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FORTY-SIX
The drive home was surprisingly quiet. Alethia wasn't sure what Stan's nephews had said to him, but the stories Catena, Rochelle and Anemone had told her about helping their partners break the curse and find their place in this world, when it was so different to their own time...wow. A little voice in the back of her mind whined that these woman had truly loved their partners, and that's why they'd gone to such great lengths to help them, while Alethia couldn't possibly feel that way about Stan, or she would have already broken the curse by now, just like they had.
Alethia stomped on that voice, before putting her foot on the brake to stop at the traffic lights. She did care about Stan, and she'd promised to help him. Maybe she wasn't completely head over heels in love with him, but when he kept talking about Carline, and how much his heart still belonged to her, no bloody wonder. She didn't want to get hurt, falling for a guy who didn't love her.
But Stan would be so easy to fall for. All he'd have to do was look at her with those smouldering puppy dog eyes and say something in That Voice that made her heart (and her knickers) melt, and she'd be gone. Lost.
If only...
Haha, if only he'd take a leaf out of Ben's book. Alethia could hardly believe he was from the past, when he seemed so normal. Well, not normal exactly, but like he fitted in with modern society so perfectly, no one would guess the truth. Rochelle had even shown her Ben's video channels – the man had millions of followers for his gargoyle cartoons, and he'd only been living in the present for a matter of months. But the cartoons themselves were...well, they could have taken place in her apartment, instead of the Shut Up Café, with Stan as the gargoyle and her as the barista, because Ben had gotten the dynamic exactly right. The monster from the past, fighting to find his place in a world he didn't understand, and the strange epiphanies he had about the world that were either profound or funny or a bit of both.
"Ben was quite a character, wasn't he?" Alethia ventured.
Stan grunted.
She tried again. "I'm tempted to go find his website when I get home, and binge all his cartoons. The ones Rochelle showed me were just like..."
"When we get home, I'll give you exactly one minute from the moment the door closes to undress, before I tear all your clothes off," Stan growled.
And...there went another pair of knickers, soaked through. She didn't know what to say to that. Fuck, yes, finally, was the first thing that came to mind, but whatever happened to DO NOT TEMPT ME? This was totally out of character for Stan, no matter how much she wanted him. So she settled for one word: "Why?"
His gaze seemed to sear her clothes off without even touching her. "Because last night I made a terrible mistake. I ignored my own desires and yours, for the faint hope of approval from a woman who killed me before she even knew me. I don't even remember what she looks like. When I think of her, all I see is you. Spread out naked on the bed before me, for me..."
Hell, her mouth was dry. Just the sound of the naked desire in his voice. She was ready to pull over onto the side of the road, drag him into the back seat of her car and...
"So you have one minute from the moment that door shuts to save your clothing from being torn apart, for before this night is through, I will be deep inside you, and nothing will stop me from taking what I want."
She swallowed, and swallowed again. She shouldn't want what he was saying. It was so wrong, and yet sounded so right...
"When we get home, we're going to have a detailed discussion about consent, buddy, because I don't think you understand how that works," she found herself saying, even as that tiny voice inside her was screaming yesyesyesyesyesFUCKyes...
He made a derisive sound deep in his throat, almost as if he could hear that voice, too. "I understand what consent is. It's you saying yes, which you did last night, and you will again, for I know you desire me as much as I desire you."
"I said yes to experimenting with oral sex, not you tearing my clothes off, and burying yourself inside me like some mindless beast." But she totally would, especially if he asked her in That Voice. Right now, in fact...
"And that is how it will start. Yes as you open yourself to me. Yes as you wrap yourself around me. Yes as you explode with the pleasure you know I can give you. Yes to doing it again until you beg for more, just like last night. And..."
The pause stretched so long, it made Alethia ache. Ache for all that he'd said he would do, as well as what would come next. "Yes?" she prompted.
He rumbled out a laugh. "Consenting already, I see. When I claim your body with my own, there will be no need for such words. Your body will know that you are mine, and your lips will scream it for all to hear."
Maybe they should stop on the side of the road. Because she was already panting for him, and if she was going to scream like he promised, it was probably better that the neighbours didn't hear. Or the whole building...
Except that they were already pulling into the parking lot, and she'd waited long enough for this. To hell with the neighbours, and whatever anyone else thought.
She floated up the stairs, barely noticing the click of the door as it closed behind him.
"One minute, Alethia, before I make you mine," Stan growled in That Voice.
A minute was far too long.
