Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!Today we have a smooch from SECRETS & SPEED DATING by 2010 New Voices winner Leah Ashton, but first ...
the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is -- EllenToo!
Congratulations, Ellen! Can you please contact Sue at
lsmackay (at) ts (dot) co (dot) nz
and she'll send you a copy of RETURN OF THE MAVERICK.
And now for today's Sunday Smooch from SECRETS & SPEED DATING by Leah Ashton...
Task one: find a boyfriend.
Step one: speed dating.
But Sophie takes a rather unconventional approach!
[Set up: Dan is determined to shake up Sophie's perfectly organised life, and whisks her off to an unplanned tour of Fremantle. On the beach, Dan accuses Sophie of denying the attraction between them because to do so would be unscheduled and spontaneous - and therefore very unlike Sophie.]
She shook her head. “You are wrong. I’m not the automaton you think I am.” She stepped toward him, driven by a bottomless ache inside her. “I think, and feel and react...” She pressed one palm to his chest, and pushed once, hard. But he didn’t move, not even a centimetre. “...and feel...”
All the fight faded from her against the immoveable wall of Dan. She dipped her head, the hand on his chest curling as it relaxed and just laid there, defeated, for a moment.
But before it could fall away, and before she could succumb to the prickle of unwanted tears, his hand covered hers, holding it where it lay.
His other hand tipped her chin up.
“I know you feel, Soph.”
When you let yourself.
Maybe he wasn’t thinking those words, but Sophie was. She as good as heard them, crystal clear and unforgiving.
And right.
Who was she kidding? It had taken her six months to let out all the pain that Rick had inflicted – and even that had been to a total stranger in a bar. Six months of distracting herself, keeping her mind busy – whether planning her holiday or planning her new life.
She’d been staring determinedly at a tiny freckle on Dan’s cheek, but now she let her gaze wander to his eyes.
How did she feel about Dan? Attracted to him, definitely. And she liked him, too. Enough to know what she was about to do was a very stupid idea.
But that was exactly why she was going to do it.
One kiss – how could it hurt, really? Could it hurt to succumb to the tingles that rocketed through her body whenever he touched her, and the urge to make his heart, beating so strongly beneath her palm, thump even faster – for her?
She left her right hand where it lay, creeping her left hand up and behind his neck, his fingers brushing against his short cropped hair. She stood on her tip toes, her attention flickering between his eyes and his mouth.
Ahhh, there it goes, she thought, the pitter patter of his heart accelerating nicely.
“Are you sure, Soph, I thought you didn’t want this?”
She raised an eyebrow, her lips a whisper from his. “Really, Dan? I’m trying to be spontaneous and you’re going to analyse it? I’m living in the moment, just like you said.”
She’d meant to kiss him, then – to lean that little bit closer and cover his mouth with hers.
But he beat her to it. He kissed her.
His mouth was firm. Warm. Nice.
No, nice was completely the wrong word. Amazing. Perfect. Right.
His arm wrapped around her, pulling her close. His heart raced, and so did hers, her body shivering at the sweep of his hand across her back – hot through the thin cotton of her dress.
His tongue brushed against her bottom lip and she instantly deepened the kiss, exploring the shape of lips, his teeth, his tongue.
The hand on his heart slid upwards, a casualty of her almost desperate need to feel his heat. Her hand threaded into his hair, and would have pulled him closer if doing so had been physically possible.
The kiss went on and on, their mouths breaking apart only to reunite at different angles. Her hands roamed over his shoulders, his over her back, her waist.
Sophie’s head and body spun with sensation and the electricity of her body’s reaction. She could feel his body’s reaction against her belly, a warning that she really needed to take a step backwards. And soon, before this went too far.
Just not yet.
Leah is giving a copy of SECRETS & SPEED DATING to one lucky commenter! To be in the draw, simply answer her question:
"Tell us about a time you've had a carefully planned project go completely wrong."
Come back next Sunday, when the winner of today's giveaway will be announced -- and a smooch from RETURN OF THE SECRET HEIR by Rachel Bailey will be posted!
