Uncivilized
Page 15
“It’s like they’re in their own world,” Zach observes, and I smile because he doesn’t miss a thing.
“Yes… they have eyes only for each other.”
“That’s the way my parents kissed in front of me,” he says with a measure of sadness in his voice.
“I understand they were very in love with each other,” I tell Zach. “At least… that’s what Randall told me.”
At the mention of Randall’s name, Zach’s eyes harden, and he takes another bite of his sandwich. After he swallows, he asks, “But there are other types of kissing?”
“Yes,” I tell him with a smile. “You can kiss someone in greeting or when you are leaving to say goodbye. You can kiss a sick child on the forehead to comfort them. There are lots of ways.”
“Do you kiss when you have sex?” he asks with direct challenge.
I swallow hard, because it looks like we may be having a sex lesson in the middle of this restaurant. “Yes, you do. But why do you ask? Did you see your parents doing that?”
“No, I never saw that.”
Now he has me insanely curious from a cultural perspective. How does a man that has never seen a sensual kiss know that it can be very much a part of sex?
“Then what makes you think it might be part of sex?”
He shrugs his shoulders and gives me a look that’s half smile, half sneer. “Because… I think about kissing you, and I don’t even like you in the slightest. So I’m thinking there must be a sexual element to it, because… otherwise, why would I even think that about you?”
Well, hell. I’m part offended, part flattered, but regardless of my feelings, I need to answer him from a teacher’s perspective.
“Yes, kissing can very much be involved with the act of sex. Many people use it as foreplay… it excites two people to kiss one another.”
Zach glances back over at the canoodling couple. “They don’t look like they want to have sex.”
“The sexual type of kissing is a bit different,” I tell him with a blush. “It’s deeper… the tongue is involved.”
“The tongue? Show me,” he demands with hunger in his eyes, and I find myself falling prey to that look.
“No,” I exclaim as I shake my head. “We’re in a public place.”
“Then when we get home,” he urges.
“No, Zach. Absolutely not.”
He looks angry and frustrated with me, so I can’t help but try to appease him because I don’t want him to shut down when this is the first time he’s actually interacted with me. “But I bet I can find some videos on YouTube when we get home.”
“YouTube?” he asks, his curiosity piqued once again.
“It’s um… it’s this way to search for videos on the Internet,” I tell him.
“Videos?”
“Yes… like movies. Do you remember those?”
He nods but asks quickly, “What’s the Internet?”
“It’s something that you can search on a computer and will pretty much give you an answer to what you need to know,” is all I can think to lamely say, because seriously… how do you explain the Internet to someone that has never heard of it before?
“Gives you the answers to everything?”
“Yes,” I say. “Pretty much.”
“Then what do I need you for? Give me one of these computer things, and I can learn all I need to know from that.”
I just stare at Zach, not knowing what to say. Because he has a good point… I could probably sit him in front of a computer, teach him some basic search skills, and he could learn whatever he wanted about this new world he has ventured in to.
Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, because they are spinning now, I tell him, “I’ll teach you how to use a computer, but you can’t learn everything from it. You have to experience things yourself to really learn.”
“Like kissing?” Zach says with a slow smile.
“I’m not teaching you how to kiss,” I growl at him, and his eyes twinkle at me.
“Who said I need you to teach me how to kiss. One thing I’ve learned from the short time I’ve been here… you’re not the only woman in this new, modern world, Moira Reed.”
My jaw drops open at the implication of what Zach just told me, and it’s true. There are so many things… sex in particular, that Zach could learn from someone else. He truly doesn’t need me for that, and maybe all I need to do is introduce him to someone and let nature take its course.
But no… that’s ridiculous. Zach is nowhere near ready to enter into a relationship with someone. While he may be a confident, Caraican warrior, he’s really just a babe out of the womb when it comes to learning about relationships, sexual or otherwise.
And besides that… the thought of him being with another woman just doesn’t set well with me for some reason.
“Now, this is your first lesson in pop culture,” I tell Zach as I slip the DVD of The Notebook into the Blu-ray player. On the way home from lunch, I stopped and rented a few movies. “And it just happens to have a little lesson on kissing as well, so you can thank me later.”
Our afternoon has been busy. After a stop to get the movies, I came home and started a batch of chocolate chip cookies. While they were baking in the oven, I pulled my laptop out and searched YouTube for videos on kissing.
“Yes… they have eyes only for each other.”
“That’s the way my parents kissed in front of me,” he says with a measure of sadness in his voice.
“I understand they were very in love with each other,” I tell Zach. “At least… that’s what Randall told me.”
At the mention of Randall’s name, Zach’s eyes harden, and he takes another bite of his sandwich. After he swallows, he asks, “But there are other types of kissing?”
“Yes,” I tell him with a smile. “You can kiss someone in greeting or when you are leaving to say goodbye. You can kiss a sick child on the forehead to comfort them. There are lots of ways.”
“Do you kiss when you have sex?” he asks with direct challenge.
I swallow hard, because it looks like we may be having a sex lesson in the middle of this restaurant. “Yes, you do. But why do you ask? Did you see your parents doing that?”
“No, I never saw that.”
Now he has me insanely curious from a cultural perspective. How does a man that has never seen a sensual kiss know that it can be very much a part of sex?
“Then what makes you think it might be part of sex?”
He shrugs his shoulders and gives me a look that’s half smile, half sneer. “Because… I think about kissing you, and I don’t even like you in the slightest. So I’m thinking there must be a sexual element to it, because… otherwise, why would I even think that about you?”
Well, hell. I’m part offended, part flattered, but regardless of my feelings, I need to answer him from a teacher’s perspective.
“Yes, kissing can very much be involved with the act of sex. Many people use it as foreplay… it excites two people to kiss one another.”
Zach glances back over at the canoodling couple. “They don’t look like they want to have sex.”
“The sexual type of kissing is a bit different,” I tell him with a blush. “It’s deeper… the tongue is involved.”
“The tongue? Show me,” he demands with hunger in his eyes, and I find myself falling prey to that look.
“No,” I exclaim as I shake my head. “We’re in a public place.”
“Then when we get home,” he urges.
“No, Zach. Absolutely not.”
He looks angry and frustrated with me, so I can’t help but try to appease him because I don’t want him to shut down when this is the first time he’s actually interacted with me. “But I bet I can find some videos on YouTube when we get home.”
“YouTube?” he asks, his curiosity piqued once again.
“It’s um… it’s this way to search for videos on the Internet,” I tell him.
“Videos?”
“Yes… like movies. Do you remember those?”
He nods but asks quickly, “What’s the Internet?”
“It’s something that you can search on a computer and will pretty much give you an answer to what you need to know,” is all I can think to lamely say, because seriously… how do you explain the Internet to someone that has never heard of it before?
“Gives you the answers to everything?”
“Yes,” I say. “Pretty much.”
“Then what do I need you for? Give me one of these computer things, and I can learn all I need to know from that.”
I just stare at Zach, not knowing what to say. Because he has a good point… I could probably sit him in front of a computer, teach him some basic search skills, and he could learn whatever he wanted about this new world he has ventured in to.
Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, because they are spinning now, I tell him, “I’ll teach you how to use a computer, but you can’t learn everything from it. You have to experience things yourself to really learn.”
“Like kissing?” Zach says with a slow smile.
“I’m not teaching you how to kiss,” I growl at him, and his eyes twinkle at me.
“Who said I need you to teach me how to kiss. One thing I’ve learned from the short time I’ve been here… you’re not the only woman in this new, modern world, Moira Reed.”
My jaw drops open at the implication of what Zach just told me, and it’s true. There are so many things… sex in particular, that Zach could learn from someone else. He truly doesn’t need me for that, and maybe all I need to do is introduce him to someone and let nature take its course.
But no… that’s ridiculous. Zach is nowhere near ready to enter into a relationship with someone. While he may be a confident, Caraican warrior, he’s really just a babe out of the womb when it comes to learning about relationships, sexual or otherwise.
And besides that… the thought of him being with another woman just doesn’t set well with me for some reason.
“Now, this is your first lesson in pop culture,” I tell Zach as I slip the DVD of The Notebook into the Blu-ray player. On the way home from lunch, I stopped and rented a few movies. “And it just happens to have a little lesson on kissing as well, so you can thank me later.”
Our afternoon has been busy. After a stop to get the movies, I came home and started a batch of chocolate chip cookies. While they were baking in the oven, I pulled my laptop out and searched YouTube for videos on kissing.
