First Kiss Friday

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Every Friday I share the first kiss from a book. This week it’s Ashes on the Earth by Sarah Ashwood.
A nursing student discovers a world of monsters & must depend on a lethal shifter to keep her alive.
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I actually opened my mouth to say, “We can skip the kiss,” but even as I did Carter was bending down towards me. He was already so close that it was either shut my mouth or invite a French kiss—which I wasn’t about to do. I sealed my lips just in time for his mouth to land on mine.

A quick, simple brush of his mouth would’ve sufficed, especially since this was all pretense anyway. But there was no pretense about how firmly his lips pressed against mine, no pretense about the way his hand stole around to cup the back of my head, as if to either caress me or hold me in place so I couldn’t duck away. There was no pretense about the feel of his lips, or how, all of the sudden, my eyes closed as my heartrate sped up, my breathing faltered, and my entire body flushed.

I didn’t know if that was from anger or mortification.

I didn’t know why Carter chose to kiss me like that, if it was to make things look good for the officiant, or as some sort of payback—making me uncomfortable because he was so uncomfortable. As his hand dropped and he drew away, breaking the physical contact, my eyes opened and I’m sure he could see the confusion written across my face. He didn’t look confused, but he didn’t look angry, either, like he had a few minutes ago. He looked…solemn. Almost as if he realized he’d invited something down on us by kissing me the way he had.