Chapter 7

Kasha woke up in an unfamiliar bedroom. It took her mind a moment to process things, before she remembered where she was. She remembered letting Gene take her virginity last night, and then thinking how she didn't want to part with him. She'd messaged her mother to let her know that she was staying the night at a friend's, and then messaged her friends to let them know she was leaving with Gene Arkin specifically. Remembering the excited messages she'd gotten in response still made her smile.

After that she remembered going with him to his home, though she didn't remember much about the house, as most of her attention had been on him. For most of the journey to his room her arms had been around his neck, and she'd been constantly trying to steal kisses from him, which had made getting up the stairs a bit more difficult. Then they'd gotten to his bed where they made love again before falling asleep in each other's arms.

Now it was morning, and the spot in the bed next to her was empty. She looked around for Gene, before her head turned at the sound of a sink running in the adjoining bathroom, from which she saw Gene emerge a moment later. "Morning," he said, approaching the bed.

"Hi," she said as he got back under the sheets with her.

"How did you sleep?" he asked.

"Better than I have in weeks."

"So I take it your first time didn't disappoint you?"

"It was perfect."

She crawled up his body and took his face in her hands, engulfing him in a slow-burning, all-consuming kiss. It occurred to her that he was only the second boy she had ever kissed. And that first one had been nothing like this. Gabby Sodenberg back on the space station had been a nice boy, but that was all; he was just a nice boy whom she didn't think deserved a "no" when he had asked her out. And when she'd kissed him at the end of the evening, it had only been because she was supposed to. She wasn't going through any motions now. Her kisses with Gene were driven by nothing but pure, burning and very real passion.

"Excuse me, Gene," a woman's voice said.

They stopped kissing and looked up to see a twenty-something brunette standing in the open doorway. "I just wanted to let you know breakfast is ready, unless you and your guest need a little more time."

"Thank you, Gretchen, we'll be down in a minute," Gene said.

Kasha watched her walk out of the room. "Should we have closed the door or something?" she asked.

"This is Lupina," Gene reminded her. "We don't have very much to hide here."

"So who was that?"

"That was just Gretchen, one of our house staff."

Kasha's eyes widened. "You have house staff?"

"My family's pretty wealthy," Gene said. "Didn't your friends tell you that?"

"They didn't say much about you other than 'look out.' I just kind of figured they were painting you as a heartbreaker or playboy or something."

"Well, I have been with my share of girls, it's true, but honestly most of them came onto me. Probably because of my money or something. Like they think being rich automatically means I'll also be good in the sack."

"Any of them disappointed?"

"Not so far," Gene grinned proudly. Then his look turned more serious. "Does that bother you, the other girls I've been with?"

Kasha thought for a second. "Maybe a little," she admitted. "But it doesn't matter. Come on, let's head down to breakfast."

As they emerged from his room and descended the stairs hand-in-hand, Kasha began to see what she'd missed last night by being so focused on staying wrapped around him. His house was amazing. Everywhere were glistening marble floors, polished columns, and large windows and skylights to let in as much sunlight as possible. Not to mention the place was huge. She'd thought the house they gave her family to live in was nice enough but this was breathtaking.

Gene led her to a spacious dining room with a massive wall of windows looking out over the sea, and dominated by a large glass table on which Gretchen was just finishing laying out the plates of eggs, bacon, pancakes, fruits and the dishes of syrup and marmalade. Seated at the table were the couple who must have been Gene's parents, as well as a young man whose attention perked up when Kasha entered the room. Gene's father was leaning back in his chair with the newsreader open, scrolling through the holographic display of the day's stories, while his mother was busy scooping herself a few pancakes.

"Good morning, everyone," Gene said as he entered.

"Oh, my, Gene," his mother said as she observed them. "Gretchen told us you had a guest, but she didn't say your guest was so pretty!" Kasha blushed slightly.

"This is Kasha," Gene said. "A ... new friend."

As Gene pulled out a chair for her and she sat down, Kasha realized that being a guest for breakfast probably meant that Gene's family knew exactly what she had been doing with him last night, but none of them seemed to really mind. Was this typical here, that boys would introduce their families to girls they slept with the morning after, and everyone would smile and shake hands?

Gene gestured to the young man seated a few feet from her. "Kasha, this is Paul, my brother-in-law."

"How you doin'?" Paul grinned.

"Pretty good," Kasha answered, then turned to Gene. "Brother-in-law?"

"My sister should be down once she fetches my niece," he said as he sat down next to her.

As Gene started serving himself some food, Kasha did likewise. She'd just had a few bites of egg when she started hearing the rapid thumping of little running feet. As she turned her head to the sound, a little naked four-year-old came charging into the room, who stopped suddenly when she saw Kasha and stared at her in wonder. "Hi there," Kasha said to her in a high, childish voice. The girl simply stared in silence.

A young woman appeared behind her a moment later. "Erica, it's not nice to stare," the woman said. The child ran to hide behind her mother's leg, cautiously peeking out at Kasha.

"I'm sorry, she's a little shy around strangers," the mother giggled. "I'm Jerri, and this little monster is Erica."

"Hi, Erica," Kasha grinned at the little girl. Then her eyes widened and she said, "Guess what? I'm from outer space!"

The child finally rewarded her with a little smile. "Come on," Jerri said, scooting Erica along to a raised chair next to Paul. "Let's sit you down next to daddy."

"So, Kasha, you're a spacer?" Gene's father said.

"That's right."

"We used to be spacers ourselves," Gene's mother said. "Born and raised on Sigma 9. We moved here when Gene was only a few years older than her." She nodded to Erica.

Kasha looked to Gene. "You never told me that!"

"Why do you think I get you so well?"

As they resumed eating and Jerri scooped little Erica some food, Kasha began for the first time to consciously think about the fact that there were no clothes present at this table. She'd always been raised to think that nudity was something taboo that children needed to be shielded from, and yet here it was in this mundane family setting with a naked four-year-old child surrounded by her naked family just enjoying a simple family breakfast. As she watched the little girl awkwardly grip her fork and attempt to scoop up some eggs, getting some of it spilling down her bare chest, she began to see the innocence in the girl's nakedness.

When she thought about it, it just astounded her at how natural this was all starting to seem.