<strong>~ Sasha Dearing, First Officer - in the Captain’s quarters Aboard The Gamble - landing at Eavesdown Docks on Persephone ~</strong><br/><br/>As Griff continued to disrobe in front of her, Sasha forced her eyes to remain on his face, tried to force her mind to focus on the job. Her draped black lace dress veiled her completely as she wore it now, although it did nothing to ease her sudden restlessness as she held herself in an almost militaristically rigid position.  Despite outwardly displaying the epitome of a professional demeanor, internally Sasha was struggling to maintain her composure. As her chest rose and fell with each breath, the soft lace of her dress lightly grazed against her breasts, gently coaxing her rose-tinged nipples to harden in response to the unexpected and unwelcome sensual caresses. Sasha frowned in aggravation, shifting her stance to try and alleviate the disturbing responses of her passionate woman’s body.<em>It must have been me talking with Jacob and my looking forward to enjoying him, got my mind a bit hazy and my body acting like a hun dan jien huo!</em>she tried to explain her reaction away to herself.<br/><br/>Although her black dress provided full coverage of her body at first glance, more than a hint of her smooth, creamy skin was enticingly visible underneath. Perhaps most noticeable would be the small expanse between the tops of her thigh-high latex leggings and panties, where the pale creaminess of her skin was tantalizing revealed - if anyone were to look closely. Which Sasha had the uncomfortable impression Griff was casually doing right now, to her continued consternation.<em>Damn his hard body and hot, chocolate eyes!</em>Sasha’s teeth bit firmly into her lush lower lip as she focused on calming her body and clearing her mind.<br/><br/><strong>“It ain’t nothing you ain’t already seen before.”</strong><br/><br/><em>Now that’s an understatement.</em>Sasha groused to herself, still struggling to tamp down her passions - and by this point pretty much just wanting to get the hell out of there. The Captain certainly could never be accused of modesty; in fact, she’d make a very large wager with an frontier planet shylock who had himself a sadistic streak that there wasn’t a single crew member on board that hadn’t seen the Captain in all his God-given, bare-assed glory on more than one occasion. Not that he wasn’t a mouth-watering delicious sight unclothed, she’d give him that. But it certainly was...a damned annoying distraction.<br/><br/>Sasha was more than thankful that they were about to disembark off the ship; after taking care of business, she’d be free to relieve all her pent-up physical need with the safe, uncomplicated and emotionally non-threatening Jacob. Which judging by her overreaction to being alone with a nearly nude Griff, her release couldn’t come soon enough.<em>Thank GOD Griff is blissfully unaffected by <strong>my</strong> presence,</em>she breathed to herself, doubly grateful he was unaware of her strong attraction to him and her internal struggle against that attraction. Griff was just...well, just too important in her life to lose. Her hands clenching tightly into fists as her emotions ratcheted up with her escalating thoughts, Mae’s timely announcement over the COMM provided the distraction she needed, and Sasha released a long, slow breath in relief.<br/><br/><strong>“That girl ain’t right.”</strong><br/><br/>After Mae’s typically wry broadcast, Griff delivered his commentary with a smile as he stood up in only his form-fitting boxers, stretching his arms over his head and flexing his muscular body, the sweat-sheened, taut sight of which did nothing to aid Sasha’s cause. Subconsciously diverting her desires and fears into the familiar and more manageable channel of anger, Sasha’s irritation escalated as she listened to Griff detail his plan. She listened silently as he explained he would be procuring an engine part for Hayes and meeting up with a potential new crew member, McPherson. Her scowl darkened at the mention of Ferret, then his next comment tweaked her already fragile leash on her anger, so much so she barely heard him describe Mae and Vincent’s duties to replenish their food and medical supplies, and tell how he and the new recruit would try and rustle up some deals on ammo. By the time he rounded up his speech with a question, Sasha was livid; her body tense and clenched hands itching to throttle the Captain.<br/><br/><strong>“whattaya think - two or three hours be time enough to see everything done and meet back here?”</strong><br/><br/>“You’re gonna have Si accompany me on the meet with Ferret to<em>keep me safe?</em>”  She asked, her voice deceptively soft.<br/><br/>If Griff had been paying attention, he would have noticed the warning signs that Sasha was losing her temper. Her eyes narrowed as he slipped inside his small private bathroom, his arm reappearing momentarily as he tossed his boxers toward the pile of clothes near his couch. Like a bull being taunted beyond tolerance, she responded to his fluttering boxers like he was waving a red cape. Cursing under her breath, Sasha plowed across the room and flung open the bathroom door. Refusing to focus on what she could see of Griff’s naked body, she instead fueled her irritation and anger.<br/><br/>“First,” she growled, one hand on her hip the other pointedly jabbing the air in Griff’s direction, “I don’t need no gorram babysitter and you hun dan well know it!<strong><em>I</em></strong>can keep my own gorram self safe, thank you very much! Second - what’s this about two or three hours? What’s the gorram hurry to get back on this gos se piece of fei-oo? Some of us got<em>plans,</em>see?  And third - just when are you planning on filling me in on the details of this meet? Ferret ain’t exactly the sweetest slice of pie on the plate so I’d appreciate having my fork at the ready -<em>Captain.</em>”<br/><br/>Her heart was racing with her anger-fueled adrenaline, her cheeks flushed from the heat of Griff’s shower.  Or at least that’s what she told herself as she stood mere inches from Griff’s wet, nude body, a flimsy curtain of fabric all that separated them.<em>What the hell is wrong with me?</em>She wasn’t used to her emotions running away so easily with so little provocation, and the feeling didn’t set well with her in the least. In fact, she couldn’t take the tension for one minute longer without something breaking that she didn’t want broke. Unbidden, images formed of Griff’s nude body luxuriating under warm streams of water, of him wrapping the small towel around his waist as he exited the shower, of the towel dropping as he began to put on his clothes; she was NOT in the right frame of mind to deal with any more of this foolishness. Huffing out of the bathroom she slammed the door behind her. Flopping onto the couch, she kicked his boxers to the other side of the room with the toe of her boot, then sank back into the cushions, eyes closed and fingers firmly massaging her temples.<br/><br/><br/><em>hun dan jien huo = damn cheap floozy<br/>hun dan = damn<br/>gos se piece of fei-oo = crap piece of junk</em><br/>