The L Word

[dukealien]

                                                                                                      
Wine and a fire's crackling warmth.
Carnivorous wants cloaked  "Carnivorous wants" doesn't work for me - "I want to eat you up?"  Perhaps "Carnivore wants?"  Or even "omnivore?"
in anxious whispers.
Fluid familiar moves.  Nice alliteration
The asynchrony of two explosions.  Could this do without "the?"
A duet of gasps fading  Same with "A" here.
to ragged breaths.  Good enjambment.
A repeat of expected rapture  Better word than "A" needed.. "Repetition" for "A repeat," or perhaps "Instance?"
but not expecting his arms   First time through, this confused me:  is it the woman's  mental voice?  No, the man's.  Italics don't resolve the confusion, probably needs reworded slightly... perhaps "my" instead of "his?"
would keep holding her tightly.
He wanted this to never end.
This?
No.
Her.  Very nice - first intimation of care.
A new kind of explosion comparing care/love by reference to orgasm... more like foreplay or afterglow, don't you think?
rose from a whisper to a voice
he never knew he had,
saying, while holding her happily "happily" breaks the mood, jingly and insipid for this supreme moment.  "in happiness" or a less common adverb?
words he’d never said before. 
.
 

Difficult to criticize the sentiment, being a romantic and all.  But to work (see above).

I'm reminded of the (in)famous Pre-Raphaelite painting, "The Awakening Conscience" though the message there is sudden understanding that this is NOT love, and by the woman.  And in the picture, they're only intimate by Victorian standards.

This is a theme not much respected today, at least in with-it circles.  Maximum kudos for taking it, as it were, seriously.

Very much enjoyed!