Her lips were softer than a summer breeze on Shadow. She moaned and leaned into him, completely unadulterated. He pulled her closer and nipped at her lips. Mal could taste honey on her lips from tea or protein. Her breasts were pressed into his chest causing him to feel overdressed. He pulled her down into his lap, sitting on the weight bench. She didn’t fight, but pulled him closer and running her fingers through his hair. Mal moaned, sounding more like a growl. He’d waited long and was hard enough to explode right then and there. She was eager and warm in his arms, he knew that here was a perfectly allowable place, it was his damn ship. Her hands tangled in his hair greedily and her tongue worked its way into his mouth. Mal growled and pulled out of her embrace, opening his eyes to remove –

“Tamade hundan! Jing-tsai xiongcan sha shou! Run-tse duh fwe-tzoo!” Mal screamed as he awoke. “Ai ya! What fei hua!” He had been opening his eyes to undo coveralls, Kaylee’s coveralls. The hair he had caressed in his dream had been chestnut soft waves, not chocolate curls. He shook his head and immediately ran cold water from the sink above his personal commode over his head. He leaned over the sink, assuring that any thoughts that were there moments ago had numbed out of it with freezing water. Parts of his body hurt that shouldn’t, and his thoughts were beyond despicable.

Slowly, Mal set forth towards the general shower. It was still early, few were sure to be awake at this time, and he needed the privacy. There weren’t many times that he couldn’t take care of his needs in the privacy of his own bunk, but this night brought up new issues, and he couldn’t rub one out thinking of the woman that he was supposed to be protecting. He’d promised her father that he would stop men like himself from taking advantage of the girl, but he had known full well even then that she was a full-blown woman.

The shower door was open, unoccupied, and Mal exhaled, relieved. He needed more cold water than the