9 Seduction
Matthews found himself wondering throughout the next day if Kent would turn up. His stomach was already churning in anticipation. When he heard him at the door after the evening meal, he had to force himself to relax and appear calm; the last thing he wanted to do was to scare Kent again. He invited him into the room then shut the door behind him and set the privacy seal on it. “I don’t want anyone coming in unannounced,” he stated reassuringly. He could see that the Lieutenant was wound tight with tension.
“Have a seat,” he offered casually, choosing a chair himself that was at a respectable distance.
“I was thinking we should set a few ground rules,” he continued, handing Kent a cup of coffee and giving him a chance to settle himself. “Firstly, no ‘Captains,’ ‘sirs’ or orders when we are... er... off duty,” he smiled tentatively. “I was way out of line yesterday.” He had a sudden thought and grinned widely. “If we get to the stage in our personal relationship that we want to change that, we’ll work out some new rules later!”
Kent nearly choked on his coffee when he realised what the Captain meant. He flushed.
“Another thing,” Matthews continued smoothly, “Don’t hesitate to tell me if you don’t like or feel guilty about anything I do. Just tell me and I’ll stop. All right?”
“Okay.”
“And, one last thing, call me Luke.”
“I’ll try... Luke. This feels really weird, sir!” Kent burst out.
“I’m not surprised. This is going to take a fair bit of adjustment, for both of us. Are you still sure you want to try this?” Matthews offered reluctantly.
“To be honest I’m not sure. What about you?”
“I’m willing to keep trying if you are,” he replied lightly. In fact Matthews had never been so certain of anything in his life, but he didn’t want to scare off his quarry.
“We won’t do anything tonight except talk,” he continued quickly, before Kent could decide to leave. “Tell me a bit about yourself, something I wouldn’t already know.”
They talked for about an hour, ranging over different subjects from family to sport to favourite places to holiday. Gradually Kent found himself relaxing and actually managed to address the Captain as Luke a couple of times without noticing, before he left for the evening. “Richard, will you come again tomorrow night?” asked Matthews at the door.
Kent hesitated for just a second. “All right.”
The next day the Captain couldn’t help noticing that Kent was careful to keep him at a distance, treating him more formally than usual. Was the other man having second thoughts? He tried not to worry but when Kent came to his cabin that evening he couldn’t help looking relieved. “I thought you might have changed your mind,” he offered, opening the door.
“I thought it would be a good idea to keep our private and public relationships quite separate,” Kent explained.
Matthews relaxed, unaware until then how tense he had been. “Yes, of course. I should have thought of that myself. Come in, will you?” He waited until Kent was inside then set the privacy seal again.
“I thought tonight I could give you a back rub,” Matthews suggested casually. “You can leave all your clothes on if you like. I just thought you could get used to me touching you, in a non-sexual way.” He looked enquiringly at the other man, who was looking nervous again. “Just lie down over here,” he gestured to a thickly piled rug on the floor. Kent was still staring at him uncertainly.
Matthews quickly hunted for a way to break the tension. Perhaps he should just say it straight out. “Don’t look so worried, Richard!” he laughed, “I promise I’ll keep my hands above your waist. It’ll probably kill me to do it, but I give you my word, back rub only. And then tomorrow night, you can reciprocate.”
The unexpected suggestion brought a quick smile to Kent’s face and he stretched out on the floor, his arms folded beneath his head. To his surprise, he rather liked the thought of having the Captain under his hands.
Matthews knelt down next to Kent and then proceeded to vigorously massage his shoulders and back, digging his thumbs into the sore spots just like a gym masseur would have done. Only after he could feel the muscles relaxing under his strong hands, about fifteen minutes later, did he soften the strokes to more of a caress. “Relax, Richard,” he murmured, “The man in the gym does this to you every week.”
“Not like that, he doesn’t!” Kent protested half-heartedly, but he didn’t ask him to stop. The Captain kept going for another quarter of an hour. “I think that’ll do for now,” he said, reaching out a hand to help Kent to his feet. “My turn tomorrow night—if you’re free, that is?”
Kent nodded, “I’ll be here.” Matthews could barely wait.
The next evening, Matthews thought long and hard about whether he could strip to the waist so he could feel Kent’s hands on his bare skin, but in the end decided it was too soon. The important thing was to win Kent’s trust and build his confidence, not to gratify himself, not yet, so he was fully dressed when he let him in, an hour or so after dinner. He was glad of it when Kent asked him confidently to lie down for his massage without waiting for him to suggest it. If he was surprised to find Kent had no hesitation in kneeling next to him and placing his hands on his shoulders, he was absolutely staggered when Kent asked him tentatively whether it would be all right if he sat astride him.
“Oh my God yes!” Matthews paused, “Sorry, that came out a little intense, didn’t it? It would be absolutely okay with me if you sat on my legs. Does that sound better?”
Kent laughed, surprising both of them.
Matthews was exceedingly glad he was facedown when Kent settled himself on his legs and reached forward to massage his shoulders. He could feel Kent’s warmth sinking into his thighs, the firm pressure of his knees on each side, the rocking motion as Kent moved back and forth to reach his neck and shoulders. Matthews suspected he wasn’t going to find the massage remotely relaxing. He was already halfway to an erection.
“Is that okay?” asked Kent innocently. “Are you comfortable?”
Did Kent know what effect he was having on him, or not? Several wildly inappropriate answers occurred to Matthews but in the end he managed. “I’m fine, but I don’t think comfortable is quite the right word here.”
Kent stopped moving as he tried to work out what Matthews meant. “Do you want me to get off?”
The Captain couldn’t help it, he snorted with laughter; he’d thought he was the one doing that. Luckily he didn’t say that aloud. “I’m sorry, Richard, that was just really funny,” he apologised hastily. “Please don’t be offended.”
But by then Kent had worked out what was going on. He sat frozen, mortified. Gingerly, he stood up then knelt down next to the Captain again and began to pummel him vigorously, working off his embarrassment.
“I’m sorry! You know I didn’t do that intentionally, don’t you?” The sudden expression of horrified dismay on his face was almost enough to set Matthews off again.
“I know,” admitted the Captain and couldn’t resist adding, “But it was fun while it lasted.”
He got to his feet and offered Kent a seat. “Drink?” he asked. “I’ve got an Orion brandy?”
The other man accepted gratefully, needing some time to regain his composure. Matthews gave him the drink then sat down and reached toward him. “All I’m going to do is hold your hand but it won’t be in a handshake and I won’t be thinking of you as my Lieutenant, okay? Give me your hand please, Richard.”
The Captain stretched out his hand and Kent moved his own hand slowly toward him, still feeling rattled by what he’d just done, inadvertent as it had been. As he watched the two hands, Matthews’ strong and firm, his own similar but with slightly longer fingers, it suddenly struck him that this was the most sexual thing he’d done in his life. Heat rushed to his face and his mouth went dry. He could scarcely move. Time slowed right down until the universe cons
isted only of two hands reaching for each other. The Captain’s fingertips touched his own and he flinched violently. The spell was broken and he felt a bit of a fool. To his infinite relief, Matthews did not laugh at him but told him quietly to relax and try again.
Kent settled back in his chair and put his hand out to Matthews again. The Captain gripped it lightly, palm on palm. This time there was no erotic connotation, just two hands holding each other. Kent sipped his brandy and tried to relax as the other man began stroking his palm in small circles with his thumb.
“Thought for tonight, Richard. You’re going to become my lover.” Matthews smiled at him as he jumped.
They said good night a few minutes later and Kent looked surreptitiously at his hand, as if he expected it to look different. Lover? Him? And what position do you hold on the ship, Lieutenant? Oh, me? I’m the Captain’s lover. It was strange that the words didn’t sound as ludicrous as he’d expected. He was still fairly certain though, that it wasn’t going to happen.