Chapter 7: Day 1, continued

When Steve got back to the living area, he found Mary, Danielle, Yoshi, Moesha, and Abema sitting around one of the small tables, with an assortment of snacks laid out before them.

"Good afternoon, ladies," he said as he approached. "Can I join you?"

"Of course, Steve," said Moesha. "We were just talking about you."

"Should I be worried?" he asked. "Are you plotting against me, again?"

"Not plotting, exactly. Planning, perhaps," Mary said, taking up the thread of the conversation. "We were asking Moesha and Abema about themselves, their interests, how they felt about having sex with you; nothing of any importance."

Steve rolled his eyes. This was another conversation he wasn't going to enjoy. Eventually, he supposed he'd get used to the teasing. "I see. And have you reached any interesting conclusions as a result of this conversation?"

Moesha spoke up. "I'd rather discuss it with you privately. Can we go to my room?"

Steve looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Certainly."

There was a bit of snickering behind them as they left. Steve ignored it as best he could; he was following Moesha (and trying not to be obvious about enjoying the view) so he couldn't tell what she thought.

They entered Moesha's room, and Steve sat down at one end of the small couch, next to a small chair. It was an all-to-obvious invitation for Moesha to declare her intentions without having to say anything. She could join him on the couch to invite intimacy or sit in the chair to establish distance. When she chose the latter, Steve wasn't surprised.

"I've been torn about this since you talked about children. I'm not a bigot, really, but I want a black father for my kids. But no matter how I tell myself that it's OK to want that, it just doesn't sit right. And there's the chance that our so-called hosts will keep us isolated until you've bred us all. And there's the fact that I'm really horny right now, and that thing between my legs doesn't care what color your cock is, and that all of your wives talk about how wonderful you are in bed. I'm just completely confused."

"Before I say anything else, I want to repeat what I said yesterday to all of you. I'm willing to have kids with any and all of you, but I don't intend to force anyone, or let anyone else force someone. The master/slave thing I'm doing with Nytoya notwithstanding, I'm not going to knock her up without her consent.

"And I'm not even going to touch you until you've made it clear that you want me to, and made it equally clear how far you want it to go. And that means waiting until you've figured it out yourself.

"Now having said all that, I think that what's apparently left of the human species can't afford to think of 'race' any more. If we have a large enough variety of genetic variation, it's just by the skin of our teeth. If we start dividing up into 'racial groups', none of them will be able to avoid inbreeding, except maybe the Chinese, and only if they ignore political and cultural variations.

"The bottom line, though, is that it's up to you if you have kids with me, or wait for another man to become available. I can't predict when or if that will happen. I expect that once our kids get closer to adulthood there will be direct contact with another household, but even that is something I can't guarantee."

Moesha looked at Steve with tears in her eyes. "If you keep talking like that, I am going to fall in love with you, color be damned. Thanks for being so honest, and so understanding. I'd like to rest for a while; tell the others I'll be out for dinner."

Steve stood up, then helped Moesha to her feet and gave her a hug. "Have a good rest; I hope you feel better soon."

Moesha touched his cheek, then gave it a quick kiss, before sending him on his way.

Fortunately for Steve's sanity, the rest of the 'afternoon' and 'evening' went without any additional seduction attempts, mind-blowing revelations, or tears. He extracted Nytoya's butt plug when the time came, got her to eat something, and put her back to bed. She'd be fine in the morning. He returned to the main room in time for dinner, and some light conversation before he wished the rest of the women goodnight, and dragged his wives off to sleep.