Page 19 of Alexis

Sex had been a means to an end, a transaction, the pleasant scratching of an itch.

And somehow, now that he wanted it to be that and no more, he felt a tenderness for the woman on the other side of the bathroom door.

The door opened before he could explore his feelings further.

“That was amazing,” she said, her voice a little breathy.

But he couldn’t reply. He was too busy looking at the way her damp hair curled around her elegant neck, as if pointing toward the tantalizing sliver of flesh exposed at the opening of her fluffy robe.

“I, uh, should shower too,” he said quickly, brushing past her and closing the bathroom door behind him.

Get it together, Torrn,he coached himself as he stripped in record time.Just clean yourself up, then go out there and get her pregnant. It’s that simple.

He hurried through his shower, then wrapped a much bigger robe around himself, and returned to find Alexis sitting on the bed, looking out the window, just as he had done.

“You were quicker than I was,” she said, smiling.

“I was eager to get back to you,” he told her truthfully.

She looked down at her hands in her lap, as if she were nervous.

“Again, we don’t have to do anything tonight,” he told her gently. “And I know the stakes are high, but remember, this won’t really be different from any other time you’ve done it, right?”

She glanced up at him, her eyes slightly widened with surprise.

“Did I say something wrong?” he asked, going over it in his mind.

“I, um, I know things are different on different planets,” she said slowly. “Where I come from, we… don’t do this at all until there is a child and a marriage.”

“Youwhat?”he asked.

Surely, he had heard her wrong. He’d met other Terrans, and while they might not be as relaxed in their sexuality as most races, they weren’tthatprudish.

“Terra-58 is different from the others,” she said. “Our whole community was planned, not just the terraforming. We are female-led. This is all part of it.”

“But where is the child supposed to come from if there’s no sex first?” he demanded, feeling instantly embarrassed. Leave it to him to blurt out something that was probably culturally insensitive.

“We use small fertility clinics and purchased seed,” she explained. “That way we know that inheritance will be passed down through the mother’s side only. Once a woman has a child, she is eligible to find a partner, marry and have more children, in the way you are thinking.”

“You haven’t done any of that yet,” he realized out loud.

“I have tried to conceive at the clinics,” she said, her voice quavering very slightly. “But… I was not favored by Mother Stars with a pregnancy.”

“Why not?” he asked, then wished he hadn’t.

“They say they don’t know,” she admitted, twisting her hands a little in her lap. “But I think I do.”

He waited, unwilling to ask if she didn’t want to answer.

“There’s a lot more to it, but it’s basically my fault,” she said softly. “I danced so much and ate so little. I messed up my cycle, maybe forever.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “When they told me I had a match, they explained that my seed should awaken your womb. I didn’t really know what that meant.”

She looked up at him, her eyes luminous with hope.

“And I don’t know if it is true,” he admitted. “But the Center seems to know almost everything about stuff like this. I hope for both of us that it works like they say it will.”

“Me too,” she said, a single tear running down her cheek.

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