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“A smell on me?” she asked, cautious.

He nodded. “It’s pungent, and I never smelled it before.”

The skin on her light brown cheeks flushed and she tried to cover herself with her hands.

“What is it?” he asked, confused and intrigued. Her embarrassment made him assume she knew the source of the smell, but he couldn’t understand why it made her react like that. Was it something bad?

“It’s… arousal.”

“Ah.”

He nodded slowly in understanding. So that was what arousal in a human woman smelt like? What an interesting scent.

“Why are you aroused?”

He simply asked out of curiosity, but it seemed to make her even more mortified. She was half turned away from him now, as if hiding.

“You can’t just ask something like that,” she mumbled.

“Why not?”

“Because it’s personal!”

Was it? For demons, it was common to share those things. When he was young, he hadn’t been used to talking about it either. But after years of receiving judgmental looks for not being straightforward about sex, it had forced an openness in him. Maybe humans were more private. He couldn’t understand why she would look so ashamed, though. There was nothing shameful about pleasure.

“I don’t judge,” was his simple reply.

She eyed him suspiciously, as if expecting him to make fun of her. When he didn’t add anything, her shoulders gradually relaxed. Her eyes traveled up and down his body, studying him.

“Do demons get aroused too?”

He nodded. “Most of us do.”

“You seem very open about it,” she commented.

“Demons tend to be open about lots of things. Sex and pleasure are some of them.”

He sensed her holding back more questions, interest growing behind her eyes. For some reason, he was pleased by the idea of her asking him more about this topic.

“Ask,” he simply said.

“Are you sure? I can be a bit invasive when I get curious.”

He crossed his arms on his chest and nodded. He was more than ready, almost excited to talk about it. “I’m sure.”

“Okay, well… how does sex work for you?” she asked, looking him up and down with a look on her face that he couldn’t really place.

Without missing a beat, he said, “Do you want to see?”

Naomi choked on her own saliva, which immediately put her in a coughing fit.

“What?”

“Do you want to see?” he repeated, not seeing anything wrong with the question.

Sighing, Naomi put a hand over her hip, one on her forehead. “This keeps getting wilder and wilder,” she whispered to herself, eyes wide.

He frowned, concerned. “Are you okay?”