This is a book-length work, so not every chapter will involve sex (though this chapter very much does). If you're just looking for a quick wank, this probably isn't your story.
Thanks for reading!
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My concern had just about reached the breaking point when he finally started moving again. I knew that what separated us from the merciless sucking maw of space wasn't all that much to begin with, but having a member of my crew working in a vac suit made me fidgety. The thought that there was just a thin layer of fabric between them and death kept my heart in my throat the entire time. Knowing I'd subjected my engineer to the risk for a non-critical repair put the taste of bile in the back of my mouth. It hadn't been intentional; that the crawl spaces were too narrow for Rusty had slipped my mind until I got the alert about the atmosphere being pulled from the cargo hold. My fingers twitched, wanting to open a comm link and call him back, but there was every chance he would ignore the order. Stubborn didn't begin to describe my engineer.
I forced myself to concentrate on other work, only letting my eyes turn back to his feed every few minutes. First he was working at a bolt, then he was setting the wall panel aside, then he was crouching half in the crawl space, working at removing the loose plating. That piece must have been especially rough going because he was still doing the same thing the next couple of times I checked. Then there was the cable patching, after which came the long period of stillness. Luckily nothing urgent required my attention during that stretch, because I don't know if I could have torn my eyes away. He finally began moving again when I was seconds from sounding an alarm; I hesitated only because I could see the suit readings indicating that his vitals were strong, despite the mysterious spike in his heart rate minutes before.
Ashamed of my unprofessional reaction, I refused to allow myself to check on him for nearly half an hour. When the ship told me atmo had been restored, I clicked over and found him by the lockers where we kept the vac suits, stowing his carefully. He had already peeled the top half of his jumpsuit down and I let myself admire the way the muscles in his arms and shoulders worked as he secured the equipment. Rusty walked out of view and I was suddenly standing, unsure of what had brought me to my feet. Something, some need to see him in the flesh, to reassure myself that he was whole, drove me down the ladder into my quarters.
On the rare occasions I'd worked in vacuum, I had found myself craving coffee and hot food as soon as I was out of the suit. Every spacer I'd met headed straight for the nearest shower. It was one of those little differences between those of us who had grown up on Earth versus the people raised in space. There was a whole collection of these quirks I'd noticed but never investigated in all the cycles I'd spent working off planet. Now I was just glad I knew where to look for my engineer. I wasted precious seconds debating whether to strip down or not; deciding my presence in the showers would be less suspicious if I was dressed the part - or undressed, as it were - I dropped my clothes in a heap and slung a towel around my hips.
"Cap," Rusty said with a nod, stepping aside to allow me to pass through the door into the head. I nodded back and only just kept myself from giving in to the impulse to glance back at him as he made his way to his quarters. My heart pounded with the realization that I had nearly missed him, which was followed immediately by belated recognition of how close we'd been as I passed: the damp heat from his naked torso had caressed the skin of my arm. Rubbing a hand over the spot, I proceeded to take the quickest shower known to mankind, reciting emergency protocols in my head to keep my anatomy under some semblance of control. I made a perfunctory pass with the towel and wrapped it around my lower body once again before padding barefoot into a hall that was, thankfully, empty.
Following an impulse I refused to consider too closely, I stopped outside the engineer's door. A fierce battle raged between my brain and body, my heartbeat a thundering drum. I watched my hand lift and come to rest on the cool metal even as I tried to tell my feet to get moving. This was such a bad idea, but I couldn't bring myself to let it go. Taking a deep breath, I tapped a finger lightly against the door. I wasn't sure he would even be able to hear that from inside. Honestly, I wasn't sure I wanted him to. "Rusty?" I said softly. Muscles bunching, I was moments from fleeing when the door hissed open.
Despite everything I'd said and done over the past couple of days, nothing had prepared me for the intense
want
that flooded every cell in my body when I saw those dark eyes staring down at me. It was suddenly too much and, if I hadn't been frozen to the spot, I would have given in to the urge to turn tail and run for my quarters. As it was, neither of us moved or spoke. We simply stared at one another. His face was impassive as usual and his eyes never gave anything away. Was I the only one in need of this connection? The thought scared the hell out of me. Then again, so did the possibility that I was not alone in this, that his unflappable exterior hid a storm like the one raging through me. I was completely terrified.
Rusty tilted his head slightly and I found my paralysis broken. Lifting a foot, I wasn't sure which way it was going to go until I stepped forward into the room, my stomach doing a little flip when I heard him latch the door behind me. I turned to find the engineer appraising me and suddenly realized that I was not looking my best. My hair was still wet from the shower and slicked down against my scalp. I probably looked like some half-drowned rodent. Why had I thought this was a good idea? Oh right: I hadn't.
