Kaylee was layin’ on her belly with one arm hangin’ off the side’ve the bed. She was wearin’ a tank top—a green one— an’ blue unders that looked kinda like little shorts. Jayne hadn’t even had a chance ta take ‘em off. She’d just laid down an’ fell asleep. Hard day. An’ now she was snorin’ like a buffalo.

She wasn’t even pretendin’ they were tryin’ ta keep what they were doin’ a secret anymore. It wasn’t like they were gropin’ each other all public now. They didn’t say nothin’. Didn’t act different. But when it was sleep time, she came right ta Jayne’s bunk no matter who was standin’ in the hallway. Sometimes she went over ta her bunk an’ got some clothes first.

Weird thing was, no one’d said nothin’ about it.

Kaylee gave a big long snore an’ rolled over onto her back, stretchin’ as she did. Her eyes fluttered open a little an’ she looked at ‘im with a little smile.

“Aw, sweetie. I keepin’ you awake?”

She started snorin’ again.

Sweetie?

Jayne propped himself up on his elbow an’ looked down at ‘er. He couldn’t figure out how she was snorin’ so loud if her mouth was open. Didn’t snorin’ involve noses more thn’ mouths?

Still looked cute as hell, though. Open mouth an’ all. She looked like Cinderella. Wait. Snow White. Whoever the sleepin’ one was. The one that slept fer a real long time until someone came an’…

Kaylee sighed an’ shifted again. She stopped snorin’ an’ closed her mouth. She licked her lips. They opened just a little. Just a little. All red an’ sweet lookin’.

Until someone came an’…

It wasn’t like she was gonna poison ‘im. Her lips’d been a hell of a lot’ve places that they coulda done harm an’ they hadn’t. An’ she was real asleep. An’ even if it was only sex, that was parta sex fer most people right? An’ her mouth was sittin’ there lookin all pretty, open just a little like she was waitin’.

Jayne moved real slow so she wouldn’t wake up. He put most’ve his weight on his left arm an’ reached the other one over her, careful not ta touch her. There was just enough room on the edge of the bed fer him to put his hand there an’ give him some balance. He eased some of his weight onto his left hand. Winced when the bed moved. Kaylee didn’t even twitch.

He was kinda leanin’ over her now. Prob’ly would a scared her half ta death if she’d woken up.

Jayne looked down at her. Her hair was kinda mussed up, spread across the pillow lookin’ all shiny. Kaylee wasn’t just cute. Kaylee could be gorram beautiful.

Jayne tried ta calm down the butterflies that was jumpin’ around in his belly an’ made himself breathe real light as he lowered his face down toward hers. He could feel her breathin’ on his lips. He licked ‘em. Didn’t know why he was so nervy. An’ then he touched his mouth ta hers.

Her lips were soft. Wet. Not real wet, but… nice. Her lower lip seemed ta fit perfect between his. He kissed ‘er soft. Kept ‘imself from kissin’ her good an’ hard, like he wanted to all’ve a sudden. Kept ‘imself from takin’ more than that light touch against his lips even though he craved it.

He was just about ta pull away when he felt her lip move. He froze. Her lip moved again an’ her upper lip moved down. She kissed ‘im with a soft kinda sigh. Then her lips moved apart again. He felt the whisper on his mouth.

“Jayne.”

An’ then her hands were on the back’ve his neck, her fingers slidin’ up through his hair, pullin’ his face closer. She leaned up a little an’ kissed ‘im again. Harder. Jayne kissed back, dyin’ with the feel of her mouth. She moved her lips apart, still against his, and Jayne touched his tongue to hers. So soft.

He dropped down onto his elbows an’ slid his arms behind Kaylee’s back. He lifted her up a little an’ slid one of his hands up behind her head, diggin’ his fingers into her hair. She moved her mouth against his, her tongue flickin’ in an’ out, slidin’ all nice, tastin’ the corners of his mouth. He tasted hers right back.

She pulled her mouth away just enough to break the kiss an’ licked Jayne’s lower lip. Jayne kissed ‘er again, real light, an’ felt her smile.

He lowered her back down onto the bed an’ slid his hands out from under her. He pushed her hair back off of her forehead an’ smiled. Couldn’t help it. Her pretty rubbed off on ‘im sometimes.

She smiled back, slow an’ sleepy.

Jayne rolled onto his side, facin’ her, an’ opened his arms. She scooted in to fill the space an’ he wrapped her up. Her face was pressed against his chest an’ his chin was on the top of her head.

She sighed an’ slipped her arm around his waist.

He slid his hand up an’ down her back an’ pulled her close against ‘im. He slept better that way.