“Not often you get a break, eh?”

She shakes her head, and lifts her hands, running them over my arms.

“Tell me about all these tattoos.”

I shift until I drop down beside her, and then I pull her onto my lap. Her ass rides against my cock, and I try as best I can to ignore it. I tangle one hand into her hair, and I use the other to make little circles onto her back.

“I got one, and I couldn’t stop, you know?”

She shakes her head. “No, I don’t. Which was your first?”

I grin, and point to the little bird on my chest. “This one.”

She leans forward, studying it. “It’s adorable. So...”

“Un-manly...”

A giggle erupts from her throat. “No, but it has to have a reason. Most men wouldn’t get something like that.”

“It has reason, all my work does. This one was from when I was a child. I had this friend; her and I were close for a long time. She died in a car accident when we were twelve. She had this bird, a pet that she loved. So, when I was old enough, I got the tattoo. It reminded me of her.”

Jaybird is quiet a moment. I lift her chin with my fingers.

“I’m sorry. That’s so awful,” she whispers.

“Life happens in ways we don’t expect; that’s why it’s so unpredictable. It can’t be changed. Don’t be sorry. She’s in a better place.”

“Do you really believe that?” she asks, nestling closer.

“Don’t you?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

I think on it for a moment before replying with, “You know, I think there’s a better place for everyone, it’s just our times to go to those places are different. We all have a purpose here. Sometimes that purpose is only short, and we’re taken before our time. I like to believe we go somewhere better.”

Her fingers graze my cheeks, and I grin. “What?”

“You...you’re just so...different. So beautiful.”

I grunt. “Now come on, princess. Don’t kill the ego.”

She giggles. “Okay, handsome.”

“Getting better...”

I wrap my arms around her and bury my face into her hair.

Shit, she’s doing something to me.

Something I can’t turn away from.

~*~*~*~

Janine

“Final challenge of the night,” Serenity says when we’re all chilling back in Addison’s cabin later on that evening.

“And what would that be, baby?” Jackson says, pulling her onto his lap.

“You boys have to use your hats for one more personal thing before we go to bed. It’s got to be totally creative.”

“That’s easy!” Spike grunts.

Serenity rolls her eyes at him, and we all settle into the couches, waiting for the first man to make use of his hat.

Jackson is the first to step up to the plate when Serenity gets herself some eggnog and it’s too hot. Like a true gentleman, he wraps his hat around her glass and hands it to her.

“You fuckin’ pussy!” Spike grins.

“Mega aww moment,” Addison sighs.

“Ah shit Jack’s, you’re setting the bar high for the rest of us,” Muff groans.

The second to complete the challenge is, oddly enough, Spike. He breaks open a bag of nuts later in the night when he’s hungry, and when he can’t find a bowl, he tips them all into his hat and spends the next hour walking around eating. Very original.

Cade is the third to go. He pulls Addison’s late night cookies out of the oven using his hat as an oven mitt when she can’t find anything else to pull them out. She spends the next ten minutes kissing him and making little ‘aww’ sounds because of his oh-so-sweet gesture.

When Muff’s turn comes around, he does something that is quite sweet. I have cold hands, and I’m sitting by the fire, rubbing them together just as the night is slowing down. He kneels down beside me, removing the hat from his head. He grips my hands, covering them with the warm hat.

“Can’t let my lady lose her hands,” he murmurs, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to my head.

“Aw shit, I think you just outdid us all, you fucker!” Jackson laughs.

“Aw, Muffy,” Addison croons. “You sweetheart!”

Muff grunts, placing his hands behind my head and pulling me close, bringing his lips over mine. I shudder as he moves them gently, slowly parting them with his tongue until we’re in a deep, intense kiss.

“Get a room!” Spike yells.

“I just might,” Muff groans when he pulls back.

“Gotta catch me first.” I giggle, standing and running.

“Lady likes a challenge. Atta girl!” Cade grins, laughing.

I run into the living room, where I find the Christmas tree. I pull off a large, hanging candy cane and I point it at Muff as he runs in. He grins, wicked and slow, as he stalks towards me.

“What are you gonna do with that, little Jaybird?”

“Oh, don’t make me use this candy cane on you, Muff!”

“I’d like to see what you got,” he teases.

I giggle and go to run, but he lunges toward me, dropping his shoulder into my stomach and putting me up over his shoulder. I squeal and pummel my fists into his back. When that doesn’t work, I whack his ass with the candy cane.

“Baby, whack my ass with that again, and I’ll make good use of it.”

I chuckle softly, and whack his ass again. He spins suddenly, dropping me from his shoulder. He grips my shoulders when I land on my feet, and he turns me so my body is pressed against the couch, my chest pressing into the cushions. He hooks his fingers in my jeans, yanks them down, and then he takes the candy cane from my grips and he spanks me with it.