That First Kiss - Wishful Thinking

I've loved hearing your experiences of your first kiss following last week's blog - it seems for many of you, it was pretty much the same as mine.  Oh, but then we were so young and inexperienced.

For most of us, our heroes and heroines are not so young and inexperienced; and even if they were, they wouldn't want us to let the world know that when we describe their first kiss.  This has to be romantic, sexy, the prelude and promise of much more intimate things to come…later on.  Striking just the right note with that first kiss is far from easy, in my experience.

I think it's a major milestone and I'm sure there must have been volumes written on the subject, but how can we be sure we've got it just right?  How can we be sure we've dealt with it sensitively, from the perspective of our characters?  I'd love to know how other writers know and what gives readers that satisfying ahhh factor.

In my second novel, Wishful Thinking, here is how I dealt with the first kiss.  When Jess met Christian, she had no idea who he was.  They spent a pleasant evening together just before Christmas and then he disappeared and she went on her way believing she would never see him again.  She couldn't put him out of her mind, however, and on subsequently discovering his identity, accepted that their paths were unlikely ever to cross again.  The last thing she expected was to find Christian on her doorstep on New Year's Eve as she was putting her young son to bed:

"When she returned to the sitting room, carrying the roses now crammed into a rather smaller vase than their elegant stems deserved, she found Christian standing looking at a small Ansel Adams’ poster on her wall.  He turned towards her as she re-entered the room, thanking him for the flowers. 

“I really am sorry for just turning up like this.  I literally only discovered where you lived an hour ago and just got into the car and drove here.  I thought if I phoned first, you might have tried to put me off coming.  I wasn’t sure if you’d want to see me.”

 “Not want to see you?”  She shook her head in surprise as she placed the vase on the table.  She’d thought of nothing else but seeing him again, though she had hardly dared allow herself to admit that, or to expect it to happen.  And here he was now, looking absolutely magnificent and leaving her feeling tongue-tied and awkward. 

He moved towards her, their gazes locked together.  Their lips were so close that she felt hers begin to tremble.  She could smell his cologne or aftershave which smelled heavenly to her, citrusy with exotic spicy undertones, deeply sexy and very expensive.  The tremor in her lips spread to her whole body and when his lips finally touched hers, she released a soft moan of longing and utter capitulation.  His touch was gentle; their lips barely making contact at first as if they themselves were hesitant and shy about getting to know each other and this fired her desire almost to fever pitch.  He scattered a few exploratory little butterfly kisses on her, as if begging permission to take her completely, before claiming her mouth in a deep and passionate kiss. 

How long the kiss lasted, Jess couldn’t tell.  She lost herself in the ecstasy of the moment, the sheer bliss of the exquisitely romantic touch of his lips, soft yet firm against her own.  I’ve wanted this not just since that night in the snow; this is something I’ve wanted forever.  She felt her body melting in his arms and the sensation she might disappear altogether as she no longer had any sense of control over her will.  She was just there, in his arms, responding to his kiss and it was the most perfectly right experience of her whole life so far.

Eventually he pulled away, but continued to look deep into her eyes, his own luminous and large.  “That was unfinished business.  It had to be done,” he whispered softly."

I do hope Christian got it right.