He went with me through the same things he’d shown Mara. He did it in the same way, too—polite but distant. There were no smiles, crooked or otherwise, from him this morning. He almost seemed on guard with me. I couldn’t figure out the reason for that change, but in the end, it was probably for the best. It would be easier for me to maintain a professional distance between us if he did the same.
“Stefan said you went to the office this morning?” I asked. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes. Why wouldn’t it be?” Yet his prominent brow ridges shifted closer together, forming a frown.
“You said you weren’t going back to work until the end of the month.”
“Right.” His jaw flexed. “Well, I went to see if they could schedule me in earlier than planned.”
“When?”
“Hopefully, in a few days.”
“Why so soon?” I couldn’t shake the feeling that it might have something to do with Mara and me being here. Did he dislike sharing his space with us?
He shifted his weight to another foot, somewhat awkwardly. “Seeing how well you’re doing, I figured you won’t be needing me here anyway.”
“But it’s only been a day.”
“I know...” He heaved a long breath. “That's all it took...” His gaze traveled to me again. There was wonder and confusion in his eyes, as if I were a puzzle he needed to solve. He blinked after a moment. “You’re doing great, Susanna. Stefan is only a call away. I’m still here too, for the next few days.”
“Sure. No worries. I’ll be fine. The kids and I, I mean,” I assured him. Because what else could I do? Cling to his leg to keep him from leaving? He couldn’t babysit me forever. My job was to help him, not the other way around.
Though his decision to leave earlier bothered me. Combined with his behavior this morning, it seemed strange. He looked tense.
Was it something I did?
Then I remembered literally jumping on him last night. Naked. And now, the man was fleeing his own home rather than continue sharing it with me. He must think I was an idiot, or worse—a sex-crazed woman who knew no boundaries.
I rubbed my forehead, searching for a way to apologize.
“I’m really sorry about last night,” I started. “I overreacted about the fish—”
He jerked his head up, giving me an odd look.
“It’s fine,” he said, slowly backing to the exit. “No need to apologize. I understand. It’s the fish.”
He turned to leave, and I noticed the back of his pants move, as if he had something hidden in there. Something long.
He left. But the tension lingered.
“Way to make things weird, Susanna,” I muttered under my breath.
Grabbing my disc, I went to my room. There was still some time before Stefan’s return. I could read or watch some videos about Aldrai to learn more about this world, so that I wouldn't nearly jump out of my skin when normal alien things happened to me again.
One thing I really loved here was my new bed. After the moldy couch in my basement back on Earth, the huge, comfy mattress under the canopy of the living trees felt like heaven. The fragrance of fresh grass and blooming flowers made it simply magical.
I stretched my legs over the silky covers and propped a pillow under my back, leaning against one of the trunks that served as the bedposts.
Scrolling through the blobs of the Aldraian language, I let the system read the titles and options to me, adding to a list the articles to read and videos to watch.
One section I found was titled “Adults Only.” Curiosity prompted me to click on it.
“Just a glance,”I promised to myself.
It contained a collection of what looked like sex videos, available through a public network.
“Well, since I’m already here...”I clicked on a video.
The first shot was of a naked Aldraian woman. Her long chestnut hair was unbound, streaming freely down her body. She had smooth, glowing skin the same color as her hair.
The most unusual thing about her was the three pairs of breasts on her front. The first pair was placed a tiny bit higher than those of humans, and the last pair was just above her waist. Small and perky, all six bounced slightly as she walked barefoot along a picturesque meadow with large flowers that appeared to grow bigger as she approached.
She sauntered toward a giant flower bud. It was purple and as huge as a tent, its petals closed tightly. The flower opened, revealing an Aldraian man sleeping in the bedding in the middle.
The flower looked real, not a prop. I immediately took a mental note to find more information about the giant flowers of Aldrai.
The man woke up, clearly excited to see the naked woman. So excited, in fact, his erection popped up immediately, standing up nearly vertically. He scooted aside, inviting her to join him on the flower bed.
The woman climbed inside on her knees and positioned herself between the man’s knees. Wrapping his arms around her middle, he pulled her closer, then licked one of her breasts. She arched her back, and he dragged his tongue up and down three of her nipples, first on her right, then on her left. That many breasts presented that many more options.
The woman moaned dramatically. The camera zoomed in, showing her at an exciting angle.
This clearly was some kind of Aldraian porn entertainment site I’d stumbled upon. It’d do little in terms of research for me, since I had no plans to explore Aldraian sex life. I should just close the video and watch a documentary on the Aldraian school system or something equally useful.
But I couldn’t look away. Maybe it was the flower, or the fact that the man and the woman were so beautiful together, or maybe I was just nosy and horny, but I found it impossible to stop watching them.
The woman slid her slender fingers up the man’s erection. He tossed his head back with a muffled groan, then suddenly flipped down on his face and spread his arms and legs on the sheets like a starfish.
The woman didn’t seem to be concerned by her partner’s odd position or his sudden immobility. She straddled the back of his legs, then placed her hands on...the appendage that writhed and curled over the man’s butt.
“What the...” I hit the pause button, then squinted at the image.
Did the guy have...a tail? Or was it a second dick?
Either option was equally unbelievable.
Then I recalled Mara saying something about Aldraian tails long ago, still back on Earth when she had tried to convince me to come here instead of her. She’d said Aldraians kept their tails hidden.
Xavran didn’t have a tail, though, did he? Hidden or not, I would’ve noticed it if he did, wouldn’t I?
Then I remembered the back of his pants moving as he was leaving the kitchen earlier today. That would be exactly where the tail would’ve been located—had he had one.
He did have a tail!
“Wow...” I minimized the video of the two Aldraians having a good time in the flower, then ordered to the device, “Look up Aldraian tail.”
The search results that came up were even more scandalous than the video of the couple in the flower.
It looked like Aldraians indeed had tails, males and females alike. They kept them hidden in their clothes, however, all the time. It appeared they only displayed their tails in a sexual manner. Nearly every single video that had an Aldraian with his or her tail out had some kind of adult content.
The woman on the flower video licked along the entire length of the man’s tail, then sucked the tip into her mouth. She rolled the tail between her palms, making the man groan.
He rolled over onto his back again, his hard-on bobbing in the air like a jack-in-a-box.
The Aldraian penis presented an interesting sight on its own. Raised bumps were placed along its entire length. The bumps were slightly darker than the rest of his skin. When the woman pressed on them, they compressed like little sponges, leaking clear, thick liquid.