Page 87 of The Scent of Intuition
She held him for a moment and then stepped squarely in front of him, as if she tried to measure her frame against his.
Nothing like this had ever happened to Alfie before and he wasn’t sure how to reconcile the lust throbbing through his middle with the tenderness overcoming his heart. If she stepped away, it would hurt more than a blow to the gut. So he waited for as long as he could—which wasn’t very long, he reckoned—and then wrapped his arms around her.
He just wanted to hold her tightly.
Preferably forever.
But she seemed to have something else in mind and turned her face toward his chest, placing a butterfly kiss on his skin.
Then another.
Alfie’s breath hitched when she gave his nipple a little lick.
“Bea!”
“You said you tasted me and thought I was delicious. NowIwant to know.”
Alfie’s vision blurred and he nearly finished in his breeches, but he somehow managed to stand still.
She kissed a trail from his pecs to his shoulder, trailed her hands down his arms and back up over his back and then stepped behind him.
“Do all the muscles on your back have names, too?” She asked from behind him.
Alfie squeezed his eyes shut and tried to cool the heat in his crotch. “The superficial muscles of the back and flank are thetrapezius, latissimus dorsi, levator scapulae, and the major and minorrhomboids.” Her hands followed his from his neck downward. “The deep muscles are erect—” Alfie coughed, “Erector spinae, thetransvers spinalisgroup consisting ofsemispinalis—”
“And this?” Her hands slipped into his waistband, and she tried to grab his bottom.
Alfie sucked his lips in but dutifully untied his breeches in the front.
From behind him, Bea pulled them down, underwear and all, until they pooled below his knees.
Then she grabbed his bottom tightly.
“Gluteus maximus.”
“Is it made for sitting only?”
Too sweet. Too naïve. Dangerous.
“It supports the pelvis. It’s responsible for movement of the hip and thigh, playing a crucial role in extending, rotating, and abducting the hip.”
She was an apt student, following his words with her hands as she came back around to face him, her hands on the ridges above his hip bone. He gave a little flick, and her gaze fell to his manhood. At that, she sucked her lower lip in.
She lingered there and Alfie knew that he’d long left the island of propriety and was setting sail to a scandalous ocean of passion with the woman he loved—if only he’d manage not to drown.
“Can I touch you?” she asked, her eyes still on his middle.
“Anywhere you want Bea. I’m all yours.”
She reached down and wrapped her fingers around his shaft. He couldn’t help but gasp. And when her eyes met his, Alfie barely managed, but he said it anyway, “I’ve loved you evenwhen you were just the girl in the veil in Delhi, but now that I know you, and now that I know how you feel, I could never be whole without you.”
She narrowed her gaze. He pressed his hand over hers on his most sensitive part.
“Bea, do with me as you wish. But I won’t go further unless—” he swallowed his words. This was exactly what he wasn’t supposed to say.
“Unless what?”
“You marry me.” Alfie blinked at her as if she were the sun blinding him, necessary for his survival and yet sure to burn if he stared too long. “I love you so much.” She was so precious, the simple words didn’t do the feelings he harbored for her justice.
