The next morning found Alex once again on watch, his body just a little sore from the previous night.

He was also exhausted. Normally, he and Jenna split the nightly watches, with one of them taking the first half while the other took the second half. After the attack last night, Alex wanted to be the primary one watching the camp, so he relieved Jenna a few hours before dawn, wanting to be awake as the Vestan world began to stir with daylight.

He also enjoyed these mornings, as it reminded him of his time on Earth, back in Arizona. There were few pleasures in life like watching the first rays of sun shatter the darkness of the night. It also gave him plenty of time to think, and he certainly had a lot of unanswered questions these days.

Most of them concerned the two beautiful women sleeping a short distance away, but there were also a handful of questions about what awaited them when they arrived at Vesta. Alex was still thinking about these notions when Ellie awoke. She crawled out of her sleeping bag and took the spot next to him on a large rock.

She joined him for a freeze-dried breakfast meal, and Alex took off the restraints around her hands so she could enjoy it.

“I expected to find Jenna seated here this morning,” said Ellie with a sleepy smile. “Did you get any rest at all last night?”

Alex nodded slowly. “Some but not much. I figured it was more important for me to be on guard.”

Ellie seemed to understand that. “Did you see anything out there? Anything worth mentioning?”

Alex shook his head. “I didn’t hear a peep last night. I also didn’t hear the bear until it was directly on top of us but nothing stood out to me over the night. Besides the sounds of crickets that is.”

Ellie giggled. “Crickets. They’re not really crickets, you know that, right? Although, we have a lot of animals here that have striking similarities to those back on Earth, or so I’m told.

“There’s a lot of similarities here with where I grew up,” said Alex. “In a way, it’s like I never left my home.”

“But you have a new home now,” pointed out Ellie. “And you’ll soon be in Vesta. And then you won’t be able to deny being a full-fledged Vestan from that point on.”

Ellie leaned into his shoulder. “We will have conquered you by that point.”

Alex chuckled. “I guess you’re right about that.”

Ellie lingered too long against his shoulder before she turned her attention to the sleeping form of Jenna. Her eyes were full of curiosity when she looked back at Alex.

“Let me ask you something,” said Ellie, lowering her voice. “Why don’t you and Jenna have sex?”

It was the last question he expected. Alex shot Ellie an incredulous look.

“What? Why do you even ask that?”

Ellie smiled and shrugged. “It seems only natural. She’s your companion, right? So why don’t you two have sex? There’s definitely affection there. I see the way she looks at you. She’s infatuated with you. How do you feel about her?”

That was a good question. How did Alex feel about Jenna? His eyes turned toward the sleeping blonde only meters away. He was certainly fond of Jenna and their relationship had come a long way since they first met. He now understood why she was so guarded, especially when it came to other men.

And that wasn’t including the kiss last night. He definitely liked the feeling of her lips on his.

“You’re conflicted.”

Alex turned to look back at Ellie, who was grinning at him again.

“You don’t need to be,” she continued. “Anyone would love to have sex with Jenna. Hell, even I want to have sex with Jenna, and I don’t even like girls that much. What’s to be so conflicted about? Do you like her?”

“I do like her but that’s not the point,” replied Alex. “Jenna has been through a lot in her life and she moves slowly. That’s fine with me. I have skeletons in my closet too. I’m not trying to rush anything.”

“Skeletons like what?” pressed Ellie. “What’s the story with you two?”

Alex shook his head. “I don’t know you well enough for that story. And I’m especially not going to tell you the details of my relationship with Jenna, physical or not.”

Ellie gave him another toothy grin. “You don’t need to be so conservative, Alex. You’re on Vesta now.”

“You make it sound like Vesta is a twenty-four-seven orgy, Ellie.”

Ellie started to laugh. “Well, no, but it’s going to be a change for you. Have you ever had sex with multiple women at once?”

Alex only stared at her. “No, I haven’t.”

“Well, you’ll get to. Every man in Vesta does, and it’s easy when you have multiple wives. The women aren’t just a wife to you in Vesta. They are wives to their other co-wives as well. We all take care in pleasuring the others within the marriage unit, and we’re a happy bunch because of it.”

“So how come you’re not married yet?” asked Alex. “You seem a few years older than Jenna. How come you’re not married?”

For the first time, a smile dropped from Ellie’s face.

“I was almost married,” she admitted quietly. “I had a man, Walker, until almost a year ago. He was a good man, strong and tall, and great in bed. He died when the bears came. He was attacked on the road to the mining biosphere and he was never seen again. I can only hope that his death was a quick one, and knowing the bears, it probably was.”

“I’m sorry, Ellie,” said Alex softly. “I wasn’t trying to bring up bad memories.”

Ellie shook her head. “It’s fine, Alex, really. You couldn’t have known. But Walker was my man. And I shared him as well. Do you remember me telling you about my cousin, Annette? Annette is one of my best friends, and we shared Walker together. There was talk about all of us getting married together before he died, or maybe potentially waiting for a third woman to join us. There’s no jealousy in Vesta for that kind of thing. At least, not anymore. When we first moved to polygamy, there was a very ugly period for the colony but that has since washed away. We all embrace it now as the Vestan way.”

Alex took a minute to think about that statement but Ellie continued on a moment later.

“You’ll have to get used to the idea of having multiple wives,” she said, locking eyes with him. “They will expect it of you when we get there. It’s the most optimal way for us to recover our sagging population, and you’ll find that most men are ecstatic about the prospect of having multiple women at their beck and call.”

Ellie reached over and gripped his thigh. “Perhaps it might even be us together. I wouldn’t mind sharing you with Jenna if you were willing. I still remember what I saw when we were bathing together yesterday, and I would really enjoy having a test drive with you.”

Alex caught his breath as Ellie’s hand drifted lower, squeezing his cock under his pants. She let out a low moan as she felt the length of him.

“It’s been way too long since I’ve had good sex,” she whispered. “And I bet you really know how to use this, don’t you? Jenna doesn’t know what she’s missing. I’d love to feel your cock slowly pushing into me, stretching out my pussy.”

Ellie let out another husky moan as her free hand dipped under her clothes. Alex followed it silently, watching as it slid up to her breast.

“Look what you’ve done to me,” said Ellie, pulling her shirt up. In the process, her breasts were exposed to his eyes. They were high and proud, almost as large as Jenna’s. She had small, coin-sized areolas but large, thick nipples, both of which were incredibly erect.

She noticed his attention locked on her nipples and bit her lip. “See what you do to me? I’ve been turned on ever since yesterday. First it was watching you take off your clothes but you want to know something else? When you killed that bear, I was just incredibly . . . flooded. I’ve been wet ever since.” Ellie squeezed his rapidly-hardening cock again. “Oh fuck, it would feel so good to feel your cock inside me. You can make it happen right now if you just say the word.”

Alex was losing the battle to stay in control. It had been nearly two weeks since his last sexual release back on the Racine, courtesy of his I-Mate, Kristina. He was incredibly horny, and that was mostly because he spent all his waking hours looking at two gorgeous women.

And now Ellie was offering herself to him, no questions asked. His body, particularly his cock, screamed at him to mount her and thrust home.

And yet, he just couldn’t.

His eyes centered on the sleeping form of Jenna. What would Jenna say if she caught him fucking Ellie? Alex already knew what she would think.

She would be devastated. Though they’d only shared a kiss so far, he knew that she was very interested in him. And for a woman that had been through so much in her life already, such a stunning betrayal would destroy all the progress he’d made.

It might even break her as a person.

And that was something he just couldn’t do.

Alex removed Ellie’s hand from his cock and put it back on her thigh. He took a deep breath, looking into Ellie’s now questioning eyes.

“We can’t,” said Alex as he jerked his head toward Jenna. “Not with how things are with Jenna. She would be upset.”

Ellie looked over at Jenna and then back at Alex. “But I don’t get it. She hasn’t claimed you yet.”

“In a way she has. She’s my companion.”

“But you two haven’t had sex. And I can share with her if she wants. I can be flexible with this arrangement.”

Alex shook his head firmly. “I’m going to leave that decision to her. That’s a conversation that Jenna and I need to have, and until that happens, this can’t,” he said, gesturing between the two of them. “Not that I’m not flattered by your attention. It’s just that I don’t want to hurt her.”

Ellie didn’t look too happy at first but a few minutes later, she barely seemed phased by his decision.

“I understand in a strange kind of way,” she admitted. “You’ve been with Jenna longer, even if it’s moving slow. She gets first dibs, right?”

Alex didn’t reply to that openly. He only nodded his head.

“So I can wait for Jenna to make up her mind,” continued Ellie before she raised a single finger. “But I can only wait so long. She needs to decide if she really wants you or not. I’m not going to wait forever.”

Alex could only chuckle at that. It was like she was already angling to be his woman. It was decidedly comical that this was happening the way it was.

It was only two days ago that he almost killed Ellie for sneaking up on them.

And now here she was trying to become his next wife.

“You’re saying all of this with the assumption that I want to be with you as well,” said an amused Alex. “What gives you that confidence?”

Ellie started to grin at him. “I’m just assuming that once you take me for a test drive, you’ll be ready to make a full purchase. I’m a giver in the bedroom, and from what I’ve seen of you, I think we would get along famously.”

Alex gestured to the rope that had so recently bound her hands. “Even if I don’t fully trust you yet?”

Ellie shrugged. “Trust is earned, I understand that. Are you coming around at all? Are you ready to let my hands be free for most of the day?”

Alex shook his head. “I don’t think you have any bad intentions toward us. And I do mostly believe that you’re really Eleanor Vesta. However, until I’m completely sure of your identity, I’m going to keep your hands bound. I didn’t get to this age by being stupid. Even when a pair of soft hands start caressing my cock.”

Ellie beamed with a smile. “You can’t blame me, right? It’s such a nice cock.”

Even Alex had to laugh at that. “You’re something else, Ellie. Do you know that?”

“Oh, I do. And you’ll find out someday, I hope,” said Ellie as she stood up. She gestured for him to do the same, and then surprisingly, she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a tight hug. When she pulled away, she locked eyes with him.

“I meant what I said, Alex. I think we would be really good together. Anytime you need me, I’m here for you. Anytime you need release, just say my name, okay?”

Ellie reached forward and grabbed his thigh again. The meaning couldn’t possibly be more clear.

She leaned up and kissed his cheek again before she walked away. Her timing couldn’t have been any better because Jenna was just starting to stir.

What an odd situation he now found himself in.