You Are the Reason by Renae Kaye Read Free Book Online Page B

and we really didn’t want to be putting them in our perfumes.”
    Thank goodness.
    “But I’ve read so many reports and journal articles about this. Although pheromones are odorless, we still react to them. Women who are coming into their fertile period will react with arousal to male pheromones, as their biological urge to mate takes over. Men react differently to women’s pheromones, depending if the pheromones are harvested during a woman’s fertile period, or infertile period. They find women who are fertile more ‘irresistible’ than when they’re not.”
    Jake stopped. “You mean women smell differently when they’re fertile and when they’re not?”
    “Yes,” Patrick confirmed. “If I’m around a woman on a daily basis for a long period of time, I can smell the change. But I’m extremely sensitive to smells, and I pay attention to them. 99.9 percent of the population wouldn’t notice.”
    Jake growled fiercely at Patrick. “Are you saying you get turned on by women when they’re fertile?”
    There was a little smile on Patrick’s face. “There was a report that came out of Sweden about nine years ago about the reactions of gay men compared to heterosexual men when they were exposed to male and female pheromones. The study found that gay men were turned on by only the male pheromones. And further studies have shown that gay men are turned on more by the pheromones of other gay men. It’s my theory that this is what a gaydar is. The ability to pick out the other gay men.”
    “So,” I asked, trying to work through the information. “Why am I turned on by women all of a sudden?”
    He gave the matter some thought. “Pheromones are tricky little bastards. There are pheromones that tell you if your mate’s fertile or not. But then there are also pheromones that tell you if your potential mate is too similar to you in genetic makeup. Studies on mice have shown that the males are less likely mate with a female that’s similar to their genetic makeup, or at least coated in pheromones similar to their genetic makeup. Therefore you won’t be attracted to your sister or your mother.”
    “Ugh,” I groaned. “Mating again. How can it be that, if I don’t want children and I’ve never been attracted to women before?”
    “Sometimes,” said Patrick philosophically. “When it is, it is. I know the scent of Jake used to drive me wild when he was cleaning my house for me. I’d never even met the guy, but I would come home, and my body would react to his scent that was left in the air. I’ve never had that reaction to another person.” That earned him a kiss from Jake. “So this Lee just may be exuding a particular pheromone that has you all tied up in knots. It could be natural, or even an artificial scent she’s wearing. She could even be doing undercover research, you know. They could be manipulating her scent on purpose and sending her out into a social environment to see what reactions she gets.”
    I thought that over. “No. I don’t think so. She was meeting a trans friend at the pub. She never had any other interest in picking up apart from going home with me twice.”
    “A trans friend?” questioned Patrick. There was a note of wonder in his voice, and he looked excited.
    “What?”
    I found it difficult sometimes when Patrick didn’t look in my direction when he was speaking to me. I got confused whether he was addressing me or merely speaking to himself, but I was also getting used to it. Jake told me that Patrick had taught himself to “look” in the direction of the person he was speaking to. Being born blind had meant that it was not natural behavior.
    “I wonder,” he mused. “Would the pheromones be male or female?”
    I was lost. Only a politician at Parliament House could be more lost. “What? Are you asking me?”
    Patrick’s face lit up as he turned his head toward me and leaned forward eagerly. “Tell me again. What did Lee look like? What was she doing?”
    I