Guest Blogger Debra St. John - First Kisses

Cause it’s the first long kiss on a second date – Kenny Chesney: The Good Stuff

And three weeks later in the front porch light, taking forty-five minutes to kiss good night – Brad Paisley: Then

When you kiss me like this, I think you mean it like that, if you do, Baby, kiss me again – Toby Keith: You Shouldn’t Kiss Me Like This

Ah, even in songs, those first kisses get my heart pounding, make my breath shallow, and leave me weak in the knees. There’s nothing in the world like a first kiss, whether in real life, books, or the movies. There are so many ways a first kiss can feel: sweet, sensual, sexy…sometimes downright carnal.

Whenever I’m asked to give an excerpt from a book, I always use a kissing scene. It’s not always the first kiss, but it always involves my hero and heroine locking lips.

For today, I thought I’d share some of my hero and heroine’s first kisses.

In This Time for Always, Logan and Sharlie were high school sweethearts, but have since gone their separate ways. Years later, they reunite, and the sparks still fly. So, technically this isn’t their first kiss ever, but it’s their first kiss since they’ve come back into each others’ lives.

Logan drew a crooked finger down the side of her face. She flinched, burned by the light touch of his flesh on hers.

He frowned. “Afraid of me, Sharlie?”

“N...no.” She cursed inwardly at her stutter. “Why would I be afraid of you?”

“I’m not sure. Every time I look at you, I see fear in your eyes. What are you afraid of? Are you afraid of me touching you like this? You never used to be afraid. In fact,” Logan cupped her face in his hands, “I used to touch you in a lot more places than this.” His glittering gaze slid down her body.

She could have sworn he touched her. Her body tingled from his look.
Logan’s intense gaze returned to her face, and his eyes hardened. “Does Zach touch you in more places than this?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“Does he touch you? Kiss you? Hold you against him?” Taking a slight step forward, he brought their bodies together, hard strength meeting curving softness. With one hand still cupping her face, Logan used the other to sweep the hat from her head. “Does he make you feel like this?”

A whimper escaped Sharlie before his lips claimed her mouth. Hot, harsh and demanding, they crushed hers with their moist heat. This wasn’t the Logan she remembered. His kisses had been soft and gentle, even in moments of deepest passion. This Logan was almost rough, bruising her lips with the force of his. The kiss was calculating and punishing, but even as she sought to free herself from his degradation, it changed, becoming sensual in its onslaught.

Sharlie was lost. Logan softened his lips, his gentleness coaxing her to respond, and her traitorous body did. She pressed closer to him and clasped her hands around the back of his neck. Her fingers sifted through the dark hair curling over his collar. His spicy male scent intoxicated her, making her head spin. It had been so long since he’d held her like this, but the years melted away as familiar shocks sped along the nerve endings of her body, while her heart beat his name over and over again.

Her lips parted under the insistence of his. Sparks illuminated the dark behind her closed lids. She felt an echoing flicker deep in her stomach when the tip of Logan’s tongue touched hers.

In Wild Wedding Weekend, Noah and Abby are virtual strangers, thrown together on a game show, who wind up winning a wedding. A wedding they are obligated to follow through with.

“Abby?”

She looked back at Noah, but before she could ask what he wanted, he reached out and brushed a lock of hair from her forehead.

The light touch of his skin against hers sent a frisson of awareness through her.

Then he tangled his fingers through the strands and tilted her face up toward him. She’d barely guessed his intent before his mouth descended and captured hers. His lips stroked over hers. His warm breath moistened the sudden dryness of hers.

Her pulse accelerated as he deepened the kiss. Tingling heat spread through her limbs, chasing away the chill of the wintry air around her.

Long seconds later he pulled back to look at her. His eyes probed hers.

He smiled a half smile. “See you later.” And then he was gone.

Abby stood. Her body trembled. Her heart pounded. Her mind raced. Why in the world had Noah kissed her?

Finally, in This Can’t Be Love, Jessica is trying to escape old memories and the mistakes she’s made in past relationships. Zach wants nothing more than to cherish and protect her, and prove he’s not like the others.

They laughed together, then fell silent. Crickets chirped in the darkness. The scent of Zach’s aftershave drifted to her on the light breeze.

After a while, he turned toward her. “Do you?”

“Do I what? Like apple pie and ice cream?”

“No,” he said softly. His gaze dropped to her lips. “Do you kiss and tell?”

Jessica’s heart kicked into a fast rhythm and she caught her breath. “I…”

“Shhhh.” He leaned closer. “I won’t tell if you won’t,” he whispered before his mouth claimed hers.

His lips stroked over hers, not aggressively, but softly, tenderly. He didn’t touch her anywhere else, but brushed her mouth with gentle intent.

Her first instinct was to pull back, but something stirred deep inside her. A feeling she’d nearly forgotten. Whispery shivers danced along her nerve endings and fluttered in her stomach. Without meaning to, the action was purely a reflex, she opened to him.

The kiss deepened. Their breath mingled. Her palm slid up his chest, feeling the play of muscle beneath his shirt. She fisted the flannel of his open collar in her hand.

His knuckles grazed the sides of her face.

Her body tingled with awareness. Scattered thoughts flitted through her mind, but she couldn’t hold onto any of them. Not while Zach kissed her. Not when his mouth fitted so perfectly against hers. Not when the pulse racing at the base of his throat matched the cadence of her heartbeat.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt like this. Had felt anything.

Should she be feeling this way about Zach?

Almost as if sensing her conflicting emotions, he softened the kiss, tenderly brushing his mouth over hers one last time.

She waged a silent war within, trying to calm her racing heart.

She still clutched his shirt. She relaxed her fingers one at a time, releasing the twisted fabric from her grasp. Finally she drew in a deep breath, then slowly let it out.
Her eyes found his.

Zach’s gaze searched hers. He smiled. A smile as soft and tender as his kiss. He touched his finger to her lips, then rose. “Good night, Jess.”

So, what’s your favorite first kiss? Was it your own? In a book? From a movie? How did it make you feel?

Thanks to Nine Naughty Novelists for having me today!
Debra St. John

www.debrastjohnromance.com

Debra St. John has been reading and writing romance since high school. She always dreamed about publishing a romance novel some day. She lives in a suburb of Chicago with her husband, who is her real life hero. Her debut release, This Time for Always is a Champagne Rose and Rosebud bestseller at The Wild Rose Press. Wild Wedding Weekend is available now. This Can't Be Love will be her third release from TWRP.