The Scent of His Betrayal

Nora has always been able to smell the truth of love on a man's skin. On her wedding night, Gavin smelled of gardenias; seven years later, he smells of nothing at all, and he has convinced her that passion simply gives way to duty and the quiet machinery of adulthood.

Then she covers shifts at the patisserie he owns and meets Sadie, a new hire whose arrival fills the air with wild citrus. Gavin barely looks at the girl, yet the scent of infatuation pours off him, and his small kindnesses—the drink ordered just for her, the softness in his voice—tell Nora what his face will not. When he comes home late, the citrus is gone, replaced by something sickly and rotting that he dismisses as her paranoia.

Claiming he must sleep at the shop before the anniversary showcase, Gavin leaves Nora alone with a scent she cannot ignore and a question he refuses to answer.