding the muscles of Sambit’s chest and eventually the nipples at their centers, moving back and forth between them.

It was slow and languid and far more tender than Sambit would have expected from a “fling.” Derek peppered little kisses and nips over the side of Sambit’s neck and jaw until Sambit finally turned his head, meeting Derek’s lips with his own. Even then, they lingered, exploring each other’s mouths as Derek explored Sambit’s body. Sambit was tempted to turn and return the favor, but that would mean moving out of Derek’s embrace and away from the shaft riding between his thighs. He’d take care of Derek before they left the restroom.

Just… later.

Derek broke free from their kiss, biting down on the juncture of Sambit’s neck and shoulder, the sudden spike sending erotic shivers through Sambit’s body, electrifying every nerve ending. When Derek picked up the pace of his strokes with both his hands and his hips, Sambit trembled and moaned, feeling his climax building deep in his belly. He rocked between the two sources of stimulation. Derek pinched at his nipples, twisting them between his thumb and forefinger, one side, then the other, then back to the first side again until the sensual assault reached a crescendo and Sambit could hold back no longer. He shuddered, his body clenching as he climaxed. Behind him Derek groaned as well, his hips bucking against Sambit’s, and Sambit felt sticky fluid coating his thighs.

So much for taking care of Derek later.

Derek nipped at Sambit’s shoulder one more time, adding to the aftershocks still zinging through Sambit’s system, then licked that little patch of skin beneath his ear again. “Oh, yeah, I’m already looking forward to getting you somewhere horizontal,” Derek murmured in Sambit’s ear. “If you can do that to me when I’m the one giving you a hand job, I can’t wait to see what happens when you get your hands on me.”

“I was planning on returning the favor, but you beat me to it,” Sambit said.

“That’s what you get for being so damn sexy, Sambit. Now give me your soap again because I have a mess to clean up.”

The sound of his name, his full name, not that ridiculous nickname, on Derek’s lips sent a fresh burst of desire through Sambit. Maybe he’d better stop correcting Derek. Having heard his name that way once in Derek’s bedroom voice, he’d be begging every time he heard it again. That might not be any big deal if they only saw each other in the bedroom, but since they had to work together for at least another few days, it probably wasn’t a good idea now. He handed Derek the soap but pulled away when Derek reached for him with soapy hands. “That got us into trouble the last time you did that.”

“I wouldn’t call it trouble,” Derek said, stroking a soapy hand over his own cock instead. “I enjoyed it too much for it to be trouble. And so did you, so don’t try to deny it.”

Sambit bit back the denial that sprang to his lips. Hard to say he hadn’t enjoyed it when he’d covered Derek’s hand with all the proof he needed of Sambit’s enjoyment. Deciding silence was the best option, he took the soap back and washed the stickiness from his inner thighs, wishing as he did that they could have lingered longer in that moment of togetherness. He wasn’t a big cuddler by nature, but he enjoyed a little snuggle now and then. He’d bet good money Derek was a snuggler. He put on a fierce front in any situation that might be a threat to him, but Sambit had seen him with Fido. Derek hid a soft heart underneath that prickly exterior, and if he let that guard down, Sambit bet the man lucky enough to see it wouldn’t escape Derek’s embrace for hours. Then again, if that man had any sense, he wouldn’t want to. Sambit repressed a sigh at not getting the chance to be that man, but their current circumstances precluded such intimacies, and he knew better than to think he’d get a chance later. It would simply have to be one of those things he’d regret missing out on.

“You look pensive,” Derek said, nuzzling Sambit’s neck again.

“I am,” Sambit admitted. “That door can’t stay locked forever. Eventually we’re going to have to put clothes on and go back out there, and when we do, this will be over.”

“Not over,” Derek said. “On hold for a while, but not over.”

Derek’s assurance humbled Sambit enough that he nodded. “On hold, then. Either way, I’m not eager for it to happen.”

“Neither am I,” Derek said, “but I’m not going to let it stop me from enjoying the time we have left. Get some sleep. I’m going to clean up the mess I made working on the robots before I come to bed.”

“Lyrica and I moved your cot and pictures,” Sambit said, reaching for the towel and starting to dry off. “We didn’t want anything to happen to your stuff.”

“Thank you.” Derek pulled the towel from Sambit’s hands and ran it over Sambit’s body, whisking away the droplets of water. “How’s your head today? I haven’t even had time to ask.”

“No headache today,” Sambit said, stepping away and beginning to dress. “Being clean helps too.” He took a deep breath, not entirely sure what he was about to ask was a good idea. “I wouldn’t say no to another backrub.”

Derek smiled and paused in drying himself. “Let me put my tools away, and I’ll see if I can oblige.”

Chapter 11

D
EREK
sat on the floor of the room where he’d been working on the new robots, Fido lying in the corner again. He sorted through the parts, separating what he still needed to install from what he had ripped out of the insides of the two robot frames.

“I see Sambit isn’t the only one who had a shower,” Lyrica said from the doorway.

“I installed it for everyone to use,” Derek replied, his voice level.

“I wasn’t suggesting otherwise,” Lyrica replied, “but it must have been a fast shower.”

Derek understood what she was hinting at, but he didn’t rise to the bait. Not this time. He wasn’t a prude, and he hadn’t hesitated to share tales of his conquests with friends in the past, but Sambit wasn’t a conquest. Sambit was special. “How long do you think it takes to take a shower?”

“Depends on what you’re doing in there,” Lyrica teased.

“Getting clean,” Derek said, hoping to infuse enough finality into his tone that Lyrica would drop the conversation.

“Always a good thing when you’ve gotten dirty,” she agreed. Derek muttered a curse as he felt his cheeks heat, thinking about how exactly he and Sambit had gotten dirty.

“Between the storm and being here, it’s been five days since I had a shower,” Derek replied, hoping he hadn’t given them away. He didn’t think she’d have a problem with it, but it was still too new and precious to share with anyone else.

“Uh-huh,” Lyrica said. “Did Sambit tell you we moved your cot and bag?”

“He mentioned it when I saw him earlier,” Derek said. “I appreciate it, but I want to finish up in here so I’ll be able to get a good start with the rest of the modifications in the morning. I’ll be in later.”

“Don’t rush on my account,” Lyrica said. “I pushed aside a desk in another office and moved my cot in there because there wasn’t really enough room in my office for all three of us. For the cots, yes, but not really for three bodies on top of them.”

“I don’t want to wake Sambit up when I come in either,” Derek said. “Does he know you’re sleeping elsewhere?”

“I told him when I saw him just now,” Lyrica replied. “I’ll let you finish your work. Enjoy your night.”

“I’m sure I’ll sleep very well,” Derek said neutrally, even as he imagined all the other ways he could have an enjoyable night alone in a locked office with the man he was falling for far too rapidly for his own good. He wouldn’t do any of those things because that wasn’t the way he wanted to start a relationship with Sambit, their interlude in the shower notwithstanding. He could follow through on his offer to give Sambit another massage, though, and show Sambit that he was as capable of restraint as he was of action. He put away the last of his tools and supplies. “Good night, Lyrica.”