Today is the best blogfest EVER! You get to post the scene where your main characters finally, FINALLY, kiss. It is the genius idea of Christina Lee over at Write Brained.
This excerpt is from Bayou Blue, the third book in my Shades of Hope Series coming out this year from White Rose Publishing.
A romantic suspense, Riley and Jake, have been trying to find out what happened to Riley's brother after a terrible accident rocks a small Louisiana parish. As the sheriff, Jake is caught between love and loyalty to the people of his parish as he begins to both suspect and fall for Riley.
This scene takes place after a sudden downpour breaks up the harvest festival and their dance together...
We walked down the hall, past meeting rooms and offices, to a small room with white wicker couches lining the walls. A waiting room of some sort.
Jake grabbed a towel off a stack near a tray with water bottles and a bowl of mints. He wrapped it around my shoulders, pulling it together at my neck. I slipped my hands over his, looking at him, my mind going a million miles a minute.
What had he meant to say to me on the dance floor? Had he changed his mind? Did he not want me to go? I pushed the spark of hope down deep. I couldn’t handle another rip at my heart.
Static from his radio punctuated the silence, back and forth comments from the deputies echoing in the small room.
“I should get out there; make sure everyone gets home safe.” He didn’t move, kept his grip on the towel. “They need me.”
“Yeah,” I breathed, unable to think with him this close.
His eyes flit over my mouth and back to my eyes and I felt him tug on the towel gently, drawing me nearer. I went with him, letting myself go off balance, leaning into his space.
“This is a bad idea, Riley,” he whispered. “You shouldn’t stay.”
His lips brushed my eyelids, the tip of my nose, and sent a tremor of want ripping over me. Tilting his head lower, he ran the bridge of his nose against my cheek, back and forth like he was telling himself, ‘No’…to stop.
My heart fluttered with his touch. I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to leave him.
I let go of his hands, spiked my fingers through his hair, pulling him to me.
A low growl sounded in his throat and then he clutched me to his body, his lips finding mine with a heat so intense I gasped in a ragged breath. He ran his hand down my back, grabbed my blouse in his fisted fingers, crushing me to him. A soft moan escaped my lips, the feel of him making my head spin.
And then he was pulling away, whispering that he was sorry, and pulling my arms from around his neck. Confused, I could barely catch my breath.
“What’s wrong?”
He put his forehead to mine, his eyes squeezed shut, struggling for breath. “I shouldn’t have done that, Riley.”
Thats all of Jake and Riley for now...Please take a moment to check out the other amazing entries into the blogfest at Christina Lee's Write Brained Blog.