Can you judge a man by the way he kisses?
A kiss is a personal thing, made even more so by how a man feels about the person he is kissing. As a reader looking for the next great book boyfriend, what kind of kisses peak your interest? Soft and slow? Hard an demanding? Tension filled and fierce? Tender and loving?
With my newest cowboy romance—Claiming the Cowboy for Christmas—out now, I thought I’d let you vote for which of the heroes in my Hills of Texas series you would want most for a book boyfriend…based on the way he kisses.
Here are the first kisses between each hero and heroine in each book. Vote below. Which is your fav?
Cash & Holly – Saving the Sheriff
As if compelled, he brushed the pad of his thumb over her high cheekbone and registered the silky-smooth texture of her skin, the warmth. He dropped his gaze to the lush curves of her lips, which were slightly parted. Needing to see her eyes, he moved his hand and tipped her chin up.
“You can talk to me, Holly. If you ever need anything. Okay?”
Silently, she nodded.
Cash should have pulled his hand away. Should have led her back inside. But he didn’t. Couldn’t.
The feelings that’d been building all night, hell since she’d come back to town, demanded action. As if compelled, he brushed the pad of his thumb over her high cheekbone and registered the silky-smooth texture of her skin, the warmth. He dropped his gaze to the lush curves of her lips, which were slightly parted. Needing to see her eyes, he moved his hand and tipped her chin up.
Slowly, giving her enough time to pull away or say no, he lowered his head toward her. So softly it was barely a whisper of a touch, he brushed his lips over hers.
Her small intake of breath made him shudder. “Cash,” she sighed.
Satisfaction burned through him. He liked the sound of his name on her lips. He took the kiss deeper, knowing she was right there with him. Still soft and slow, but now he opened his mouth, his tongue asking for and receiving entry to her mouth. Their tongues tangled, igniting fire in his veins, a slow burn of need that was stoked by every touch.
God she felt good.
A loud burst of laughter coming from the open door to the hall brought Cash to his senses. He gave her one last lingering kiss then pulled back. She still had her eyes closed. Gently, he brushed a loose tendril of hair back from her face, and she opened them, her green eyes sparkling at him in the dim lighting.
“We should go back inside,” he murmured.
She blinked slowly, then her gaze cleared. “What was that for?” she asked in a husky voice that had his already raging libido sitting up and taking even more notice.
But Cash couldn’t answer her. He’d sound like an idiot or a hormone-ridden teenager if he told her that he just couldn’t stop himself.
He gave her a lopsided smile. “Ask me again sometime.”
Will & Rusty – Resisting the Rancher
“Sorry I’m late, baby,” the newcomer murmured.
Rusty only had time to register the new player in the scene was that Will guy with the blue, blue eyes before he leaned forward and kissed her.
She gave a little squeak of protest and he released her lips immediately. The sudden absence of warmth left her feeling slightly bereft, which was crazy since he’d barley brushed his lips across hers.
Before she could process what just happened, he leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “Follow along and we’ll get rid of this guy.”
Realizing he was now standing between her legs, she hid the shiver sliding down her spine by giving him a tiny nod. He pulled back and smiled down into her eyes. The blue of his eyes, up close like this, was nothing short of startling. The irises were rimmed in black which somehow made the blue even bluer. She could drown in those depths, like falling into the sky, or the deepest of oceans. She had the strangest urge to trace the cleft in his chin.
“Miss me?” he asked, loud enough for the ass on the other stool to hear.
“Of course,” she purred.
Some small part of her brain registered that wasn’t exactly a lie. She’d spent a ridiculous amount of time thinking about him given their two extremely brief shared moments. They hadn’t even been properly introduced or exchanged more than a handful of words.
“Me too,” he said as he lowered his lips to hers again.
The moment their lips touched, she was a goner. Sensation rushed through her body, fizzing through her blood with little sparks. She was so attuned to him, she felt every shift, every breath. With a sigh, she lifted her arms, wrapping them around his neck and drawing him in closer. His lips moved over hers in a lazy exploration that left her breathless, and suddenly she was wishing he’d meant it—that he really had missed her.
His tongue darted out, asking for and receiving entrance to her mouth. The second she granted it, he deepened the kiss, swirling his tongue with hers, nipping at her lips. Rusty gave a little moan. She vaguely registered the jerk behind her swear at them before he sloped off, but she was too wrapped up in Will and didn’t give a damn.
She held on to enough of her wits to keep herself from wrapping her legs around him or rubbing against him like a cat in heat. They were in a very public place. The kiss alone was likely to get back to her father—especially with her watch dogs right there. And, although her sense of self-preservation seemed to have abandoned her for the moment, it was still engrained enough to keep her from making a complete fool of herself.
Autry & Beth – Taming the Troublemaker
But then the dimples that had teased him as a youth came out to play, her eyes lighting with mischief. “I didn’t figure you for someone who gave up so easily. Guess I won this one.”
With a wiggle that had certain parts of him perking back up, she turned to her truck.
Autry stared at her back for all of two seconds, assimilating her words. Oh, hell no. This slip of a woman was not winning anything… whatever that meant.
He was around the truck to her driver’s side in a few quick strides. Beth squealed when he spun her around by the waist.
“I always win,” Autry said.
He took her lips not harshly, but firmly and chastely, the scent of something light and alluring swirling around him as she gasped.
He was tempted as sin to dip his tongue inside the warm recess of her mouth to tease hers, but he wouldn’t push it that far. With more effort than it should’ve taken, he forced himself to stop at the one peck, pulling back to gaze down into wide, bemused eyes. God, he wouldn’t mind continuing though, his body vibrating like a tuning fork.
With Beth Cooper of all people.
Then he went rigid with shock as Beth went up on tiptoe, wrapping her arms around his neck and putting the first kiss to shame as she showed him what kissing should always be like—her lips pliant and soft against his. He hardened in an instant, pushing painfully against the zipper of his jeans as she pressed her petite body to his, her tongue tangling boldly with his. She nipped at his lower lip, then soothed it with her tongue. With a sexy hum, she dropped back, her dimples in evidence yet again. “See. You may always win, Autry Hill, but I never lose.”
Autry stared down at her, his chest tight. Hell, his entire body was tight, and everything primal inside of him took over.
Scooping her up by the ass, he pinned her against her truck and tangled one hand in her silky hair so he could show her sassy mouth what kissing could really be. Beth moaned against him, wrapping her legs around his waist and giving as good as she got. Autry broke the kiss, dragging his mouth over her jaw and to her ear sucking the lobe into his mouth and enjoying how she shuddered against him, a satisfying hitch in her breathing.
A wolf whistle split the air and Autry froze.
Jennings & Ashley – Claiming the Cowboy for Christmas
“Oh, honey.” He’d yanked her close, wrapping her in those big, strong arms, the heat of his body warming her chilled skin. The warmth of his caring had thawed her equally frozen insides.
He’d kissed the top of her head, and her heart had kicked up in an erratic rhythm. “I didn’t want to be right, you know. For your sake. If he made you happy.”
Rather than push him away, Ashley had laid her cheek against his chest and absorbed the comfort he offered. In a weird twist of fate, Jennings Hill happened to be the only person on the planet who understood.
With a gentle hand under her chin, he’d tipped her face up to his. “You’re going to be okay, Ashley Hughes. This is the start of the best years of your life, not the end. Do you hear me?”
The tears that had been threatening had spilled over, steaking down her cheeks in cold, wet rivulets, and her lips had wobbled as she tried to hold her reaction in.
Alarm had lit those shadowed blue eyes. “Don’t cry.”
If a hullabaloo of emotions hadn’t overwhelmed her, she might’ve laughed at the panic in his gaze. She’d cried in front of him only once before, when they were thirteen and she’d fallen out of a tree and broken her arm, and he’d reacted the same way, like a printer with a paper jam that brought it to a screeching halt. It had been funny to think of a big, capable man like Jennings being brought to his knees at the sight of a woman’s tears.
“Please, honey,” he’d begged.
Need—for comfort, for connection—had pulsed through her, and she’d quieted, her tears slowing as she’d stared at Jennings, taking in the strong line of his jaw shadowed with bristle, and firm but eminently kissable lips. When had Jennings Hill gotten so stinking sexy? With a hitch to her breath, she’d gone up on tiptoe and laid her lips over his. A quick peck, but her need had burned hotter even as she pulled back. Rather than release her, Jennings had wrapped his arms around her, holding her body against the lean power of his. After a long, unreadable stare, he’d groaned low and took her lips in the most profoundly gentle kiss she’d ever experienced.
Surprise had parted her lips, which he’d taken as an invitation—and maybe it had been unconsciously given—and he’d deepened the kiss. The man could seriously kiss too. In an instant, she’d moved from black despair to white fire in his arms. Every stroke of his tongue against hers, every sweet movement of his lips as they’d clung to her own, the spicy scent of his aftershave, the heat of his body. She hadn’t been able to get enough, wanting to climb into his lap and stay there forever as deep-seated longing bloomed in her chest.
A gasp of awareness and realization had hissed out of her, and Ashley had jerked back, startling Jennings enough to break his hold. She’d raised a trembling hand to her mouth, which still tingled from his kisses. What had she done?
