Welcome to another First Kiss Friday! My returning guest for my blog today is the fabulous Tanya Wilde who has an excerpt from her newest release, Her Beast in Brighton. We hope you enjoy this first kiss scene. Happy reading, my lovelies!
Excerpt:
Calliope . . .
“You shouldn’t be in my chamber.”
Stars, forget her knees. Her whole body was in jeopardy here. “Because you are dangerous?”
“Yes.”
Then why did that yes sound so inviting? The air charged around them. The moment before a storm breaks. She wanted to touch his chest, press her palm to that scar above his heart. Everything in her thundered to retreat—this man, this moment, this feeling—but her body had gone traitorous again, just like her dog.
Why had she come again?
Concern, yes. That was the excuse. But deep down, she’d known. From the moment she heard him take the stairs, from the moment she’d told herself don’t, she’d already decided to. And here he was in a way she wasn’t ready for. Bare chest, ink, scars, and eyes that saw more than they should. He didn’t hide the wreckage of his past. He wore branded into his skin. And maybe that’s what shook her most.
She hid her past. Buried it as far as she could.
The urge to flee rose. “I should go,” Calliope said softly.
His eyes—those dark storms—roamed her face. “Yes, you should.”
Neither of them moved.
She squared her shoulders, refusing to give into habit. “You don’t scare me.”
His lips curved slightly. “You should be scared.”
“But I’m not.”
He leaned in, and her hands rose to his chest, pressing against the firm wall of him. He sucked in a breath, and the skin of her arms broke out in gooseflesh.
“You’re doing it again,” he said roughly.
“Doing what?”
“Stripping me of my power.”
That was promise. A promise of power. And the promise made something in her break free. She wanted to taste that promise. To make those words real. To press her lips to something that felt like seductive truth. Before she could stop herself, she rose to her toes, fingers digging into his flesh, and kissed the beast on the mouth.
***
Maxen
HER LIPS MET his, and the impact ripped the breath clean from his chest. Maxen didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. Didn’t dare. She tasted like the sweetest damn hope he’d ever tasted, and everything he hadn’t let himself want for too damn long. And then she pulled back, startled by her own boldness, her eyes wide like she’d just stepped off a ledge without knowing what waited below.
God. Not yet.
He reached for her, his hands coming up as if pulled by a force older than logic. One cradled her jaw, the other curved around the back of her head, fingers threading through the loose strands of her hair like he’d dreamed of doing it a thousand times. If he didn’t kiss her again, he’d damn well explode into a million damn pieces.
His lips claimed her.
Calliope gasped against him, then melted, not holding anything back either. He kissed her like he didn’t know how to stop. Like it hurt. Like it healed. Like bloody survival itself.
Her Beast in Brighton: Bastards of Brighton, Book 1
By Tanya Wilde
What if the beast you are running from is your prince charming?
When Lady Calliope Turner opens a candle shop in Brighton, all she wants is to escape her wicked stepmother, two vile stepsisters, and a plot to marry her off. She never dreamed she would witness a crime one night on her way to meet her merchant. What’s a woman to do? Run away, of course! And pray she never gets caught. Only, in her haste, she not only draws notice, but she loses a very damning slipper.
Maxen Fury, one of the seven bastard sons of the Duke of Crane, also known as the ruthless beast of Brighton’s underworld, rules his territories with an iron fist. His only goal is simple: to build an empire with his brothers so powerful that they never have to beg, bargain, or bleed again. But when a secret meeting goes awry and his newest tenant proves to be bright, defiant, and far more dangerous than she appears, Maxen finds himself facing the most inconvenient complication of his life.
As suspicion ignites into fascination and danger closes in, Calliope must decide whether she can trust the very man who hunts her . . . and Maxen must confront the one thing he never planned for—a woman who dares to see the man beneath the monster.
Can a man forged in darkness learn to protect the light he wants to claim? Or will his world devour her first?
Purchase link:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Her-Beast-Brighton-Historical-Bastards-ebook/dp/B0GRX8NSL1
About the author:
Award-Winning and Bestselling author Tanya Wilde developed a passion for reading when she had nothing better to do than lurk in the library during her lunch breaks. Her love affair with pen and paper soon followed after she devoured all of their historical romance books!
When she’s not meddling in the lives of her characters or pondering names for her imaginary snowy white greyhound, she’s off on adventures with her partner in crime.
Wilde lives in a town at the foot of the Outeniqua Mountains, South Africa.
Find her at:
Website: https://www.authortanyawilde.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tanyawilde/