Chapter 10

“He said all that?” Kaylee’s eyes held a disbelieving wonder as she hung on Inara’s every word.

“Word for word, mei mei.”

Kaylee buried her head in her hands. “Simon finally says somethin’ all poetical an I’m not there ta even hear it.”

Inara stood and took Kaylee’s hand. “Why don’t you come to my shuttle, get cleaned up and go see Simon. I’m – sure he could use your company right now. He was pretty upset when he walked out.”

“Prolly doesn’t even want to see me.”

“I’m fairly certain he does.”

Kaylee shrugged uncertainly at Inara but slipped out of the hammock anyway, her wish to put things right with Simon warring with her desire to slink into the darkest corner and do nothing but cry.

The two said very little as they made their way to Inara’s shuttle. The older woman slid the door open slowly, quietly and invited Kaylee to precede her.

When Kaylee stepped around the curtain hiding the door from the rest of the interior, her heart fluttered and she inhaled sharply.

Simon lay awkwardly on the couch, sound asleep, one arm thrown over his eyes, the other draped at his waist.

Kaylee turned to Inara, who simply smiled, her eyes dancing.

“I’ll be in the passenger dorms,” Inara whispered as she trailed the back of her hand down Kaylee’s damp cheek. “Stay here tonight. Work it out. He loves you.”

Kaylee bit her bottom lip and nodded, tears filling her eyes. She hugged Inara tightly and whispered, “I know.” Kaylee stood unmoving until Inara left, closing the door securely behind her. She stared at Simon for a long moment before walking to his side and kneeling beside the plush couch. As she stared down at him, she could see the barely visible streaks on his cheek. She reached out to brush her finger over one pale line, her heart twisting.

As soon as he felt her finger, Simon’s eyes snapped open. He sat up swiftly, blinking sleep out of his eyes. His heart lurched at the sight of Kaylee, red eyed and kneeling beside him. He looked around quickly, hoping Inara was nowhere in sight. It wouldn’t look good for him to be sleeping in here with Inara. And he’d already made a mess of things tonight. He didn’t need any other misunderstandings to complicate matters further.

“’Nara told me what you said to the Cap’n.”

Simon swallowed thickly. “I meant every word.” He wanted to reach for her, to pull her into his arms and kiss her tears away. But he had no right to do that, not after the way he had hurt her.

“I shouldn’t have run away. I missed your poetical speech.”

A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth but he wanted to explain. His heart pushed the words out of his mouth before he could stop them and he leaned forward and slid his hands around her cheeks. “Kaylee, I – I would marry you in a heartbeat. But it’s not fair for me to ask you to share the life and name of a fugitive. I can’t do that to you. I – I love you too much to condemn you to such an unknown, dangerous fate.”

“Everythin’s a big unknown out here in the black.”

“But not everyone out here is on the Alliance’s most wanted list.”

Kaylee nodded and leaned into his hands, taking comfort from his gentle touch.

“It’s not fair of me to ask you to wait until River and I are free. That day may never come. I – I have nothing to give you, and I want to give you everything your heart desires. It’s – difficult –”

She knew it was hard for him to admit those words to her. “I jus want you.”

His heart melted and he drew her into his arms with a heavy sigh. “It’s all I have to give.”

“It’s enough.” Kaylee clung tightly to him and when he tilted her head to press his lips to hers, she accepted the kiss with an excited fervor he never thought he would ever feel again.

He kissed her mouth, her cheek, her closed eyelids, her ear, reverently holding her and murmuring words of love.

When she pushed him back against the couch and straddled his hips, he reluctantly tore his mouth from hers and glanced nervously around the room.

“’Nara said ta stay here t’night.” Her fingers worked on his shirt buttons, quickly pulling them through their holes.

Sharp breath hissed through his teeth when she impatiently pushed aside the material and ran her palms up his firm chest. Her fingers danced across the warm skin, tugging at each firm nipple before sliding around his neck.

Their tongue’s danced in the soft candlelight, urgent kisses driven by an even more urgent, primal need to connect, become one, to drown their brief sorrow in overwhelming love and passion.

When he would have taken his time, slowly showed her with his mouth and hands how much he truly did love her, she pushed his hands away and rolled her hips against him, causing him to inhale sharply.

“Kaylee –“

“Nothing proper. Not tonight. Not right now.” The desire and lust radiating through Kaylee’s eyes burned through every nerve in his body. “Please. Just show me how much you want me.”

Simon gasped as her fingers found the fastenings to his pants and urgently parted the material. “I do want you, Kaylee. So much.” His hands tangled in her hair, their lips a hairsbreadth away. He lifted his hips so that she could push his pants further down his legs. When her cool fingers closed around him, he gasped.

She shrugged out of her flowery cotton top, with help from smooth, gentle hands that lingered over each breast before sliding lower. He slid the zipper on her overalls down as far as they could go and pushed a hand beneath them, stroking her through her already damp underwear.

A mewl of excitement escaped her mouth as his fingers, already adept at knowing just exactly how to please her, slipped into her around the thin cotton. After a few moments of slow, gentle stroking, she lifted her hips and impatiently pushed the garment down her legs. She didn’t want him to tease her, not right now. She wanted none of his slow, languid strokes.

Her need was too great. She wanted to feel him inside her, stretching and filling, knowing he only belonged to her and her to him. When she straddled him again, she was completely bare, one hand gripping him, stroking urgently down his hard length to make sure he was ready. The other hand wrapped around his neck, drawing his lips to hers. They clung and danced as she settled herself on him, driving him deep in one, smooth, breath-stealing stroke.

He groaned into her mouth as she arched her hips against him, urgently driving her body to a release he hadn’t realized he needed as much as she. He gripped her hips, wrapping his hands around them and brought her solidly against him with each thrust. He wanted to reach between them, to touch her, but her motion dictated the pace, and that pace was fast and hard.

He leaned back against the couch and let her ride him. She knew what she wanted and he was in no position to deny her. When her long, deep moans became sharp, excited pants, he knew she was close. He kissed her with the same urgency he felt in every sharp snap of her hips, gently grazing her jaw with his teeth.

With a quickness that surprised even him, she arched her back and her neck, tightened her thighs around him and cried out his name. He held her as she trembled above him, and even bent to rake his mouth and teeth across the long column of her neck, further heightening her release.

He moved beneath her, thrusting up while her body trembled around him, sending delightful tremors down his own throbbing length. Slim fingers tugged at his hair as she urged him with heated whispers. But when she tightened her thighs and met one last hard, solid thrust, he cried out against her neck, his spine straightening for one instant as he pulsed almost painfully and erupted, flooding her with searing heat.

They collapsed in a tangle of sweat-covered limbs and simply lay there, waiting for their breathing to still. Kaylee’s head rested in the crook of his neck as he pressed reverent kisses to her temple.

She murmured sleepily after a while and he smiled, holding back a yawn himself. He eyed the large bed only a few feet away and decided that it would be far more comfortable than the couch. He kicked his pants off the rest of the way, and wrapped one arm around her backside and another around her waist. She moaned for a moment at the movement of her very comfortable, yet solid pillow, but tightened her arms around his neck and shoulders to keep from sliding off him. He carried her to the bed, finally slipping out of her as he lay her down atop the mattress. He slid into bed beside her and drew her into his arms.

After she’d settled comfortably against him, her breathing steady, he reached across her and drew the silk sheet around their bodies. He finally let sleep claim him – and after the exhausting day and evening he’d had, it came pretty damn quick – hoping that one day he would be able to give her everything she deserved, including silk sheets of her very own.

~*~

Inara woke to a soft knocking on the doorframe to the bunk across from the one she had borrowed for the night. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, tightened the robe about her slim waist and cracked the door open so that she could see who was stalking the hallways at this time of night.

She was not surprised to see the large, partially shadowed form of Malcolm Reynolds standing outside of his medic’s closed door.

She watched with amused, twinkling eyes as he opened the sliding door and then closed it again, after realizing that there was no one was asleep within. He stalked away with a huff, and Inara followed him, her footsteps light on the metal floor beneath them.

Before she could stop him, and mildly amused to be looking at this from the outside, he strode quickly up the steps to her shuttle and slid open the door. She hurried after him, hoping that he hadn’t disturbed the occupants inside.

As she stepped into the darkness, she collided with his back and he craned his neck around to stare incredulously at her.

“Looking for me?” she whispered, wrapping a hand around his arm and drawing him out of view of the bed.

He glanced back at the sleeping couple, contently wrapped in one another’s arms and allowed her pull him behind the drape that served to hide the aesthetically unappealing door.

“Looking for Kaylee. Thought she might be in here with you. Wasn’t in her bunk – or Simon’s.”

Soft music cycled in the background, drowning out any noise they made.

Inara’s eyes held an amused twinkle. “Well, I don’t think she would appreciate being disturbed right about now.”

Mal cast a glance in the direction of the bed. “I noticed.”

“You can apologize to them in the morning.” Inara dragged him out of the shuttle. “Let them sleep.”

He shot her an indignant look. “Who said I was going to apologize?”

“What are you doing stalking around my shuttle in the middle of the night then?”

He couldn’t find a suitable answer quick enough and she quirked an amused eyebrow. “You know you wronged them tonight and even through that thick head of yours, you know you owe them an apology.”

Mal scowled at the frustrating woman he refused to admit he loved. “What I owe them is my business, Inara. I’d ‘preciate you stayin’ out of it.”

“When you start staying out of mine, Mal. I’ll start staying out of yours.” She turned on her heel and walked away, leaving him staring after her with narrowed eyes.

TBC