Louisa George on First Kiss!

Today I invited New Zealand author Louisa George to tell us a little about her debut release ONE MONTH TO BECOME A MUM. And she came up with....... what???!!! Can you believe it? First Kiss!

 First Kiss

Hi Riya! Thanks for inviting me here today!

I’m often asked (by people who don’t write) whether writing a romance novel is dictated by a series of rules that make it easier for us authors to ‘churn’ them out. How I wish this was true- and if anyone has a list of those rules I’d be really grateful if you could send them on to me. Also, whether romance stories are based on personal experience! (If that’s the case, then having read a few paranormal romances I’d have to say that those authors have a wildly vivid imagination, or a very unusual life!). 

 In the case of my debut book, One Month to Become a Mum, I can honestly say that I made it all up! None of it is based on my life or anyone that I know. And I had no rules to follow, only guidance from my lovely editor.

 Except… I think there must be an unwritten rule that every romance MUST have a first kiss. The moment where the hero and heroine can fight their attraction no longer. That single sizzling second where they choose to put all conflict aside. A meeting of souls, a moment of unbridled passion and intense emotion. Or it can be fun, flirty, snatched and unexpected. It can be one-sided, embarrassing, awkward. Borne out of laughter or anger or just plain lust. Who makes the first move? Will they kiss back or be horrified? What are they thinking? It’s not so much the actual physical act, it’s the build-up, the tension that makes them such fun. I LOVE writing and reading first kisses, they always take the relationship to another level, making the reader turn the pages wondering what happens next?

In One Month to Become a Mum, Jessie and Luke’s first kiss comes as a result of a dare.  The heat has been slowly notching up, the attraction between them increasing, denied, growing…but neither of them believe they can have a happy ever after, so both pull back. Until a hot moment in a treatment room where Jessie has to tend to Luke’s injured hand. He dares her to kiss him. She refuses. He dares her again…

And here’s where I blush. Maybe some of my books do have snippets of my life in them after all…Yes, I once had a kiss that was the result of a dare. A long, long time ago, way back at uni, with a boy who I’d had a crush on forever. At the end of a disco, he dared me to kiss him and I did. Sadly- it wasn’t as wonderful as I’d dreamt it could be. But I will always remember the excitement as he said the words…I dare you…

 See the below EXCERPT and read about the dare!

‘You want to kiss me, but you won’t, not unless I make you.’

‘I do not want to kiss you.’ Her pulse jittered, her voice little more than a groan. ‘And you can’t make me.’

‘I can and I will.’ His hand touched her shoulder, his words a warm breeze on her skin. ‘I dare you. I dare you to kiss me.’

‘Right here? In the clinic? Are you mad?’ She turned to face him, caught in the glare of his dangerous gaze, his eyes dark and filled with a need for her. Her legs almost buckled. Yes. Yes, she wanted to kiss him.

‘Mad, crazy. Out of my skull. Jessica Price. Double dare. Kiss me.’

She giggled. ‘Seriously, how old are you?’

‘Thirty two, but you make me feel like a teenager.’ His smiling face grew serious. ‘And I’m definitely old enough to know what I want.’

‘Which is?’ She forced the words out of her closed throat, wanting and not wanting to hear what he had to say.

‘You. Now. Here. I dare you. Just one. One kiss.’

She swallowed hard as warmth spread from his fingers to her shoulder, her gut. Tingled up through her throat, her cheeks, until her body hummed with his heat.

She’d missed this. God knows, she’d tried to put cold distance between herself and anyone else. But she missed contact, touching, warmth.

She missed wanting and being wanted.

She missed kissing. She missed loving.

Most of all she missed loving.

Surely she deserved a small part of what everyone else in the world had? One small kiss wasn’t a promise she couldn’t keep. One small kiss couldn’t hurt.

Besides, it was just a dare. Silly. Cute. Fun.

And if she was going to kiss anyone for a dare it would definitely be Luke McKenzie.

Her heart thundered. She stared straight into those blazing eyes, took his face in her palms, pressed her lips gently against his mouth. ‘I’m such a sucker for a dare.’

‘I just knew you would be.’ His mouth opened to hers, broadened into a smile.

He palmed the back of her neck and pulled her closer, pressing his hard body against hers, his lips smooth and soft, wielding and wanting.

And still she couldn’t stop herself smiling, grinning like an idiot as his hard heat pushed against her.

She’d done it. Taken something for herself. Made something beautiful. A simple kiss. To treasure.

Buy Links:

Mills & Boon    Mills & Boon eBook        Amazon UK

Amazon                          The Book Depository

Louisa George on the Web:

Website    Blog      Facebook     Twitter         Author Page