She felt him stiffen but the erupting emotions were too strong for her to let go. Her nose had landed right below his collarbone and as she breathed in her senses were filled with the scent of Marcelo. It was a glorious scent, potent, masculine, a scent that burrowed inside her...
She barely registered the loosening of his body until his strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her tighter to him.
In the beat of a second it wasn’t just his scent seeping through her senses.
In that beat of a second every nerve ending in her body shot to attention and Clara found that she was the one now stiffening as the beats of her heart quickened and sent hot blood surging through her veins.
The music changed. Another of the love songs she adored.
She needed to let go of him.
She wanted to move even closer.
The tips of her breasts were pressed against the hardness of his chest. There was a sensitivity in them she’d never known before.
Everything felt so heightened, like her senses had taken a double shot of caffeine. She pressed her cheek tighter into the top of his chest, filled her lungs with more of his scent and listened to the heavy thuds of his heart. She tried to swallow back the moisture filling her mouth but her throat didn’t seem to be working properly. Nothing seemed to be working as it should. Her body had gone off-piste.
A hand swept deliciously up her back and threaded through her hair to cradle her head.
Slowly, Clara lifted her chin to look at him.
What she found on Marcelo’s face slammed her heart against her ribs.
His jaw was set tight, his lips a tight, rigid line. His eyes...they were a darker blue than she had ever seen them and bore into hers with a hooded intensity that burned right into her core.
Suddenly, she couldn’t breathe, too intent on the mouth closing in on hers to draw breath.
She could feel his breath whispering against her skin.
He was going to kiss her...
Her eyes fluttered shut as warm, firm lips brushed like a feather against hers.
Something deep inside her melted.
A loud knock on the living room door cut through the spell with the effect of a bucket of ice being tipped over her.
One moment she was locked in Marcelo’s arms, the next she was five paces apart with no recollection of actually moving her feet or jellified legs.
‘My apologies for the terrible timing,’ Alessia said from the living room door, clearly embarrassed at having walked in on them at such an intimate moment. ‘I’ve come to get Bob.’
For a moment Clara wondered what she was talking about and then it came to her. Alessia was dog-sitting for the night.
Events unfolded before Marcelo like he was watching from behind a screen. Clara, more flustered than usual, dashing around in search of all the puppy’s stuff. Alessia’s promise to bring the puppy back in the morning. Clara seeing them out.
And then she returned to the living room and the screen cleared.
Closing the door, she rested her back against it.
Their eyes clashed and held.
The silence was so complete you could hear a feather fall.
Colour rose high on her cheeks. Her chest rose slowly too then fell jaggedly. Her teeth sank into the plump bottom lip that had felt so incredible brushed against his.
He cleared his throat. ‘Are you okay?’
She gave an overt blink. Her shoulders rose, her chin jutted and something that could have been a laugh flew from her mouth. ‘I can’t work out if I’m relieved or disappointed that Alessia interrupted us.’