“So, it’s time to spill,” Kaylee said, bouncing up and down as Inara brushed her hair.

“Spill about what?” Inara asked.

“You and the Cap’n, of course,” Kaylee replied. As the brush paused mid-stroke, she continued, “Come on, Inara. I wanna know what he’s like when you’re sexin’. Always have wondered. I figure he’s all…masterful and dominant. Am I right?”

“Kaylee,” Inara chided gently. “I don’t really think it would be …appropriate to talk about that.”

“Why not?” Kaylee asked, genuinely puzzled. “I tell you ‘bout what me and Simon get up to all the time, don’t I? And it ain’t like the Cap’n’s a client, so you ain’t got to keep client confidentiality or nothin’.”

Inara found herself blushing unaccountably. “Well, it’s just that I don’t think Mal would…I think it would make him very angry if he thought I would talk about…that.” She paused for a minute, wondering at what point Mal’s prudishness about sex had rubbed off on her.

“Ain’t like I’d run out and tell ‘im,” Kaylee said, though she had already discerned that Inara would not be forthcoming about her intimacies with the Captain.

“I know you wouldn’t, mei mei,” Inara said soothingly. “I just don’t feel…comfortable with it. He is the Captain, you know.”

Kaylee smiled. “It’s okay, Inara. It’s plain as day you’re happy and he looks downright giddy most of the time, so I guess I don’t need all the juicy details anyways.”

Inara laughed, relieved that Kaylee was going to let the subject drop. “Giddy, huh?”

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As Inara finished up the supply list for Serenity’s stopover on Boros the next day, Kaylee’s question about Mal’s inclinations kept replaying in her head. She couldn’t help but wonder if Kaylee’s guess was completely correct, or if Mal might be amenable to a change of pace. In the short months they’d been together, she had discovered many things that gave Mal pleasure and he had done the same with her. But there was a vast unexplored territory that Kaylee’s questions had brought to Inara’s mind. Perhaps it was time to do some exploring, she thought with a little flush of anticipation.

When Mal climbed down into their bunk after his last check around the ship, Inara was waiting patiently. Seeing she was still awake, Mal walked over to kiss her. “Evenin’, darlin’,” he said, setting about to undress.

Watching the process with a hunger that would have surprised her two years ago, she licked her lips nervously. “Mal,” she said in a low voice, “I was wondering if you might like to try something new tonight.”

Mal looked up at her, a half-smile on his lips. “What might that be?” he asked, his own imagination beginning to supply several possibilities. When Inara reached behind her back and held out four lengths of black silk, Mal’s eyes widened.

“I thought we might use these,” she said seductively.

Mal swallowed. “You want I should…um…tie you up?” he said, his voice cracking despite his best efforts to sound calm.

Inara shook her head. “I thought maybe I could use these on you,” she suggested, her heart hammering in her chest as she waited for the reaction.

Mal stood frozen to the floor for a moment, his mind processing the information in slow motion. “Uhh, darlin’,” he began hesitantly. “I ain’t real sure about that.”

“Why not?” Inara asked. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Ain’t so much a matter of trust, bao bei,” he said, trying to figure the best way out of the conversation. “It’s just…well, with the life I lead, gettin’ tied up don’t hold much charm for me. Generally it comes a second or two before all manner of unpleasantness, if you know what I mean.”

Inara walked over to him and kissed him gently. “I can assure you this would not lead to anything remotely resembling unpleasantness for you,” she whispered against his ear, as she trailed one of the restraints softly across his back.

Mal shivered with the sensation. “You make it sorta hard for a man to resist, darlin’.”

Inara smiled. “Is that a ‘yes’ then?”

Mal took a slow, deep breath. “Reckon it is,” he answered. Nervously, he added, “What exactly is it you want me to do?”

“Just lie down on the bed,” Inara answered, delighted he’d agreed.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it,” she said. “I’ll do the rest.”

As she positioned Mal as she wanted him, he couldn’t help but notice how adept she was at tying the restraints. When she turned her back briefly, he gave them a surreptitious tug, and found, to his consternation, that they had gorram little give in them.

Feeling his body tense with the knowledge, Inara turned back around. “Just relax, Mal,” she said softly.

“I am relaxed,” he said too quickly.

Inara rolled her eyes. “You’re tense as a bowstring,” she said, as she began to run her hands lightly across his shoulders and chest. “Close your eyes for me, air en.”

Mal closed his eyes reluctantly. But as Inara slowly worked her way down his body with her clever hands, Mal found himself relaxing into her magical touch. When she was satisfied that his initial defenses were lowered sufficiently, she replaced her hands with her mouth, painstakingly tracing patterns with her tongue and lips. As she took his hard length into her mouth, Mal’s hips bucked up involuntarily and he jerked against the restraints. “Ai ya, woman,” he breathed out. “That’s just…” He suddenly found it impossible to form coherent thought, as Inara swirled her tongue in wicked patterns over his engorged manhood.

Inara paused and looked up at him, to see that his eyes had popped open and he was staring speechlessly at her, harsh pants ruffling her hair against his thighs. “Like that, do you?” she asked in a sultry whisper as she slid up his body and straddled his hips. She slowly sank inch by inch onto his length and she saw his fists clench in the restraints, as he tried to maintain some control. Rocking her hips in a rhythm she knew would send him catapulting over the edge, she held his gaze. “Let go,” she said.

Well beyond any ability to do otherwise, Mal felt his release ripping through him like a hurricane as Inara continued to move over him. After what seemed an eternity of intense pleasure, Inara slumped over him bonelessly, trying to catch her breath in the aftermath of her own release.

Eventually, when ability to speak returned, Mal shifted as much as the restraints would allow. “Um, darlin’?” he said softly.

Inara lifted her head, looking at him with something akin to wonder. “Yes?” she asked.

“Think you might let me go, now?” he asked, shaking the restraints a little.

Inara smiled lazily. “Depends,” she answered saucily. “What are you going to do if I do?”

“Oh, I’m thinkin’ maybehaps turnabout’s fair play in this little game,” he said, grinning wickedly.

As Inara untied the restraints, she thought that she would really have to remember to thank Kaylee in the morning.

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