“I did not steal it. I am not a thief.”
“None of these things belong to you.” Raine swept a hand over the items on the desk. “The clothes you’re wearing don’t belong to you.”
Kit jumped to his feet. He wore a short, dark jacket that showed off his narrow hips and shapely ass to perfection. But he tore off the flattering garment and tossed it at Raine.
“You want them back?” Hopping on one foot, he started to pull off a boot.
“If you throw a boot at me, I’m getting out the stun gun,” Raine warned. Kit glared and looked ready to do it anyway, but then put his foot down and stood breathing hard, hair falling forward into his face.
“Why couldn’t you let me go? I’d stop being your problem. Just let me go.”
“Go where? Where did you think you were going to go? You had no money. Selling this”—he picked up the laser scalpel—“would barely have bought you a bed for the night. What were you going to do?”
“I’d have thought of something.”
“Like what? Selling
yourself
?”
“You think that’s all I’m good for?”
“That station is dangerous. It’s no place for an office boy.”
“Junior executive!”
“Were you going to stow away on another ship? What makes you think you’d have any better success there?”
“Then I’d escape again. And again. As many times as it takes to get safe.”
“You have no plan, do you? You’re playing it by ear.”
“No, I have no plan. I don’t have anything. They took it all away.”
“Who’s they?”
Kit faltered but then shook his head. “Never mind. You don’t care.”
“Why didn’t you trust me—us? We’d have helped you. The captain. The company. We’d have seen you weren’t railroaded.”
“Oh yeah. I’m sure you’d have gone outta your way for me. Don’t give me that bull. The only one I can rely on is me.”
“You’re in bigger trouble than I thought.”
“Funny guy.”
“I’m not trying to be funny.” Raine shook his head. “Kit, you need friends, and I’ll admit you’re good at making them. But you aren’t so good at keeping them.”
“What friends? You? The captain? You’re not my friends. You’re my jailers.”
“What about Gracie?”
A guilty look flashed across Kit’s face, but then his expression hardened. “She’s better off without me. All of you are.”
This might be true. But Raine couldn’t stand the thought of it. He wanted to grab Kit and shake him and tell him he couldn’t go. That Raine couldn’t let him leave. The surge of rage and fear he’d felt when he’d realized Kit was trying to escape had shaken him.
You left me
! He wanted to scream it.
You left me and I don’t know why it hurts so much
. He gritted his teeth and pictured the open sky until he brought himself back under control.
“What happens now?” Kit asked quietly.
“I’ll have to lock you up until the captain decides.”
“You should have let me go.”
He said it quietly this time. Not a demand like before and yet it enraged Raine.
“No,” he snapped. “I can’t let you go.” God, shut up. That hadn’t come out right. Kit looked at him with an altogether too penetrating gaze.
“Why not?”
“Like I said, you’re our prisoner.”
“No other reason?”
“What else?”
“Do you think I’ve got amnesia? Do you think I’ve forgotten about what happened in that elevator? Do you think I believe
you’ve
forgotten it?”
Hard to forget something Raine’s thoughts turned to in every idle moment.
“Do you think I don’t know why you’ve been avoiding me?” Kit said.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You want me. Why won’t you admit it?”
“Because I’m chief of security and you’re a criminal, you damn fool.”
Kit grinned. The little bastard actually grinned. “So not denying it, then?”
“Shut up. We are not talking about this. What I feel doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
Raine looked at him hard. The sincere expression in his eyes was convincing, but Raine didn’t dare believe it.
“Don’t lie to me. Are you trying to say you want me? Because I don’t believe you. You’re trying to distract me again.”
“Is it working?” Grinning again.
“No, it’s not.”
“You sure?” His gaze slid down the front of Raine’s body, stopping at his crotch and the bulge growing there.
Raine gasped as if Kit had touched him. He hadn’t even realized he was getting hard, he’d been so enthralled by the sight of Kit with so much emotion playing across his face. So open, so real. Not playing a part. How could Raine ever have thought he might be a con artist? He showed everything on his face.
Right now he showed only one thing on it. Desire.
“If you admit what you want, maybe I won’t even try to escape again.”
“Is that some kind of bargain?”
“No. But maybe I wouldn’t even
try
to leave if you can make me want to stay.”
“Yeah, I’m sure I’m such a great catch. The one you’ve been dreaming of all your life.”
“You’re a good kisser.”
Heat rose up Raine’s neck, and the remark certainly did nothing to make his erection go down.
“Do you dream about it?” Kit asked. “Dream we did more? Is that why you’re so angry? Because I tried to leave, and you haven’t had a chance to—”
He got no more words out, because Raine’s mouth was on his before Raine knew what he was doing. Better than in the elevator. Fitted together better. Like in his dreams of doing this, doing more.
Kit pulled the shirt from Raine’s belt, searching for skin and having trouble finding it when he encountered Raine’s undershirt next. He made a frustrated sound and pulled away from the kiss.
“You wear far too many clothes, you cold-blooded bastard.”
They could stop, Raine thought, his senses returning briefly as the high of the kiss waned. But Kit didn’t stop. Giving up on removing the shirt, he grabbed Raine’s left hand and pulled the glove off it, then the other, before moving to unzip Raine’s pants. Raine glanced at the firmly closed but unlocked door. Could he get Kit out of here, to his cabin? And how the hell would that look to his people working right outside the door? Kit’s next destination was the brig. And from there the captain might put him off the ship. Raine might never see him again. Never have a chance to…
All control vanished. Raine pulled Kit close again, needing that hot mouth under his. Needing more. This had to happen, because if it didn’t and he lost the chance, he might never regain his sanity. He finally understood what people meant when they said someone they desired drove them crazy. How could crazy be good? Now he knew it wasn’t “good” but rather something else. Something terrifying and wonderful at once.
They stumbled to the couch by the wall and sprawled awkwardly on it. Kit bucked and pushed Raine away but only to give himself space to get a hand into his pants pocket.
“Dammit, no. Jacket pocket.”
Raine didn’t ask what he meant, just jumped up and grabbed the jacket from the desk. From the pocket he pulled a tube of lubricant and a pack of condoms. Fear and rage surged through him when they made him think what Kit might have had to do to get himself off that station. But it did nothing to cool his desire.
Kit had discarded his boots and finished wriggling out of his pants as Raine got back to the couch. He dropped them to the floor and turned over, leaning over the arm of the couch. His long legs stretched out behind him, his ass half-covered by the tail of his shirt. The sight sent Raine into what felt like the final stages of some kind of desire-induced madness. He pulled down his fly zip and freed his aching cock. With no time to be gentle or relish the experience, he squeezed lube onto his fingers and prepared Kit. Kit hissed.
“Cold.”
“Sorry.”
“Okay. Okay. Don’t stop.” He writhed and pressed back against Raine’s probing fingers, then moved one hand underneath to stroke himself and moaned. The moan sent Raine almost mad. He withdrew his fingers and grabbed a condom, cursing himself for not doing that
before
getting one hand slick with lube. But he managed to fumble it on and could wait no longer. One knee on the sofa, one foot on the floor, balance precarious but too far gone to care, he slid his hands up Kit’s ass, pushing the shirt aside, settling on his hips. The head of Raine’s cock touched Kit, stroked down until it nudged his entrance.
“Oh fuck, do it!” Kit pleaded. “Please, Raine. I’ve waited long enough.”
Raine thrust, deep and hard at once, shocked at his aggression. Kit gasped, and Raine had a moment of doubt, fearing he’d hurt him. But the way Kit shoved back against him reassured him. He grabbed Raine’s lubed hand and pulled it around under him. Raine hadn’t even got a good look at Kit’s cock, but it certainly felt good—long and hot. He pumped it, and Kit started panting and gasping. As Raine thrust, those sounds grew more like moans, faster but growing higher pitched, turning to gasps again. He was so vocal!
Raine himself made little sound, inhibited even in such an out-of-control moment, but Kit’s unrestrained expressions of enjoyment were the most erotic sounds he’d ever heard. At the same time, they scared him, conscious as he was of the other people only meters away beyond the door. He feared Kit might yell or scream. Feared it but wanted it.
Raine couldn’t last long, not after being so frustrated for so long. Having waited too long. He’d wanted this from the instant they met in the elevator. He’d have taken him right there if he’d had time. Up against the wall. Staked his claim.
His desire grew fast to its peak and blinded him in a ball of white light. He let one moan escape him as he came, but then gritted his teeth to stay quiet as the orgasm surged and too quickly ebbed away, leaving him with trembling knees. His rapid breathing slowed. Kit’s cock was still hard, and he pushed against Raine’s hand, speaking in soft pleas. Raine pulled himself together enough to start pumping it again.
Taste it. Turn him around. Go down on him. You want his cock. You want it
. Too late. Kit shuddered, his body gripping Raine’s cock still inside him, softening only slowly, and Raine’s hand filled with warm stickiness. The sharp smell of semen brought him back to his senses.
Oh God, how would he get the smell out of here? Anyone walking in would know. Well, yes, he still had Kit’s cock in his hand and his cock in Kit’s ass. Finding them in this position, the smell of sex would hardly be needed to confirm it. Yes, the chief of security had just screwed a prisoner.
Classy, Raine. Real classy.
Easing out of Kit, he looked around for something to clean up with and spotted a box of paper tissues on the desk. They must be Warner’s; women always seemed to have paper tissues around for some mysterious purpose. He grabbed a handful and tossed the box to Kit, who’d rolled onto his back, a lazy and satisfied smile on his face.
“Here. Get cleaned up, and for God’s sake, put your pants back on.” Raine did the best cleanup he could and zipped up.
Kit’s smile vanished. “I see.”
What he saw, Raine had no time to ask. He started searching the drawers, hoping Warner had left some perfume he could spray around. Better the place smelled like a ladies’ boudoir than a brothel. He heard the rustle of cloth—Kit putting on his pants. When he looked back, Kit was seated and pulling his boots on.
“You might have to get this couch steam cleaned.”
Forget the couch; Raine would have to steam clean the whole damn room. How could he have acted that way? He wasn’t the type of man to take advantage of a prisoner. When he’d done a stint as an MP, he’d had to deal with men who would do that and had made sure they understood his displeasure. But he couldn’t take himself out somewhere quiet and kick his own ass.
“I’m sorry,” Raine said.
“Sorry for what?” Kit stood up, tucking in his shirt.
“For what we just did.” What the hell else did he think Raine could be apologizing for? “It was completely inappropriate, and I’ll understand if you report me to the captain, as is your right.”
Kit stared at him as if he’d gone mad—which was probably the best explanation of his behavior.
“Is there something wrong with you, Raine, or have you always been this stupid? What do you think you just did to me?”
“I took advantage of you. You’re a prisoner. For me to have sex with you is entirely unacceptable.”
“I found it quite acceptable. So acceptable I think I’ll be walking funny for a week.”
“This is no laughing matter.”
“Then why do I find it so funny?”
“Because you think you’ve beaten me again. You think you’ve distracted me the way you did in the elevator. You think you have me in your power.”
Kit stopped grinning. He looked back at Raine for a long time with a gaze smoldering not with lust but with rage. At last he spoke.
“Did you say you were going to lock me up? For your own safety, I suggest you do it now.”
* * *
The captain must have decided to let Kit stew for a while; she didn’t come down to the brig for nearly fourteen hours. He didn’t care. He had plenty to stew about.
Like how the hell he could have been stupid enough to lose control and let Raine have him? He didn’t care about it being unprofessional or any of the shit Raine had started banging on about. But he didn’t want to go weak at the knees for a fucking cop. Authority figures had screwed him over enough to last him a lifetime. Getting screwed
by
one was a step too far.
It could only end the way it had with Jeff. He wondered if Raine had the money to try to pay him off too. Maybe he
should
report Raine to the captain. Screw him over.
He sat up when Dryden came in and stopped in front of the bars. Raine stood close behind her, not looking at Kit.
Can’t look me in the eye.
“Leave us alone, please,” she told Raine.
“Ma’am, I’d advise against that.”
Kit sneered at him. Did he think Kit would try to seduce the captain too? That’s what he thought Kit had done to him.
“It’s perfectly safe. Wait outside. I’ll call you if I need you.”
Kit stayed sitting on the bunk, looking as harmless as possible, to persuade Raine to go. Didn’t want to look at him, with his too many clothes and his stupid gloves. Raine walked out, and Dryden turned back to Kit.