Page 65 of The Wisteria Tree Cottage

‘This is not my kind of thing,’ Bear said. ‘I’d rather be camping in the woods right now looking for wolves than doing this.’

‘Do you not believe that scent plays a big part in who we do or do not find attractive?’

‘I have never gone on a date with someone because they smell nice.’

‘How do you know? According to the leaflet they handed out tonight, pheromones are not something we can really detect, at least consciously. You could have been subconsciously attracted to someone purely because their pheromones and yours speak to each other.’

Bear looked sceptical.

She decided to take AstralSurfer’s advice.

‘OK, smell me,’ Meadow said. ‘Tell me what it makes you feel.’

‘I’m not sniffing you like a dog,’ Bear said.

‘I’m not asking you to sniff my bum, I’m asking you to sniff my neck.’ She scooped her hair away from her neck and wrapped it round the other side, exposing the side of her neck to him.

Bear sighed and then bent his head, breathing her in just below her ear and causing a punch of desire to slam into her stomach. This was so intimate and that thought hadn’t occurred to her when she had offered it. She just wanted to see if he liked her scent as much as she liked his.

He shifted his hand to her waist, as he took in her scent, and the heat of him burned into her hip. He moved a bit closer and for the briefest of seconds his lips grazed against her skin in no more than a whisper. Her breath hitched at the touch of his mouth.

After the longest moment, he stepped back and his eyes were dark.

She stared at him and cleared her throat. ‘Was it nice?’

He shook his head. ‘That was definitely notnice.That was something else entirely. But you have just proved me completely wrong. There is something to be said about scent, after all.’

He moved down to the pink end of the table. She stared after him for a moment feeling thoroughly confused. Then she followed him.

‘Did you like my scent?’

He turned to look at her and his cheeks were still flushed. ‘Meadow, I… OK, if you want a simple answer, then yes I liked your scent. A lot more than I imagined I would. Come on, let’s do this. Your daughter is waiting to go camping.’

She paused, feeling suddenly bold. ‘Can I smell you?’

A small smile appeared on his lips. ‘Go on then.’

She stepped closer and, to her surprise, he suddenly lifted her so she could reach his neck more easily, her feet dangling off the floor.

‘You could have just bent down,’ Meadow laughed, but the laugh died on her lips as he slid his arms round her back holding her tighter against him. The warmth of his body was wonderful, his hard muscles pressed into hers. The look on his face showed that he hadn’t really thought about this sudden intimacy before he’d picked her up. She slid her hands round the back of his neck, holding onto him for support as she moved closer to take a sniff. The scent of him she recognised instantly. She knew she’d be able to pick that scent out of a line-up of hundreds of men. It was comforting, warm but sexy as hell, it made her stomach clench with desire and need. She moved closer on the pretext of sniffing somewhere different when really she couldn’t get enough of him.

‘Are you done?’ Bear asked, his words tickling the back of her neck.

‘Not even close,’ Meadow said without thinking and then laughed at the honest brazenness of her words. ‘I, umm… need to be thorough.’

Bear, it seemed, was quite happy to hold her. In fact, as she continued to smell him, she felt him move his face so he could smell her again and it made goosebumps explode over her body. She’d read several articles about sex over the years, keen to know how different her first time should have been, but not one of them had ever mentioned how smelling each other could be such a turn-on. Maybe it was just the proximity of his lips next to her skin, so close it was almost like he was kissing her, coupled with his body against hers, the feel of his arms around her, his wonderful scent that was everywhere. She was in absolute heaven and they still had all their clothes on.

Bear moved back slightly to look at her. ‘We’re getting a few looks.’

Her eyes cast down to his lips for the briefest of seconds and then she glanced around the room. Almost every single person in the room was staring at them, some in horror, some in amusement or surprise.

Meadow felt her cheeks flame red. She had almost completely forgotten they were in a room filled with people.

‘OK, you can put me down now.’

Bear placed her gently down on the floor and she took a step back, both of them staring at each other.

‘Well, that looks like fun,’ a woman with wild curly blonde hair came up to them. ‘If that’s what we’re doing, can I have a go now?’

---