Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
He grins and places the bottle in my hands, but his touch lingers, warm and slightly damp with sweat. “Don’t worry if you don’t like it. I can always try another mixture, but this composition really brings you to mind. It’s fresh but so pleasant I could smell it every day.”
I know it will be my new favorite before I even open the bottle.
I lean in to smell it, but he pulls the container away with a chuckle.
“No, put it on your skin, because fragrance interacts with the oils on it. The same accord might smell differently on me than it does on you. And as it develops, you will get to learn all the different notes.” Corvus grabs my hand and spreads a little of the perfume over my wrist with his thumb.
I get goosebumps from this touch, but it’s the scent that really gets me emotional. He put into it what he might have struggled with in words. Every note in the perfume shows how he sees me as a person. The first thing I smell is something tart—grapefruit?—but underneath is a deep, herby base I find addictive. It’s warm, inviting, like a sunrise enjoyed together under a warm blanket while the air is still cool.
Corvus might struggle expressing his emotions because of his upbringing and years in the closet, but he feels strongly. I can smell it.
It makes me more willing to open up to him instead of putting on the mask of a man I expect him to want. “It’s beautiful. I… You know what I like in bed. I’m big, brash, sometimes a bit too cocky for my own good, and that’s all most people see. I’ve gotten so many gifts from my exes. Boxers, a set of cards, a Swiss army knife, a mug that says ‘Boss’, and even a cologne they liked. But none of them was made for me. They were the kind of thing you give to a masculine man who acts and behaves in a certain way. Because that was what they wanted from me. To top, to provide, to protect, to fix things, but I can’t do all that. I always ended up disappointing them.
“I was too kind when they wanted a bastard, too violent for more than a fun ride, too horny to be serious, too dumb to make good money, but a smartass if I questioned them, annoyingly cryptic until I opened up and they didn’t like what they saw. But you’re… letting me be myself. Thank you. Like in this perfume. Like I’m allowed to be many things at once, and you see them all. Like, yeah, maybe I do like beer and superheroes, but it doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the flowers you put in the living room.” I chuckle, embarrassed, and smell my wrist again. “Sorry, I’m no deep thinker, it’s just… I want you to know it’s appreciated.”
Corvus stares at me, lips opened ever so slightly as he leans in and inhales the perfume straight off my skin. “You might be a deeper thinker than you give yourself credit for. I think I did nail it. It’s just like you, with many ingredients that elevate each other.”
I kiss him when he meets my gaze, and we melt together in the middle of his workshop. I still make sure to put the bottle away carefully, and I wouldn’t dare treat this space like I would a kitchen where I bent him over the counter. The ingredients here are dangerous. So despite the need growing in me, I let our kiss be sweet as I wrap my arms around him, tangled in the scent he so thoughtfully composed for me.
It feels so perfect when he embraces me back, and for a moment we just stand in place, surrounded by the scent he always carries, and that of a perfume, tailor-made to express how he sees me.
“Even when you don’t completely fail people’s expectations, they become so heavy they choke you,” Corvus tells me and rubs his face against my collarbones. “It was reckless… how I chose to approach you, but I don’t regret it. I don’t even regret that Aspen filmed us.”
“Yeah? You wouldn’t have preferred me as the dirty secret in your basement?” So maybe it’s needy, but we’ve already established that’s what I am. I kiss the side of his head, and I already know the perfume will always remind me of this lovely moment of truth between us. It’s almost uncanny how we got here after the painful confrontation earlier, but in this case I only care about the end result.
Corvus swallows. “That would have been the sensible thing to do. But maybe I’m less sensible than I always thought, because I want you in my bed, even though you could break my neck while I sleep.”