Chapter 42
Vincent looked at her startled, and questioned, "Your coach would strike you?"
"Well I would hardly call that a strike, but yes, when we did or said something particularly stupid, she would give us a wake up call. It was very effective!"
"I can imagine," he agreed.
"So then…we are clear on the matter of whether or not I would want to marry you?"
"Yes Catherine," he quickly replied.
"Are we as equally clear on the idea of physical reactions to our kissing being perfectly normal and natural?"
This time however, Vincent hesitated in his answer. "I still have my doubts about the propriety of my reaction though Catherine."
"Well Vincent, I can tell you that I react too when you kiss me!"
"You do?" he gasped.
"Of course I do! But with a woman it isn't as obvious. We have the advantage of our clothes most often being able to hide our reactions. If I weren't wearing a bra, I am sure that you would've been able to tell that my nipples hardened and I also got wet…Do you know what I mean by that Vincent?" she asked gently.
Blushing once again, he nodded, "Father has many medical books and I have read about such things."
"You just never thought someone would react that way about you?"
"Yes Catherine."
She sighed, "Vincent I am sure that all the girls in the tunnels have creamed their jeans about you at least once in their lives!"
"Catherine we do not get many pairs of jeans Below and when we do, they are usually reserved for the men on the work crews because of their durabil…"
She 'thunked' him!
"Catherine what was that for?"
"For you?"
"I gathered that! May I inquire as to why?"
"You may, but doing so leads me to question the intelligence that I believed you possessed." When he only waited for her to go on, she sighed and explained, "I was talking to you about the girls in the tunnels having highly erotic thoughts about you and you started to give me a lecture about the uses of jeans Below!"
"Oh," was all he said.
Testing the Bond was starting to feel normal to her and when she did, she felt embarrassment and some humiliation from Vincent. She felt bad that she had pushed him so hard in one night, but someone had to teach him that he was a desirable man and not the monster he had been led to believe he was! But now was the time to back off, "Vincent would you like some more tea?"
Stunned as well as relieved at the mundaneness of her question, he gratefully latched on to the change of subject and eagerly said he would.
Catherine hid an amused smile as she got up to reheat the water. In some ways Vincent was mature beyond his years, but when I came to women and sexuality, he still reacted like a young boy!
They drank their tea and shared a few unheated kisses before he departed for home that night.
The next night went pretty much along the same lines although Vincent was becoming more comfortable with their relationship and not so embarrassed when his body reacted to their kisses.
That night they spent some time on the phone with Jenny making plans about where and what time to meet Catherine for her first visit Below. Vincent reported that he had informed the Council about her and that although they were leery about someone so new as Catherine recommending another new person, they would have to go with Vincent's assessment since he had already met the woman. The time they settled on was 11:30 and the place was to be in Catherine's apartment because finding her way to the basement on her own might prove difficult. The two of them would travel to the basement together where Vincent would be waiting for them to escort them to lunch in the dining hall.
Jenny could hardly contain her excitement about the upcoming visit and it proved very hard to get her off the phone. She had so many questions and wanted to ask them to Vincent directly. He was still new to using the phone and Catherine could tell that he did not like it at all. She tried her best with subtle hints to get Jenny off the line, but nothing was working. Finally she simply told her that they were going to bed and hung up. Catherine grinned at Vincent's shock look and told him, "She can just wonder until tomorrow if I meant that we were going to bed together!"
To be continued….