Touched by an Alien (21 page)

He rolled off and pulled me next to him. I draped my body onto him, my leg hooked over his, and he wrapped his arm around me while I leaned my head on his chest, keeping hold of his shoulder. Somehow Martini found the sheet and pulled it over us.

He stroked my arm and kissed my forehead, and I snuggled closer to him, enjoying the way his naked body felt against mine and reveling in the afterglow.

“You’re mine, you know,” he said quietly.

I kissed his chest. “Only if we do that again. A lot.”

“You drive a hard bargain, but I think it’s a fair price.”

I heaved a sigh. “Good. Nice to know I negotiate well.”

Martini chuckled. “You do everything well.”

“Flattery’s nice. Especially coming from the alien sex god.”

“You say the nicest things.”

“You
do
the nicest things.”

He moved my head and kissed me, another tender kiss. “I’ll do whatever you want, whenever you want it.”

I had a somewhat evil thought, but this statement
had
sounded like a firm commitment. “How about making love to me again, right now?”

Martini grinned as he shifted me completely on top of him. “Have I had time to mention that our double hearts give us a great deal of stamina and rejuvenation capability not common to Earth men?”

I was right on top of him, and it was clear he wasn’t lying. “Suddenly, I can see you weren’t bragging—once you go alien, you really do never go back.”

I HEARD AN ANNOYING BEEPING
. I recognized it as some sort of alarm clock. I didn’t want to pay any attention, but it wouldn’t shut off.

I was on my side with Martini wrapped around me, my back against his chest. We’d finally fallen asleep some hours after we’d left the lounger, exhausted from physical activity and sexual fulfillment. I had no desire to leave this position or the bed, but the damned alarm wouldn’t stop.

I opened my eyes, but there was no clock on the nightstand next to my side of the bed. However, the night-light, or whatever had been dimly on last night, was now turned to high. It was as bright in the room as if we were above ground and had a window without any curtains to keep the sun out.

I felt Martini stirring next to me. “Jeff, can you shut off the clock?”

He yawned. “Nope.” He kissed the back of my head. “Alarms are room-based. Until we get out of bed, it’ll just keep going.”

Great, I was housing with the Extreme Morning Militants. What a joy. “Why do we have to get up now?”

“Time to get ready to go to work.” He moved me around so we were facing each other, kissed me until every part of my body was wide awake and rarin’ to go, and then he rolled over and got up. The alarm didn’t stop. “You have to get up, too. It’s set for all occupants.” He went into the bathroom.

“So it’s going off in your room?” I dragged myself to the edge of the bed and sat up. Not good enough for the Alarm from Hell.

“Nope. There’s no one in my room to be awakened.” He stuck his head out of the bathroom door. “But it’s nice to see you still think I’m hiding a wife somewhere.”

I managed to stand, and the alarm shut off. What a relief. I sat back down and it started again. “I hate that thing.” I stood and leaned against the wall, and the sounds of silence greeted me. At last.

“It’s effective.”

“So’s a snooze alarm.”

“We don’t do snooze alarms.”

“I guessed.” A thought occurred. “Um, Jeff? How are you going to get dressed? Without anyone knowing you spent the night with me?” By anyone I specifically meant my parents. I didn’t care about anyone else’s opinion, but the thought of my father catching us worked like an ice bath—I was wide awake now.

“No idea. I figured I’d just walk down the hall and get my clothes.”

“Just like that?”

He looked back out. “Yes. Just like that.” His expression changed, and I realized he looked hurt. “You don’t want anyone to know, do you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You feel guilty and ashamed, and you want to hide.”

“What makes you say that?”

He gave me the “duh” look. “I’m an empath. Remember?”

“Oh, right. But it’s not what you think, or feel, or whatever.” I moved into the bathroom and put my arms around him. “All of those feelings are because my mom and dad are down the hall. I don’t want my
parents
to know, just yet anyway. I’ve known you for about a day, Jeff. Maybe this is normal for you guys, but my parents aren’t going to be thrilled to discover I learned exciting new sexual positions with a guy I just met.”

“Let alone an alien guy you just met.”

“I don’t think Mom cares about that. Dad probably won’t, either, once he gets to know you all. But, um, they don’t really want to know their daughter’s a slut.” There, I’d said it.

Martini put his hands on my shoulders and moved me away. I looked up at him, and his expression was shocked and confused. “You’re not a slut. Why would you even say that? Is it just because it was with me?” There it was, the hurt and disappointment in his eyes again.

I remembered the conversation with Claudia and Lorraine, and it occurred to me that the impression of overwhelming confidence Martini projected might be, at least in some ways, an act.

“No,” I said as gently as I could. “Jeff, I think you’re gorgeous. You’re smart and you’re funny. You’re the best kisser on, I’d guess, two planets. And, just to clear things up, I’ve never been with anyone who had the potential to perpetrate death by orgasm on me before. I’m not ashamed that, I guess, we’re a couple. But it’s different for women than men.”

He looked a little less hurt, but still confused. Another thought crept in. Two in one morning, possibly my personal best.

“How many Earth women have you dated?”

He shrugged. “Not too many.” But he wasn’t making eye contact.

I moved his head so he had to look at me again. “How many is not too many?”

“Counting you?” I nodded. “A handful. Less than ten.”

I managed to keep my jaw from dropping just in time. I’d dated a lot more guys than this. I
was
a slut. “How about A-C women?”

“Well, growing up, sure, plenty. I mean, over ten.” He swallowed. “But, you know, as they get older, they want something different.”

“Something smarter yet far less attractive?” I couldn’t help it, it was impossible to comprehend choosing Geek of the Year over Martini, unless we were only talking about earning potential. And even if he’d dated over twenty women total, I was still ahead of him. I was the winner of Slut of the Month club, at least in this room.

“I guess, if that’s how you put it.” He still looked miserable.

“Well, it’s how
I
put it. Jeff, it’s different for women, at least in how Earth folk think of it. A man can date a lot, sleep with someone on their first date, and he’s a stud. A woman who does that is considered loose or a slut, or worse.”

“Oh, one of the Earth double standards.” He sounded both relieved and as though it was old hat. “Like all the other prejudices, based on one rule for some and a different rule for others.”

They must have taught them this in A-C schools. He sounded as though he was discussing a concept, not something he’d ever experienced himself. “So, A-Cs don’t have a gender double standard?”

“Nope. We also don’t have sexual preference issues or skin color issues.” He was looking as though he didn’t want to tell me something again.

“What issues
do
you have?” Reader’s suggestion to ask why they’d been the ones chosen to come to Earth popped into my head. “Why was your family, or whoever were sent here, the ones selected to come to help Earth?”

“We need to shower and get dressed.” Bingo. He obviously didn’t want to answer this, and it was clear it was connected to our prior discussion.

Great sex must have helped my mental synapses—my mind was working as though I’d been up for hours and already had a full pot of coffee. “What prejudice
does
Alpha Centauri have, and how does it relate to all of you here on Earth? Oh, and I’m not showering or dressing until you answer me, and I think I’m satiated enough that even if you try kissing me, it won’t work as a distraction from this.”

“Damn.” He heaved a sigh and turned away from me, fiddling around with the shower. “Religion,” he said shortly, his back to me.

“How so?” He was tense, I could see it in the way his back muscles were bulging. I rubbed his shoulders, stroked his back, and I felt him relax.

“There’s only one official religion on Alpha Centauri.”

“But you’re all a part of the unofficial one?”

“Right.” He felt the water and stepped into the shower, seemed to consider something, then pulled me in with him.

This was fine, and I allowed him to stall a bit longer by making out with me under the flowing water. Okay, I allowed him to stall a lot longer by making love to me in the shower. Mind-blowing, just like every other time. I really found myself again hoping the room was soundproof, especially because I really got the echo reverberating when he had me against the side of the shower with my legs wrapped around his body during my second of four orgasms. It was a long shower, but I had no complaints about water waste. We even managed to clean off in there somewhere.

We were out and toweling off and I decided to pick the conversation back up, now that I could speak coherently again. “So, the religion thing. It’s rampant here, so I don’t understand why you’re avoiding telling me about it. Are you guys devil worshipers or something?”

He winced. “No. That’s part of the problem, though.” Martini got really busy toweling off.

I nudged him. “Jeff, c’mon. Just tell me. It’ll be okay. You’re from a different planet. You have two hearts. You run fifty miles in the blink of an eye. And you’re a sex god. I think I’m prepared for a difference in religious backgrounds.”

He sighed. “That’s just it. There’s not that much difference.”

This was intriguing. “I want an explanation. With more words than you’ve gotten out so far.”

Martini rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine. It was great while it lasted. The world-sanctioned religion is similar to most of the religions on Earth. One ruling God-being created us all, good people go to Heaven, bad people go to Hell.”

“Okay, so what’s the problem?” I realized I only had the clothes I’d arrived here in to put on. Great.

“You have clean clothes in the drawers,” Martini said. “They should be sized for you, but we’ll get some stuff from your apartment later, just in case.”

“How—”

“Empath. Your worry level spiked as you looked at the dresser. Try to keep up.”

“Smart ass.” I pulled open a drawer—underwear, bras included. And they fit. Score another one for alien technology. “Okay, fine. Back to religion.”

“If we must. The world religion doesn’t believe in redemption. Basically, if you commit murder, you’re going to Hell. You can be as sorry as you want to be, but you can’t atone, there’s nothing you can do to save your soul.”

“Nasty. Does it keep violent crime down?”

“From what I’ve been told, yes, for the most part. But . . . we don’t believe that.”

I could hear the fear in his voice. Religious persecution was a galaxy-wide trait, who’d have figured? “What do you believe?”

“We don’t believe in Hell as a specific place. We believe a soul can be redeemed, that mistakes can be atoned for. We think a person should do right because it’s right, not because their soul will be in eternal jeopardy if they don’t toe the line. And,” this sounded dragged out of him, “we don’t believe we just showed up one day on the planet. We believe in evolution.”

I let this all sink in for a bit. “How much science is there on Alpha Centauri? A lot? I mean, you built an ozone shield, right?”

“
My
people built the ozone shield. Scientific aptitude is stronger in us than in the rest of the world.”

“Is that why you came to Earth, because you had the better scientific aptitude?”

Martini looked right at me, and his face was like stone. “No. We were sent to Earth because it was a convenient way to get us off the planet. We were the ones saying we had to help, we were the ones who realized the ozone shield had protected our world but would just send the parasites all the faster to yours. It was the perfect political solution—exile our entire population to another planet, help that planet at the same time, double win for everyone.”

“Except for those of you who will never see your real home world, and who are always going to be different, no matter what you do.”

He nodded. “If one of our people had married into a standard family, then they had the choice to stay on our home world. In some cases, they did, in others their immediate families came with us to Earth. But there wasn’t a lot of intermarriage, for a variety of reasons, so that percentage of our population here is pretty small.”