First Kiss Friday – Kissed by Renee Field

Today’s First Kiss Friday featured guest is Renee Field, author of  contemporary fantasy romance Kissed.  Welcome Renee!  Here’s the first kiss between Tara and Cael.

“I know you.”

His gravelly, hard-edged voice left her wanting to rub a finger over his lips. She felt his warm, large hands span her waist to help keep her standing upright as she bent to dislodge her stuck boot.

The feel of his hands on her waist through the puffy confines of the feather-down jacket caused her body to hum all over. Not good, not good at all. Why couldn’t I have stumbled on an old man? Nope, I stumble across one drop-dead gorgeous hunk. Too bad he stinks to high heaven. Then again, that’s probably not a bad thing because I don’t know this man…a warning I should heed.

She laughed this time. “I don’t think so. We’ve never been introduced. Trust me, I’d remember.” Boot unstuck, she slipped it back onto her cold foot.

“You speak my language.”

Instinctively she stilled, frozen to the spot. He spoke her grandmother’s secret language. The lilt of his words flowed like a sensual stream off his tongue, evoking a sharp intake of breath on her behalf. A flash of a tall, angry, imposing man jumped into her mind. A thought that she should have run when she had the chance caused her heart to accelerate. But none of that mattered. She was nicely caught, held by tempting hands whose thumbs were stroking her jacket, distracting her earlier thoughts. “A bit,” she answered back in English.

“Well, well, well, my night just got better.”

He crushed her body up close and personal to his muscular frame and lowered his lips to her mouth before she could protest. She knew then she should scream. Instead her mind digested the taste of rum and something wild and exotic like the combined taste of cinnamon and cardamom. A part unknown within her urged her to yield to it. She fought with herself not to bend her body to his large, hard frame. Luckily all she could smell was skunk. But even that didn’t matter as much anymore.

What was happening to her had never happened before. Sure, she’d been kissed a few times, but not like this. Not by a man who knew what it meant to be a lover. Not by a man whose lips were molding her own to his, demanding she comply, willing her to open to her own passion. His tongue stroked her own, dancing and dueling with hers, forcing her mouth to yield to his skill. A skill that should have shocked her. Instead, she welcomed it, tilting her head, adjusting her stance without thought to accommodate his desires. Tasting, taking…feeling the rush of sexual power that fueled their mingled breaths. His powerful hands roamed up and under her coat to clutch her back. The heat of his flesh scorched her, fueling a rush of warmth below, causing her to want to rub her legs around his thighs. She whimpered, lust and need swamped her senses, making her dizzy.

“Ahh, that’s what I thought. There’s more of my kind in you than you know.”

His tone was quiet and mocking. Abruptly, he backed away. Tara shivered from his absence as the cold wind of the night brought common sense back to her.