I strip off my damp clothes and put the t-shirt on. I lift the material to my nose and inhale. It has a lovely lemongrass fragrance.
I carry my stuff back to the living room. “Where’s your dryer?”
“Oh, just over here.” He takes the clothes out of my hands and walks down the hall to a laundry hidden near the back. He puts everything in the dryer and switches it on.
“It should only need half an hour or so,” he says.
“Cool.”
I go and pick up my glass of wine and drink the rest in a couple of mouthfuls. I then turn to face him.
“OK. So now that you have me half-naked, what are you going to do with me?”
His face registers surprise and then amusement.
“What would you like me to do with you?”
“Anything you want,” I whisper.
He strides across to me in three steps and then scoops me up and carries me back to the bedroom. He gently lays me down on the bed, under the netting and then hovers over me.
Before I can think about whether this is a good idea, Daniel leans forward and starts nibbling at my neck.
Oh God.
I reach up and run my fingers through his hair, enjoying the sensation of having this beautiful man focus all his attention on me.
He moves up to my ear, nipping at my earlobe before pressing his lips to mine. I feel my whole body turn to jelly, and I kiss him fiercely. Daniel’s mouth was especially designed for mine. I can’t imagine that any other people could fit together as perfectly as us.
He pushes my t-shirt up and then circles his tongue over each of my nipples.
“Do more of that,” I moan, raking my fingers down his back.
He obliges and I feel like I might explode before we’ve even started.
The man is astoundingly good.
***
I lose track of time, but when I look outside the rain has stopped and the sky is completely dark.
Daniel and I lie facing each other, naked on the bed. He trails his finger up my side and across my collarbone.
“You are so damn beautiful,” he says softly.
I kiss his chest in response, marvelling at how easily I can accept his compliment. “Thank you. You’re not so bad yourself.”
He goes quiet and looks contemplative.
“This is going to sound lame, but what are you thinking?” I ask.
He smiles.
“Whether to confess a few things to you.”
I frown. “I hope they’re good things.”
“Well, I think you’ll think they’re good things. At least I hope you will.”
“Alright. Tell me.”
“I was just thinking about all the times I wanted to kiss you or tell you how I felt before last night.”
“So it was pretty early on, huh?”
“Yes, definitely early on. Obviously, I thought you were adorable from the moment I met you, but when I took you back to your hotel on my bike and I saw parts of your life, I knew I couldn’t make a move.”
“Could you see Aaron?”
“I could. And I didn’t know how recent those memories were, so I wanted to respect whatever you had going on.”
“Is that why you didn’t ask to see me again that night?”
“Yeah, I couldn’t. I hoped that you would call me. You wouldn’t believe how much restraint it required to drive off and leave you at the hotel that night.”
I laugh. “Tell me more.”
He thinks for a second. “OK. You know how you asked me about leaving the club early on Gan’s birthday?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Mmm?”
“And you thought it was because I couldn’t dance?”
“Go on.”
“It was actually because I couldn’t trust myself not to beg you to come home with me.”
I laugh delightedly. “Really?”
He looks a little embarrassed. “Yes. And that night in the lab…I did want something to happen, but I knew it was wrong.”
I sigh. “I probably should have called it off with Aaron a while back, but I think I liked feeling needed.” I shake my head. “Anyway, I want to know more about why you haven’t had a girlfriend in forever.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I’ve definitely dated. Just nothing that’s really lasted. And not nearly as much as Kannika would have had you believe,” he adds hastily.
“Why do you think it hasn’t lasted?” I ask gently. With my impending flight back to Australia, I’m all too aware I’m about to become another statistic.
He threads the fingers of one of his hands with mine. “I think because I couldn’t let go enough to truly confide in them. They always got mad, somehow knowing I was hiding something. I did come pretty close to telling one or two, but the situation never quite seemed right.”
“Yet you felt like you could with me.”
“Yes.” He looks at me with a heartbreakingly open expression as he strokes my cheek. “You’re different. And also, I think the timing was right to start trusting people a bit more.”
“So I was just in the right place at the right time?” I joke.
He laughs. “That only counts for a very tiny proportion of it.”
“And you still feel like it’s OK to trust people after what happened with Kannika and Phroi?”
“Well, that will clearly take a bit of getting over. But I meant less in a professional way, and more in a personal way.”
I run my fingers along his smooth chest.
“Speaking of situations that never seemed quite right until now, do you think this is an appropriate moment?”
He looks confused. “For what?”
“To give me the perfume you made for me.”
He chuckles. “I suppose it is.” He sits up and slides into a pair of tan shorts before leaving the room. “I’ll be right back.”
I lie there, blissfully staring at the ceiling. Could things be more perfect? I can’t believe I just slept with Daniel! There was a tenderness to his movements that was always lacking with Aaron. Aaron had a sinewy body, worked on religiously at the gym, and I always felt like there was something stiff and unyielding about him. Whenever we had sex, it was slightly mechanical, like we were both in our own heads trying to achieve separate goals. With Daniel, it was so, so different. Like we were one person, moving perfectly in sync.
Daniel returns with a small glass bottle. He hands it to me, looking nervous.
“I’m trusting you to be honest. Please tell me if you don’t like it.”
“It would be impossible for me to not like it,” I say.
“I’m serious. If you hate it, I want to know.”
“Are you always this anxious when you give people your fragrances?” I ask. “You’re worse than I was when I showed you mine!”
“I don’t care what anyone else thinks as much as you,” he says earnestly.
I remove the bottle cap and then press down the atomiser sprayer while pointing it at my wrist.
I lift my wrist to my nose and breathe in.
Wow.
I’m suddenly catapulted back to when I was four. Mum, Dad and I were lying on a blanket under a big shady tree overlooking the duck pond at the Melbourne Botanical Gardens. Mum was lying on her side, stroking her pregnant belly with Mia inside, and Dad was smiling at me, reaching out with his handkerchief, because I was dripping strawberry ice cream all over the place.
A tear rolls down my cheek.
Daniel brushes it away with his thumb.
“Are you OK?”
“It’s perfect,” I say, trying to not break down completely. “I don’t know how you did it, though. I’d completely forgotten about that day.”
“Part of you must have remembered, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to see it.”
“I’m amazed at how quickly and vividly it all came back to me.”
“Well, they do say that smell is the sense most closely linked to memory. That’s why what I do seems to work so well.”
I smell it again, my eyes closed, seeing the scene as if I was still there.
“It’s more than perfect. There’s not even a word to describe how perfect it is.”
He smiles. “So you like it?”
“Of course I like it! I love it. I want to have its babies.”
He laughs. “Good.”
“I can’t believe you keep this talent a secret. The world should know how amazing you are.”
His face clouds over slightly. “But they can’t know. At least not on any sort of mass scale. I’m happy for them to think I’m a good perfumer, but I don’t want them thinking I’m a freak. Can you imagine how people would react if they knew I could somehow tap into their brain and steal its essence to make into a perfume?”
“Have you ever had anyone react badly to one of your fragrances?”
“Sometimes. Some people don’t want to be reminded of something happy in their past, because it’s gone now. But most appreciate it.”
“Obviously Gan and the other staff know you do this. What have you told them?”
“I don’t think they understand exactly how I do it. They’ve seen that I create perfumes that evoke strong emotions, but they just think it’s because I’m technically competent.”
I kiss his hand. “I feel very lucky that you trust me enough to tell me.”
He gazes into my eyes. “I know you won’t tell anyone else. And like I said, you’re different.”
I pull him down onto me and kiss him again, this time firmly on the lips.
“And you are too. In the best possible way.”
TWENTY-SIX
I stay at Daniel’s house overnight. We hardly get any sleep, staying up talking and…doing other things. But he reluctantly gets out of bed on Wednesday morning, telling me he has to go into work.
“You’re welcome to stay here and relax if you like,” he offers.
“Actually, I should probably catch up with Rosie. She asked me out for breakfast this morning.”
“Oh, sure. Do you think you’ll be in later?”
I love how he’s trying to sound casual, but doing a terrible job of it.
“Of course I will. Rosie and I only have another couple of days until she needs to send off her samples.”
I don’t need to remind him that I’m leaving the country in a couple of days. I think we are both well aware of that fact.
Daniel has a quick shower and gets dressed while I continue to relax in his bed. He leans down and plants a lingering kiss on my mouth.
“I wish I could stay here all day with you.”
“Me, too.”
He gives me one last peck and then heads out.
“See you soon!”
I take my time, getting up to shower and then making myself a cup of tea in Daniel’s kitchen. I absolutely adore his house. If it was transplanted to Brisbane, I would move in with him in a second.
That realisation makes me stop dead. Would I genuinely want to live with Daniel? The idea doesn’t sound as scary as it probably should (especially when I was never that keen to live with Aaron). The fact that I may never see him again after Friday seems a million times worse.
What have I done? Why did I get myself mixed up with this man? I’m only going to hurt myself. And what is it about holiday romances that feel so intense? Obviously, it must be the limited time you know you have together. Before Sunrise was one of my favourite movies when I was younger for that very reason. I loved how Jesse and Celine only had one night together, and even though I hoped they’d meet up again down the track, that part didn’t really matter. (It mattered even less when I saw how they turned out in Before Sunset and Before Midnight. Ugh.)
I grab my clothes from the dryer, get dressed, and head back to my apartment. The roads are steamy with yesterday’s rain evaporating in the morning heat.
I hope to sneak inside without Rosie catching me, but I’ve got no chance. She’s sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of my door, reading a paperback.
“Ahem.” She looks up and pretends to tap her watch. “Do you have any idea what time it is?”
I smile guiltily at her. “Oops.”
She scans me up and down. “Are you still wearing yesterday’s clothes? Where have you been?”
“I’ll tell you over breakfast,” I promise. “Let me just go get changed and then we’ll head out.”
She gives me a knowing smile. “I think someone got lucky last night.”
“Don’t be crude,” I say, fake-glaring at her.
“Sorry! Alright, be ready in ten minutes, or I’m barging in there to hurry you up. I’ll wait here.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I quickly change into a clean sundress and brush my teeth. I don’t have time to do anything about my hair—which is bordering on bird’s nest territory—so I pile it into a messy bun on top of my head, acting as if it’s meant to look that way.
I’m back in the hall just under ten minutes later.
“I’m impressed by your speed,” she says, approvingly. “Alright, so what do you feel like eating this morning? I’m guessing a full breakfast, considering last night’s acrobatics?”
I slap her playfully. “Hey, I didn’t hassle you when you went home with Nick.”
“No, but that was just a fling. I can tell you wouldn’t be into that. You’re one of those monogamous chicks.”
We head to the elevator. “Why do you say that?”
“I just know. Your ex was in the army and you barely saw him, yet you stayed together for how long?”
“Three years.”
“Exactly. And what about the boyfriend before that?”
I wrinkle my nose. “Sam Dower. We were together through the end of high school and the start of my university degree.”
“See? And I bet you were one of those girls at school who had a steady boyfriend most of the way through.”
I reluctantly nod. “Tommy Duncan. We dated from year nine until year eleven.”
“There you go.” she says triumphantly. “Serial monogamist.”
“But that wouldn’t be the case here. I’m in Thailand, remember? And I’m going home in a couple of days.”
“I don’t think you are going home on Friday,” she says.
I laugh. “Uh, I hate to break it to you but I am.”
“I just have this feeling…”
“OK, All-Knowing-One. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
She smiles smugly. “We will.”
Rosie drags me to the local McDonald’s, where I order a Big Breakfast. I can see Rosie wants to make a joke, but she refrains from saying it out loud. And then she orders a couple of hash browns and something called McD Chicken Porridge. I raise an eyebrow at her.
“I thought it sounded interesting,” she says, shrugging.
We collect our food and go sit in the corner of the restaurant. Rosie’s porridge looks gross.
“Alright, I want to hear all the details about you and Mr Perfumer,” she says. “What was he like in bed?” She then stops for a second. “Wait. It was Daniel, wasn’t it?”
I laugh. “Yes, it was Daniel. But I’m not really the kiss and tell type, even more than I’m not the casual hook-up type. One thing I will say is that he’s not just talented in the lab.” I then blush, thinking I probably shouldn’t have been so bold.
Rosie shrieks with delight. “I knew it! It’s always the quiet, polite ones that surprise you, isn’t it?”
“Can we not talk about it anymore?”
“Oh, but I want to talk about it! Come on, tell me something juicy.”
“No!” And then I think of something that might distract her. I get my perfume out of my handbag and give it to her.
“What do you think of this? Daniel made it for me.”
She sprays a little on her wrist and inhales.
“Ooh, that’s nice. Not as nice as the one he made for me, but almost as good. I swear when I smelt mine I thought I was going to pass out.”
“I know. I
feel the same way about mine! It’s crazy that he has that ability…” I trail off, wondering if I’m saying too much. I only meant to refer to his talent in the normal sense, not allude to the fact that there might be something magical to it. Shit. Now I’m making things awkward.
Rosie looks at me strangely. “Are you alright?”
“Yes, sorry. I was just thinking…” Damn it. Why can’t I think of something to say? Something normal!
“Thinking what?”
“Just that he’s really good at what he does.”
“Yes, we’ve established that.” She narrows her eyes at me. “What aren’t you saying?”
“Nothing!”
“Then why are you acting so weird?”
“I am not!”
“Tell me!”
“No!”
“Aha! So there is something you’re hiding from me!”
“There’s not!” I rake my fingers down my face. “Damn it.”
Rosie’s eyes light up. “Now I really need to know.”
“I can’t. I promised Daniel.”
“Promised him what?”
“That I wouldn’t say anything.”
“About what?”
Crap. Daniel only told me his secret two days ago and already I’m making a mess of things.
“I’m not letting you leave until you tell me,” Rosie continues.
“It’s nothing, really!” I plead.
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll cancel my whole project. And then Daniel will lose a ton of money. You don’t want that to happen, do you?”
I shoot her a look. I know she’s only joking, but I don’t appreciate it. “You said you would never try and manipulate me again.”
“This is different. You’re keeping secrets from me. That’s the worst thing a friend can do.”
I sigh. Maybe if I just hinted at it without saying everything?
“Well…he seems to have this knack for creating the perfect fragrance for someone,” I say slowly.
“I think we’ve already established that. And?”
“It’s almost like a sixth sense or something.”
“Yes, yes. What are you getting at?”
I feel horrible, but I might as well go the whole hog.
“Promise you won’t tell anyone else?”
She crosses her heart with a finger. “Yes, I promise.”
Perfume Therapy Page 21