Jayne's fantasy River was sprawled out on the bed in his bunk. He was between her open thighs, worshiping.
River smelled real good. She'd taste good too.
Jayne didn't kiss a whore. Not on either set of lips. There was more to it than avoiding drugged lips. Even more to it than not wanting to taste the girl's last man. Although with the lovely cavorting upstairs, that concern would be on his mind.
He didn't like to be so tightly scheduled in that he knew the last guy's face.
It made him try harder to pleasure the girl. As if to prove to her he was better than anyone else she'd ever sexed.
Didn't hurt the cause none that the girl he was waiting for was skinny as a rail and he'd just built up a particularly fine fantasy about Ri… his crewmates.
Jayne heard the whore coming down the stairs before he saw her. That distinctive click of fancy shoes on wooden stairs.
Jayne downed the rest of his beer and ran his thumb sneakily down his very ready John Thomas. He turned expectantly to the doorframe.
His lips curled into a scowl when the working girl came into view. She was laughing and brushing her last client off her neck.
"Come back tomorrow." She giggled, disentangling herself. "It's a busy night. Ain't got time for a double, Clem. Got fellows waiting."
The man frowned and sighed and jammed his hat down on his head.
"G'night, Rhia."
"Night, Clem." She rearranged her collar and turned towards where she'd left Jayne at the bar.
She sighed at his scowl and swayed towards him, displaying herself.
"Hey there, sugar. You ready for our good time?"
Jayne thought he might sense a certain wariness in her manner. For his frown, probably, and his size. Some smaller girls were afraid he wouldn't be gentle. He always tried to be.
"Sure, darlin." Jayne turned towards her on his stool and tugged her into the angle of his thighs.
He wrapped his hands around her and rubbed her against the evidence of how 'ready' he was to get some trim.
Jayne smiled his best sex grin at her. She relaxed slightly. He lifted her by the butt onto her toes, onto Johnny boy.
"Been ready." She felt good and it weren't hard to keep up the River-fantasy. The two girls really were about the same size and shape.
Jayne's eyes darted once again to his crewmates' table. River was looking at him. Jayne swallowed hard. He deliberately turned his attention back to the girl pressed up against him.
Ain't much chance of ever getting the real thing, he reminded himself. Make do with what you got and forget you even think she's pretty.
Jayne let his nostrils flare to make sure the whore's smell wasn't going to kill things for him. Nope, she smelled like soap more than sex. Smart girl.
He hiked her up farther into his lap, curling his fingers under her thighs.
"Is upstairs ready?" He growled, enjoying the soft-and-hard at once feel of her legs, not quite looking directly at her.
"Sure is, sugar, all freshened up and ready for us." She looked up at him, her eyes a little wider than they might oughta be, a little darker.
He nuzzled his face into her cleavage, he was happy to still find just soap and woman smells. This was gonna work out fine.
"Alright, then. Lets go."
Jayne glanced once more over at the unattainable River, then followed the real an' willing whore up the steps.
This girl wasn't gonna regret making time for him.
When the whore came down the stairs and approached Jayne, things got even worse for River. Now, through what the whore was feeling, she could actually feel her role in his fantasy.
She could feel herself convincingly in Jayne's arms. She could sense what it felt like to be pressed intimately against the bulge in his trousers. How it felt to wriggle herself against it.
The big, gentle hands Kaylee had mentioned were on her still, but now she knew how they actually felt on the skin of a woman. The rush of pleasure as he caressed the whore's nipples, the curve of her waist, her bottom…
His attention was still focused across the room on River, even though there was another girl in his arms.
While he laughed and stroked the whore, his mind clung to the fantasy that he was holding River. He followed the girl up the steps, turning a final regretful glance on River as he left her behind.
River blinked, grateful the conversation didn't seem to need her right now.
She tried to push his fantasy away. It ought to be easier now that Jayne had put walls between them. That usually helped.
It actually got more intense instead. His painted lady, contrary to her own expectations, was well on her way to her first orgasm in a very busy night.
She needed to leave. Now. Before…
River gasped and stood. "I must go home." She said, not meeting anyone's eyes.
She made it all the way outside and around the corner before she gave in to the sensations coming from the little upstairs room.
At some point - when? Before the whore came downstairs? - Her revulsion at feeling his mental touch had been replaced by intense arousal.
Her mind still rebelled at the thought of being attracted to Jayne. He was so… Jayne.
But her body didn't find the attraction unusual or unwelcome. River let the whore's pleasure wash over her.
The intimate stroking of those long blunt fingers. The very real sensation of his mouth on her neck and then her breasts.
River let herself slide down the wall. At this point she didn't think her legs could successfully propel her out of the range of his emotions. Perhaps the ladies room would have been a better choice than the alley.
She shuddered.
Now that she was alone it was better to wait it out, right?
She curled her knees up near her face and covered her eyes with her hands, letting herself feel.
Right. A little voice from the depths of her psyche piped up sarcastically. Because you can't get away. Because you aren't enjoying this. You have no interest in him whatsoever and you aren't even curious.
River would have answered herself scathingly, but at that very moment Jayne entered his whore. River gasped as the new sensations shocked her.
Not that she'd never 'overheard' the emotions and sensations of a couple having sex. She had just never participated remotely in quite this way. Jayne's fantasy that he was actually with her had not been interrupted at all.
Disconcerted was entirely the wrong word at this point.
"Miss?" The voice was kindly and low.
River had rarely been more embarrassed in her life. She pressed the heels of her hands harder into her eyes, willing the person to just leave her alone.
"Miss, are you alright?" Definitely a masculine voice.
River blushed behind her hands. How do you explain 'about to orgasm in an alley' to a concerned stranger?
"Are you alright?" The voice repeated.
"Yes." River half moaned. She forced herself to focus enough to look up at the man. The throbbing and pulsing and driving in and out continued, unaffected by her split focus.
Sheriff. Shit.
"I…"
The whore upstairs had a very sensitive spot directly behind her left knee. Jayne's hand found it right then and River lost the rest of her sentence.
"Are you ill, have you been assaulted in some way?" The Sheriff crouched down beside her.
River laughed, slightly hysterically.
"No." She took a deep breath and tried for a whole sentence. "I am uninjured and only slightly inebriated. I will go home soon." Sigh. Not bad, really. Considering.
She would go as soon as they finished upstairs. How long did Jayne… River bit her lip against the groan that was about to escape.
"Maybe I could help you home. The streets at night aren't a good place for a nice young girl."
River shuddered. If someone tried to assault her right now she might be assaulting back in a completely unexpected way.
The sheriff was holding out his hand to her. With assistance perhaps she could escape the projection radius. She did want to didn't she?
River took the offered hand and stood.
As a random sexual partner this man might do, mightn't he? Would he consent or would he stop her? Would he think she was very drunk? She wasn't.
He looked like he'd be gentle. Not a bad candidate for meaningless sex, even as a first time.
The man was looking down at her uncertainly. He was shorter than Jayne, considerably less muscle definition. Handsome, though.
River was afraid she might be swaying in rhythm with Jayne upstairs.
"I crew a ship. We're at the designated landing field." She winced inwardly at the breathy sound of her voice.
The man nodded and turned in that direction.
At least he wasn't arresting her for being drunk and disorderly.
At least she hadn't been touching herself. Talk about mortification.
River latched onto the sheriff's arm and used the physical connection to amplify his brainwaves. Jayne and his painted lady receded to a dull throb. She sighed, either in relief or regret. She wasn't going to investigate that too closely.
The sheriff was concerned about her. His name was Bob. He thought she was pretty. He was very aware of the way she was supporting herself on his arm. It made him feel good, manly, to be helping her home.
The farther they got from the bar, the easier she breathed and the steadier she walked.
River glanced sideways up at Sheriff Bob.
He had a nice face, a kissable mouth. He seemed like a sweet man. He'd been honestly concerned about her.
She was still very aroused. Could she seduce a stranger to scratch this need?
He wasn't young, fortyish, he could be a good lover.
River let her breast rub into his arm as she stumbled slightly, deliberately, on the cobbled street.
Yes, he noticed that. Guiltily.
River sighed.
He was married. Four children, the oldest was twelve.
Seduction was a distinctly bad idea.
She would just have to ease herself with the masturbation aids she'd purchased the last time they had a girl's night.
During her birthday adventure Inara had introduced them all to a discrete little boutique on Persephone.
"There we are, the Firefly." River gestured towards i Serenity /i , sitting majestically between two smaller vessels. She was aware that she now sounded completely sober and was walking very steadily.
"Are you feeling better?" The lawman asked.
"Yes, thank you. I just… have man troubles." She smiled tremulously. Misleading, yet true.
The sheriff patted the hand still clutching his arm.
"Anything you want to talk about?" He asked kindly.
"Not really." She turned her head away so he wouldn't see her wry smile. "I appreciate you walking me home." She let herself into the ship. "I'll be fine now that I'm here."
River locked the man outside and headed straight for her bunk. She might not want Jayne for herself, but he sure had gotten her worked up. As ashamed as she was to admit it, tonight she was going to be pleasuring herself to his image instead of her usual faceless fantasy lover.
Kaylee, Zoë and Inara watched River stumble out of the pub.
"Will she be alright?" Kaylee asked.
"River can take care of herself." Zoë said. "What do you think that was about?"
"Jayne went upstairs." Inara said. The other two turned to look.
"She seemed awfully tuned in to him and the way he was watching her." Zoë said slowly. "Do you think…"
"What?" Inara laughed. "Jayne and River?" Her laughter faded. "They would be good for each other, wouldn't they?"
"Yeah, they would." Kaylee's eyes were definitely starting to gleam. "Her 'no' wasn't very convincing, was it?"
"But it was a no." Inara protested.
"Maybe, but no" Zoë quoted. "Not a definite no at all." She thought back to her own courtship with Wash, how she'd said no until after she'd meant yes.
"What if…" Kaylee began.
"No." Zoë cut her off. "We shouldn't do anything. If they want each other they'll find each other."
"But Jayne's got his head so far up his…"
"Kaylee." Inara cut her off. "Zoë's right. We really shouldn't push. But there are a few things we could do. Reorganize the chore list for instance."
"Nothing wrong with letting them be together so they can find each other." Zoë agreed slowly.
"I might have another idea too." Inara said. "I'll have to work on it."
"I'll work on Jayne." Kaylee offered enthusiastically. "Not openly, just enough to get him thinking about her more."
"River will catch on." Zoë warned. "She might not be too happy." The others shrugged the warning off.
The more they thought about it, the more all three women liked that match. The drunker they got, the more certain they were in their new purpose.