Chapter 4

tabula rasa [ˈˌtäb(y)o͝olə ˈräzə]
NOUN
-an absence of preconceived ideas or predetermined goals; a clean slate.

-the human mind, especially at birth, viewed as having no innate ideas.

True to his word, they set down on Constance smack in the middle of no and where, as Wash would say. Rick opened up the bay doors and let fresh air in while he ducked into his room and came out again after a minute with a gunbelt around his waist, a shoulder holster with another gun and a set of welder's goggles. He also had so many knives distributed in various places around his body that she lost track counting because his musculature was so distracting.

"So…weapons are appropriate?" She tilted her head at the goggles but didn't ask. If he wanted her to know he'd tell her.

"Very," He nodded. "People around here are alternately very religious or very not. And the 'nots' tend to have a 'see, want, take' mentality."

"All right, give me a minute," River retreated to her room and began to 'weapon up' as Jayne might say. Job preparedness was another phrase, one of Mal's. Zoë would just say 'get ready' and that meant guns, knives, and hopefully (Jayne's contribution) grenades, needful or not. In that spirit she inquired half joking, "Do we need grenades?"

Rick pushed the door half open, the goggles concealing where his eyes were looking though his thoughts indicated he found the neatly made bed surprising for some reason. His nostrils flared again and he half smiled as he watched her buckle on her shoulder holster. Lust flared off him as she opened her second bag and took out her sword and axe, putting the weapon harness over her back and sliding the edged weapons into them. Knives in her boots and up her long sleeves, stilettos in her hair and she held up a couple of grenades from her bags. "So?"

"Don't think they're strictly needful," Rick's voice was low and almost gravelly. "You know how to use those?" He jerked his head towards the axe and sword crossing her back.

"I don't wear weapons I can't use," She informed him crisply. "Trained as an assassin remember? There isn't a weapon made that I don't know how to use. Five minutes with it, less sometimes, and I can use it. The only limitations are due to my mass relative to the weapon."

"RPG knocks you on your pì gu," He grinned the question and she half laughed.

"Unless I'm sufficiently braced, yes."

He'd thought of taking the mule, for practical purposes it was more suitable, the back seats and cargo area good for any purchases. But the minute he'd see those blades on her back that idea had gone out the airlock.

He'd muscled the bike out from under the stair well and into the main area of the bay. To ride it she'd have to practically wrap her body around his back. He'd been half hard the entire time she'd been slinging on those guns and damn if those blades and her matter of fact assurance as to her expertise with them hadn't been the hottest thing he'd seen in…ever.

"We're riding…that…" River had looked at it, at him, and turned around, going back up the stairs. A half a minute later she was back, holding a bag in her hand that she could put over her right shoulder. "For purchases," She explained.

"It's got a small storage area," He pulled up the seats to show her, pulling out his spare set of goggles to protect her eyes. "But yeah, the bag is a good idea." He straddled the bike and got the motor started, if he was going to take her out on this again he'd have to get her a helmet. His skull might be solid all the way through but he doubted hers was. She climbed on behind him, chuckling (she must have caught that thought) and the feel of her body shaking behind his sent him from aroused to half hard in a second. "Wǒ cào," He groaned.

"Situated," She spoke loud enough to be heard over the engine but without shouting in his ear.

"You're gonna want to hang on," He reached back and tugged her closer, pulling her arms around his waist. Those soft breasts pressed against his back, damn, maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Her hitch of breath and the scent of musk floating over engine grease changed his mind about that quickly.

A quick ride down the ramp, turn to the control panel and a code to close up the boat, and they were on their way, her body plastered to his as he took the route through the fields as fast as he could. He could feel her heart racing, her arms wrapped tightly around his waist, gripping his belt and shirt, while the other pressed up to the center of his chest, also gripping his shirt. If she was paying attention she'd feel his heart pounding under her knuckles.

He kept the bike in tune, the engine practically purred, but he could feel her shifting uncomfortably behind him and when they slowed at the edge of town she relaxed against him again before he parked the bike outside the store. Her hands lingered on him as she climbed off and he looked at her as River pushed the goggles up to her forehead.

Breathless, slightly dilated eyes, flushed, and her scent… musk and spice. He glanced at the bike as he climbed off it and locked it down. "You all right?"

"I…am not accustomed to motorcycles anymore," She admitted. "Remembered but I wasn't prepared for the way the engine would feel under me. The vibrations were…different."

He remembered those gorgeous moans coming from her room, no buzzing motor accompanying them and got it. The cycle was the first thing she'd had vibrating between her thighs and she wasn't sure if it was comfortable or not. "Yeah," He nodded. "Part of why I like the thicker cargo pants." He looked at her legs and wondered how steady she was feeling. "It bothers you that much we can find a pad or something, give you some cushion on the way back."

"That won't be necessary," He could see her stiffening her spine, pulling those Core manners around her like the coat she'd worn on the docks. "I won't be taken by surprise by it again. That was the only issue." Not quite the truth he'd be willing to bet, but he wasn't going to call her on it.

Riddick nodded, "Yeah, not really something easily explained." He agreed. "The store I usually hit is on the far end of town, but this one has decent dry goods and good security on their lot."

"Hmm… Serenity did a bank job here once. Had the take stolen out from under them and fled the scene with half the town on their tails." River commented as she walked beside him down the edge of the half dust half stone street.

"No offense but it seems like half the jobs you've mentioned had something go wrong," Riddick glanced at her. "Or am I missing something?"

"You're not wrong," She shook her head. "Mal…didn't have an eye for details," Those dark eyes danced. "The most successful jobs were planned by others."

"Seems like those others should have made the plans more often," He commented as they arrived at his favored store.

"Saffron was only aboard for one job, and Simon has left the ship, so the others are…not available for consultation." River shrugged, "Captain is more 'by the seat of his pants' type."

"Improvising is fine, has to be done sometimes," He held the door open for her and got a sweet smile of thanks. "But it can't be the whole of the thing. Too much can go wrong."

"Strange combination of optimism, faith and cynicism," She told him with another shrug. Damn he liked how her body moved and she went straight for the circuit boards and caps. "'I do the job, I get paid'."

"Got a similar motto," Riddick agreed. "With an addendum or two."

"Me too," She grinned at him and began to examine the boards. "Possible," She set one aside for him to look at and picked up another.

Between the two of them they found three boards in the lot that would take the kind of work he had in mind without burning up and shorting out the entire control console. Thermal caps that could be adapted were harder to find but one would work and they only needed the one besides the one on the boat. "Wiring," He muttered and moved towards the back of the shop. "Copper coils… catalyzer, reg couple, pinlock replacements…"

"Industrial strength cable wire," River had bent nearly double to reach the bottom of the bin when something caught her eye and he clenched his fist to keep from putting his palm over the cheeks of her pì gu. She stood straight again with a frown, "Can't reach it."

"Where," He leaned over and she pointed. "Good find," He grabbed the wire and examined it. "Damn good find," He praised.

"Personal items," She couldn't see over the shelves to the labels on the far side of the store from where they were he guessed.

"West corner," Riddick nodded towards it. "They don't have anything…biodegradable or ship grade biodegradable here though," He warned her.

"Not a concern," River shook her head and moved to that portion of the store.

Okay then. Engineering magazine, check. Guns and Ammo, check. Shotgun shells, bullets, another whetstone since his was getting worn. He frowned and considered the rest of the stock. None of his clothing was wearing out, foodstuffs were for the store down the street, and he didn't want any of the ridiculous girly magazines featuring fake tits and airbrushing.

"Transparent paper," River was asking the clerk. "Programable crystals?"

"We got any they'll be over where the big fella's standin'," She was informed and sure enough River was back at his side scouring the shelves.

"Victory," She snagged several very dusty packages from the shelves, frowned over something, reading it and then grinned happily before scooping up a few more boxes.

Well he wasn't going to ask what she wanted those for, not where anybody could hear them. And everything they had would fit in the storage spaces on the bike or in her bag. Paying for everything caused a bit of an argument as River tried to separate out her specific requests from the rest of the goods. "You can buy the food if you want, but I got this," He plunked plat down on the counter and scooped up his change before she could argue anymore. Predictably the clerk had nearly performed slight of hand to grab the money.

A quick distribution of the purchases into the bag so nothing would get damaged and they were headed back to the first store. Until River stopped at a shop in the middle of the row. Dresses. He nearly groaned. Whatever girly shopping River had done before this, she'd done alone when they stopped at various planets. Now though…

"Won't take long," She told him. "Need only a few things, easily picked up."

"Fifteen minutes and I'm coming back," He warned her.

"Won't even take ten," River slipped into the store before he could give her more of an argument and Riddick kept going to his destination.

True to her word, she was coming in the grocers in less than ten minutes, a bag in her hand. He couldn't quite see the inside of it, folded up like it was, so no clue there as to what was so important.

Grocery shopping, such as it was, with her was an experience. She snatched things off the shelves before he could read them, grabbed canned goods and dried stuffs and went through their little spice bottles with a fine-tooth comb before she was satisfied. When they were done the grocer named the total and he damn near regretted telling her she could pay for the food it came to so much. But everything she'd bought fit in the cloth bag she had, with whatever she'd bought at the bottom.

"Never saw grocery shopping treated like a combination of reconnaissance and strike team mission before," He commented as they stowed the ship parts in the cycles storage spaces and he climbed on the bike.

"Expiration dates make the difference between good food and slop," She told him, putting the bag over her shoulder and climbing on behind him. "No nutrition is lost but taste is…neutralized to near inedible."

"Gotcha," He nodded. "Goggles on?"

"Ready," She responded and wrapped her arms around him again.

Well he'd asked for it when he decided to use the bike. The motor started up and he could have sworn she moaned. Damn. Better make this a quick trip then.

Her heart raced, pounding against his back, breasts rubbing, he could feel her gasping into his back, hot breaths. Inhaling the scent of the outdoors, engine and her musk, heady in his nose. Felt like her nipples were hard and pushing against his back and she moaned in his ear.

There's the ship, only a mile now, he revved the motor and put it into a higher gear, a near whine from River behind him and he felt her tense and shudder, arms tightening around him as they neared the ship, and that gorgeous rush of musk as she shook against his back. Shén me zài tiān mì de xié'è de tā mā de?

He pulled up to the boat and killed the engine, keying in the code to open the ship and turned to look at her. Panting, as if she'd run the length of the trip, flushed and pushing her goggles up, pupils blown wide and unfocused, nipples tight and hard, pushing through her bra and shirt and the most telling, a slight darkening of the fabric at the crotch of her pants where she was pressed against the cycle, the engine underneath her. The woman had an orgasm pressed against him on the back of his bike.

The cargo bay door came down and she began to dismount the bike on understandably shaky legs. "No, you just…stay there," He straddled the machine again and started the engine, listening intently and heard another of those luscious moans. A quick gun of the motor and she shuddered. He grinned and drove the machine slowly up the ramp and into its place beneath the stairwell. The feel of her trembling behind him as he delayed turning off the engine had to be one of the most erotic sensations he'd experienced.

He turned, pushing up the goggles, and looked at her, "You want me to leave the doors open and the engine on?" He asked with a half-smile.

"N—No…" She shook her head, blushing.

"You sure," Riddick teased, more gently than he might have usually. "If the bike is what does it for you I can leave you two alone."

A breathy almost (but not quite) embarrassed laugh and she shook her head, dismounting unsteadily and leaning against the side of the stairs. "That…won't be necessary."

Well at least she wasn't a prude about sex, if she was passionate enough to have an orgasm on the back of a motorcycle she should own it. He grinned and took the bag off her shoulder. Good for her. And good for him because damned if he wouldn't be reliving that feeling when he was alone tonight. He hit the controls to shut the bay doors and pulled the parts out of the bike. "You let me know if you change your mind." And if she gave him the least bit of encouragement he'd have her on her back, thighs draped over his shoulders so he could taste her for himself. No blush though, so looked like she hadn't heard that particular thought.

He was conscious of her following him up the stairs, watching as put everything down on the table and began to unpack. Her package at the bottom of the bag was soft, no plastic or crinkling so she'd probably just bought a shirt or something. He set it aside and watched as those white hands picked it up. "Gonna show me?" He grinned at her. "Usually women buy a new outfit they want to show it off."

She eyed him a bit strangely but gave him a slow nod, opening the bag and pulling out something that might have been a dark red or purple maybe to his color-blind eyes. She held it up, by two straps that were thin as ramen noodles and it unrolled to fall down to her knees. Lace. Dark lace that would show her skin through it.

"Damn…" Now he had no choice, he'd be lucky to make it through the day without jerking off. "Guess the next Companion you call is gonna have a treat."

"No," River shook her head. "Just…wanted something pretty."

"River, you are something pretty." He was never going to understand women.

Somehow, she got through the rest of the day without turning completely red every time Rick looked at her. And without going to her room to use the dildo every time those eyes gleamed at her with lust. Core manners helped a lot with that. The formality reminded her to maintain a respectful distance. Contrary to what he thought, it hadn't been only the vibrations of the motorcycle that had made her climax. The feel of him, his muscles, the sensation of his heart under her hand, he was so shuài gē. And real. Nothing fake or purchased about his attraction to her. If she hadn't been pressed against him the engine moving beneath her wouldn't have done much for her libido.

Two days' worth of work, and they'd successfully gotten The Cutter set up as a ghost ship. When they landed somewhere Rick would flip the switch on the cap and the boat would have its standard ID. But once off the planet again, he'd switch it back to a ghost.

"Thought about doing something like this when I first bought the boat," He explained as they worked. "Left the Necros, ended up on this rock with nothing on it but deadly species and a merc station. Think I spent one and a half, maybe a couple years there, lost track of time. Started seeing rainstorms maybe the second year there. And rain just made the place so insane dangerous I wasn't sticking around. Got some mercs to land, took a boat off one crew. Got it out of that system and sold it, bought passage to Alliance space. Found this old boat on Boros and bought it. Spent a couple years in and out of cryo just getting there. From what you've said, I think I got to Boros right after the Miranda wave."

River nodded, "The Alliance dealt with the Necromongers while I was in the Academy. It was…at least a year before Simon broke me out. Old, decommissioned ships were back on patrol while I was on Serenity and they were rebuilding the fleet when the Miranda wave happened. A lot of their shiny new boats were wrecked in that battle."

"Sounds about right," He'd agreed. "Because for a while it was almost impossible to get new parts anywhere close to the Border. And on the Rim? Forget it."

"Had the same problem repairing Serenity," She watched as he finalized his work, taking the tools he handed her and putting them back in the case.

"Watch the console for me," He requested and she stood to keep an eye on the screens, gaze slipping to his bare chest now and then. Those muscles were very... eyes on the console, she reminded herself.

"No flickering," She reported as those abdominal muscles tightened with the effort of pushing the panel in place.

"Least it's done," He pulled himself up from the floor and leaned over her shoulder, pressing against her back and she shivered. His chest swelled as he inhaled and she shivered again. "Damn you smell good," That low voice, a rumble of coffee and whiskey in her ear, she was going to go crazy again.

"Should go make dinner," River turned and looked up at him. Those eyes…molten steel and silver staring down at her. "Rick…"

"Riddick," His name sounded like a growl in his mouth. "You call me Riddick, River D Tam." Her name in his mouth…like a caress

"Riddick," She murmured and set a hand on his chest, gently pressing back. As she said his name his skin seemed to heat under her hand. But he stepped back, as if she had the strength to move him, and gave her space.

She could feel the heat of those eyes on her as she descended the stairs and began to work in the galley. The ship slowly came to life around them and she felt the artificial gravity kick on as Riddick initiated take off and they left Constance. Everything seemed to be working as it should. Good news at least.

River could feel him watching her again, his thoughts on her hips and legs, imagining again the dark lace of the negligee over her skin. She sighed as the ship hummed and imagined it sailing through the Black, as graceful in the sky as it looked ungainly on the ground.

"Being on the ground itches you," He observed as he walked down the stairs. "Whenever we're in the Black you're about five times more relaxed."

"Too—" She frowned and forced herself to start again. The more she relaxed around him the lazier her speech got. "I find there are too many ways to become cornered on planet."

"Why do you do that," He sat at the table and watched her. When she gave him a quizzical look he elaborated, "It's like you start to answer, don't like how you're saying something, and start over all again but proper."

She'd been doing it often enough that he'd noticed. Not good. "I… when I was crazy…" She began and focused on the meal, "I often mixed up my pronouns. Referred to myself as 'she' or 'the girl'." Boil the noodles in beef broth, "Or I'd leave them off altogether. Start sentences in the middle. Speak more Border or Rim."

"Okay…something wrong with that?" Riddick's eyes were glued to her as if she'd become unusually fascinating.

"I told you I had to convince my parents that I was sane and wouldn't embarrass the family name should I be on my own," She reminded him as she sliced protein and threw it in with half a can of beef and vegetables. "Needed to prove I could behave with propriety, according to our traditions."

"Yeah?"

"Apart from my…inappropriate interests," River looked over at him and clarified. "Guns, knives, ships, engineering and explosives, piloting, pugilism, martial arts." He rolled those expressive eyes and she half smiled, "Exactly. But apart from that, which at least could be kept private, the manner of speech I had picked up while regaining my sanity… It was… well. They called it low class. Slum talk. As if they'd ever been to a slum."

Her turn to roll her eyes. "It took months of extremely proper speaking before they'd even begin to contemplate the possibility that their genius daughter wouldn't shame the family name in public. To be fair it was more my father than my mother…I think Mother was mostly worried that I wasn't myself. I'd been correcting Simon's spelling and grammar since I was three."

"Your parents aren't here," He stood and began to pull plates down, experience enough in how she cooked to know when it was time to set the table. "And if you talk so Core while we're on Lilac or Jiangyin or Dyton, you'll stick out like a sore thumb. Hell, in the Lupus systems they'll tag you for the flesh markets." One big hand rested on her shoulder, fingers teasing the nape of her neck, shouldn't feel so good, "If you're worried about me not understanding you. Don't be."

"When I relax, or I'm distracted…" She admitted. "It happens more then."

"So? Relax," He reached over her head and grabbed bowls. "We've gotta stop at the main port of Constance, load up on water and fuel. And Badger waved right after you left the bridge, he's got a job for me. You too if you're really interested in being crew."

"Back to Persephone?" She nodded slowly. Persephone would be a good place to do the shopping she needed. Especially if she went through Badger.

"Problem?" Riddick looked at her with a half frown and she shook her head.

"No, just thinking that if I go through Badger I'll be less likely to be seen by the Feds or Blue Sun with the shopping I need to do," She explained.

"Feel like making money if the job suits you? Be good to get your opinion of the work too," He offered.

"Sure," River half smiled as she got the meal on the table. "When does he want to meet?"

"Got a couple days before he's gotta give it to someone else," That lightning grin set her stomach tingling. "We can get to Eavesdown way before that." His mouth twisted wickedly, "I'll give you another ride on the cycle if you like."

Badger was overjoyed to see River, immediately flirting in his usual over the top manner and telling her it was about time she came to her senses and came back to work for him fulltime.

Riddick had just leaned against the support post of the room and stared at the little man until Badger stopped fussing. "So, job?"

"Job," Badger nodded and proceeded to explain the particulars. Didn't sound difficult really. Illegal salvage of protein bars. A few precautions and they'd be fine. Then River asked the pertinent question.

"Are the goods imprinted," The Core lady inquired with an arch of her eyebrow.

"Alliance goods," Badger nodded. "Alliance stamp. Part of why speed is of the necessity. Don't flash your arses at the gorram law like your old boat did." He pointed at River.

"Before I got on the boat," River shrugged. "Heard from them lately?"

Riddick rubbed his chin to hide a frown. That hadn't changed, everywhere they went, she asked about her old boat. He'd bet a bushel of apples she still harbored some strong feelings for the Captain of that boat. Apparently, her old Captain didn't like Badger (Riddick didn't care much for the grimy Dyton native either) and the feeling was extremely mutual so they hadn't come to Eavesdown in a while. (Although if River kept asking about Serenity's Captain he could develop a strong dislike of the man out of… Tā mā de niǎo he was not going to get jealous of a man he hadn't even met. Over a woman that wasn't his.) While he berated himself the had conversation turned to some shopping River needed to do and her reluctance to be overly exposed while doing so.

"Big man here ain't gonna escort ya?" Badger looked surprised.

"Has things to do that do not include fripperies," River shrugged.

"Gotta get some maintenance done on the boat," Riddick spread his hands. "Need fuel, water, septic treatments… just regular stuff. Make sure she's in shape for the job. Figured to get it done while she did her shopping." He looked at River, "That way you got anything you need sent back to the boat I can take delivery."

"Very much appreciated," River gave him one of those rare smiles that lit her eyes. "A few somethings heavy that won't fit on the motorcycle."

"You just let me know where to pick you up," His hands itched to touch her chin, her lips before he left her with Badger.

"Will do," She bit her lip as she nodded.

Whatever she was doing, he hoped she was having a good time. Little packages had been arriving all afternoon and one that wasn't big but damn it was heavy. Some of it was food or spices, he could smell it. An actual honest to God trunk had arrived as well. It wasn't heavy despite the size but if it was full of clothes the woman would have a time fitting them in the wall-locker in her room.

But with the trunk she sent along an address and time she'd need him to meet her. To his shock it was a very fancy hotel and the man who escorted her to the bike clearly a Companion. He rarely got the urge to kill complete strangers but when River kissed the man's cheek and thanked him for his time… Well. The man was alive because when River climbed on the bike she didn't smell of anyone but herself. Whatever she'd been doing with the Companion, it hadn't been sex. And he really needed to get a tā mā de grip. She wasn't even his woman. He didn't have any reason to get jealous or kill someone for touching her when she wasn't his. Of course, when had he ever been reasonable?

"You ready," He handed her the goggles.

"All set, thank you," River slid forward on the bike and wrapped her arms around him, one hand over his heart and the other on his belt buckle, thumb hooked behind it and her fingers splayed downward, dangerously close to his dick (which was rearing its head with disturbing enthusiasm). "Goodbye Michael, thank you again."

"It was a pleasure Darcy," The Companion nodded and Riddick gunned the motor and took off.

He loved that she shivered behind him, could feel her heart quickening, those soft breasts and tight nipples pressing to his back. With an evil smile he decided to take the long way back to the ship and varied the power of the motor as she moaned and clutched at him. Even through the dust and odors of Eavesdown he could smell her musk and when the ship was in sight he gunned the engine again, sped up and groaned as he felt her come, screaming into his shoulder as the bike slowed to a halt next to the ship and he keyed it open.

Driving it up the ramp he closed up behind them and turned to look at her, "Give you a good ride there?" He halted the bike and turned it off, vividly conscious of her scent as she turned the tiniest bit pink. Goggles off she began to dismount the bike and he had to grab her by the waist before she stumbled. "Sure you don't want to be alone with the cycle?" He could still feel the phantom touch of her fingers over his fly.

"Pretty sure," She took a deep breath and he let go of her waist as she seemed steadier. "You deliberately took your time driving back," It wasn't quite an accusation, more a statement.

"Cāo shì de I did I did," He nodded. "Sexiest thing I've seen in…ever, you coming on the back of the bike, hanging onto me." He wasn't going to apologize for it either.

River nodded her understanding and indicated one of her larger deliveries, "Can you help me with the crate?"

"Yeah," He nodded and hefted the oddly heavy small crate over his shoulder. "I put the trunk in your room. All the other little parcels too."

"Thank you," That smile again. He'd do a lot for that smile. "The crate is a Blackbox."

"Blackbox," He hadn't heard that term in a long time and it tugged at his memory somehow.

"Think of it as a dedicated sourcebox but without any source code. It's a cortex that's a ghost," River explained. "It's heavy partially because of the shielding that prevents another cortex from following it back. The boards are powerful but dense."

"So…pretty much a huskers dream," Riddick knew there was a reason he'd heard of it. "And I guess you've got a use for it."

"Hmm…" She nodded as he put the crate down on the floor of her room. "Had something in mind yes." She looked at him strangely for a moment and tilted her head, "Hungry?"

"I've been running up and down stairs all afternoon and toting your shopping," He grinned. "My stomach feels like my throat's been cut." It wasn't that bad but he wasn't ever going to turn down a chance at one of her meals.

"When do we take off?" She rolled her neck as she moved towards the galley cabinets, turning to look at him. Different expression, evaluating but strangely hopeful. Hard to tell with those elegant manners of hers. Every movement was like a dance.

"Just waiting on you to get back. We're all set," He watched her thoughtfully wondering what she was thinking with that look on her face.

"You know how you like to joke about leaving me with the motorcycle so we can be alone?" She twisted her fingers together as if nervous.

"Yeah," He chuckled. "Gotta say… don't think I've ever met a woman who found a bike that enjoyable. Sexy." Damn that was the truth. Sexiest thing he'd ever seen.

"Rick…Riddick, I've been on motorcycles before and I never reacted like that." Such a matter of fact tone…obviously the truth, so why the reaction on his bike? She was still twisting her hands together as he watched her.

"It's not…just the motorcycle," Dark eyes met his before she looked at her hands again. "If you weren't… if someone else was…driving… I wouldn't enjoy it so much…" She shook her head, "I would never…be able…to fall." That was a helluva bomb to drop right before he had to get the ship off the ground.

"Don't start making anything to eat yet," He pointed at her. "Just…stay right there." Riddick started up to the bridge. "I'm getting us into the Black so we're both more at ease, set a course and we'll continue this."

Not since Aberdeen had he gotten the boat off the ground so fast. Course set to the coordinates Badger had given them he turned The Cutter back into a ghost once they were out of atmo and hurried back down to the galley. River was not there. A noise from her room and the door was open, looking in he saw her taking the knives out of her boots and pulling the boots off. "Thought I told you to stay put," He growled mildly.

"They're heavy," She shrugged at him as she pulled her shirt off, revealing a silky looking skinny strapped undershirt before pulling a tee-shirt on over it. "And I don't like being told what to do." That gorgeous mouth smirking at him, "Unless it's in bed."

More than anything he wanted to take that tee-shirt off her again. He hadn't seen so much of her skin since he'd deliberately caught her coming out of the shower. "Uh huh," He stared at her pointedly. "C'mere."

Nerves. He could smell the slick still between her thighs and nerves, not fear, though her heart was beating rapidly as she closed the distance between them. "Here," She murmured almost toe to toe with him.

"What was the Companion for," He cupped her chin in his hand, stroked the skin under her lips with his thumb and wasn't at all prepared for her to dip her head and catch his thumb between her lips, sucking on it lightly and flicking her tongue over the tip. He had no idea what she meant by it but he had the sudden image of her mouth on his cock and he was hard enough to want it right then.

"Teaching," She murmured, eyes dropping to his belt.

"Teaching what," Riddick let his other hand close around her waist.

"Seduction," Those dark eyes looked up at him, hot and bright. "Since she has been with no one but Companions."

"Yeah," When was she going to figure out she'd seduced him a long time ago? "Plannin' to seduce your old Captain?"

"Not at the moment," She sucked his thumb into her mouth again and he groaned.

"You keep that up, River you're gonna be on your knees real quick."

"Maybe I want to be on my knees," Those eyes staring up at him and he growled taking his hand off her face and picking her up. The bed was only across the room and he dropped her on it, pulling off his clothes and then dragging hers off as quickly as he could.

Gloriously, beautifully naked, a patch of dark wet curls above her pussy and he spread her legs apart to see her slick bare lips. "Thank god you aren't bare as a ten-year-old girl," He growled and pulled her so her ass rested on the edge of the mattress. "So wet and pretty, for me?"

"Yes, for you," River moaned and rolled her hips up. "Little bursts of pleasure clinging to you. Need you, not a machine. Please…"

Fuck she was just magnificent. He couldn't wait, licking her up and groaning at the taste of her. How she could taste like cherries when he knew she hadn't had cherries since she'd been on the boat? Curl his tongue around her clit, ripe and flushed and swollen with want, and feel her shudder under his mouth. Beautiful.

She wept, screamed into her pillow as she came under his tongue and arched her hips up to his mouth desperately until he judged she was wet and wanting enough to take him. And he wanted to put his mouth on those gorgeous tits.

"Please… please…please…" River moaned as he pushed her up the mattress and knelt between her thighs.

Author's Note: So they finally got there! Not that everything is settled and peachy keen between the two of them. And River made the first move which will have repercussions later on. I hope you're all enjoying this.

Chinese Translations:

pì gu (butt)

Wǒ cào (holy fuck / lit. 'I fuck')

Shén me zài tiān mì de xié'è de tā mā de (what in the sweet unholy fuck)

shuài gē (handsome guy / lady-killer / handsome)

Tā mā de niǎo (goddamn it /lit. 'His mother's dick')

tā mā de (fucking)

Tā mā de shì de (fuck yes)