My bladder is the perfect alarm clock. The urgent need to go dragged me out of hibernation as the night sky brightened in advance of dawn. I awoke to the gentle sound of Sheila's breathing. Naked, beautiful, and warm, she lay next to me in the relaxed innocence of sleep. Sheila sensed a change in my position, shifted her body, and pressed her bare bottom into my groin as we snuggled together under the covers. My hand remained cupped to her breast. Sheila placed her hand over mine and pulled it tight to her body as she slept.

Our bodies cuddled together in blissful warmth. I wanted to stay under the sheets forever, but I needed to take a piss. With a bad case of morning wood, my erection found a home between the cheeks of Sheila's ass. As pleasant as it felt, I wouldn't be able to stop my body from unleashing a flood if I didn't get out bed soon. Wetting the bed wasn't an option.

I untangled myself from Sheila and silently slipped out of bed into the chill of the morning air. I adjusted the blankets to cover Sheila's exposed shoulder and made tracks for the bathroom. I decided to make a quick getaway instead of using the facilities in her room to avoid the awkward moments after a night in which nothing happened. I almost made it to the door when Sheila's sleepy voice called my name.

"Where are you going, Dennis?" she asked.

"Gotta go pee," I mumbled.

"Excellent idea; hang on, and I'll join you," Sheila said, as she threw the quilt back and climbed out of bed. "We might as well take a shower since we're already up," Sheila suggested while grabbing towels and soap from the closet.

Three members of the kitchen crew hard at work preparing breakfast were the only other people up and about in the hour before sunrise. We had the showers to ourselves.

We dried each other off after our morning scrub, and Sheila suggested, "Let's head down to the kitchen and grab a cup of coffee."

The custom of indoor nudity might make more sense if we were born kangaroos with natural pockets. I stopped by my room to make up for our genetic deficiency, put an unbuttoned flannel shirt on, stuck a pack of smokes and a lighter in the breast pocket, and joined Sheila in the kitchen.

Coffee is the nectar of the Gods and Colombia's only legal drug export. It's also a natural lubricant, allowing us to slide from dreams to wakefulness with a minimum amount of friction.

Coffee in hand, Sheila led me to a cozy nook next to the fireplace in the Great Room, and we sat together next to the fire.

"I want to talk to you about last night," Sheila said, as she sipped her coffee.

"Okay, what's on your mind?" I responded.

"Tell me something, I know I turned you on. Why didn't you want sex with me?" Sheila asked.

Her question was both delicate and dangerous. The wrong answer could do damage to our relationship, but I had no idea of what she thought the correct answer should be. I followed my grandfather's advice: tell the truth if all else fails.

I set my coffee down on the fireplace hearth, took Sheila's hands in mine, and looked into her eyes as I spoke. "Your body said one thing, but your words were saying something different last night. I listened to the truth that your body spoke. You weren't ready to get that intimate with me. "

"True, but I would've gone along if you had persisted," she acknowledged, as she gave my hands a soft squeeze.

"I figured that you would allow intercourse if I pushed it. You would be resentful, nevertheless, and that makes for a lousy start to our relationship. I would have selfishly screwed you to the floor if I only thought about my own gratification," I said with a grin. "I'll take your friendship if I have to choose between being your friend and being your lover and can't have both," I further explained.

My father used to tell me that the best way to learn the thoughts of another is to ask a direct question, shut up, and listen to the answer. "What about what happened, or didn't happen last night?" I asked.

"I was relieved at first when you asked for my permission, then I was pissed. I was confused after that. I was happy in the end. Maybe you didn't think me desirable enough, or maybe you didn't like me enough for us to fuck. I felt safe, loved, and cared for when you held me in your arms and stayed the night," Sheila said as she gave me a hug wrapped in a smile.

Silence filled the comfortable space between us as our conversation slowed to a stop. The colony's leader took a sip of coffee and studied me over the rim of her coffee mug for several moments before saying, "You're a strange man, Mr. Richards. Whatever am I going to do with you?"

Our zone of silence gradually evaporated as the sisters of the colony drifted into the kitchen for breakfast in ones and twos.

"Refill your coffee and grab a seat; we've got a group meeting in fifteen minutes," Sheila announced as she excused herself to prepare for the gathering. I set off to the kitchen looking for fresh coffee. Ready or not, a new day was getting underway.

It's a fundamental law of the universe: staff meetings seldom begin on time, and the Liberty Mountain assembly was no exception. Significant numbers of sisters hadn't taken a seat at the conference table yet. Start time came and went as Sheila kept glancing at her wristwatch and scanning the faces of the attendees for missing members. I also glanced around the table for Darlene who was among the missing. My lady love took starting times and deadlines as suggestions rather than requirements. She had a long established reputation for always arriving at the far edge of fashionably late.

Only the light tapping of Sheila's pencil on the tabletop betrayed her outwardly calm exterior. The taps steadily increased in tempo the longer we waited. It was as if the pencil doubled as a Geiger counter reporting that her frustration was approaching critical mass.

The giggles and laughter of several women echoed from the walls of the hall as if on cue. Darlene, Lucia, and a woman whose name turned out to be Sandra emerged from the kitchen moments later. I saw the trio and nearly burst out laughing. They were as drunk as skunks, and could barely keep from falling over as they staggered toward the meeting table.

Darlene took a seat next to me with a stumble and moaned as she held her head in her hands. She seemed like she had just come from an orgy: her hair was a mess, nipples stood like stiff pencil erasers; her shoulders, cheeks, and chest glowed like a neon sign with the rosy blush of sexual arousal. The swollen outer lips of her labia glistened with vaginal lubrication.

"Too much party," she groaned, as she leaned her body against mine.

"Too much sex?" I asked.

"There's no such thing as too much sex," she said with a burp. Her hand flew to her mouth as her face took on a greenish tint.

"But there is such a thing as too much (burp) brandy," Darlene gasped, as she bent double and barfed up who knows what over my bare feet.

Standing in a puddle of someone else's used dinner is over the top gross. I nearly lost my breakfast before I got my gag reflex under control.

"Clean up on Aisle Five," I called out, as I helped Darlene to her feet.

Sheila's expression was halfway between annoyed and amused. "We'll start the meeting as soon as we've gotten these guys cleaned up and into bed," she said.

I took a seat next to Alice and her daughter twenty minutes later. The meeting of the sisterhood of Liberty Mountain was finally about ready to start.

The flannel shirt I was wearing gave me the comfortable illusion of being dressed even though it was unbuttoned, and it covered none of my vital parts. Alice leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Is it true that you spent the night in Sheila's bed?"

"We kept each other company last night," I answered.

"Very interesting; will you keep me company tonight if I ask nicely?" Alice asked with a sexy smile as she placed her hand on my thigh and gently caressed my bare leg.

"Mom!" her daughter protested as she watched her mother's attempt to seduce me.

"Shush, little one. You'll get your turn after I check him out," Star's mother replied.

The touch of Alice's warm hand stroking my thigh in close proximity to my genitals was enough to get my libido's attention, and I could sense myself responding to Alice's invitation.

Part of me was amused at the turnabout in my love life since I arrived in the colony. I had always played the part of the seducer prior to my visit to the Society of Sisters. With the tables turned, I was now the target for seduction. The new state of affairs perfectly fit with my passive/aggressive approach to sex. I had always been the sexual aggressor early on, usually with mixed results when I was young. My advances ended in failure more often than I cared to admit.

"Your place or mine?" I said to Alice, as I moved her hand to the relative safety of my knee. I didn't want to sprout another public erection in front of so many naked women. Exhibitionism isn't my thing, as I said.

The gathering's primary agenda item was the question of work assignments. The concept was simple: many hands make light work. Maintaining the colony required a lot of effort and every member of the community had at least one assigned task or duty. The colony ran as smoothly as a Swiss watch when everyone pitched in.

I was the only person without anything to do after the sisters had divvied up the chores. Sheila called on me when I raised my hand.

"Freeloading is not my style; I need a chore. How can I contribute to our community?" I asked.

"You are my guest until your status here at Liberty Mountain is established. Feel free to help out wherever you can," Sheila said.

"Does anyone need a helping hand?" I said as I turned to face the gathering.

Silence answered my inquiry until Alice spoke. "Our sensors have picked up a deer herd about ten miles out. Lucia and I are on the schedule to go hunting this afternoon, but she isn't in any condition to do anything until she sleeps it off. You can tag along in her place."

"I've never been hunting before," I pointed out.

"Do you know how to shoot?" Alice asked.

"Sure. I took basic training and qualified as an expert marksman," I replied.

"Are you a member of PETA?" Sheila inquired.

"If you mean ‘People Eating Tasty Animals,’ then the answer is yes," I said amid chuckles and laughter from the sisters.

"Then it's about time a woman teach you the manly art of hunting. Alice is extremely skilled, and she'll make sure you have all the appropriate gear. You two leave in an hour. Meeting adjourned, good luck," Sheila said.