It's funny how being in love can involve all five of the senses. Taste. Sight. Touch. Smell. Sound. These senses can tangle with each other, evoking emotions that magnify them, which in turn builds on the emotions again, culminating in a limitless cycle of attraction and affection.

TASTE

His kisses are salty, but somehow their salinity only enhances the experience. Up until now, I'd never been kissed in the ocean before. I've never tasted this unique flavor on his lips before.

It takes me all of two seconds to decide that saltwater kisses are the most delicious ones of all. Who knew the sea could be such an aphrodisiac? Kissing in the water has kissing on dry land beat hands-down.

We stand up to our shoulders in warm sea water, our feet just barely able to touch bottom. Well...his feet are touching bottom. Mine aren't, because both of my legs are currently locked around his as we mold ourselves together under the water.

SIGHT

His blue eyes have darkened with desire, and I think it's possibly one of the sexiest things I've ever seen. Droplets of water glisten in his hair and on his beard, illuminated by the sinking sun and irresistible to my fingers.

He's shirtless, and what I can see of his lightly tanned chest and shoulders above the water makes my pulse race with their solid, masculine broadness.

He's handsome in the daylight, but he's gorgeous in the sunset. At this angle, the light hits him in just the right way that chases the age from his face. Or maybe it's the happiness that does it. Either way, he looks much like he did when we first met almost two decades ago — youthful and content yet wise and ever curious.

TOUCH

I hook one arm over his broad shoulder and behind his neck to hold onto him so I don't tip backward in the water. My other thumb trails over his wet beard, and I deliberately brush the short stubble upward with a mischievous grin because I know it gives him goosebumps when I do that. His lips land on mine again, insistent and demanding as his hands possessively stroke my thighs under the water.

His legs are able to support us both against the lazily rocking current, and I marvel at the strength of his body contrasted with the controlled gentleness in his touch. He lifts me against him to gain better leverage and somehow carries me out of the water and across the short distance to the blanket we'd spread out earlier on a dry patch of sand.

His fingers skim my flesh as he divests me of the bikini I wear. I return the favor with his swim trunks, and we enjoy the tactile exploration that we've done a million times before but will never tire of.

SMELL

He smells like coconut. Of course, that could be my mind playing tricks on me. Our tropical sunblock lotion had long been washed away in the sea water, but I suppose there could still be lingering remnants on his skin.

I allow myself a moment of guilt for exposing this beautiful virgin beach to our man-made chemicals, even as small an amount as it was.

My guilt evaporates as I inhale his essence and it pushes all reasonable thought beyond my reach. The only thing I know in this moment is him. His body covers me and his scent envelops me — heady, erotic, and intoxicating. If I could bottle that scent, I'd make a fortune.

SOUND

I gasp involuntarily as he joins himself to me, and the sound that escapes my lips encourages him to plunge deeper just to hear it again. He delights in tormenting me this way, but it's such a sweet torture that I relish every second of it as my body shamelessly begs him for more.

He's not silent himself, his breaths shortening and increasing with ardent pleasure like music to my ears. Knowing this effect I have on him makes me want to give back to him as generously as he gives to me.

We'd made a pact with each other to make love on every island we came to, every time we visited it. This is already our fourth time making love on this particular isle, and we'd first stepped foot on this shore only yesterday and we haven't left it since.

Thankfully there doesn't appear to be another soul anywhere on this stretch of beach to interrupt us...and possibly not even on this entire piece of land. This is our own private paradise for as long as we want it to be.


SIXTH SENSE

People mistakenly believe that the sixth sense is the phenomenon known as ESP. Extrasensory perception. The ability to know what's going to happen before it actually does.

But I believe that the so-called sixth sense is actually a composite of the other five. Taste, sight, touch, smell, and sound — these, when combined, create the real sixth sense. The comprehensive sense that can only be experienced with someone else.

I believe the sixth sense is love, because that's what I sense whenever he's near.

I can see it in the tender way he looks at me. I can hear it in the soft way he exhales my name. I can feel it in the reverent way he touches me. I can taste it in the passion of his kiss. I think I can even smell it in the pheromones we emit.

Being with this man makes all the sense in the world. This truth I know absolutely, because he and I together have the extraordinary sixth sense of love.