Captivated (The Verge Book 2) Read online

  This time, he received a response in the form of a skeptically raised eyebrow and what Theo personally considered to be an offensive lack of concern.

  “I could do it. I assure you I have unexpected depths.”

  He took the silent flex of rippling back muscles as reply.

  “Am I technically your prisoner if there is no prison? ‘Captive’ would be a more accurate descriptor, one would think.”

  The man inclined his head toward the battered copilot seat. “Strap in.”

  He waited until Theo had clumsily buckled the harness before reaching over to yank on the straps to tighten them. Theo’s heart went into double time as he manipulated the straps over his hips with a firm hand.

  Theo had always been partial to a firm hand.

  Never before had he encountered one that was so charmingly decorated. Theo had also always been partial to calligraphy.

  His captor strapped into his own seat and initiated takeoff. The ship lifted from the dock, leaned distinctly sideways, then righted itself with a wobble and fell directly back onto the dock in a worrisome shriek of metal.

  A colorful and culturally diverse selection of cursing filled the cockpit as the stranger banged his fist against the dash. He then lifted the ship from the dock again, this time without the sideways lean.

  There was still a significant wobble though.

  Muttered cursing underscored the creaking, rattling symphony of their wobbling ascent into the darkness of space.

  Theo used what he liked to consider covert techniques to observe his captor, who focused on controlling the ship with knuckles white beneath his tattoos.

  The hexagonal designs on his wrists wrapped around strong forearms, also accented by the odd botanical element, which jarred against the severe geometric patterns.

  One of the botanical elements draped down across the back of his Honor hand; its lush greenery, caged by wandering geometric lines, spilled from under the pushed-back cuff of his thermal knit shirt. More calligraphy kissed the nape of his neck, framed by the parallel lines snaking down below his collar.

  Theo leaned closer to try to interpret the letters and earned a quelling glance. The man’s lips tightened into a line of disapproval. Lips that were molded into smooth, lush curves. Theo pondered how they might feel caught delicately between his teeth.

  Or indelicately, for that matter.

  The stranger relaxed his grip on the controls as he peered at the projections across his screen, then let go to sit back in his chair.

  Theo released his harness to tilt forward, wrists draped over his crossed knees. “What should I call you?”

  The stranger kept his attention on the view screen. “My name is unimportant.”

  Fiendish delight curled through Theo as he lifted his hands to fuss with his cuff in a flourish. “Unimportant, is it? That’s a strange name. Maybe not where you come from, but certainly where I live. Cultural naming practices are absolutely fascinating, don’t you agree? It is a pleasure to meet you, Unimportant!”

  The stranger slowly turned to Theo, his face stricken in a very familiar “did he just” grimace. He shook his head, brows scrunching at Theo before turning away. “No. My name is not relevant. You don’t need to know it.”

  Theo flung his arms in the air, fingers spread as irritation won out. “Well, I can’t just call you ‘stranger’ forever!”

  The stranger considered him with growing concern, as though he was just now considering the possibility that Theo may be slightly unbalanced.

  It usually didn’t take people quite this long.

  “You have never called me ‘stranger.’”

  Theo churned his hands through the air emphatically. “In my head, obviously! I need something to refer to you by, if only in my thoughts!”

  The stranger’s expression grew less concerned and more contemplative. “You have been thinking about me.”

  The problem was that when Theo blushed, it was both hideously and violently as if someone had dumped a bucket of red paint over his head and let it run down his body. He fidgeted in his seat, tucking his elbows in tightly. “Well, there isn’t really anyone else here, is there? Of course I have been thinking about you! In a strictly socially acceptable, non-creepy way.”

  The stranger said nothing, but the way his chest rose and fell with a deep, extended breath seemed judgmental to Theo.

  “I’m sorry,” Theo said, “that sounded creepy. Not that I should worry about what you think of me, considering you’re my abductor. If anyone is creepy here, it is clearly you.”

  “Park.”

  Theo took a deep breath of his own, thankful for the interruption as he could feel himself building up to an absolute mountain of babble. “Pardon?”

  The stranger turned to the view screen, but Theo could tell he was keeping him in his peripheral. “My name. Captain Jun Park.”

  Straightening in his seat excitedly, Theo extended his hand once more. “Absolutely smashing to meet you, Jun! You may call me—”

  Jun winced at Theo’s use of his name, his body language already suffused with regret. He frowned as he interrupted Theo’s introduction. “I know your name.”

  Theo used his extended hand to toss his hair back over his shoulder, then swirled one lock around his index finger. “Well, yes, you did come searching for Dr. Campbell, but my given name is—”

  “Theophrastus.”

  Theo’s ears perked up at the accurate, if accented, pronunciation. He tilted forward in his seat, perched at full attention. “However did you know that?”

  Jun twitched his head in the direction of his coat, one shoulder lifting in a quarter of a shrug. “Your paper.”

  Humming thoughtfully, Theo laced his fingers together over one knee as he swung his foot. “Of course. I had quite forgotten you were a fellow linguistics enthusiast. I only use my full name on academic documents. My friends call me Theo. Well, perhaps ‘friends’ is an overstatement. My associates and Ari call me Theo anyway.”

  Theo firmly stomped down on the familiar prick of pain at the reminder that he had no one but his brother to call a friend. People didn’t tend to spend time with Theo on purpose, not for any length of it anyway.

  No point in dwelling on such dreary matters. Every day a new opportunity. One never knew when a handsome stranger might carry one off into the sunset, after all. The fact that there had been no sunset and, instead, a depressing fog did nothing to dim Theo’s delight with the possibilities.

  “I really must insist that you call me Theo rather than trying to muddle through Theophrastus.” Theo slanted a sly glance up through his eyelashes. “I’ve been told I’m quite a mouthful.”

  Jun made an odd choking noise, face drifting out of his frown for a few stunned, glorious seconds.

  Now, that was fascinating. Theo needed to see more of that.

  Jun released the controls to run a hand through the longer strip of hair on the top of his head, gripping it by the roots as he turned a glare on Theo. “Do you ever stop talking?”

  Theo considered this, head tilted to the side as his foot continued to swing. “Generally, no. Not unless my mouth is otherwise occupied.”

  Jun’s gaze fell to his lips at that before darting away to the view screen.

  A blush crept up Theo’s neck to settle warm against his cheeks as he scrambled to elaborate. “With food, I meant. Or something similarly innocuous. Although I suppose the same could be true of more inappropriate applications. In fact, there was one incident during my final year of undergraduate studies where a particular companion of mine made ingenious use of a—”

  He cut off as he finally heard himself, snapping his mouth shut in the face of Jun’s naked fascination. The man observed him exactly as one would a carriage accident in progress, with a potent mixture of horror and rapt attention.

  Theo cleared his throat, his fingers busy with picking imaginary dust off the knee of his trousers. “My apologies. I do tend to chatter when I am nervous. This is my first abd
uction, you see. Not that one tends to experience multiple abductions, in the general course of things. Though I suppose this is very much out of the general course of things. I’ve certainly never met someone like you before, and—”

  Theo dropped wide eyes to the tattooed hand covering his mouth. Jun’s calloused palm rasped against the sensitive skin of his lips.

  It was decidedly not unpleasant.

  Jun’s quiet voice boomed in the silent cockpit, his face sharp with warning. “I will gag you if you will not. Cease. Speaking.”

  Theo’s eyes attempted to go even wider but met their limit. Jun removed his hand with a fleeting glance at Theo's lips and curled it into a fist by his side as he settled back into his chair.

  Theo sucked in a noisy breath, lips tilting up with shocked glee. “Will you really? Goodness, I’ve read some rather fascinating stories where that happens, to various effect. Some much more pleasant than others. Though I suppose this isn’t that kind of story.”

  Theo got the distinct impression that if Jun had been a cat, he would have hissed.

  A strobing light brought Theo’s attention to the dash, half again as big and twice as complicated as the one on his and Ari’s little ship.

  A clear dome with an open padlock covered a large red button just left of center. Theo stood, moved toward it, and lifted the dome. “What does this button do? It’s ever so tantalizing, isn’t it, under the little cloche? Shall I press it?”

  Jun leapt from his seat and wrapped his hands around both of Theo’s wrists. “No! Sit down. Touch nothing.”

  Huffing, Theo blew his hair out of his face. “What a nonsensical request. I can hardly ‘touch nothing,’ can I? For instance, my boots are touching the floor as we speak. Were I to sit in the chair, my derrière would be touching the seat. And, just now—” He turned his hand to brush against the bony protuberance of Jun’s wrist. “—I am touching you.”

  Jun let go of him as though burned, eyes narrowed to dark, angry slits. His voice dipped into a lower register, sending lovely shivers down Theo’s spine. “Sit down and shut up.”

  Theo cocked his head to the side and lazily stretched his arm out to hit one of the buttons on the dash.

  Chapter Three

  The tape was unexpected.

  Theo had always pictured rope when he imagined this particular scenario. And considerably less in the way of clothing.

  He pulled against the tape binding his arms to the chair, twisting his wrist in a thoughtless effort to fidget.

  Sitting still and being quiet were not amongst Theo’s strengths. Or even amongst his capabilities, to be brutally honest about the matter.

  Jun’s lips twitched as Theo jerked against the tape again. A shadow of a smile crossed his face like an errant cloud.

  Well, at least one of them was enjoying themselves.

  Theo kicked his feet against the base of his chair, delighting as Jun’s shoulders tensed at the noise. He kicked harder. “It might interest you to know”—he raised his voice to be heard over the boisterous clank of his spats hitting the dented metal—“that while you are certainly not the first to threaten to adhere me to my chair, you are the first to actually follow through.”

  Jun smirked, just a little, the lines beside his mouth deepening on one side with a glint of amusement. He said nothing in response, only continued to adjust the flight controls by tiny increments. Theo could not help but notice it did nothing to correct the wobble.

  Theo shook a tangled lock of hair out of his eyes and tugged his wrists against the tape with the compulsion to tuck it behind his ear. “Oddly enough, most people grow irritated with me in a surprisingly short amount of time.”

  “I find that difficult to believe,” Jun muttered.

  Theo sparked with joy, biting his lip against a happy curve. While he was fully capable and willing to carry the entire weight of a conversation, he derived much more satisfaction from eliciting a response. “Right? I think the problem is that people are never open to experiencing refreshing—”

  Jun cut him off with a scowl as he swiveled his seat to grace Theo with the full-frontal view of his tightly crossed arms, which caused the thin leather straps of his holster to cut into the muscle of his shoulders.

  The open vee of his worn-thin shirt fell away to one side, revealing the tantalizing curve of his strong chest and a continuation of the designs flowing down his neck.

  Theo had to drag his gaze away to focus on his face as Jun spoke.

  “No. I find it difficult to believe”—his deep voice rumbled through Theo until he felt as wobbly as the ship—“that there is any amount of time in which people do not find you irritating.”

  Theo deflated, sagging back into his chair. His feet shuffled to an awkward stop against the floor. “Oh.”

  The lock of hair fell back into his eyes, but Theo couldn’t muster up the will to blow it away again. He tucked his chin to study the bony knobs of his knees outlined by the fine brown velvet of his trousers.

  Yet another social interaction up in flames due to his inability to be quiet. Why had he ever thought Jun might be willing to put up with him?

  There was something about the thrill of being wanted, the idea that this unknown, handsome man had actually sought out Theo of his own volition. It made Theo lose his already tenuous grip on good sense.

  He tossed his head halfheartedly, the lock of hair stubbornly clinging to the crest of his cheek beneath his left eye. Theo sighed and closed his eyes in defeat, hands falling limp in their binding.

  The unexpected brush of tattooed fingers across his forehead sang through his senses like an aria, the lock of hair tucked neatly behind his ear.

  He peeked up at Jun to find him determinedly turned away, profile blank as his hand lowered back to his crossed arms and folded tightly beneath as if to keep it in place.

  Theo couldn’t contain his smile; a happy glow started across his forehead and ran down his body like warm water. He leaned closer, the new angle bending his wrists uncomfortably. “I don’t suppose it would make a difference if I asked you nicely to let me go?”

  Jun swiveled farther away, arms still crossed as he pondered the dash as though it had recently punched him in the face.

  Theo marveled at Jun’s ability to sit in silence as the minutes ticked away—until Theo’s fidgeting began to grow necessary. He cleared his throat, noticing Jun’s jaw clench while he refused to acknowledge him.

  Theo jiggled his legs, pressing his knees together tightly. There was a screw loose somewhere in his seat that rattled with the movement. Jun’s eyes shot over to him, face forbidding.

  Theo jiggled more insistently. “Presuming that you intend to keep me captive for any significant amount of time, is there any way you could release the tape? I have a need of the facilities, and I’m afraid matters may grow somewhat urgent in the very near future.”

  Theo turned his attention to the tangled mess of exposed wiring hanging out of an open panel just above the floor. “The last thing you want is a flood in the cockpit.”

  Jun’s gaze dropped to his crotch for a split second, then moved on to the tape with a thoughtful frown.

  Theo was thankful the urgency of his full bladder prevented any noticeable movement in the area. Any further attention from Jun was likely to have resulted in an uprising in the lower ranks, if one wanted to be coy about it. “In your own time, of course, but quite quickly please.”

  Jun didn’t move except to swivel his chair once more, scrutinizing Theo closely. Theo tried to convey his urgency, to glorious success if the alarmed expression on Jun’s face was anything to go by.

  As he reached into his trouser pocket, Jun lifted his hips in order to fit his hand inside the tight fabric. Theo’s teeth caught his lower lip at the motion, holding back a sound that would have been, at best, unfortunate.

  Jun retrieved a knife and flicked it open in a practiced motion that had Theo’s blood racing for all the wrong reasons. That really should not have been as attract
ive as it was.

  He stood and approached Theo’s chair, knife held out at his side as if Theo might yet break the bindings and lunge for it. Theo found his caution surprisingly flattering.

  Jun stopped in front of his chair, knife at the ready. “If I remove the tape, will you stop pressing buttons?”

  Reluctant to prevaricate, Theo seesawed his head. He tried to make his eyes as big and pleading as possible, holding them open to achieve a watery effect.

  Jun sighed, his free hand pinching the low bridge of his nose in a move Theo had watched his brother perform countless times. And his father. And his academic advisor. And his housekeeper, come to think of it.

  “Will you promise not to press random buttons that might kill us?”

  Theo nodded in what he hoped was a trustworthy manner as Jun squinted at him doubtfully. “I promise to do my level best.” The button hadn’t even done anything particularly interesting, as far as he could tell. Not so much as an activated light on the dash.

  Jun’s reaction had been more interesting by far. It had been worth pushing any number of buttons just to have his undivided attention.

  Jun appeared to hold little faith in Theo’s best efforts, huffing out a muttered curse as he braced Theo’s wrist, knife still held away from them.

  He went still, eyes locking on Theo’s. “If I tell you not to do something”—his voice low with command—“you will listen. I am the captain, and my orders must be obeyed.”

  Oh.

  Well, that was interesting. Theo was learning something new about himself every day. Today, he learned that all it took was a commanding voice and a pair of beautiful dark eyes, and his internal organs could be rendered entirely liquid.

  Fascinating, if inconvenient.

  Jun didn’t move, unblinkingly trained on Theo’s face as he struggled to nod, having somehow lost all control of his neck muscles.

  With his finger hooked under the binding, keeping it between the blade and Theo’s skin, Jun cut through the thick utility tape.