The next day, a pop quiz on the ride over

Without taking her eyes off the road, Shannon fired off her next question. "Afghan?"

"Uh– edging!" Noah answered, perhaps a little too quickly. "They enter a less inhibited state when aroused and... and pride themselves on the discipline to stand it for as long as possible."

"And how do you think that plays with the harem trait?"

"Um... It makes them pretty low-maintenance, especially if they have a minor voyeuristic streak, though you gotta make sure tempting them to join in and enjoy the group sex is part of the game."

Shannon fist-pumped. Her elbow brushed against the side of her breast in the process. "Yes! Man, you're a natural at this!"

Noah chuckled and looked out the window, watching the string of McMansions pass by. "I barely slept last night. Couldn't stop thinking about all this. Also, y'know, wanted to make sure I was as prepared as possible."

"I meant more like 'you're even more perverted than I thought,'" Shannon fired back.

"Oh, yeah, definitely," Noah readily admitted with a chuckle. It had always been easy to discuss sex and porn with Shannon once the ice had been breached – that's what was so nice about their relationship so far.

"Alright, now Pakistani."

"Uh, that... They love cum."

"Buuuuuut?"

"They... Wait, are they the ones who love it inside or outside?"

"Outside is Malaysians. Inside is Pakistani. The way I think of it is: Malaysians 'lay' it on, Pakistanis 'pak' it in. Though Malaysians also like the taste, but... Well, you get the idea."

Noah shook his head in bemused disbelief. Now he was learning mnemonics for these fetishes?? It boggled the mind. Though a second later an issue occurred to him. "So, how do they deal with...?"

"Oh, pretty much everyone's on the pill. Blake was a big fan of doing things bareback."

Almost involuntarily, Noah looked askance at Shannon with an increasingly worried expression. "Did you and him...?"

"You're fooling yourself if you think you took my tit-cherry, Noah. But no, I didn't give him the marriage hole, if that's what you're worried about."

Noah looked out the window again and shook his head. "Don't know why I even got worried. It's your life."

"Males. Territorial behavior. It's instinctive. Now, how does the Saudi/Pakistani combo work?"

"Uhhhh... They want you to pull out before every cumshot and give it to them?"

Shannon took a moment to check both ways and concentrate on her turn, then answered, "Nah, it's way easier than that. Cumming inside gives the girl an amazing sustained afterglow. Then they watch the master enjoying themselves with the other girls and that glow gets brighter. So it's more like there's an order of operations – she gets the first one, and then make sure to refill her tank every once in a while." A frown dragged down her lovely lips. "Blake loved to make her beg for it. Leave her needy for hours."

"Don't do that, then."

"Yeah, no. So, here's the one I know is gonna be tough for you: Iraqi."

Noah pursed his lips for a few seconds. "They like shows of aggressive dominance. They like being told what to do, especially if they're initially hesitant." Shannon was right; that wasn't his style, and the thought of being **** to do so made him a little uncomfortable.

"This might work perfectly for you, actually," Shannon mused. "Just tell her to suck your cock as soon as you see her. It'll show you understand what she needs, and the sex will help break the ice."

"I get the feeling Blake was really good about satisfying her fetish."

"Well, that's the thing; it's a balancing act. Iraqi girls aren't total pushovers, but they enjoy a bit of confrontation and being **** to back down. Blake would often push his luck and take it too far, even though she couldn't do anything about it. You gotta hit the mark on 'Can I not?' instead of 'No, fuck off,' to really make her happy."

"So take charge, but don't be a monster."

"When you get to know each other better, let the monster out every once in a while. Oh, and the interplay?"

"...I really don't know this one."

"It's really simple; there's two ways. One, just be dominant towards the other women while she's watching. Make her wish it was her you were bossing around. Two, order her to do something with the other girls, maybe something she's not totally down for yet. If it makes you happy, it'll make her happy, and she'll start to love it too. Though she'll totally deny it the next round."

"Sounds like she'll be the hardest one to win over."

"Maybe... Well, no, the first and hardest challenge is gonna be Mistress Elina, the Uzbek. She's no joke. If you don't conquer her, then the whole harem's gonna end up in her web. If you can get her under you, though, this whole process is gonna be much smoother. But she's the one who sent me on this mission, and hopefully she'll trust my recommendation..."

"Does she not have any Saudi Arabian in her?"

"She has a little, but it's from her grandmother, so she doesn't need a man as strongly as any of the others. So yeah, you're gonna have to charm her mostly the old-fashioned way. And then we've got the wild-cards: the Saudi/Turk, the Saudi/Persian, and the Male Worshipper."

"Why are they wild cards? Seems to me like they'd be the easy ones – ah, no offense meant to them."

"They're the flight risks, Noah. They'll be happy to have a cock and a masculine body around, sure. And thankfully you're a fit specimen, farm-boy. But Turkish girls want to go lifelong. They fucking married Blake in their souls. All that on top of the Saudi imprinting. I think it's gonna be a struggle for them to accept their attraction to you when they still feel bound to Blake. That's why getting Elina on your side is gonna be so important; she can use her wiles to remind them that, hey, at least one of the figureheads of this harem haven't changed."

Noah pressed his fingers against his temple. "This is all sounding to sound like... politics."

"It's people and power. That's all you need for politics. But honestly, you're holding up much better than I expected, now that I can see the reality sinking in."

Taking a deep, contemplative breath, Noah leaned back in his seat and stared out into the sunny day. "I dunno. I've always liked being able to serve in a way that's unique to me. Being told that 'I'm the only one who can solve this problem and make everyone's life better'... It calms my nerves."

"Well, let's hope that inner strength is enough." The car rolled to a stop in front of a very modern-styled three-story home. "Because we're here."