Welcome! Or Welcome Back if you’re following all of our first kisses — and i hope you are. Would you like to see what you can WIN by playing our Fun and Games? Click HERE and drool!

 Here’s whats happening. Yesterday and today,  i am posting 4 batches of First Kisses from some wonderful authors. With each batch, you have the chance to add another entry to WIN a $35 GC, a $10 GC, and books, books, books! Really, check out the prize packages!  Here are the official rules:


Answer the question after each kiss in the comments below (comments will be moderated so they won’t show) for a chance to win a $35 GC and a bundle of ebooks, plus a runners up prize of a $10 GC! Every set of five questions you answer correctly gives you another entry to the draw. Good luck – and enjoy those kisses! Excerpts are predominately m/m, but include some m/f and menage – we proudly swing all ways.

 And remember to check out MORE kisses and chances to WIN at my co-host Kay Berrisford’s website. Go there and answer her questions as soon as you finish these. Then come back here around noon EST for a new batch of Kisses. And don’t forget to scroll down and see the kisses from yesterday! The contest ends today, so catch up quick! And don’t forget to leave your email!!!!!

EMAIL YOUR ANSWERS TO ME at tara at taralain dot com. After Jan 1st, do not leave the answers on the blog. Email them!

Excerpt One: The Long Con by Lori Toland

Buy link: http://www.loose-id.com/the-long-con.html

“You’re moving too fast,” Brent warned as Tony gestured for me to follow him. “Remember you need him to stay here to make contact with Amanda and Derek.”

If I had been able to, I would have screamed at Brent to make up his fucking mind. His constant chattering in my ear could make me blow this.

He was right, though. The last thing I needed was the con artists clinging to my ankles as we left. “I came with a friend. I should say good-bye to her,” I said, hoping he would want to stick around.

He stopped in his tracks and caught my arm. He appeared to be as unsettled as I felt. “You’re right. I’d need to give my thanks to the museum’s staff for inviting me.”

My cock ached, pressing against my pants. I let out a shaky sigh as Tony bit his lip, apparently thinking. It occurred to me I had been willing to leave this party with him for a quick fuck. It wasn’t unusual for me to have a one-night stand, quite the opposite. I never committed to a second date.

What worried me was that my mind hadn’t even been on the egg. I had been so intent on seduction, I couldn’t see past getting my cock in his ass. I never put pleasure before business, but Tony set my blood on fire. I couldn’t wait to fuck him hard.

Suddenly he smiled. “Follow me.”

“Don’t follow him,” Brent warned. “He’s dangerous. You never know what he’ll do to you once you two are alone.”

I wanted to shake him and yell at him I could take care of myself. I’d been a top SOCA agent for eight years. “Where are we going?” I asked as we strolled through the crowd.

“There’s a private bathroom for staff only, just over here to the left. We can talk there.”

Once we were alone, I asked, “Do you want to just talk?”

He glanced at me. “Not really.” His eyes gleamed with a need that rivaled mine.

“Don’t do this,” Brent yelled. “None of this is part of the plan. Stay right where you are. Amanda and Derek are on their way.”

We rounded the corner. As Tony took a step in front of me, I yanked out my earbud. The earpiece vibrated with Brent’s scream as I flipped it off. I dropped it in my pocket and followed Tony inside the tiny restroom.

The moment I pushed the door closed and hit the lock, Tony was all over me. He pushed his hand into my hair as I roughly grabbed the back of his neck. It had been a while for me, and I was just as hungry for release as he was.

I kissed him hard, thrusting my tongue inside his mouth, and he met it eagerly. He grabbed my ass with his other hand and squeezed. I arched against him, shoving my hard cock against his abs.

QUESTION ONE: What does Brent warn against?

Excerpt Two: Stowaway  by Becky  Black.

“Raine has just cornered stowaway Kit in an elevator.”

“I’m chief of security of the Light of Dawn,” Raine said. “I’m arresting you for boarding this ship without authorization. Turn around and put your hands on the wall, please.”

His tone had softened from when he’d first burst into the elevator. He’d clearly decided Kit wasn’t a threat, which made Kit bristle. Okay, so this guy could probably snap him in two, but Kit wasn’t harmless, he could…

“Turn around.” Some of the snap came back.

He could turn around and assume the position — that’s what he could do. He turned to face the wall, laying his hands flat on it. His heart thudded in his ears, and he started breathing fast. Caught. Fucking caught. Screwed.

“Are you carrying any weapons?” Raine asked.

“No.” Which was stupid. He could have picked something up. A kitchen knife. Anything. And he’d do what? Stab Raine to death? Ridiculous.

“Warner,” Raine said, speaking on the comms, Kit realized. “I’ve got him in an elevator car, and we’re on our way to section ten. Send a squad to meet us there.”

“Right, Boss,” a woman’s voice replied. Kit glanced back at Raine but got a scowl that made him turn away again quickly.

“Stand still,” Raine ordered. He wore gloves, leather ones, and took them off before he began to pat Kit down. As he ran his large hands over Kit’s body, Kit’s stomach knotted with instinctive fear. Raine didn’t do anything to hurt him, but he could feel the strength in those hands. They swept down his legs — nothing hidden there, the pants he wore too tight-fitting to conceal much. They swept up again, brushed Kit’s ass, making him sigh. Kit might be scared, but those big strong hands touching his ass could only feel good. Raine paused but then moved again and checked the pants pockets, quickly sweeping his fingers around, close to…

“Sorry,” Raine said softly.

Oh, don’t be. The apology and the slight hoarseness of his voice could mean one of two things. Either embarrassment about rummaging around so close to another man’s goodies — or it meant Kit had the start of a plan. He forced the fear to the back of his mind, tried to relax. Wait for his moment.

Raine was thorough. He turned up the collar of Kit’s stolen jacket, then whipped the cap from his head. Aware that it made him memorable around here, surrounded by crop-haired spacers, Kit had pulled his hair up under the cap. It fell down, sweeping over his shoulders and back.

Raine’s breathing changed. Kit heard it speed up, and he smiled. The hair always worked. A glance back and he was sure. Raine had desire written all over his face. Lust burned in his eyes.

Kit turned, right into Raine’s arms, and knew instantly what he wanted. Knew he was lost in a moment when everything else had faded away. No elevator, no space freighter, just them, their bodies responding to each other’s heat. He pressed himself forward, straining against Raine’s body.

Kissing him.

QUESTION TWO: What are Raine’s gloves made out of?

Excerpt Three: A Flowerpot Christmas Tree by Brooklyn Wilde

My mind was racing, but my body was tingling with excitement. His tongue traced the curve of my earlobe. He reached up with his free hand, grabbed a fistful of hair, and pulled so I was facing him eye-to- eye. A breathless second passed as Noah moistened his lips and then planted them squarely on mine. Electricity jolted through my veins. Maybe it was temporary amnesia, but I suddenly couldn’t remember any of the reasons I’d been thinking this wasn’t a good idea.

Parting my lips, Noah tickled the tip of my tongue with his own. I haven’t been kissed properly in so many years, and damn if it wasn’t worth the wait. I melted into the long and lingering kiss. Noah’s masculine smell enveloped me, a mixture of his natural musk, expensive cologne, and oil paints. I breathed deeply and pulled that wonderful scent deep into my lungs. Slowly, he guided me backward until I was pinned up against the wall…”

QUESTION THREE: The smell of what kind of paint mingles with Noah’s sexy natural musk?

Excerpt Four: Star of Wonder by Angel Payne

“So you come from a long line of ass-kicking heroes.”

She laughed at that. Actually, truly laughed. His senses rejoiced in the husky sound of it.

“Something like that,” she said and lifted her gaze to fully meet his. The forests were now alive in her eyes again, though their depths now danced with something new. The verb itself was new. Yes, her stare danced for him. It moved and flowed across his face, as if rewriting the label she’d originally attached to him back at the party.

He scooted closer to her. Like his muscles were going to let him do anything else. “That’s pretty damn cool.”

The laugh softened to a smile. “Is that so?”

“Yeah.” He didn’t smile back. Clearly, she wrote his words off as smooth-talking bullshit. “It really is, Celina.”

“All right, all right.” She held up both hands, snatching the hairpin from him, then tossing it into a bowl with about fifteen others. “I believe you, fancy pants.”

He did a double take. She deliberately used the same nickname on him as the dick wad from the Blue Sax—again, an attempt on her part to lighten him up somehow. Dante didn’t back off. He didn’t feel so “light” right now, and he was damn determined she saw the same thing as he leaned forward, bringing their noses within inches of each other. “You didn’t like me very much when we met, did you?”

Her nostrils flared a little. But that was it in the way of tangible reaction. “Very observant, Mr. Tieri.”

“Anyone with a pulse would have noticed it, Lieutenant Kouris.”

She hitched a little shrug. “Let’s just say I usually don’t have a lot of patience for cavalier cash-tossers.”

Now he stepped back. Well, hell. That was one for the gut—in a breath-halting, not so fucking great kind of way. His jugular felt the force of it too, constricting as he brushed back by another foot.

“Wow. That one’s new. I have to admit, I’ve been prejudged as a lot of different things, but ‘cavalier cash-tosser?’ Hmm. That brings the game to a new low.” His mounting anger made his movements jerky as he yanked out his cell phone. “Sorry I’m still dirtying up your house here, Lieutenant. Just let me get Vincent on the line, and I’ll be out of your hair. Yeah, I have a driver. Sorry, but sometimes they come in handy for us cash-tossers.”

Stop.” With reflexes that shocked him, she snatched the phone from his hand. “I’m going to add ‘shitty listeners’ to the list too. Did you hear me? I said I usually don’t have patience for—”

“For what? People like me? Or just guys like me? I’m wealthy, Celina. So what? I also have earlobes that are way too long, an unnatural obsession with Christmas, and I snore the roof off my bedroom.” He grabbed the phone back. “But I’ve also worked hard for my money, so if I want to toss it around a little, then that’s my fucking prerogative.”

Without taking his eyes off her, he punched in the speed dial for Vincent and the car. He remembered the moment, just hours ago, that he’d beheld her for the first time. He’d picked up on her discomfort. He’d pegged heras a certain kind of person too. A person who would be willing to put away her initial impressions, and would get to know what he was really like, and perhaps even like the person he was. But her dig—he was right. It was low. And it hinted at a mental wall against his status that ran miles high around her mind.

Her little wince almost did make him stop. But he didn’t. Not even when she glared at him and demanded, “Hang it up.”

“V? Yo, man, you get Meredith squared away? Thanks. Listen, I’m in Arlington Heights. The address is—”

He thought he was ready for her little lightning moves now. But the woman had the phone out of his hand, into hers, and at her ear with a move that made even her first frog tongue of a move seem slow. “He’s just kidding,” she told Vince. “Thanks for your time.”

In one move, she punched End Call and hurled the thing across the room, onto the couch.

Dante looked at her and, goddammit, actually fumed. “What the fu—”

“Are you going to listen to me now?”

He snorted. “Why? What good will—”

For the second time tonight, he was cut off from speaking by a kiss. But unlike Meredith’s embrace at the party, this interruption brought a cavalcade of sensation with it. An avalanche of sensations, violent and wonderful, incongruent to the soft, sweet, seeking lips that had brought it all with them. Celina’s lips. A mouth, he now realized, he’d been fantasizing about all night.

When her hand slipped up around his neck, he was officially buried by the slide. Suffocated. Cut off from the rest of reality. Lost.

As he pushed open her mouth with his, claiming her with every inch of his tongue and teeth, he prayed they didn’t find him for at least a week.

QUESTION FOUR: What does the hero have an unnatural obsession with?

Excerpt Five:  Catching Kit by Kay Berrisford

Kit rose onto tiptoes, lifted his chin, and it seemed electricity arced between them.

Delicately he brushed Denny’s mouth with his own. The elf tasted of wine, cheese sauce, and something heady and enticing that might have been the spices. Or might just have been Kit. Whatever it was, Denny needed more.

He grabbed Kit by the collar and kissed him hard.

The plates on the drainer behind them chinked. Kit parted his lips and slid his tongue into Denny’s mouth, deepening the kiss, apparently relishing the scrub of Denny’s stubble against his. In perfect rhythm, the elf rubbed his groin against Denny’s thigh until Denny felt the ultimate proof that elves were sexual beings. Kit’s raging erection told Denny they were both equally aroused.

And the elf read his every need like a book.

Through Denny’s tight T-shirt, Kit toyed with his nipple, flicking the ring, pressing the cool metal into his sweat-flecked skin. Currents of molten pleasure coursed from Denny’s chest to his cock.

Denny broke the kiss. “This is so bloody wrong.”

“Really?” Without warning, Kit shoved the tips of his fingers down the back of Denny’s trousers and tugged the waistband of the leather briefs. The elf yelped with delight. “Is it any more wrong than a gorgeous great alpha like you wearing theseto go out arresting folk in?”

Denny bit back a laugh. His current underpants were fairly restrained, by his standards. It would feel incorrect wearing anything more interesting to work. “You like ’em?”

“I love ’em.” Kit emphasized his words with a feral snarl. “God, I adore a man in leather.

So…nnnng. So damn sexy.”

Kit stroked Denny’s arse cheeks, pressing harder with every lust-ridden syllable and making his cock throb like hell. After a final squeeze of Denny’s backside, Kit threw his arms around Denny’s neck and leaped at him.

As Denny caught him, the crockery clunked even louder. Kit wrapped his legs around Denny’s hips, stretching the seams of those scruffy trousers to the limit. Denny cradled Kit’s arse in his hands, pressing his lips to the elf’s once more. He’d been mind-fucked, and he no longer cared. He needed to get laid, right here, right now, with this EB.

QUESTION FIVE: What underwear is Denny wearing?

Thank you so much for playing our First Kisses game. Go back and check the earlier posts by scrolling down and hop over to Kay Berriford’s beautiful blog and answer the questions there. You can add up lots of entries and increase your chances of winning — plus, you just get to read all these YUMMY kisses. : )