Ferris turned toward him in surprise, getting ready to say “no” to whatever he was about to suggest, but King didn’t ask permission or wait for it, he just moved in on him, crowding him into the corner and taking his face between his hands. He bent his head and kissed him, prying his lips open with his tongue. For a minute, Ferris shut his eyes and enjoyed the wonderful sensation of a man’s warm tongue in his mouth. He found his arms had moved around King of their own accord and his body was moulding itself to his embrace. It felt wonderful! And then he came to his senses and ruefully pushed him away. “I can’t do this.”

King moved back all of one centimetre and smiled at him hopefully, “Yes, you could. I really, really want to have sex with you. I’ve approached you. I even made sure the men outside in the gym saw me follow you in. There’s no way anyone could say you coerced me.”

He moved closer again so that their bodies were pressing against each other and Ferris’ back was against the wall. Ferris could feel the muscles of King’s thighs hard against his, the silky material of his shorts rubbing against him and was thoroughly aroused. It was now impossible to tell King he wasn’t attracted to him, he couldn’t help but know he’d be lying. The other man kissed him again on the lips, then whispered in his ear. “I’ll do anything you want. You can put your hands in my shorts. Or I can take them off for you.”

“Oh god!” Ferris was breathing hard as if he’d just run a race, he was so tempted. He fought for the last vestiges of his self control. “I can’t do this. I’m so sorry, Danyel. If we were anywhere else I’d be after you so fast your head would spin, but... ”

King was starting to suspect he’d lost this round. He stepped back, “Are you really, really sure about this?”

Ferris shook his head, already feeling cold where he had felt warmth a minute before. “I just know it would be wrong. I’ve told every man on this ship that I don’t get involved with anyone on the Jerez. Given the terrible history of abuse that used to happen here, I think it’s really important the crew sees me practising what I preach.”

King summoned up a smile. “We couldn’t be any closer to being the same rank. Maybe you just need to think about it a bit, consider the idea.”

“Danyel, I know what you’re saying, but I really can’t have sex with you. I’d still feel like I was cheating, letting everyone down.” He gave him another gentle push away. “Right now I need to ask you a big favour. You said some of the crew saw you follow me in here. Would you please go out, quickly, and if you can, let the men know we didn’t... ”

King stared at him for a moment, then sighed deeply. “Sweet god but you don’t ask much do you? All right. I wish what you said didn’t make such good sense.” He finally stepped back from him and for the first time let his gaze drop, allowing himself a good long look up and down the other man’s body—he felt he deserved a reward for good behaviour.

“You’re so gorgeous, I think you’re going to star in my fantasies for some time!” He shot Ferris a provocative smile then left the cubicle, shutting the door behind him.

King put his shirt back on and went back into the gym. The men were all looking at him, some out of the corner of their eyes and the atmosphere was a mixture of tension, disillusionment and suspicion. It was almost hostile. King started to feel glad Ferris had turned him down, just imagine how uncomfortable he would have felt if they had actually had sex. Someone said, “That was quick, even for a quickie!” under their breath.

King looked around and decided to take the comet by the tail. He said in a loud voice, “I know you’re all bursting to know the details of my sex life, so I’ll tell you. I gave it my best shot and he turned me down. End of story. You can all relax now and find someone else to gossip about.”

He smiled and changed the subject. “So who wants to get thrashed next at racquetball?”

Ferris showered hastily and came out into the gym dressed in his uniform, keeping his face looking as non-committal as possible. He got a few curious stares but nothing like he had feared, nothing antagonistic; King must have convinced them nothing had happened, thank god. He went to the common room for a coffee and sat down at a table by himself, he needed to calm down from what had just happened, or hadn’t happened.

As he replayed what had occurred in his head, he realised King had actually put a lot of care into his approach. He had come on strong, sure, but not as strong as he could have. He had kept his shorts on and he had aroused him with words and a kiss, and most importantly, he had allowed Ferris to choose whether he wanted to continue or not. If he had put his hand or, god forbid, his mouth down on him he would have been toast, all his principles would have gone spinning off into space and he suspected King had known that as well.

From then on, Ferris made an effort to keep his relationship with King friendly, but at arm’s length, careful to include some other men at his table whenever they ate together. It wasn’t fair on either of them to allow that situation to occur again.