Ah, Valentine's Day. The day of love and romance and pink hearts. Actually, even though I'm pretty sappy about romance, I'm not really big on Valentine's Day. My husband and I already exchanged gifts a couple weeks ago, and we probably won't go out to eat until tomorrow since it's hard for us to go out on a Thursday with his schedule.
But I am still just a little bit sappy about it, so today in honor of Valentine's Day, I'm sharing the "first kiss" scene from my book Shifting (Swans Landing #2.5), which will be published on February 25th.
Excerpted from Shifting (Swans Landing #2.5)
I licked my lips, which had gone dry. “What do you want?” I asked again.
“To figure something out,” she whispered.
She bridged the space between us, raising herself on tiptoe. Her face moved closer, a small fraction of an inch as each second passed until finally, her lips pressed against mine.
She was soft and warm and the smell of her perfume seemed to wrap around us. My hands moved on their own, resting on the curve of her hips, steadying her as she leaned into me. Her hand on my chest moved upward until her fingers threaded through the ponytail at the back of my neck while her other hand slipped around my waist, pressing against my back.
Before this moment, I had kissed two girls in my life. But Sailor and Mara were both finfolk. I had never kissed a human girl before. She tasted earthy, not like the salty tinge of a finfolk kiss. Her kiss made me think of sunshine on meadows, open fields of earth I had never seen except in pictures.
“Hmm,” she said as she stepped back, breaking the kiss.
My mind reeled with the effects of her kiss. It took every bit of restraint I had not to pull her to me again. I wanted that closeness, the feel of someone next to me, the touch of her skin against mine. I wanted earth and sky and sun.
“What?” I asked, my voice cracking.
“You taste like the ocean, Fish Boy.” She ran her fingers through my ponytail again, tugging on the ends of my hair. “See you around.”
I was unable to do anything except watch as she stepped out from under the stairs, walking back toward the road in front of Moody’s, her hips swaying casually as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
You can find out more about Shifting and the rest of the Swans Landing series on my website.
How do you feel about Valentine's Day? Love it, hate it, over it? How do you characters feel about it?
Hehe! Is she really that unaffected, or is she just covering up how totally blown away she was by that kiss? ;-)
ReplyDeleteHa, she may just be trying to keep her cool after that kiss! ;)
Delete