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TWENTY-FOUR
Yep, she'd done it again. Forgotten not everyone was a hugger. Especially a huge horned, winged demon who'd grown up during the Regency. If she remembered her Jane Austen right, touching a man with your bare hand or just being alone with him was enough to ruin a woman.
Then again, he hadn't exactly been wearing gloves – or anything at all – when he carried her home last night. And he'd spent the whole night naked in her bedroom. Her eyes darted to his groin, the one place she'd been trying to avoid looking at...
"Where did you get those?" she asked. He definitely hadn't been wearing those low-slung jeans last night.
He glanced down. "They were in a small room adjacent to your bedchamber, with a lot of other men's clothing. I had intended to don a shirt, too, but all the ones I found were too small."
That explained why the jeans fit so snugly, then. They had to be her dad's, and no way would any of Dad's shirts fit Stan's broad shoulders. And his muscles would probably rip right through the sleeves.
"I hope the owner of these does not object to me borrowing them while I protect you," Stan said, frowning.
"I doubt Dad will ever fit into his old jeans again, especially not now he's probably augmenting that beer belly with a wine and cheese belly." She bet they were having an awesome time.
"Where is your father now? If he returns, then surely I must hide, for he will not approve of a demon's presence anywhere near his daughter, even if I am your protector," Stan said.
Alethia laughed. Her dad didn't believe in demons, so he'd probably try to interrogate Stan, either out of curiosity or the desire to catch him in a lie. "My parents are in France, touring snail farms and shopping at farmers markets and all the things you do when you don't have to work and you're staying in the French countryside."
"And they would leave you here alone?" Stan looked shocked.
"I'm a grown woman, Stan, with a job and a life of my own. When I don't have a twisted ankle, I usually get along by myself just fine."
"But what would they say if they knew you were consorting with demons?"
"Dad would probably ask you a whole bunch of questions, and Mum...well, she'd probably say you're an improvement over the last guy I tried to date. Better looking. More polite. And not a crazy stalker who wants me to have his babies, which is always a plus. He's the reason Callie suggested we try to summon you, actually. To protect me from him."
Stan's expression turned thunderous. "There is a man stalking you? One who means to ravish you?"
It was Alethia's turn to frown. "I don't know about the ravishing part. Come to think of it, I thought you said we didn't do any consorting last night. Now you're telling me we did do something?" But surely she'd remember. Or at least ache a bit afterwards, because Stan definitely wasn't small.
He drew himself up. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean."
"Fuck." She rubbed her forehead with her fingers, hoping to stave off the threatening headache. Dealing with two hundred year old demons was hard. Sex education for a Regency man was torture. "Okay, let me be completely clear, then. Consorting, ravishing, sleeping, whatever euphemism you use...it all amounts to sex, right? Penises and vaginas and a whole lot of thrusting. Maybe involving some other body parts, too, to keep it interesting. But in its most basic form, sexual intercourse between a man and a woman is when your dick goes into her vagina. Or...other places." She fought not to blush at the image that popped into her head, of her going down on him and then him reciprocating. Her cheeks might not be growing uncomfortably hot, but other places sure were. Wet, too. Alethia closed her eyes. "Did we, or did we not, have sex last night?"
"We most certainly did not."
Oh, now she'd offended him. Yeah, two hundred years ago, well-born ladies didn't talk about private parts, or what you did with them.
"And if this man stalking you so much as thinks he could do such a thing with you, I will crush him," Stan said. "I am your protector, and this is my purpose. No man will ruin you while I am with you."
Not even him. Alethia sighed. "Thanks, Stan."
