Chapter 06

Charlie

Les had been living with us for almost a month when I finally admitted to myself that I wanted her. I couldn't bring myself to do anything about it, but I at least stopped denying how turned on I became whenever I saw her.

No matter how she looked, how she acted or what she was doing my heart skipped a beat whenever I saw her walk into a room. Of course she always smiled at me and was very polite to me, but since our conversation that day I'd started to look at her a different way. She was often flirty with Jock and Linus, but not with me. Which I'd essentially said is what I wanted.

And now I felt like an idiot for it. Part of it was, well, it was pretty hard to share a house with a beautiful, sexy person who you knew was willing to go to bed with you without at least thinking about it. Another part was that if I was honest, I'd underestimated her. We'd had several talks since that one time, and I had found her to be a clever, witty and well-informed person. She was simply put smart, pretty and sexy, and she drew me in.

Of course, I had plenty of opportunities to check her out. Generally speaking she dressed more modestly than I'd first anticipated, but there were days when, at the request of one of my brothers, she would walk around the house in a bikini or wearing a top but no bra, that sort of thing.

I understood Linus had been quick to show her the pool and she seemed completely in love with it. When she wasn't 'busy' with one of my brothers I would often find her relaxing on a deckchair reading a book or floating on her back the pool beneath the open sky. She always looked stunning in her white bikini and I found myself staring at her through the windows more than once.

One morning, however, I made a genuine mistake. There were two bathrooms on the second floor and I tended towards what was nominally the guest bathroom. No real beyond the simple fact that it was closer to my room than the other one, which my brothers tended to use. Les used it too, of course, but I tended to rise earlier than her and get my morning shower in long before she went for her bath. This day I marched down the hallway in my t-shirt and sweatpants, groggy and tired with a towel under my arm and opened the door to the bathroom.

A long mirror ran along the sink area and the shower was directly in front of the door, with an off-set little area for the tub; meaning I couldn't see the tub from the door, except through the mirror, which was fogged over but so was my brain at the time so I didn't put two and two together until, as I stripped off my t-shirt I heard Les' soft voice coo at me;

"Morning." I spun around and nearly tripped over. Les was reclined in the bathtub, a small mound of suds floating gently all around her and her hair slicked back. She lifted a hand and splashed the water as she waved at me. I backed up and quickly grabbed my towel.

"Sorry -- I didn't notice." I said and made for the door but Les called out;

"You don't need to leave." I looked back at her. The water ran up to just below her neck and the suds covered her plenty, but I knew I could just see the place where her chest began to rise towards her breasts. She smiled, like she always did. I stood still, unsure, feeling trapped. "If you want to shower go ahead. If not, I'd like just a little while longer, please."

"I can... I can wait outside."

"But I'd like to talk to you, if you don't mind." I hesitantly sat down on the toilet, trying not to look uncomfortable despite my exposed chest.

"What about?"

"Something I've been wondering for a while that I thought you might have some insight into." she sat up a little higher and now I definitely saw the rolling shape of her breasts take form. "Do you know why your father hired me?" I wasn't expecting that. I'd thought about it myself, of course, but had no real answer, though my own suspicions of course.

"I've no idea." I lied.

"Really? He was very cagey about the subject but for some reason he seemed particularly anxious that the Order select someone with a... delicate background."

"'Delicate'?" I repeated, incredulous.

"Mm. Someone with a lot of patience, was how he phrased it. At first I thought he just meant someone who could put up with your brothers," she flashed a knowing grin at me. "but that's not hard -- any Agent of Comfort has been amply trained to handle men like them. So it must be something else, I think, but I don't know why." I drew a big sigh.

"I suspect it was because of me."

"Because of you? Why?"

"I think my father finds it embarrassing that I'm a virgin." I said aloud for the first time to... well, anyone. Les didn't laugh or grin or even blush, she just looked at me for a moment before saying;

"That's sad. That he's embarrassed by it, I mean. Having or not having had sex is no measure of a person's worth or maturity." I laughed.

"That's... a little odd to hear coming from you."

"Is it? Why?"

"I thought intimacy was a human need, like water or food."

"It is. But intimacy is not sex, though sex is often one of its ultimate expressions. Asexual individuals often employ Agents to provide intimacy for them without ever performing any sexual acts. And that's only one far end of the spectrum, but for many a hug, a kiss, holding hands or even something as simple as someone sitting next to you can all be expressions of intimacy that to them means as much as making love does to others. Everyone has needs, yet everyone's needs are different. This is an important lesson to learn and one of the Guild's core values; not just the Order of Comfort."

"When did you lose your virginity?" I asked, and I think that was the first time I ever took her by surprise. She rallied quickly though.

"When I was seventeen."

"Who with?"

"Someone I cared for." She smiled softly and something told me to leave it there so I did.

"And you don't think it's... sad that I'm still a virgin?"

"Why would I?"

"Isn't it a personal failure?"

"It is only a failure if you've tried to change it and haven't been able to."

"Well I have." I stated.

"I see." she said. "Who with?"

"A girl I met at school."

"How did it go?"

"Poorly. She said no. I thought she might... you know... be the one."

"You're not responsible for other people's choices, you know."

"Next you'll tell me there's plenty of fish in the sea."

"I don't know about the sea, I've never seen one. But there is a girl in this tub." she grinned at me and I felt extremely nervous all of a sudden.

"I already told you..." I began and she nodded.

"I know. I was joking."

"My father hopes I'll have sex with you." I said. "He hopes it will make me a man."

"You already are one." she said and briefly glanced at my chest and then a little further down. Then she and moved; she rose up slightly and crossed her arms over the side of the bath tub. "I need to get out of the bath now." I got up.

"Sorry, I'll give you some privacy."

"You don't have to, you know. It's up to you." she said and I froze. She cocked her head and smiled at me. In spite of myself I stayed, knowing I shouldn't. I felt my heart beat like a drum and stood there. She gave me plenty of time to move. When I didn't she slowly stood up. Water drizzled from her body as her hair clung to her shoulders and down her back and soapy water made her naked breasts glisten. She stood naked in front of me, her big, round breasts exposed and her neatly trimmed brush hidden away between her ample thighs. She was so beautifully shaped; she was the most gorgeous sight I'd ever seen. I swallowed.

"Hand me my towel, Charlie?" she stretched out a hand and I looked behind me. It was neatly folded on the sink behind me. Slowly, my hands shaking I picked it up and reached over towards her. I felt an insatiable urge to touch her, to embrace her, to... to...

She took the towel from me, thanked me and wrapped it around herself. I whispered something back and swallowed again as she gathered up her things and left the bathroom.​
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