Disclaimer: Not mine, not paid. Love ‘em, all the same.

Thanks: To dear Jacqui, my best beta buddy and to Rion, my own Big Bad Man, who contributes great dialog and rude ideas.

Rating: You asked, so I’m gratifyin’ ya - NC17/R

Feedback: Oh yes, kind readers. I grovel nicely, do tricks even. Praise or gripe, it's appreciated, especially if you like a particular bit. To read the previous three chapters or any of my other stories, click on my name. Makes a lot more fun when you’ve read the lead-up.

The Birthday Gift

Chapter Five

He stood with feet well apart, his muscular arms crossed over his broad chest, his head inclined as he gazed hungrily at Kaylee’s floating form. It took every ounce of discipline within the man to control his breath and keep from panting out loud. That discipline did not extend to other parts of him, however, and his cock filled and rose against his thigh, straining with his desire for her.

Jayne shifted his stance to ease the discomfort his growing erection created and the rustle of his clothing startled Kaylee awake. Reflexively, she covered her breasts with one arm and hand and dragged the washcloth over her nethers with her other hand while cursing him roundly.

“Wu de tyen ah! Liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze fuh ur-tze! What in Shepherd’s special hell are you doin’ in my bathroom, Jayne Cobb? And what’s that pink stuff you got on the end of your nose?”

“Happy Birthday, Kaylee-girl,” he chuckled, ever so pleased with himself. “What pink stuff?”

He wiped at his nose and glanced at the sweet residue on his finger, then stuck it in his mouth.

“Birthday cake. Found it waitin’ outside your door and wanted to make sure nobody was fixin’ to poison you.”

He grinned pointedly at her. “It is yer birthday, ain’t it? Dressed right for the occasion, bein’ as you’re wearin’ your birthday suit.” He stroked his beard and nodded, “Gotta say you look mighty fine, too.”

Now past the shock of awakening to find Jayne visually devouring her, Kaylee began to appreciate that his miraculous presence was surely the answer to her prayers. Dressed in his best black and white striped shirt, his beard freshly trimmed, his best gray trousers – he did make quite a handsome sight. She giggled, and pointed at the obvious bulge in his pants.

“I see you brought me a birthday present, even wrapped it up all fancy.” She teased. “For the likes of me, I don’t know how you found me,” and she splashed water at him.

“Never underestimate a man who knows what he wants.”

“I thought you was out getting’ all liquored up with Mal tonight…” Her voice trailed off, the possibility of his other plans unmentioned.

Feeling uncertain, Kaylee crossed her arms over her breasts and peered up at him intently. She really hoped her friend hadn’t arranged this as she had the rest of this birthday celebration. “Did Inara tell you I was gonna be here?” she interrogated.

“Nope. I just figured two weeks was as long as I wanted to go without lovin’ on you some more.” He grinned at her.

So he’s here on his own. Kaylee felt a flutter in her heart. That puts a different twist to things…

Finally relaxing some, she noted, “You clean up pretty good when ya want to. Don’t often get to see you without boots and guns and your Bad-Ass gear on.”

Jayne just kept admiring her wet nakedness and grinning.

Standoff.

Kaylee finally gestured at the conspicuous bulge in the front of his pants. “So, you just gonna stand there pointin’ that thing at me or you gonna climb in here and keep me company?”

“Don’t need much encouragement for that.” He winked at her and undid his shirt, then unbuttoned his fly and shucked out of the confining trousers. “Slide your pretty tail over so I can join ya.”

As always when she saw him naked, Kaylee’s breath caught in her throat. Jayne was a big man in clothes, but naked, he was nothing short of awe-inspiring. So swai, the glide of his skin over hard muscle a pure wonder. Even with the scars that punctuated his thigh and shoulder and chest, he was beautiful and she liked that he was so unselfconscious, allowing her to admire him as frankly as he did her. She never got over her sense of wonder at the form and size of him, all of him.

He stepped over the edge of the tub into the hot water and knelt facing her astride her legs, his cock rising between them. Looking down at his erection with a mixture of pride and amusement, he gave it an affectionate squeeze and observed, “The ol’ monster missed ya somethin’ awful.”

Kaylee giggled and placed a quick smooch on the tip of the dusky marvel before her as she slowly skimmed her palms up his muscular thighs to clasp his hips. Her stomach was turning flip-flops. The rush of want for him flooded her and she blushed to be so obvious in her desire. Closing her eyes she breathed in the rich male smell of him, wet clean skin and musk. When she finally looked up at him, her eyes were wide and bright.

Resting his hands against the tub on either side of her head, he lowered his face toward hers, pressing his hardness against her belly. In a voice rough with restrained passion, Jayne murmured, “I want you, Kaylee-girl. Been wantin’ you for days, but I just couldn’t get no chance to let you know how I was feelin’. You were hidin’ out back in the engine room and it just seemed like you wasn’t wantin’ any company.”

“I know this thing between us is still new; we still a lot to sort out, and I didn’t want ya to feel I was pressurin’ ya.”

He bent to capture her mouth, the softness of her lips opening to hot wetness, her tongue answering his own as she arched herself against him.

“Oh, sweet girl,” he whispered, “never saw such a tub full of pretty.” Supporting his upper body with his powerful arms, he tugged at her lips and nibbled his way ever so softly across her jaw and down her neck to the hollow of her throat, even as he ground his hard-on against her mound and belly.

His mouth and the crisp rasp of his short beard moving against her made her shiver. It always amazed her how he made her skin feel so electrified, every pore open to his desire, a conduit for hers.

She nipped hard at his ear lobe and he sucked air through his teeth with the sharp sensation, even as she lightly drew her nails up his tautly muscled back.

“Damn, girl, “he growled, tangling a fist in her wet hair and drawing her mouth back into a more kissable position.

Eager to caress him, she reached down between them to cup his balls as they hung loosely in the hot water and marveled at their heft. She slipped her hand up to surround his scrotum, gently tugging and rolling the sensitive ovals in her hand the way he liked and he groaned softly with the pleasure of her touch.

The mercenary bent to tease her breasts, his mouth lipping at their rosy tips. Her nipples were small, but hardened even more as he suckled and worried at them. She gathered her breasts in her hands and presented them for his kisses, pushing them together so that he could alternate from one to its twin.

Beneath him, he could feel the soft nest of her pubic hair brushing his ass cheeks like delicate feathers. He wanted more and shifted her hand from his balls to his cock, his big hand wrapped around hers, guiding her strokes into a rhythm he enjoyed, drawing her grasp from thick root to the wide crown and then back toward his body. His pent-up need for her made the sensation almost too much.

After just a few strokes, he warned her. “Ease up, now, bao bei. Ya got me hotter’n a cheap pistol -- don’t wanna fire my load now. We got all night together, Kaylee-girl, can take our time, make all the noise we want, no gorram body to worry about ‘cept you and me.” That smile again, and those steel-blue eyes that pierced her soul.

“You got no idea how many nights I wanted to come climbin’ down that ladder and into your bed,” he told her. “All that stopped me was that light sleepin’ hwoon dahn in the berth next to yours. Hell, I even went so far as to make it out into the corridor in front a’ your door and then heard him rattlin’ around in his quarters and figured I’d be getting’ us both in a heap a trouble.”

The thought of Jayne tip-toing across the corridor to her door and then high-tailing it back to his own bunk rather than face Mal’s wrath amused Kaylee and she found it somehow endearing.

He gently shifted position, slipping around and under her buoyant body so that her back rested against him. Ah, it felt so wonderful to laze together in the warm water, their bodies once again relaxing into the intimacy that came so naturally to both of them.

****

(To be continued...)