Fourteen’s lips drew into a thin line of distaste. “I would not speak of them. You have taught me what family is. They were not family.”
“Then I will erase the bitterness from your mind.” How many times had Connell dreamed of having a family while living in a Federation orphanage, a place too overrun to even hope for adoption? The very young, the beautiful, the exotic children found a place, but not someone like himself with no skills or looks to speak of. Fourteen, though, would have been taken in a minute, probably by an unscrupulous person who planned to raise him for use in a pleasure house.
This time, when Fourteen closed the gap between them, Connell opened his mouth. While hesitant at first, the soldier soon joined in the tongue play. Earlier he’d asked about kissing, yet he’d mentioned finding comfort with other men. Had none of them ever kissed him? Had they shared their bodies only?
“Come with me to my bed,” Connell said. “We’ll be more comfortable there.” He rose and held out his hand. The soldier took it, and together they strolled the moonlit path to their home. They fell onto the bed in a tangle of arms, legs, armor, and heated embraces. Clicks and clanks announced the suit’s plates hitting the floor. The helmet fell last.
Though the night hid details from Connell’s eyes, he ran his hand up Fourteen’s arms, seeking out the tiny depressions where suit gripped flesh, and where he knew tiny wires punctured muscles and drilled past tissue to arrive at the central nervous system, to add nutrients and take away toxins, to adjust the soldier’s body for maximum efficiency, and otherwise alter his physiology for maximum performance and longevity. Ah yes, watching a living, breathing soldier had greatly advanced Connell’s knowledge of how they worked.
In response to Connell’s explorations, the soldier did his own discovering, dipping his fingers in the ridges of muscles on Connell’s back and shoulders—muscles honed by pulling a sled full of fish across sand, and hoisting pulleys to raise the bounty up the cliff face.
“Family.” That single word gusted from the soldier’s mouth to Connell’s ear, saying many things probably foreign to a warrior tongue.
“I want you,” Connell murmured. “I’ve long wanted you, in my arms, in my bed, in my body.” He rolled to the side, then onto his back, spreading his legs.
“I would have more kissing first.” Fourteen climbed above him, sealing their mouths together once more.
The soldier’s cock nestled against the cheeks of Connell’s ass, bumping against his hole. Connell reached back and fondled the length and width. Already the anticipated burn to come sent tingles up inside. Oh, to be filled so completely by this man. But what could they use for lubrication? Spit? A bit of cooking oil? He reached under the bed for the small vial kept there, hoping the soldier wouldn’t figure out exactly how Connell put the oil to use while alone in bed at night. He smeared the dampness against his hole, venturing a finger inside.
Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me! he silently chanted.
Though every bit as hard as Connell, Fourteen seemed in no hurry. Gentle kisses turned fierce, and hesitant groping emboldened, yet still Fourteen avoided direct contact with the places on Connell’s body that might trigger release.
When at last the kiss broke, Fourteen skated his lips over Connell’s eyelids, across both cheeks, and down to his neck. Connell moaned and Fourteen released a chuckle, the first laughter Connell had ever heard from the man.
With tongue and a gentle application of teeth, Fourteen mapped out the contours of Connell’s neck, shoulders, and chest. Whereas Fourteen’s body boasted little hair, a dark mat of short curls adorned Connell’s own torso. Fourteen sifted his fingers through the mass while rising up for another kiss.
Finally (finally!), longer, thicker fingers joined Connell’s at his entrance, skillfully working in the lubrication. Giving up their kiss with a sigh, Fourteen slid downward to take Connell’s neglected cock into his mouth. Oh, by the moons. How glorious. A mouth on him, for the first time in ages. And not merely any mouth, but Fourteen’s.
A mouth on him, fingers in him, Connell’s consciousness fuzzed around the edges. Though kissing seemed new to his partner, pleasuring a man certainly was not. Fourteen took Connell to the very edge of ecstasy, held him there, then backed away. The pressure built inside. Just a little deeper, a bit longer… Damn! Fourteen stopped once more, his