Claire and Aidan were a fun couple to write. I wasn’t sure I could do Claire justice because of everything she’d been through, but hopefully her quiet beauty and silent snark came through and made you love her as much as I did.

I love a first kiss. I still remember, vividly, the first kiss I shared with my (now) husband. How a first kiss happens sets the tone for a relationship, I think. Claire and Aidan’s first kiss definitely did!

Lush & Lovely is available now! Pick up your copy!

Excerpt from Lush & Lovely

Before I could respond his lips came down over mine. His hands, still holding my face, softened as our lips met. A spark, small but fiery, leapt out and lit me up. Just the brush of his lips to mine made me feel more alive than I’d felt in a long time. When his hands drifted from my cheeks, I let out a soft sigh of pleasure.

One hand fisted in my hair, holding me right where Aidan wanted me. The other hand slid down over my throat to my shoulder then down my arm where he reached for my hand, our fingers winding together again. Aidan turned my arm behind me and rested our joined hands on the small of my back, his thumb hooking through a belt loop on my capris.

He kissed like a man who knew his way around a woman. His soft pecks traveled from one corner of my mouth to the other, softly and sweetly tasting every inch of my lips. When he dipped his tongue into the corner where my lips met I sighed again, my lips parting ever so slightly.

Aidan, always in tune with me, centered his lips over mine again and took advantage of the gap in my lips, his tongue dancing between them and tempting me to open. My free hand reached for him as my lips fell apart and his tongue slipped inside my mouth the same time my arm slipped around his neck.

Pulling him closer, Aidan took the encouragement and kissed me deep. Our tongues slid together, tangling in the purest expression of love. He held me to him as he learned my mouth, stroking my tongue with his and dipping into the hollows of my cheeks.

I did the same, learning every part of his mouth from his lips to the end of his teeth, cataloguing him for later, for when he inevitably left. I knew this kiss was the kiss I’d been waiting for my whole life. This was the kiss I’d read about in books and heard my friends talk about. The kiss that would change my life forever and make me a different person.

Everyone thinks a first kiss is special. It marks something, says something about you. If you’re too young, you were a whore. If you’re too old, you’re a prude. If you use too much tongue or are too good at it then you’re lying about it being your first kiss. But none of that really matters because a first kiss isn’t that special. A first kiss is usually sloppy and awkward and feels weird. It’s something you tell your friends about but don’t ever really enjoy. No one knows what they’re doing the first time, so you have no idea if you’re good or bad.

But that kiss, my first kiss with Aidan… That was a kiss that meant something. A kiss that could move mountains and heal the sick. It was a kiss that gave me strength and zapped all of it at the same time. It was a kiss that told me life with Aidan would never be boring or dull but would be full of passion.

It was a kiss that made me a new woman.

When Aidan finally pulled back from me I couldn’t open my eyes. They were heavy with lust and desire. I wanted to drag him back to my bed and let him have his way with me. If he could make me feel that good with just a kiss I could only imagine what he could do if he was let loose on the rest of my body. I wanted to know what it felt like to lose myself with a man, to enjoy sex, and to scream his name as he moaned mine.

All these thoughts ran through my head as Aidan stood there, holding me close. His heart was pounding in tune with mine and I knew the kiss had effected him just as badly as it had me. We were both grasping for words, gasping for breath, desperate to explain what had just happened.

But we couldn’t.

All we could do was stand there and hold each other. Our entwined hands were still pressed into my back and his cock dug into my front. We each had a hand in the other’s hair and neither of us seemed ready to let go. Ready to face whatever had just happened.

We stood there, holding onto each other for a few minutes, before Brownie bounded over. He had found his stick from earlier and was proudly nudging it toward Aidan. We both leaned and looked down on my dog, waiting not so patiently for Aidan to play with him. I could sympathize.

Aidan squeezed my hand and pressed a kiss to my forehead then bent to retrieve the stick. He launched it across the grass and Brownie bounded happily after it. As soon as the stick left Aidan’s hand he reached for me again, pulling me into his body, holding me close as though he couldn’t get enough but also didn’t know what to say or do after the kiss we’d just shared.

We spent the rest of the afternoon like that, alternating throwing the stick for Brownie and holding each other. When Brownie was tired, Aidan walked us back home then kissed my cheek, leaving without another word.

But I knew he was as shaken as I was. Right down to my quivering core.