Chapter 2

"Is this the house you inherited?" was the first thing Dave asked, seeking confirmation.

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Iris told you about that, did she?"

Though he didn't get a yes, Dave knew her answer had been affirmative, so he fired off his follow up question. "Who did you inherit it from?"

"Well, when I worked as a sex therapist, I helped a very rich old man overcome a sexual problem. It had been a problem for most of his life, and several other therapists had failed before I ultimately succeeded. He was so grateful that he ended up putting me in his will. This also connects to my bad experience with lawyers."

"How so?"

"His closest living relative, his nephew, was a lawyer, and apparently he was counting on also getting the part of the inheritance that I ended up getting. Unfortunately for him, the old man never really liked him, and included a clause in the will that stipulated what had to be done in case the nephew tried to take away my part of the inheritance, which he indeed tried to do. After the judge got a look a that elaborate setup the nephew didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of proving that his uncle hadn't been of sound mind when he included me in the will, or that I somehow influenced him into including me. Anyway, as per the instructions of the hidden part of the will, I ended up getting the nephew's share as well, and it included this house and a fair bit of liquid assets."

Dave let it sink in, before asking, "What exactly is a sexual therapist?"

"That's someone who treats sexual dysfunctions and helps the people experiencing those dysfunctions to regain an active sex life. Some dysfunctions are a lack of libido, unwanted sexual fetishes, non-consummation, or premature ejaculation. Sex therapists also help people recover from sexual assault. So it's basically a therapist for sex-related problems."

"So that's how you use your sexology degree?"

"Actually, I primarily use my psychology for that. I finished undergrad with majors in both psychology and anthropology, and a minor in biology. Then I went to England, where I first got my Masters degree for psychology in my first year, and the degree for anthropology in my second year."

Dave frowned. "Just one year for each?"

"That's how it was done at the university I attended. It wasn't easy. I'd wake up in the morning to study and write papers. Then I'd have to attend lectures, and after that more studying and paper writing. And you didn't really need a social science undergraduate degree to make it into anthropology graduate school, although it did make things easier. You just needed really good grades and a proven capacity to think scientifically, which is taught in any undergraduate school worth its salt.

"Anyway, I focussed on sexual habits for both psychology and anthropology, and since sexology overlaps both I decided to do that as well. I really found my niche then, so I went on to get my doctorate in sexology. I was all done when I was 29, and I spent the next few years as part of a sexual therapy team. I was actually fairly special in the sense that I could occupy multiple positions in a therapy team. I'm also licensed to function as a surrogate, you see."

"I've heard about that," Dave said. "Surrogates have sex with the patients, right?"

"It can happen, but surrogates aren't there purely for the sex," Veronica corrected him. "Often enough they don't have sex with their patients."

Dave blushed, heartily embarrassed and afraid he had insulted her. "I'm sorry."

Veronica gave him a disarming smile and a reassuring pat on the knee. "Don't be. It's a misunderstood profession."

Relieved, Dave nodded. "So you were a therapist and a surrogate."

"Yes, but I never did both at once with a patient. I could do both, but I was either the therapist or the surrogate. The therapist needs to be as detached as possible, and sex is always very intimate, so it's impossible to take on both tasks ... at least, not without compromising the effectiveness of the treatment."

"I understand," Dave replied, and fell silent for a few heartbeats before asking his next question. "So, why did you stop?"

"After my benefactor passed away and the inheritance issue was settled, I didn't have to work for a living anymore, so I travelled around and did research on various sexual habits. Sex has always been my favourite form of recreation, so I regarded my research as a hobby." She let out a happy sigh.

"Lucky you."

She grinned broadly. "I am, aren't I? Is there anything else you'd like to know?"

"How did James end up working for you?"

"Ah, I met James after I stumbled across a poly-fidelity group that was into fluid bonding, in small town in the United States. Do you know what that is?"

"I came across some articles about a commune in northern California during my research for my essay, but I dismissed it because it was more about group dynamics than biology." Dave answered. "Polyfidelity is something like a group marriage, and fluid bonding basically means no barriers, right?"

"Very good on both counts," Veronica said, nodding in approval. "Although in the case of group marriage I should point out that every group has different ideals, and you shouldn't throw them all on the same heap. In fact, the group I studied can't be completely placed in the polyamory or polyfidelity category. They were more like an organised swinging group with some elements of polyamory. They lived in nuclear families consisting of couples and their children — if they had any — but there was a lot more social influence from the other adult members of the group than would be the norm in most other communities.

"Another interesting issue was their way of settling disputes within the group if both parties' positions were deemed equally reasonable by the larger collective, and no one wished to yield for the sake of continued harmony. Like trials by combat in medieval times, they'd settle the matter," Veronica continued. "But instead of fighting, they had sex. The objective was to make one's opponent orgasm before they made you orgasm."

"Even if the two people were of the same gender?" Dave couldn't help but ask.

"Yes, and that's why the men usually settled things before it got that far. The women were a lot more open to girl on girl action, although they had some alternatives to sex, like a tug of war with a special double ended dildo, where the winner pulled it out of the loser's vagina. But if the two parties were of different gender, it often escalated, because even if you lost you still won."

"You'd think that by itself would cause people to start disputes," Dave joked.

"Oddly enough, it didn't. Probably because they had enough recreational sex in the form of friendly sex competitions, where the winners got bragging rights. Sometimes they even placed wagers on the outcome. It gave rise to a group hierarchy based on sexual prowess." She chuckled and rolled her eyes. "But I digressed again, although I am closer to telling you how James fits into this."

"That's all right. It's an interesting story," Dave said. Then a question popped into his head as he remembered some information he had come across. "But I read that most women don't orgasm from vaginal stimulation alone during intercourse. Didn't that put the men at a distinct disadvantage?"

"It did, which was why in practice the man and woman would simply agree on a number of minutes the woman had to make the man come, although I have to add that all the women in the group could and regularly did come from intercourse alone. Part of the reason for that was that the men were better than average lovers and knew how to maximise the stimulation of the clitoris, G-spot and other erogenous zones during intercourse. I suspect the other reason might be the low sexual inhibition among the women. After all, the brain is the biggest erogenous zone and there is proven correlation between a woman's sexual inhibition and the ease with which she reaches orgasm. But the question whether increasingly adventurous women have an increasingly easier time reaching orgasm is a different matter. I can't publish a report about it."

"Because you need to do more research?"

Veronica nodded. "There are still too many variables to be worked out. Anyway, the women won most of the contests and consequently had most of the power within the group, until James and his ex-partner came along about two years ago. After being accepted into the group, he quickly worked out the community's internal politics and he cleverly goaded the ladies into having sexual contests with him. He tempted them with a fairly generous sum of money, which would be theirs if they made him come before he made them come during intercourse. But if he made them come first, they had to go off birth control and let him impregnate them."

Dave frowned. Many men were terrified of fathering children. "Did he have some sort of fetish?"

"He had a major impregnation fetish."

"And the women took the bait?" he asked incredulously.

"By generous I meant a hundred thousand dollars. It's very tempting."

"Maybe, but it also tells you that he must be very sure of himself if he's willing to risk that much." He was about to leave it at that, until a thought occurred to him. "Unless he had enough money that losing a hundred thousand wouldn't matter much, and the women knew it. If that were the case it would have been easier to believe that he was simply overconfident."

Veronica looked impressed. "Angelica's pride in you isn't misplaced. You are a smart kid."

"Mothers tend to exaggerate," Dave mumbled, feeling pleased yet mildly embarrassed.

"Nevertheless, your deduction is right on target. Losing would have taken away a large chunk of his retirement fund, but though he never showed anyone any figures, he made it seem like there was plenty more where the hundred thousand came from. He's great at bluffing. Unlike you, he would make a good poker player."

"And how did he become your ... domestic assistant?"