***Disclaimer: Firefly, Serenity, and all related characters are copyright 2002-2005 Mutant Enemy, Inc., Universal Pictures, and 20th Century Fox. This is a work of fan-fiction. No copyright infringement is intended.***

Jayne’s hands tangle in her curls, holding her closer, deepening the kiss. She touches him possessively, with purpose; she knows what she does to him. He trembles. He doesn’t care that she knows. He’s not the only one. He pulls her hair to get access to the sensitive curve of her neck. She doesn’t resist and he is merciless with his lips, tongue and teeth. She rewards him with a throaty groan as her fingers dig into his back.

He releases her, grasps the edges of her nightgown and rips it, letting the pieces fall to the floor. Then he is on her, sucking her nipple into his mouth, greedily moving to the next, palming the curve of her pi gu, feeling her silk covered heat cradle his monstrous hard on. With a groan, he turns her around, bends her over the table and grabs his blade.

“Don’t move,” he growls then slices through the wet silk covering her luscious pi gu.

She arches as it flutters to the floor between her spread legs. She says nothing when he stabs the heavy blade two inches into the table. Obediently, she waits for his touch, and though it takes only seconds for his eyes to take in the sexy fall of her curls over her shoulders, the small hollow of her back, her curvy small waist, she moans impatiently.

“Now.”

With a muttered curse, he palms her center and lets his fingers play in her wetness as she moans his name and trembles under his hands. Zoë is ready to take all of him and he strains with anticipation. One hand holds her hips steady; the other guides him to her center. Head thrown back, he groans violently as he plunges—

“JAYNE!”

Jayne’s eyes flew open as he steadied himself against the shower wall. He groaned his frustration to the empty shower stall.

“JAYNE!” Mal’s bellow drew closer.

Tian xiz shou you de ren dou gai si. Shoving his head under the spray, Jayne unclenched his teeth long enough to holler, “Hold your ruttin’ horses, I’m coming.”

Shit. Even to his ears he sounded hoarse and out of breathe, but at least he answered. Glancing down, Jayne stared balefully at the most persistent hard-on he had ever conjured in his life. He took a hold of himself again and with a practiced hand and a vicious growl, he unleashed his demon.

Spent and breathless, he rested his head against the shower wall, contemplating how long before he could make it back to the showers.

“Jayne, get your ass out here.”

Grim faced, he punched off the water and grabbed a towel.

He’d forgotten that he promised Mal he would take a look at the mule. Now was as good a time as any to figure out what was wrong with that crappy piece of machinery. Of course, his sudden willingness had everything to do with the fact that it was late and Zo should be heading to his bunk. He just hoped she was sleeping by the time he got there. Instead of bedding down with her, he’d taken to sleeping in a chair. Sure as hell wasn’t comfortable, but it would do until he figured out something else or grew another pair.

There. It was settled. He had a plan. Fix the Mule. Take his time doing his chores. Shower again. Sneak into his bunk.

It was a good plan.

Satisfied, he quickly dressed and headed through the hatch.

“You ben tian sheng de yi dui rou, why the hell is River doing your chores?” Mal yelled the minute Jayne’s head appeared.

“Huh?”

“Kitchen is clean, mule is fixed and the galley is restocked; all your chores, all done by River. Now, I’m wondering, why she would do such a generous thing?”

“She did?... Well I didn’t ask her to do them, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“What did you give her to do them, Jayne.”

“Nothing.”

“She ain’t said a word about having, ah…getting sexed—did you promise to sneak her off the ship to get—”

“Hell no, I ain’t stupid, Mal. And just cause Crazy does my chores doesn’t mean I put her up to it. She’s loony remember? Maybe she thought they were her chores,” he shrugged.

“We’ll see. I’m watching you, Jayne. And by the by, next rotation you’ve got River’s chores and yours.” Mal stomped off but not before yelling, “And quit using up all my water. Two showers in less that four hours is more than you’re due. The next one comes out of your pay.”

“What gorram pay?” Jayne mumbled as he strode off to find a certain pain-in-the-ass killer. It took twenty minutes to find her and when he did, Jayne was pissed.

“Hey, girl. Why’d you go and do all my chores for? You trying to get me in trouble?”

“I need more batteries.”

“What the hell is the matter with you?”

“I did your chores, so now you owe me more batteries.”

“First of all, I didn’t ask you to do my chores, and B, I ain’t taking any more batteries for you. Mal’s already got his panties in a knot about something and I ain’t walking into that. Stay away from me little girl and stay away from my chores.” Jayne cursed as he stormed to the galley. Now he couldn’t go to the showers again tonight and had nothing to keep him busy into the night.

“Twelve packs,” River yelled after him.

* * * *

Late into the night when he finally dragged himself to his bunk, Zoe wasn’t there. And after waiting what seemed like hours he fell asleep on his bed—horny and pissed.

Despite the low light, Jayne knew the minute Zoe stepped on the ladder, when she undressed and when she pulled on her nightgown. He instantly pictured stripping it off her, grabbing her hair and burying—

He contemplated the showers again but there was no way in hell he was going to explain to Mal that yes he had to take his third shower for the day because his John Thomas was so hard he was convinced blindness was the only certain outcome. He abandoned that idea and instead forced a capture in his head of his newest gun. She was so sleek he’d named her Zoë and palming her, feeling the bullets slam down the barrel felt so gorram sexual—his gut knotted and he realized how much he shouldn’t be in this bed. So moments later when Zoë slid in next to him, he forced himself to stay still and let her fit herself against him. He laid there with his arm draped across his eyes and his jaw grinding his teeth into paste, grasping for something to think about other than the hunger he was fighting to contain.

Then as if to pay him back for every wrong he had done in his sorry life, Zoë continued to shift in search of a comfortable spot. If he could’ve moved to give her more room he would have, but he didn’t trust himself to even breathe, so moving wasn’t an option. So he doggedly ignored her warm body sliding against him and the heat of her skin prickling over him from head to toe.

She shifted again, this time too close to his hardware.

Shit. Jayne clamped both hands on her waist forcing a sliver of space between them.

“Stay still,” he growled next to her ear.

She moved.

“I said stay still,” he said in a harsh whisper as he tried to calm the pounding in his shorts and chest.

“I’m not blind, Jayne.”

“Then if you know what’s good for the both of us you’ll stay ruttin’ still,” he forced through his teeth.

By some mercy, she didn’t move, “Jayne—”

“Not a word, Zo.” He ground out, “I can handle it.”

Then as if to prove that he couldn’t, she moved. A slow, deliberate slide over his burning skin until her thigh brushed the one place it had no business being near.

His breath exploded out in a hiss, “Goddamn it, Zo.”

He scrambled out of bed as if she had put a torch to the sheets.

“Jayne—” Zoë stood behind him so close he could feel her warm breath against his skin.

“Leave it be, Zoë,” he puffed out the front of his shorts as best he could. When he got up the balls to face her he had a touch more control but backed up some to give his nuts breathing room.

She glanced pointedly at his tented shorts, “And if I don’t want to?”

“Don’t play with me, Zo. Not right now.”

“Not really looking to play exactly,” she licked her lips and he almost dropped his shorts right there. Instead he glared at her, suddenly annoyed, “You ain’t ready, Zoë.” He shook his head, “Not right now.”

“You think you know what I want, Jayne?” She stepped closer; he manned up and held his ground.

She thought he didn’t know? That he couldn’t see how she jumped every time he touched her back? Even touching her neck, that sweet spot that he loved, made her cringe. Oh, she was fine when she came to his bed because she came willingly, laid next to him of her own volition, even let him hold her how she wanted him to hold her. But that was control he gave willingly; that control he didn’t have right now.

So, yeah, he knew exactly what she wanted. And he couldn’t give it to her right now. His shit was too tenuous for that. He needed to come hard and fast. He wouldn’t last and he wouldn’t be gentle. He watched her, certain she didn’t know how fragile his hold on himself was, certain that if she knew she wouldn’t stand so close, wouldn’t tempt him like this.

She was playing a dangerous game and she needed to know it.

He meant to prove a point, but the second he grabbed her and buried his face in the curve of her neck, it dawned on him that he was an idiot. Sweet Buddha, all the parts that count fit like they always did and all of a sudden he was contemplating some serious shit that didn’t involve clothes or a bed.

Shit, was that him groaning like that?

Mercifully, Zoe pushed him away and saved him from doing something even more stupid. His gut twisted to see her look rattled, just uncertain enough. He hadn’t meant to be so rough.

He somehow found his voice, “Like I said, you ain’t ready.”

“Not like that.”

“So now you got rules for how I touch you?”

“Why are you making this hard? Wo yu wang ni.

“Hell, Zoe,” he couldn’t hide the rawness in his voice, “you can do whatever you want to me. But I ain’t no saint so if you start touching me, there ain’t no place on that body of yours I ain’t putting my mouth and hands. Dong ma? So you best be certain about what you want.”

That stopped her. Good.

Why he kept talking, he couldn’t tell but maybe it was a wild bid to keep blood circulating in his head, to get the shit out of his mind, or to just confess his sins.

“I get you not trusting me after what I let happen to you, and I can’t say I blame—.”

Zoë’s head snapped up, “What exactly did you let happen to me?”

Jayne glared at her, pissed that she was going to make him say it. He took a breath, “I let…Merrick hurt you.”

“Tian xiao de you didn’t let Merrick do anything to me. It wasn’t your job, Jayne.” “You still think this is about a job?”

“Then what about Nishka taking the Captain or when that Fed shot Kaylee, were those your fault too?”

“Ain’t the same thing.” He looked over her head so he wouldn’t have to look in her eyes. He sure as hell wasn’t about to explain to her why it was different.

“It’s part of the job, Jayne. That’s what we do. We take risks, and sometimes we get hurt… or worse.”

“That ain’t the point.”

“Then what is the point? Jayne, I was there. You warned me and I didn’t listen. I didn’t see Merrick for what he was. I… I made a mistake. It’s done and over.”

He didn’t breathe, didn’t meet her eyes, didn’t so much as twitch. He knew Zoe was wrong as certain as he knew that she had a hold of him in every way and didn’t even know it. Just like he knew it would be a while before the guilt and anger digging under his skin went away. She was his woman. He should have been there.

“Jayne, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t trust you.”

How he kept himself where he was he couldn’t say because more than anything he wanted to hold her against him till he could breathe right again. But he stayed where he was because he couldn’t ignore how strung out he was for her. The wrong move and he could make everything worse.

“Tell me what to do, Zo.”

“Kiss me.”

He dragged a hand across his mouth, “Except that.” Cause he wasn’t going to stop there.

“That’s what I want.”

He backed up a step, “Bao-bei, I can’t…can’t do that.“

“So now you have rules?”

He took a second to temper himself then growled, “Get your ass in bed, Zoë.”

She contemplated him for a second before turning on her heel and sliding between the sheets.

She held them open, “Come to bed, Jayne.”

He froze. She still didn’t get it.

“Fine.” He made his voice cold as he pulled his knife from the sheath on the wall, “Get on your hands and knees.”

If she had done it, he wouldn’t have hesitated to cut that damn nightgown right off of her. But he knew she wouldn’t and right then two things struck Jayne as damn unfortunate; one, Zoe looked ready to fight or run and two, he was going to have to make it to the showers with a semi-automatic tenting his pants without Mal finding out.

Fucking Merrick.

The End.

Translations – Pi-gu – butt Tian xiz shou you de ren dou gai si - Fuck everyone in the universe to death Ben tian sheng de yi dui rou - stupid inbred stack of meat Wo yu wang ni -I want (desire) you Dong ma – Understand Tian xiao de - in the name of all that's sacred Bao-bei – Sweetheart