First Kisses

By Katie Porter

I absolutely love the title of this blog. What more do you need in life but books and kisses? Chocolate, maybe. I can’t even say coffee anymore because I’ve quit caffeine. Books, kisses and chocolate are all I have left. (Imagine that said with overly dramatic sigh. I do a good swoon if I’m in the right mood.)

But there’s really something special about first kisses. No matter where the relationship is going to end up, it all starts with that first spark. The meeting of lips seems like an easy thing…but it’s totally not. It’s intimate. Connected. It’s also got so much potential, doesn’t it? A great first kiss can’t make a relationship all on its own—but an awful one can sure put the kibosh on one that was wavering.

One of my favorite first kisses is at the end of North and South. “You don’t need Henry to explain.” Oh, Richard Armitage. How you slay me. I really couldn’t care less that they’re supposedly breaking all the rules of propriety by kissing in a train station in the Victorian age. It’s a lovely, sweet, all their hearts on the line kind of kiss. One of the best sorts there are.

Leap Year is kind of a kitchen sink sort of romantic comedy. The scene where Matthew Goode rescues Amy Adams from hooligans who’ve stolen her suitcase is utterly predictable. The aren’t-they-cute scene where they cook is kind of out of nowhere. But they’ve got chemistry—and it’s visible in their forced-first-kiss in spades. The way Goode’s character wraps his hands around Amy Adam’s jaw…Seriously. It’s swoon time.

I’ve also had a particular fondness for the first kiss from Dreaming of You, by Lisa Kleypas. Who doesn’t, right? I’m so boring. But Derek doesn’t know who Sara is! Oh noes! The mysterious mask and fancy dress she puts on for the masquerade have completely fooled him. Except half way through some exciting makeouts with a wanton masked lady, he realizes exactly who it is in his arms—and things really take off.

Leah and Michael from Hold ’Em  have technically already had their first kiss because they dated years before the book opens. But it’s not the same thing, because that time around they were missing a few pieces of the puzzle. The things that make them really click as a couple. It’s also the thing Leah never realized was missing from her life: Michael’s submission.

She wrenched his hair. “Kiss me.” Another order. They spilled out of her mouth more easily each time.

“All you had to do was tell me,” he growled.

He stretched up and she leaned down at the same time. Hot. Fast. Immediate. A coming together of more than lips, more than his tongue in her mouth. Their teeth clicked together. Hard.

She moaned into him. His hands spread across her lower back. The blend of cold metal and warm leather scraped her skin. She bit his lower lip, which gave slightly under her teeth.

Leah pulled back, gripping his silky hair when his mouth tried to follow her.

God, it was like she’d been waiting six years for this force. This energy. Every move he’d ever made was recast as a silent promise of that moment…

Leah reached out and found the matching cuff in the drawer. It locked around his other wrist with another quiet click she could barely hear over the whooshing in her ears. Lacing her fingers through his, she pulled his hands into the small space between their bodies to look at the matching cuffs. Strong, rough wrists. Taut tendons. A light dusting of golden hair. All of it bound, as he’d allowed her to do.

“Fuck, that’s hot,” she breathed.

“You’re telling me.”

So luckily, even though it’s not really, truly their first kiss, I like to think it’s the first kiss that counts for Leah and Michael. Because it’s the first kiss that begins the rest of their lives.

***

Up next for Katie Porter, the co-writing team of Carrie Lofty and Lorelie Brown:

Now that the first three of the RT BookReviews 4½ Star Top Pick “Vegas Top Guns”  series have been released, readers can anticipate the final two installments, HARD WAY and BARE KNUCKLE, in 2013.

November brings the m/m Christmas-themed CAME UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR , described as “masterful” by Publishers Weekly. In January, LEAD AND FOLLOW  will launch the five-part “Club Devant” series of erotic multi-partner romances set in a hot New York City burlesque club.

Where to find us:

 http://KatiePorterBooks.com

Twitter: @MsKatiePorter

Or individually: @carrielofty and @LorelieBrown

 Thanks again to Books-n-Kisses for featuring Katie Porter and Hold ’Em!

We’d like to give away a copy of DOUBLE DOWN, INSIDE BET or HOLD ’EM (winner’s choice) in any format.