Alice gestured vaguely. “In case of further parlor games.”
Daniel considered this, then nodded. “Seems sensible. Very well, then.”
“Wait.” She rummaged in a skirt pocket for pen and notebook. “I should take notes.”
An odd noise emerged from Daniel’s throat. “That is probably not necessary.”
“What if I forget how it was?”
He looked at her intently. “I promise you willneverforget how it was.”
“Huh. Very well, shall we proceed?” Clasping her hands together before her, she presented her face for kissing. “And not another a peck on the cheek. Something marital.”
Daniel gave a brisk nod. “I am at your service, madam.”
13
they are extremely professional— hand-holding practice pays off— occupational health and safety— daniel is messed up (mentally and literally)— echoes—alarm!
Nothing in Nature stands still; everything strives and moves forward—with the exception of Daniel Bixby. Alice waited, and waited, while he looked down at her so heatedly her nerves began to sizzle. Was he actually going to kiss her? Perhaps he did not know how to do it after all and was trying to recollect the procedure?
She had been wishing for this from the first moment she saw him in the dress shop, his posture so impeccable she would have defied anyone not to lust after the man. Since learning he was Agent B, she’d struggled to reconcile their professional rivalry with attraction. But she expected now to solve that dilemma, for surely nothing simplified things more than a kiss. If only Daniel would make haste. She restrained herself from glancing at the nearby clock.
Finally, he bent, and Alice caught her breath.
He gently pressed his mouth against her forehead.
Alice was bewildered—did he not know the correct zone for kissing?—and annoyed! Andoh, melting warm and slow all through herbody until she found herself swaying helplessly against him. He kissed next the edge of one eye, her eyelashes sweeping against his lips.
No one had mentioned this variation of the activity. They had talked about mouths and knuckles and not doing it unless you were prepared to get married. But now Daniel was kissing her cheek, and not at all like he had the night before; this time, it was slower, softer, his breath fanning her skin and intensifying the warmth inside her. Alice felt sure this must be highly inappropriate even for the most married of couples.
A sound shuddered from her unkissed mouth. It said nothing, but it meantplease. At this point, she would have levitated a dozen tigers and assassinated Queen Victoria herself if only he would make haste.Please, she wished again.
At last, taking her chin between thumb and forefinger, he tilted it up, lowering his mouth to hers.
And she combusted into flames.
It was not like this in books, she thought in the fleeting moment before all thoughts burned away. Not even Primula Tewkes’s penny-dreadful novels had described the sense of intimacy. After a lifetime of seldom being touched, she now had a man touching her in a way that, although confined to their lips, felt like caresses all over her skin. Daniel kissed her gently, yet with authority, and it was clear he knew exactly what he was doing after all. Alice found herself clutching at him as her knees began to tremble. Her heart was already at ten on the Richter scale.
She had no idea how to kiss him back. Overcome with sensation, she could not even evaluate his tactics and attempt to replicate them. But Daniel did not seem deterred by this. He did not slow to let her catch up, nor offer instruction, nor expect anything from her but surrender. And so she let go completely, requiring him to set an arm across her back so as to prevent her collapsing.
She remembered tumbling through the storm the other day. This was a dizzyingly similar experience, although with the defect of her skirt still being on.
Gradually the kiss eased, providing her with the opportunity to breathe and to analyze the event. (1) She had not expected so much involvement of the tongue. (2) Cardiac side effects may present some concern. (3) —
But it had not been an ending after all, only a trap to lure her further in. Suddenly he kissed her even more deeply, stroking against secrets she never knew she had. He pulled her close, cupping a hand against the back of her head, wrapping his arm more securely around her waist so their bodies were pressed hard together. Everything began to pulse—lips, heart, loins. Alice felt an echo of it in him too, through her clothes, behind his bones.
Good heavens, no wonder people married!
At last—too soon—Daniel pulled back with an effort. He seemed dazed. His eyes behind their slightly crooked spectacles blinked past her at some vision that darkened his expression.
“Perhaps this should not go in the mission report,” he said.
“I agree,” Alice replied through throbbing lips. She resisted the urge to rub them, for Daniel was not rubbing his, and she possessed no other guide to correct post-kissing behavior. “Nonetheless, I do feel. Um.” What did she feel? Where had her brain gone? Groping incoherently through her overheated inner darkness, she found it at last surrounded by metaphors and rose petals. Sighing, it came to attention. “I feel that my portrayal of a happily married wife will be improved from here on. And I must say, already you look more like my—um, likeahusband. So. There we have it. Excellent work. I suppose we should go search some rooms—?”
“Uh huh.”
Neither of them moved.
