Considering his high WIL and experience dealing with challenges, Rowan expected to cope better. Yet, the fateful hour of his first night with Cora approached fast, and his angst increased exponentially.

  And it wasn’t like he was carefree, no. There were tons of things to do around. Playing with Lizzie, of course, but also organizing the livelihood of his new Goblinoid citizens, all nine hundred and sixty of them. Being so small, the new Town Core had been adopted as a subunit of Randolph County. On top of that, the much bigger College Town to the north insisted on joining the party. A decision he postponed for now.

  “That’s my daddy!” Lizzie beamed, pointing at the TV screen and pulling Rowan from his rumination.

  They had a TV connection now, courtesy of the new suburb. On this occasion, Dmitri made a new friend, the Shaman, and they watched the news together. A short clip representing Rowan’s beckoning moment, the one at the end of the battle with the Government and the Neeks, spread on the screen. It was now the top GIF in the world to convey the idea of a dangerous psychopath, way ahead of The Shining and the axe scene.

  “So?” Someone shoved his shoulder gently. It was Isla.

  “Sorry, can you repeat?”

  “What about Snemc the Shaman doing our bonding ceremony? Me, you, and Grace?”

  “What a good idea!” Rowan’s eyes lightened. “This will raise the morale of his people; it shows we respect them. Done. Will your parents be OK with it?”

  “As long as it’s something flower power, they’re good. And what’s more flower power than a Shaman, right?”

  “They’re not exactly vegetarians, you know. They survived so long because of those stubborn students trying to claim the dungeon.”

  “The cycle of life,” Isla shrugged. “What about Cora?”

  “We signed a contract at the Town Hall yesterday. She’s all functionality.”

  “Yeah…” Isla diverted her eyes and then patted his thigh. “OK, have to go. I work the night shift today. Good luck. You’ll need it.”

  “What do you know that I don’t know?”

  “I don’t want to spoil the surprise.” Pecking his lips in a short kiss, Isla went away, letting Rowan follow the wall clock with his eyes.

  Almost nine o’clock… Fuuuck… I’m scared.

  Across the room, sitting on another couch, Cora was sipping Rowan from her eyes, like counting the seconds.

  “Oh, it’s already so late,” Snemc said. “We better go, or my wife will kill us. She cooked a wild boar for tonight. You do eat boar, Dmitri?”

  “Will a duck swim? Greeks are raised with boar stew in their baby bottle. I’m bringing the wine,” the Greek picked up a couple of bottles. “Bye all, cya tomorrow. I plan to party all night.”

  The Shaman and the Greek waved and were gone in the night.

  “Are you feeling well, Lizzie?” Grace asked, feeling the child’s forehead. “You look tired.”

  “I’m fine… aaaahhhh…” Lizzie yawned, a sign Grace was using a sedating spell on her.

  “She’s exhausted, I’ll put her to bed.”

  Cora’s grin widened to almost meet her ears as soon they were alone. She waited a minute to be sure no one was around anymore and jumped in Rowan’s lap, kissing him. “We’re so lucky! I’ll join you in the master bedroom.”

  “But—”

  “Iiii! Can’t wait!” She kissed him again and rushed to the stairs, climbing them two by two and letting out cheers every other second.

  C’mon, Rowan, be a man! he tried to encourage himself. But that was the point. Could he be a man? He did care about Cora but as a friend. Was the bridge to love passable? Shaking his head, he went to the bedroom, showered, and dressed in his best handmade Italian pajamas.

  “Yey!” Slamming the door behind her, Cora dashed into the room and jumped on the bed. “Perfect. Sturdy enough… Hm…” She stopped for a second, then jumped once more. “Yeah. Sturdy enough. Come,” she patted the bed after kneeling on it.

  Rowan sat on the edge, trying to think of a way forward.

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  “We’re taking this with baby steps, right?” he asked.

  “Now, where are we?” Cora extracted a small notebook and a tiny pen from her pajama pocket. “Kissing, checked. It’s lovely. I’ll give it a ten out of ten. What about… the erogenous zones? Let’s start with the ears. I’ll kiss yours, and you kiss mine.”

  She rubbed her arms around his neck and kissed his right ear enthusiastically. Rowan felt akin to a little kitten washed by its mother. Cora’s tongue was thin and reached well inside. He felt relieved that he had taken the time to wash his ears carefully.

  “Too much saliva?” she stopped and asked.

  “A bit…”

  “How much a bit, in milliliters?” she asked, her notebook at the ready.

  “How should I know? It was just a bit too much.”

  “OK, let’s say… twenty-five percent less… Now, nibbling.”

  “Ouch!” he yelled as she bit his earlobe so hard it bled. He stopped from pushing her away at the last moment.”

  “Hm… How was it on a scale of one to ten, and what’s your desired pressure level?”

  “That was a ten, and a three would be… Look, Cora, that’s not how we, humans, do this,” he grabbed the notebook and put it on the nightstand. “We kiss, and cuddle, and touch each other until we feel comfortable to get more… intimate. This Nekojin style is a little too brainiac-like for me. You did all this quiz routine with every partner?”

  Lowering her head, Cora looked away, blushing. “I n-never had another partner… b-before… Nekojin INT b-builds m-mate for life and n-never do… t-things b-before the m-marriage…”

  “Oh my God!” Rowan blurted, slapping his mouth and jerking his body back. “Cora! This is wrong. What if I’m not the right person for you?” A terrible thought passed his brain with the fierceness of a bullet, and he facepalmed again. “Fuck… How could I not think about it? Are you an adult?”

  “Of course I’m an adult, you moron,” she sulked, letting herself fall back on the bed, arms crossed. “I’m twenty-one in your years.”

  “Thank goodness… Let’s not rush it, OK? Baby steps… Baby steps.”

  Stretching her arm toward the nightstand, Cora picked up the notebook and threw it at his head. “That’s exactly what I was doing, genius. Make up your mind: am I going too slow or too fast?”

  “Oh… True, you were doing just that… But I meant baby steps, like romantically. Are you really sure you love me?”

  “I…” Cora sighed and stopped for a second. “I don’t know, OK? Logic says we’re a perfect match. I do feel… excited near you,” she blushed. “But I always imagined love to be something… different. Like a hammer hitting your head, and you know instantly…”

  “Hahaha… remember, in the ship, when we first met, and you hit my head on the door and I fainted?” Slowing his words, Rowan felt a claw grabbing his heart. What if that had been a sign?

  “I have no idea what true love is, but know if there is such a thing,” she grabbed his neck, pulling him toward her, “I want it to be with you, and I’m willing to try to find out.”

  They kissed, a long kiss, and he had to admit she was right. Their kisses were a ten out of ten. So sweet… “What about I show you how we do things slowly, and you stop me whenever you feel it’s too much? Is this OK?”

  Cora nodded, covering her eyes with her hands. He took out the top of his pajama and unbuttoned hers, one button at a time. Her skin was deliciously smooth. Kissing her neck, then the nipples, and taking his sweet time there, Rowan descended step by step toward the button belly. She had one, so that was a similitude. Stopping a little at her hips and kissing those and her thighs, he waited for a second to see if she was going to stop him or not.

  There was no sign Cora disliked what he was doing. Her neck’s skin had flushed, a perfectly normal reaction, and her hands were in the same position, covering the eyes. The tail’s hair was now bristling, leaning over the bed’s edge, a fluffy snake. Having a high DEX meant he could put on protection with one hand while fondling her breasts with the other.

  As soon as his right hand was free, he pulled her pajama pants down slowly while aiming his kisses lower and lower on her belly. Suddenly, her claw-like nails grabbed his hair, pulling Rowan up.

  “Hurry, hurry, yes, take me, now,” Cora screamed.

  Her tail was whipping his face, and she was moving so fast and erratically that he had to apply a little weight to stabilize her. Then she wrapped her legs around his hips.

  “Yes, yes, yes. You’re the one! You’re the one!” she yelled in his right ear, almost deafening him.

  At that rhythm, Rowan expected everything to finish quickly, but to his surprise, it went on for half an hour, in which she changed positions many times to experiment, he guessed. Ultimately, they both melted in a common pleasure, with Cora’s tiny fangs biting his shoulder.

  “You’re wonderful,” he caressed Cora’s hair, fondling her ears.

  “Snrrff…” she said. Her body went limp in his arms, a total relaxation. Rowan turned her face up, arranging a pillow under her head. The Nekojin was snoring, sound asleep, the tip of her tongue out of her mouth.

  “Goodness, Cora… You’re something…” He went to the bathroom for a short shower and noticed scratches on his cheeks and shoulders. His natural regeneration healed them all before he finished the shower. Returning to the room, he pulled the blanket over Cora and went to sleep himself.

  At precisely six in the morning, she shook him, waking him up. “I want to test my idea of foreplay,” she whispered.

  With Cora asleep again, so sound one could shoot a cannon near her ear, Rowan dressed and went for breakfast. It was early. Lizzie and Dmitri were still asleep. And so was Grace, only on the couch. She woke up, hearing his steps.

  “Sooo,” she yawned. “How was it.”

  Snorting, Rowan turned on the Espresso machine.

  “C’mon! I’m curious,” Grace pushed on.

  “You knew she was a virgin?” Rowan asked, breaking a few eggs.

  “Uhuh!” she grinned.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Why spoil the surprise?”

  “You devil!” he waved the fork in the air before lowering it into the bowl.

  “So? What’s different?”

  “Look, Grace, a gentleman doesn’t talk about—”

  “She wants us to talk about it, for science’s sake,” Grace interjected. “First Earth-Nekojin relationship. To boldly go where no one has gone before. She gave Isla and me a file with questions. We’re supposed to ask you if you like her Newtons and Pascals. Or wasn’t Joules?”

  “Oh… True, Cora would do exactly that. What was different? Her tail gets all over, in your face, around your neck, and it’s like she has three hands. That was cute enough… The strangest thing was her idea of foreplay … she played with my… thing like with a wool clew… Let me tell you, claws are not ideal for that… Apart from that, we did it twice, and she’s as bit as normal as a girl her age. Sweet, inexperienced, but enthused. Here, satisfied?”

  “Hm… strange,” Grace frowned. “You did it twice, you say… She told me she can’t do real sex out of her mating seasons, and that’s in a month or so. Her… thingie is supposed to be too tight. Like pencil tight.”

  “Maybe she had no idea how this works,” Rowan shrugged. “Coffee?”