Rating: NC-17 Pairing/Characters: Mal/Inara Series: Sushi!Verse Summary: Mal keeps his afternoon appointment with Inara. Word Count: 2296 words Spoilers: None A/N: Written for the LJ community sushi_fic for terimaru! as part of her “A New Beginning” series. Takes place immediately following Part 3 – funny that, seein’ as how this is Part 4 an’ all.

Title: A New Beginning – Part 4 By: 2x2
Inara knew something was wrong the moment he walked in the door. Mal held their daughter tucked against his chest as she slept, but the angle of his shoulders and the set of his jaw spoke of anger – the kind of anger she hadn't seen in him in a long time.

She set her cup of tea down and rose from the table, concerned. "Shenme shi?" she asked as he hung Alley’s cowboy hat on the coat rack, but he shook his head. Whether he didn't want her to wake Alley or he just didn't want to talk about it, she wasn't sure, but she followed him to their daughter's room silently. She watched as he gently laid Alley down in her crib, draping a blanket over her with such obvious love and tenderness that Inara couldn't help the soft smile that touched her lips. To see Malcolm Reynolds with his daughter was to see a different man. The time since Miranda had seen a great deal of change in him, but it was never so obvious as when he was with Alley, and she thanked Buddha every day for the child they had created.

After a gentle kiss to their daughter’s chocolate curls, Mal turned back to her, his eyes sliding away from her questioning gaze as he guided her out of the room with a hand at her hip. He closed the door behind them and she turned to face him, worry creasing her brow.

"Mal—" she started, but he brought his lips to hers, one arm going around her, walking her backwards toward their bedroom as he teased her mouth open beneath his.

"Later," he growled, voice heavy with desire, but she heard more in his demand - a plea that she let this rest for now - and she nodded against him, taking him at his word, recognizing his need to reconnect with her, to ground himself.

She brought her hands up to thread her fingers through his hair, pulling him into a deeper kiss and he drew her against him, his own hands splaying across her back as he pressed against her. She loved his hands, had always loved them; how they nearly enveloped her when he held her, spanning her back, the rough pads of his fingers catching the fabric of her dress or her naked skin as he drew patterns of love on her body.

Now, they gripped her almost desperately, their trembling fueled by edgy emotion and she worked at soothing him into soft, loving kisses with her mouth, her hands easing the tension from his shoulders with gentle, smooth motions.

Leading now, she pulled him into their bedroom and he followed, running his hands down to the hem of her shirt and slipping under it, seeking the heat of her bare skin, soft and silky beneath his touch, eyes closing as she hummed her appreciation against his lips.

"So. Read anything interesting in that book a' yours?" he mumbled between kisses, hands making their way up her body to cup her breasts.

She arched into him, breaking contact with his lips and hands only as long as it took to pull her blouse over her head. "Nothing too inspiring, sadly," she said, working on his buttons, knowing that acrobatic experimenting and the possibility of awkward sex was not what he needed right now. Familiar and comfortable would be best. Whatever he needed, she would give. "I'm afraid you'll just have to improvise," she said, grinning up at him coyly. She pulled his bottom lip between her teeth and pushed his shirt over his shoulders, suspenders and all, hands returning to spread over his bared skin, all claws.

He made a low, predatory sound in his throat, and she let his tongue coax her mouth open as he pulled his arms from his sleeves. He trailed kisses along her jaw to her ear and down, his teeth and tongue coming into play at her throat, drawing sharp, shivering gasps from her.

"Improvise, huh?" he said into her neck. "Think I can handle that." With that he picked her up and laid her on the bed, hands running down her body to pull her skirt from her, lips quirking as he saw she was wearing nothing underneath.

Inara grinned, her eyes gleaming wickedly at him as she sat up and worked his trousers loose, lips pressing kisses to his belly as she slowly drew the pants down his legs. He shuddered and she smiled against his skin, letting her tongue lead her down and around to his hipbone, teeth scraping across the ridge, relishing his sharp intake of breath. She nuzzled the crease where his leg met his pelvis and pressed her nose into the patch of hair beside it, inhaling the scent of his musk as it mixed with the rest of his smell, just as familiar. Her hands came up to hold his hips and she closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of his shuddering in response to her touch as she brushed his erection with her hair. Turning, she pressed her lips to the shaft of his rigid sex, tongue flicking out to lick the underside of him, just below the head.

Mal hissed and caught her face between his hands gently, chest heaving as he pulled away from her lips with a groan. "You do that an' this is gonna be over a lot quicker than it's already gonna be," he ground out, voice rough and deep.

She chuckled softly, breath whispering over him and let him lay her back on the bed again, lips welcoming his as he leaned in for a kiss. Their mouths moved together frantically, parting and meeting again, tongues stroking and entwining. Inara let her head fall back to the pillows as Mal trailed his lips down her throat, dipping into the hollow between her collar bone before pushing lower, licking the swell of her breast and drawing a nipple between his teeth. His sojourn there was brief however, as he continued downward, pressing kisses down her ribs and lower.

"Tian a, Inara, it's been too long," he breathed, mouth caressing her belly.

"It's only been a few days," she chided as he traced a faded stretch mark with his tongue, swatting at him in mock annoyance, long ago resigned to the fact that he loved the ugly markings, evidence of their daughter within her. Having a child had had an impact on their opportunities for lovemaking, but things were not nearly the dry spell he made them out to be, she thought with amused affection.

"A lifetime," he mumbled against her skin, dipping lower, hands urging her thighs open as he parted her soft folds with his tongue. She found that maybe she agreed with him after all, her breath catching in a series of stuttering gasps, body jerking as his lips closed over her. He moved his hands up to her hips, pressing there to hold her still and she clutched at his forearms, moaning as he shifted his grip to her wrists, locking his fingers around her tightly, mouth rising with her as she arched, never breaking contact.

The familiar, deep coiling of tension began to swell within her, the muscles in her lower abdomen tightening as he suckled at her sex. She moaned, the sound tearing from her, almost a sob, her fingers clenching and unclenching spasmodically as she bucked against him, pressure building with every maddening circle of his tongue as his mouth worked between her thighs. Her breath came in labored pants and she moaned again, the impending release of her climax approaching ridiculously, almost unbearably, fast.

"Mal… In me," she half-demanded, half-begged breathlessly. She wanted him inside her when she came, unable to resist taking that much for herself.

Mal growled, drawing her clitoris between his teeth and lips one last time, message received, and then moved up her body in acquiescence. He ran his hand up the underside of her calf, pushing her leg up as he trailed his fingers down her thigh. Turning his head, he pressed a kiss to her ankle and leaned into her, angling his body over hers in a way that bent her leg forward and she gasped in anticipation, her calf coming to rest on his shoulder as he nudged closer. He drew his hand along her other thigh and she wrapped the leg around him, pulling him up tight to her, trapping his erection between their bodies. He rocked against her slowly, the length of him sliding along her center with every thrust and she released a soft, whimpering sound of impatience, her eyes falling closed as she fought to control her need for him.

She re-opened them, sensing a shift in his focus as Mal slowed slightly, his gaze gone distant, lost in thought, and she blinked in surprise. Normally it didn’t take much to keep Mal's attention during their lovemaking - usually she had a harder time keeping his mind out of the bedroom. For him to be so distracted… Whatever had happened between him and Abel must have affected him deeply, she realized, her worry returning.

"Mal," she whispered softly, drawing him back to her, seeing a sadness in his face that made her heart constrict with concern. She almost spoke before the flare of desire returned to his eyes and he brought his lips to hers again, swallowing any words she might have uttered, a silent apology in his kiss. She watched him as he pulled back, following his gaze down the length of their bodies as he lifted his hand from her thigh and guided himself to her, sinking into her heat with a slow thrust. Inara drew in a sharp breath, her head falling back as he filled her, shuddering at the initial feeling of him so deep inside.

It was always like this with him. As a Companion, she'd taken hundreds of clients to her bed, yet very rarely had the experience been anything close to what it was to make love with Mal. She felt the same shuddery breathlessness with him every time, the same uncontrollable passion. She knew why, of course, and though her instructors would never have encouraged or touted anything so intangible, she knew that it was love - as trite as it sounded - that made all the difference.

A deep groan was pulled from her as he rocked his hips back and then forward again, hands taking a firm grip on her waist as he let his body's weight press him into her. She brought her hands up to grasp his forearms, his muscles tight beneath her fingers, flexing as he withdrew slowly and then pushed back inside. Her eyes fluttered and she saw him grin the proud little smirk he could never keep from his lips when he saw how he affected her. Raising an eyebrow, she flexed her own muscles, gripping him inside, and he let out an appreciative chuckle. She grinned back with a quirk of her lips, her eyes widening as his took on a glint of challenge. She drew in a breath that was promptly forced from her lungs as he jerked his hips back and gave a quick, sharp thrust into her, fast and hard, repeating it once, then again, and again, setting a pace that had her moaning and breathless.

She clung to him, her fingers biting into his biceps as she slid her hands further up his arms, her leg pressing up against her chest as he bent over her. The heat sliding through her belly tightened again, pulling in on itself in a deepening spiral of tension; it wasn't going to take long.

Mal's breaths came fast and heavy through his nose, nostrils flaring in time with every thrust, his body slick with sweat and she could already feel him trembling with the effort of holding back his own release.

When it came, it took them without warning, catching them both by surprise and Mal grunted in anguished ecstasy, his hips jerking roughly as he drove himself into her, her whole body jarring with each thrusting impact as his heat spread, warm and sticky, inside her.

He collapsed atop her, one hand immediately slipping down to slide between her legs. "'M sorry," he mumbled into her neck, hips moving slowly, still hard inside her, his fingers fluttering over her sensitive flesh. She wrapped her arms around him tightly with a shake of her head, eyes squeezing shut as she held her breath in concentration, her body thrumming with tension, muscles taut and trembling. Every brush of his fingers, every stroke inside her, brought her closer and closer, the pressure building to an almost unbearable peak until there was a sharp, lighting-flash of pleasure-pain and she crashed over the edge, an inarticulate cry wrenched from her lips. He covered her mouth in a kiss, swallowing her sounds before they could wake their daughter. Her fingers clenched on his back, nails scratching across his skin as her orgasm pulsed through her and she had to grab his wrist, still his hand between her thighs, or die from the excruciating pleasure of it.

Eventually she felt Mal slip from her body as her tremors faded, following as he turned to his side and ran his fingers up and down her thigh. She drew in several panting breaths, humming appreciatively as she arched in a languid stretch then let her head rest on his chest, fingers tracing imaginary shapes over his belly and tangling in the sparse hairs that led down.

“So,” she said softly once she’d come back to herself, dropping a kiss to his skin. “Are you ready to tell me what’s bothering you?” . . . .

TBC in Part 5