Her nose knows.

"Are you hungry?" I asked Lisa as we sat in the courtyard at the mall. She was watching the people go by, especially the women, and I was watching who she had her eye on. "Shall we do lunch and the personals, or do you want to watch the people some more?"

Lisa blinked, breaking her gaze on the blonde skater's wet pink tongue on her ice cream cone. "Oh?" she said. She gave me a sly look. "You know a hot day like this, I bet we could tell what women are in the mood just by standing downwind and sniffing."

I inhaled. I could detect a trace of Lisa's aroused scent coming from her direction. I observed damp patches on the blonde skater's sports bra. "I think you're right. Want to give it a try?"

Lisa smiled that particular smile of hers that crinkles her nose. "'Kay," she said. She slid off the bench and stood, surveying the area. The blonde skater still licked at her ice cream. The two young women in matching baseball shirts, a chunky blonde and a solid-looking Japanese girl, were buying hot dogs and beer at a walk-up counter. The pony-tailed redhead in the bright green halter and shorts was inspecting the window display at Diana's, a "sexy sportswear" shop.

I followed a few paces behind Lisa as she walked, nostrils flaring, across the courtyard. The tall blonde skater was intent on her ice cream cone, about half gone now. As I walked past, I inhaled a hint of honeysuckle and jasmine from her sun-warmed skin. Lisa paused beside the redhead at the outside display window, then slowly moved along beside her. I saw her nose crinkle. When I followed a little behind Lisa and stepped beside the redhead, I caught a whiff of a sharp, rich salty musk. When you just can't hide the feeling, I thought to myself, amused. Then Lisa sidled up behind the two young women in baseball shirts and cut-offs. The chunky blonde casually rubbed her hand on her Japanese friend's butt as they watched their poppyseed hot dog buns being toasted, split, and filled.

Lisa looked a little uncertain, standing close to the counter with the competing odors of sizzling hot dogs, toasting buns, onions, pickles, mustard and sauerkraut, but the breeze must have shifted. I saw her eyebrows lift and a smile curl up the corner of her lips. She nodded slightly.