“I’m afraid some do,” she said honestly. “We’ve done polls and focus groups down on Earth and unfortunately, there’s more resistance to a human woman bonding with Twin Kindred than with other kinds of Kindred.”
“But that’s awful.” Clear shook his head. “We only want what other males want—to find a female to love and cherish and make a family with.”
“I know, which is why I’m trying so hard to change that perception,” Melanie told him. She cleared her throat. “I think the problem is, uh, the way Twin Kindred, uh, bond a female to them. I mean, your, uh…you kind of…you merge, don’t you?” she asked, feeling like her face was getting so hot it might catch her long brown hair on fire.
“Our shafts merge when we bond a female to us, yes,” Clear said, without an ounce of embarrassment. “But that’s a natural biological function—the two twins becoming one. Why should that be a problem?”
“It’s considered…perverted in some places,” Melanie tried to explain. “I mean, because the two of you are brothers—you’re blood related—and then you’re, uh, putting your, um, shafts together in a sexual way…”
She trailed off, wishing she had never started this conversation in the first place. It was so embarrassing to be talking about this to her young, handsome coworker and it felt really inappropriate in the work environment, too. She hoped Clear wouldn’t think she was harassing him!
“If you mean you think we’re getting pleasure from touching each other, that’s not true,” Clear said, frowning. “We are coming together to pleasure our female. And we only take the final step of joining after we have given her orgasm after orgasm and she is open and ready to take us.”
Oh my God, he needs to stop talking like this! What if a supervisor comes by?
Melanie shifted uneasily in her seat, pressing her thighs tightly together. It wasn’t just that Clear’s blunt talk was inappropriate—it was also turning her on by making her imagine herself between him and his twin with the two of them touching and tasting and—
Stop it, Melanie! Stop it right now, she lectured herself fiercely.
“Okay, well, um, that’s all very interesting,” she said quickly, wondering how to change the subject. “Thank you for explaining that to me.”
“Will you put it in your vid?” Clear demanded, frowning. “Will you let the humans know that we don’t pleasure each other—we only wish to pleasure our mate until she opens for us to take our seed deep in her body and seal our bond with her?”
“Yes, yes, I promise,” Melanie said, nodding rapidly. “Um, thank you so much for your feedback. Maybe I should get back to work now.”
She put a hand on his broad shoulder and gave him a little push, willing him to go. In the next cubicle she could see that Sonja’s eyes were wide and she was trying to stifle a giggle behind her cupped hand.
“But I don’t feel like we’ve really explored this problem thoroughly,” Clear protested, refusing to budge. “I had no idea humans were feeling this way about us! I think there’s still a lot of confusion to clear up.”
“Well, I mean, cultural confusion is…it’s really uh, bad.” Melanie hardly knew what she was saying now. She just wanted him to stop talking about bonding because it was equal parts embarrassing and inappropriate.
Not to mention arousing. Admit it, Melanie—imagining yourself bonding with Clear and another Twin Kindred is getting you all hot and bothered, whispered that little voice in her head.
“I mean, take your confusion about Christmas,” Melanie went on, trying desperately to change the subject and put the kinky thoughts out of her head. “It can be really hard to understand another culture’s religious beliefs and holiday customs.”
“True.” Clear nodded. “Like my confusion between ‘Santa’ and ‘Satan.’”
“Yes, exactly. Look here…” Melanie typed rapidly on her keyboard until two images popped up side by side. Santa was on the right with a jolly expression on his face and a devil image was on the right, complete with cloven hooves, a pitchfork, horns, and a tail.
“Oh, I see…” Clear leaned forward and pointed at Santa with his bag of presents. “That’s Satan, correct?”
“No, that’s Santa,” Melanie corrected him. She giggled a little, giddy with relief at successfully changing the subject. “See the presents and the red suit?”
“But the other figure is red too,” Clear pointed out.
“Yes, but look at the horns and the tail and the pitchfork.” Melanie pointed out the features as she talked, rotating the holo image so that the big Kindred could see it clearly. “That’s Satan—the devil. He’s evil and Santa is good. There’s a big difference.”
“I suppose so.” Clear didn’t sound wholly convinced. Still, he nodded at her politely. “Thank you for pointing out the differences. Human culture can be so confusing at times.”
“That’s how I feel about Kindred technology,” Melanie told him. “That wave cooker I have in my suite, for instance—I nearly burned my hand off with it when I first moved in!” She shrugged. “And now I’m scared to death to use it. I’ve been living on cold food like salads and way too much take-out—which isn’t exactly good for my thighs.”
She patted her thighs ruefully. She’d always been bigger in the hips and butt and thighs than she wanted to be. It was one area she worked on constantly at the gym, but since she’d passed 35, it seemed to be a losing battle.
“What’s wrong with your thighs?” Clear asked, frowning. “I think they’re beautiful. I think all of you is beautiful, Melanie,” he added, looking her right in the eyes. “Am I allowed to say that?” he asked. “On my planet, it’s considered polite to compliment an Elite, but I don’t know about here.”
“Um…” Melanie wasn’t sure what to say. “It’s…probably not something you ought to say to a coworker. But I’m not offended,” she added quickly. “Though I’m not sure what an ‘Elite’ is.”
“An Elite is a female the Goddess has blessed with extra-generous curves,” Clear explained. “I noticed your curves the first moment I saw you, when you came to work in the PR department.”
“Oh, um…”
Melanie cleared her throat, not sure what to say. Was he flirting or was he just being nice? It must be the latter, she decided. After all, he had told her that it was considered polite to compliment women on their beauty on his home planet.
“Thank you,” she said at last.
But Clear was frowning.
“No, I shouldn’t have said it. You’re getting pink in the face again, just like you did when I was talking about pleasuring and bonding. Is sex and courtship really such a forbidden subject to humans?”
“In the workplace it is,” Melanie managed to get out. “But I’ll try to be understanding—I know our, uh, customs are still strange to you.”
“As our technology is to you,” Clear said, nodding gravely. “You know, I would be happy to come to your suite and teach you how to use your wave. I do most of the cooking in my domicile since my brother works long hours at the Med Center.”