Dangerous Tension (LGBT - Sci-Fi - Romance)

Part 9 - Seduction

Part 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. Alright?" 

"OK." 

"And, one last thing, call me Luke." 

"I'll try .. Luke. This feels really weird, sir!" he 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?" asked Matthews at the door. 

Kent hesitated for a second. "Alright." 

The next day he was careful to act very formally towards the Captain. He thought it would be a very sound idea to keep their private and their public relationships quite separate. Matthews seemed to take it in his stride but when Kent went to his cabin that evening he looked a little surprised to see him. "I thought you might have changed your mind," he offered, opening the door. Hastily Kent explained, and the Captain 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," he 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." 

Kent was so startled by that suggestion he found himself stretching out on the floor, his arms folded beneath his head while he explored the idea. To his surprise, he rather liked the thought of having the Captain under his hands. Matthews knelt down next to him and then proceeded to vigorously massage his shoulders and back, 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. It actually felt good, he didn't really want 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. Are you free?"  

Kent nodded, "You're on!" Matthews could barely wait. 

The next evening he 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 alright if he sat astride him. "Oh my God yes!" he paused, "Sorry, that came out a little intense didn't it? It would be absolutely OK 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 thighs and reached forward to massage his shoulders, though he suspected he wasn't going to find the massage remotely relaxing. "Is that OK?" 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 sniggered, 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 in horrified amusement. Gingerly he stood up then knelt down next to the Captain again and began to pummel him vigorously, working off his embarrassment, "I think we'll leave that one until we know each other a bit better!" he said. Oh my god, had Luke thought he'd aroused him deliberately? "I'm sorry, you know I didn't mean to do that?" 

"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, he needed some time to regain his composure. Matthews gave him the drink then sat down and reached towards 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, OK? Give me your hand please, Richard." The Captain stretched out his own hand and Kent moved his hand slowly towards him. 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 consisted 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. 

He 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 stroked 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 Captains' 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.