She grinned, silly and lopsided. “Lord School is turning out to be such a disappointment for me.”
Wasn’t that the truth?
I studied the glossy chocolate in her hand. In 1818, chocolate was routinely consumed as a beverage, but I had never tasted it in solid form as the process to create solidified chocolate wasn’t invented until 1875.
I had watched others eating hard chocolate for over a year now, wondering how the taste of chocolate differed as a solid. I struggled to imagine it. Most seemed to prefer it over hot chocolate, but would I do the same?
I stood up and moved off the expensive, hand-tufted Persian rug, placing myself near one of the floor-to-ceiling windows. Chiara came over to face me. As she was in bare feet, the top of her head didn’t even quite extend to my chin.
“Are you quite sure you can reach my mouth from down there?”
“Har, har. Pick on the short girl.”
“Itislow hanging fruit.”
“Yeah, yeah, walked right into that one.” Her tone was bitter, but her smile said otherwise.
“Pun intended?”
“Stop stalling. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were nervous.”
Iwasnervous. What would happen? Besides, her mouth was temptingly close to mine. Why would I waste a corporeal mouth on eating chocolate when it could be put to much better use?
“Do you think you can make your mouth physical?” she continued, holding a small piece of chocolate close to my lips. In my defense, she did have to go up on her tiptoes a bit.
“Only one way to find out.” I fed all my concentration to my mouth, focusing on pushing just that part of my face into reality.
It felt sluggish. Like moving against impossibly thick taffy.
Chiara stared at my mouth, waiting in anticipation. She licked her own lips.
Suddenly, I wanted to be physical with agonizing torment. Touching her skin had awakened something desperate in me.
I wanted so badly to be real. To be capable of wooing this woman.
Love and hate.
I pushed harder. Pain splintered my head in a wave of anguished sensation. Fire and flames. My vision dimmed.
“You’re doing it, Jack!”
Something silky smooth and sweet popped into my mouth. Stunned, I bit down. The taste of chocolate exploded on my tongue.
Sweet and bitter with under notes of cherry and caramel. My eyes rolled back in my head.
The shock of taste . . . after years and years of nothing . . .
It was too much.
My concentration shattered.
My face reverberated back, the world spinning.
Dimly, I heard theplinkof something hitting the stone floor beneath my feet. The chocolate, I supposed.
“Damn. That was so close!”
I stumbled backward, eyes still closed. Weakness washed over me.
