First Kiss Friday – An Impassioned Redemption by Sydney Jane Baily

Today’s First Kiss Friday featured guest is Sydney Jane Baily, author of historical romance An Impassioned Redemption.  Welcome back Sydney!  An Impassioned Redemption is only available in Love Historicals presents Lost in a Kiss: 8 Sensual and Sweet Novellas.  Here’s the first kiss between Jo Holland and Jameson Carter.

“Are you toying with me?” Jo asked bluntly.

Carter was right at her elbow, leaning close, peering down into the water far below. At her question, he turned to look her in the eye.

“No. I’m not.”

Their faces were inches apart.

“Then what are you doing?” She held her breath, waiting for his answer.

“I don’t think you came all the way across the river to thank me. You could’ve done that the next time I came to The Pork and Swallow.”

She blinked. What should she tell him? Certainly not the truth—that she’d lain awake all night, reliving the shock of how close she’d come to being shot by Frank Hirsch. Her life could have ended without warning, just like that. And with that realization had come a sudden yearning to seek out Jameson Carter. Not to thank him, but rather, perhaps, to start something with him. After all, she was in her mid-twenties, and she wasn’t getting any younger.

But how to approach such a subject, she had no idea.

As it turned out, Jo didn’t have to say a word. He lowered his head, and before she could think about it, his lips were on hers, firm, supple, and warm. Her senses leaped with delight for his kiss proved even more pleasing than she’d imagined, and she had quite a fertile imagination.

He tipped his head slightly and fitted his mouth more closely over hers. Unthinkingly, she parted her lips to welcome him, and his tongue slipped between them to stroke hers. Mm, brandy.

Might as well make the first kiss count. Turning more toward him, she slipped her hands up his chest and around his neck. It had been a while, but she remembered how it all worked. Lacing her fingers in his soft hair, which she’d fantasized about touching, she kept her mouth locked to his.

Longing swelled in her as his hands slid from her waist, palmed her backside, and pulled her hips to his. Her blood flashed to a boil, her body seemed to hum, and her bones liquefied. His scent—a blend of man and bay rum—filled her nostrils.

I could get used to this, she thought, but at that moment, Carter pulled back.

“I’ll admit that I’ve wanted to do that for a while,” he rasped, his gruff voice raising goosebumps along her thighs and arms.

She couldn’t help but smile at his honesty, though she guarded her own overwhelming response, and held back the confession that she’d longed for his kiss since the first time she’d become aware of him in her saloon.

“Now what?” she asked, her own voice sounding breathy to her ears. She cocked her head, realizing she was asking herself as much as him.

His eyes darkened, and she knew the instant he’d decided he wanted to lie with her. Of course, he did! What man didn’t? And it would be so easy to give herself over to the desire swirling between them. But a satisfying coupling, even with a handsome and skilled lover, wasn’t enough anymore.

The unexpected thought made her catch her breath. She wanted something more, something she knew she could never really have. And she wanted it with Carter. What a silly notion, thinking he might view her as someone more than a madam, as a woman worthy of a lasting and loving relationship.