Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 66222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
She stared at him. “How can you not know?”
Harry wondered what she would say if he told her he was an alien with a completely different biological makeup. At this point it would probably be more believable than his obliviousness and inexperience.
“I’m something you would probably call demisexual,” he said carefully. “I’m closer to asexual. I don’t really get attraction. I have to be... emotionally connected to the person to feel any sexual attraction.” He needed to be telepathically bonded, which he obviously wasn’t—not to Adam, at least.
Samantha had a pinched expression on her face. “Harry,” she said slowly. “Are you saying you don’t feel emotionally connected to Adam? Because that’s the biggest pile of bullshit I’ve ever heard.”
Harry looked at her, feeling completely lost.
“Can you describe what attraction fees like?” he said haltingly, licking his lips. “It’s probably a stupid question, but humor me?”
Samantha smiled at him. “It’s not a stupid question if you identify as demisexual or asexual.” She looked thoughtful. “Well, I’m not a man, but when I’m attracted to someone, I feel excited around them, want to touch them all the time, I smile around them more, want to please them, want to look good for them, want them to think I’m funny and interesting. Obviously there are physical signs...”
“What physical signs?”
She stared at him. “You really want to know what I feel when I’m turned on?”
Harry fought a blush. This was so incredibly embarrassing. But he needed to know—because everything else she had described sounded very familiar. Confusingly familiar.
Biting his lip, Harry nodded. He wasn’t a baby. He could talk about sex. It wasn’t a big deal for humans and he was supposed to be a human.
“Okay.” Samantha blushed. “My skin tingles when he touches me. I get a warm feeling in my lower stomach. I want his hands on my body. I want to be close to him so there’s no space between us. I want his lips on me, everywhere.” She was red now. “I get wet if I’m really attracted to the guy, but obviously it’s different for men. Men get hard.” She smiled a little. “I didn’t expect to have this talk until I have teenage kids.”
Harry didn’t smile back. While some of the things she had said didn’t apply to him, some things were more than a little familiar. He always wanted to be close to Adam, press his body flush against him. He wanted Adam’s hands on his body all the time. He had never imagined Adam’s mouth on his body, but now that he did, the thought wasn’t…unpleasant. It made his heart beat faster and his skin warm.
But he didn’t entirely understand what getting wet or hard had to do with being attracted to someone. Well, he understood the mechanics of sex, but having never experienced it, it was difficult to imagine.
“I guess you would call my parents... prudish,” Harry said, choosing his words carefully. He knew his obliviousness must seem strange in the era of Google. “They disapprove of sex out of wedlock. They never talked to me about sex and discouraged me from learning about it.”
Samantha’s eyes widened. “Really?”
Harry nodded, feeling a pang of guilt for lying. His parents weren’t really that prudish. Calluvians simply didn’t discuss sex unless it was necessary.
“...Harry?”
Flinching, Harry looked back at Samantha. “Sorry, what?”
She shook her head. “I don’t get something. If you’ve never been attracted to anyone, how can you be engaged to that girl?” She scoffed. “Please don’t tell me it’s an arranged marriage. But after what you said about your parents, that wouldn’t surprise me.”
“It is an arranged marriage,” Harry conceded, though he’d never thought of his childhood bond in those terms. “But I do like my fiancée. She’s nice.”
“Honestly,” Samantha said. “Where are you from again? Fifteenth century? It’s positively medieval.”
Harry chuckled, wondering what she would say if she knew that Harry’s people were actually thousands of years ahead of humans technologically. But it was rather curious that his people’s customs were closer to the customs that humans had practiced several centuries ago.
“So are you attracted to Adam or not?” Samantha said.
Harry averted his gaze. The answer that should have been simple was anything but. He did have some strange feelings toward Adam that he had never felt before. He did feel weirdly drawn to Adam. But was it attraction?
No, he was probably just confused. He got neither “wet” nor “hard” around Adam. That had to mean he wasn’t attracted to him, right?
“No,” Harry replied. “I don’t think I’m attracted to him.” He rubbed his nose with a sigh. “I need to figure out what to do. I don’t like Adam’s solution.”
“Adam’s solution?”
Harry felt the corners of his mouth turn down. “He’s been different the past few days.”
“Different?”
“He’s, like, friendly, but he’s distant.” Harry caught his bottom lip between his teeth and looked down at his hands. He said quietly, “He hasn’t called me ‘babe’ or ‘love’ in two days.”