Active Duty: Gay Military Erotic Romance (10 page)

It sounded closer to a declaration than they’d ever made. Mike smiled, uncertain. “But an extra present is always good, right?”

The words broke whatever moment they’d been having, and Danny laughed, letting it go. “Sure. An extra present works.”

“Tell me you’re not talking about Christmas already.” Freddie made a face as he threw himself back into the third chair, narrowly avoiding tipping it completely when someone bumped into him. “It’s way too early.”

“Never hurts to be prepared.” Mike spun his empty bottle once between his hands, careful not to send the rest of the empties flying.

“We’re not talking about Christmas,” Danny said firmly, draining his own beer. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“You want to find a quieter place?” Freddie kept one hand near Danny as they both stood, but didn’t grab for him the way some people did in crowds. It got him a grateful look from Danny that made Freddie smile, small and pleased.

Danny shook his head. “Thinking about heading home.” He looked over at Mike with the words, checking in about the evening, about Freddie. Mike nodded back; Danny had really been the only wild card in this situation.

“Right,” Freddie said, all of the humor and warmth gone from his voice. Even his shoulders were slumping again. “I should—you think I’ll get a cab back to the ship somewhere near here?”

Danny frowned at him, and Mike felt the tension ratchet back up, not in a good way. He’d been so sure about Freddie. “Look, no, don’t—” Mike started.

“Just—” Danny interrupted him with a sharp hand gesture to Mike without looking away from Freddie. “Mike’s an idiot,” he said, so softly that Mike was amazed he could hear the words over the roar of conversation in the bar. Danny was smiling though, so something must have been going right again.

Danny grabbed Mike’s wrist, pulling him close, the edge of the table digging awkwardly into Mike’s hip. “For the record,” Danny said, still looking at Freddie, who seemed as confused as Mike felt, “Next time you decide to invite one of your shipmates into a threesome, it would probably be a good idea to actually invite him.”

“I did!” Okay, that had come out a little high-pitched. Mike
tried again. “I said, ‘Come to Pride with me and Danny.’ Did I not say that?”

Freddie’s eyes went wide, then closed for a moment, the way they did when he got a particularly ridiculous order. “That was supposed to imply, ‘And then come home and have sex with us both?’ Yeah, I’m with Danny here. You way undershot the invitation part of that invitation.”

“Hopeless,” Danny said, voice warm with affection, and okay,
maybe
the two of them had a bit of a point. Apparently Mike had been too subtle. “So, Freddie, in the interests of reducing the amount of inanity going forward: would you like to come back to my apartment and have sex with me and Mike?”

Freddie looked between the two of them, then down to where Danny was still gripping Mike’s wrist. “If this is just because of the last guy I hooked up with,” he started.

“For the love of—” Danny let go of Mike, shifted his grip on his cane, then leaned in to wrap a hand in Freddie’s shirt. “Let me make this very clear,” he said, and dragged Freddie down into a harsh kiss.

Freddie’s hands flailed for a moment, then settled lightly on Danny’s hips. He tilted his head slightly, deepening the kiss. Somewhere in the crowd, someone wolf-whistled. Mike kind of wanted to echo the sentiment. The two of them were exactly as hot together as he’d imagined, and this was while they were still wearing clothes. He was pretty sure the sight of them both naked would lead to spontaneous human combustion, especially given the way Danny always relaxed completely into the first few minutes of being naked and in bed, not worried about his leg and his balance.

Mike was totally willing to risk human combustion for that.

Danny and Freddie drew apart slowly, grinning dumbly at each other. “Yes?” Danny asked.

“Yes,” Freddie said. “Oh, most definitely yes.”

“So,” Mike said, when the three of them were standing in the doorway to Danny’s bedroom, shoes and jackets discarded in the living room, glasses of water politely offered and refused. Danny hadn’t turned on any lights, just left the curtains open, so the streetlamps cast a weird, orange glow over the neatly made bed and orderly bookshelves. It felt far more intimate than Mike would have expected, especially with the street noise muffled by the windows. “How exactly are we going to do this?”

“You didn’t think about that already?” Danny rolled his eyes before Mike could answer. “What am I saying; you didn’t actually tell Freddie why he was meeting up with me, of course you didn’t think about the actual mechanics of the successful outcome.”

Mike put a hand on Danny’s waist, then stepped in close enough to wrap his arms around Danny, anchoring him against Mike’s body. The whole move took less than ten seconds, which was till ten seconds longer than he wanted to wait before nuzzling Danny’s neck and saying, “I love it when you get all forceful.”

Danny laughed, sounding as utterly relaxed as Mike felt. Freddie had been designated safe since practically the moment they met, but like this, about to get naked with him and Danny, Mike felt like the last of the fear of being outed and thrown out of the Navy was physically lifting away from him. Freddie, leaning in the doorway and watching the two of them, looked like maybe he’d understand that as well, if Mike said anything.

“We’re going to take our clothes off,” Danny said, making no move to do so. “Because there is no sexy way to get three full-grown men naked on a double bed.”

“Speaking from experience?” Mike teased.

Danny turned his head enough for Mike to see his quirked eyebrow. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Mike hesitated, caught between two polar opposite answers.

Danny continued before he could decide on one. “Then I’m going to lie back, and Mike’s going to ride my cock.”

Mike made a small noise, totally unable to contain it. Somehow, Danny’s matter-of-fact tone was more of a turn-on than any attempt at sultriness.

“Freddie’s going to suck Mike’s cock, and I’m going to suck his.”

Mike glanced over at Freddie, who was watching them with greedy eyes, then down at Danny, who was visibly turned on by what he was saying. “Good thing you’re an engineer,” he said.

As it turned out, even the combined spatial awareness of an engineering doctoral student, a sailor with a background in car mechanics and a sailor who specialized in navigation wasn’t quite enough to avoid a few elbows and knees in awkward places, or a couple of moments of wrecked rhythm. About the best that could be said for them, honestly, was that they didn’t manage to jolt Danny in any way that would hurt enough to lose the moment.

When they finally got it figured out, though, it was totally worth the bruises. Mike couldn’t work himself on Danny’s cock the way he usually did, not when Freddie’s mouth was on him at the same time, but the roll of his hips, Danny deep inside him, was a whole other order of intense pleasure. Freddie was tentative at first, moving in tiny jerks of his hips, obviously uncertain of his welcome.

Mike reached down, smoothing a hand over the defined lines in the backs of Freddie’s shoulders. He meant it to be soothing, but it made Freddie moan around his cock, and Mike had to do it again. Freddie’s skin was so warm under his hands, damp with sweat already. Mike bent low. “He can take it. Come on, Freddie.”

Freddie shuddered all over, but his next move was smoother. He dug his feet into the mattress, ass flexing as he rocked into Danny’s mouth, Danny groaning around his cock like it was the best thing ever.

“You look so good like this,” Mike told Freddie, resting one hand on the back of his neck to feel the way his muscles shifted as he moved. “Your mouth is—fuck, amazing. So good.” Freddie didn’t say anything, which wasn’t a surprise at all; he was always near silent during sex, even when his mouth wasn’t full of cock. “Are you sucking me the way Danny’s sucking you? I bet you are. He’s so good at this, man, you don’t even—taught me everything I know about sucking cock, Danny, you’re so—”

Mike bit his lip, words he didn’t say clamoring in the back of his throat. He couldn’t say them, not like this; not when he wasn’t even sure who he’d be saying them to, pinned between the two people he cared most for in the world, loving every second of it.

“You’re so good,” he said instead, low and soft in the darkness. “You’re perfect.”

No one said anything at all after that, too intent on driving each other to climax, spiraling up and up on the smell of sex and sweat, the sound of harsh breathing and skin rubbing against skin. Freddie came first, shuddering hard and pulling off Mike’s cock to gasp for breath.

Mike moaned, reaching for him, pulling him back. Freddie
cried out—probably Danny doing that thing with his tongue that he did when Mike was almost done coming, that made him feel like he was having his orgasm all over again—and Mike took advantage of it, dragging Freddie’s mouth back to his cock. “Don’t stop, so close,” he managed, not even caring whether Freddie was really sucking him anymore, and then Freddie slid a hand back to rub at the place where Mike was sinking down onto Danny’s cock.

It was more than enough to tip Mike over the edge. He heard Danny keen something sharp and cracking as he went over, felt Danny’s cock pulse inside him, but he was already mostly gone, swept up by pleasure.

He came back to himself to find he hadn’t collapsed on anyone like he’d thought, but also that his thighs ached from kneeling for way too long. He winced as he climbed off Danny, Freddie wisely sliding off the bed as he did so. Danny looked most of the way to sleep, which was pretty unusual; whatever it was that made most guys pass out after sex, Danny didn’t have it. He was soft-eyed now, though, watching Freddie and Mike from under lowered eyelashes.

Mike grabbed a spare shirt to clumsily clean himself and Danny up. Freddie took it from him when he finished, looking like he was planning on making a trip to the bathroom. Mike caught his arm before he could and pulled Freddie down for a kiss. Freddie’s mouth tasted familiar, like every blow job they’d shared in the Navy.

“No more sex now,” Danny said, the command totally lost to the slow drawl of his voice. “Sleep now.”

“I don’t know that this bed is made for three people,” Freddie said doubtfully.

“Sure it is.” Mike flopped down, tugging on Freddie’s arm enough to make the intention clear, but not so much that he’d
fall on any of Danny’s damaged parts. Freddie took the hint, and they wound up on either side of Danny, pressing close. After a long moment, Freddie pulled the covers over them all. “See?” Mike asked.

“Whatever,” Danny said. “Sleep now. Sex in the morning. And waffles.”

“Coffee,” Freddie added. “I know a place.”

And kisses,
Mike thought as he slipped down into sleep. He didn’t say it, but that didn’t matter; he didn’t need to say it to know that he’d get to have them. That they all would.

LIBERTY

Dominic Santi

N
inety-six hours of liberty. Damn, I was looking forward to it. I slid my palm over the identilock and walked into the barracks room, dropping my web gear on the chair as the door closed behind me. After seven days in the field, I was tired, I stank and I was so horny all I could think about was burying myself balls deep up Eric’s ass.

My hunky husband was already home, holding the com unit to his ear as he unlaced his scuffed, muddy boots. Eric was as dirty as I was, his short blond hair plastered to his head and his usually pristine utilities stiff with grime. But when he smiled up at me, his sparkling gray eyes lit his whole face. I grinned back like a fool. I knew I looked like hell. The dark curls matted to my scalp itched as much as my balls did. All I could think about, though, was how good Eric’s firm, compact body was going to look when he’d stripped down to his skin and his thick, heavy cock was arching up toward his washboard abs. Eric and I are both short and muscular—we pride ourselves on staying toned
even under the lousiest conditions. My cock filled as I thought about the great workout I was going to give his ass, and vice versa, as soon as he got off the house com and we’d cleaned up enough to kiss.

Before I could settle in to really admire the scenery, though, Eric said, “Caleb just walked in the door. Let me get him for you.”

The way Eric danced past should have warned me. I picked up the receiver to hear, “I want grandchildren!”

I turned and gave Eric the dirtiest look I could, mouthing the words,
You asshole!
as he grinned and ducked into the fresher. Our last weekend before we jumped—I did not want to spend it arguing with my mother, again, on what was fast becoming her favorite topic.

“We have plenty of time, Mom. Eric and I haven’t even been married the two-year minimum for surrogacy…”

She wasn’t buying it. She’d figured out every innuendo of the military exemptions way faster than I’d ever dreamed she could. Not that I really blamed her. Both my family and Eric’s had been decimated by the enviro-plagues of the late twenty-first century. We were only sons. We had compatible first-degree surrogates—my sister, his youngest aunt. And Eric and I were combat infantry NCOs.

I knew my mother loved me to distraction, but she was also terrified of losing my genotypes before I’d reproduced. While the tide of the Bashari war had finally turned in Earth’s favor, the fighting was far from over. Eric and I had both been wounded in the battle for Tartrioch. Now that we’d healed, even our families knew our dirtside tour to learn the newest weapon technology was short-term.