Shying Away--Part Two

Jayne woke slowly, all tangled up with the woman sleeping against him. Remembering why made him grin even before he opened his eyes to see her there, head on his outstretched arm and her uncommon blood-colored hair spilling over them both. Yawning, Jayne carefully extricated his legs from hers so he could stretch the beginning of a cramp out of his left calf.

"Smells like sex in here," he noted with satisfaction.

Beside him, Shy stirred, smiled sleepily, "Go figure." She turned her head to kiss his shoulder.

Jayne considered the morning remaining to them before they had to head back to Serenity. "Know what I like?"

She didn't miss a beat.

"This." Shy moved her hand languidly down, down, until it came to rest in a place where it got up to some very good no-good.

"Well, yeah," he agreed after a moment of breath-hitching reflection, "But besides that."

He figured he'd better finish saying what was on his mind before it went right out of his head. "A hot bath,” he said. "That's what I like." Jayne contemplated the low stained and peeling ceiling, running the fingers of one hand through her long red hair idly. "Don't get much chance for a good long soak, out in The Black."

Shy stopped what she was doing and raised her head to look at him. Whatever she saw in him looking back at her made her smile, and she sat up. "All right, you’ve got it, pirate. Put your clothes on."

But Jayne pulled her back down beside him instead; his arm just fit so damn well around her waist, her bright patterned skin moving smooth as silk against his own. “How ‘bout not just yet?”

She didn’t resist; in fact, Shy’s smile became wicked and her eyes gleaming greenly through the tousled strands of her hair as she fitted herself to him close as a second shadow, saying, “Shiny.”

Then Jayne forgot most everything else but mapping out her skin with his hands and where that led.

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Later on, once they got upright and dressed, Shy took him