Friday Feature: First Kiss from CRAZY ABOUT YOU, by Katie O'Sullivan

First Kisses are kind of special. I'm not talking your first kiss ever - those are often fumbled, searching, embarrassing moments, memorable in their awkwardness if nothing else.

I'm talking the first kiss with the right person.

The kiss where you know - you just know - this is the person you want to spend the rest of your life with.

It's one of my favorite things to write about - the shock of awareness when the character realizes that this is it - this is the person they are meant to be with. That nothing has ever felt like this before.

So for Valentine's weekend, I'm sharing one of my favorite first kiss scenes I've written so far - between Emma and Chase in CRAZY ABOUT YOU. Let me set the scene a little:

Emma grew up in Provincetown, a little town at the very tip of Cape Cod that has a flamboyant reputation. She's fun-loving and free-spirited, and home to help out her family during a crisis. Chase is a buttoned-down, serious environmental scientist in town to investigate a reported garbage slick on the ocean. They bumped into each other - literally - and she ended up with his cell phone, which she needs to return. They meet for lunch and start to argue... before deciding to "start over" - Emma takes this literally, bouncing out of the sidewalk cafe to re-enter and begin the interaction all over from scratch...

Excerpt from CRAZY ABOUT YOU...

A blinding smile lit her face, and she waved with enthusiasm. His heart skipped a few beats as his blood all went lower down.

She beelined to the table, calling his name. “Chase? Chase! It’s so good to see you again! Thanks so much for inviting me to lunch!”

He found himself rising to greet her for the second time inside an hour. Instead of sitting, she came to where he stood and wrapped her arms around his neck. She planted an exaggerated kiss on his cheek, like the one he’d envied Tony for the prior day, those soft red lips wet on his skin. His arms slipped around her waist and his stomach clenched hard, inappropriate thoughts racing through his head at breakneck speed, leaving him dazed. Staring down, he saw similar confusion mirrored in Emma’s eyes, as if she felt it too, that electric current running fast and furious between them at every point where their bodies connected. And she wasn’t letting go.

On impulse, he leaned in and captured those pouty lips in a real kiss, soft at first, testing, tasting iced coffee and minty toothpaste, her heart beating a fast staccato against his chest. He pulled her closer, the kiss going from searching to scorching in seconds. She slid one hand down his chest, twisting the fabric of his shirt in her hand to hold him tight, forgetting—or maybe not caring—that they were in the middle of a crowded sidewalk café making an absolute spectacle of themselves. Her legs pressed against his, the kiss deepening as his tongue swirled around hers. He’d never felt so aroused by a simple kiss—hell, he’d never felt this aroused in his entire life. This one, whispered a voice in his head. She’s the one for you.

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Happy Valentine's Day Weekend!