Just Kiss Already Blogfest (and a sneak peak of the sequel to Second Kiss)

i've had so much fun with contests and blog hops to celebrate the day of love that is just around the corner. however, i just realized that they'll all be OVER by the time valentine's day actually arrives!  so for a special little v-day treat i've decided to participate in the "Just Kiss Already" Blogfest hosted by Stina Lindenblatt and Christina Lee.
the blogfest is just about posting a 250 word (or less) segment of a kissing scene of either your own writing or from a book you want to share.  even though i am absolutely IN LOVE with the book i'm currently reading Flirt Club by Cathleen Daly - the girls in the book are young and haven't quite come across any big romantic kisses.  so for this event i'm going to post a little sneak peak from my current project (the sequel to Second Kiss).  Of course this is just part of  a rough draft and may not even make the final cut but for those of you have read Second Kiss you may be interested to see what happens to Gemma and Jess a little bit later...


Okay this is more than 250 words.  But if you don't want to read past the 250th word you don't have to. :)


I should have been paying more attention to the bottle and the people around me.  Because when Jess’s spin landed on me there were a million things I should have done, that I didn’t.  I should have kissed him on the cheek the way Drew did.  I should have looked at Lauren and remembered how much she liked him and how good of a friend she was to me.  And I definitely should have considered the consequences. 

But I wasn’t paying attention… not enough anyway.  I was thinking about Jess and how perfect and strong his hand looked as he spun the bottle and rested it on the carpet waiting to see where it landed.  And when he followed the rules of the game and crawled toward me I should have smiled politely and given him a friendly kiss.  Because it was only a game of spin the bottle and Lauren was right there, waiting and watching.  I shouldn’t have crawled toward him – but then again, he shouldn’t have crawled toward me either, especially not with such a deep and determined gaze.  I shouldn’t have allowed my heart to beat a million times a minute.  And he shouldn’t have taken such a deep breath.  I shouldn’t have lightly glossed my lips with the tip of my tongue   I should have pursed my lips.  I should have gone for his cheek.  But I didn’t and neither did he.  He went for my lips and I went for his and when we should have pulled away – when the universal allotted time for a spin-the-bottle kiss was over – we should have pulled away!  But neither one of us did.  Our lips were soft and inviting and accepting and moving and I only realized that we had been kissing for an entirely inappropriate amount of time when Drew gasped and Greg cleared his throat and I knew we had broken the cardinal rule.