First Kiss with author Karice Bolton

Yes...I will be yours!!  Hello CEWTNK!!  Today I have the fabulous author Karice Bolton to share not only her characters first kiss, but her awesome new series as well!!  Take it away Karice:



Thank you so much to Nikki for allowing me to provide a guest post!  In honor of all things in the kiss category, I thought it would be fun to provide an excerpt from Awakening between Ana and Athen. 

A little snippet about me, and why I find it so fun to write at least a few romance scenes in most everything I write is because I married my H.S. sweetheart.  I totally believe that falling for people hard and fast isn’t a bad thing.  It might not be for everyone, but it worked for me (many moons ago)!!  So for this series, I thought it would be intriguing to dive into long lost loves, memory loss, fallen angels, and battling for it all in The Watchers Trilogy. As the titles kind of allude Awakening has more romance, Legions has romance and lots of battles, and Cataclysm has a lot of both!!  Cataclysm will be out in the Spring!!  I hope you fall for Athen as much as I did while writing about him and Ana.

I’d love to hear about your first smooch in the comments section below – whether it was hysterical, out of this world, or completely forgettable!

Thanks again and hope to hear from you!

 Alone in snowy, remote Whistler village, Ana tries to build a new life since losing her parents. With a cozy condo, a sweet-faced bulldog and an evening job to leave the days free for the slopes, life slips into a great routine. If only she could shake the guilt for not remembering anything about her parents and banish the night terrors that haunt her every dream.
On a whim, Ana goes out with Athen, a guy she's just met in the Grizzly Pub... The only problem is that she feels like she already knows him.

Within 48 hours of meeting Athen and his family, Ana's world implodes. She falls for Athen quickly and before she knows it, a past life begins to resurface. As thrilling as the revelations appear at first, she fights against the chilling information that Athen is from the underworld. Soon she begins to struggle as her own supernatural gifts are slowly unveiled, and she realizes that the nightmares she's been having might be premonitions and not dreams at all.
It is up to Ana to decipher between fact and fiction before it is too late, and her new love, Athen, follows in her same fate - one that is lost between two worlds.

Excerpt from Awakening:

I walked over and grabbed his hands.  We settled down on the floor and held each other.  It was wonderful, and for once I wasn’t being overly eager.  I was eating up every second of what the afternoon had in store for me.  I knew tonight would be the night.  Like he said, the other times weren’t right.  Tonight would be perfect.  I was going to let him be in charge.  We spent hours laughing, catching up on memories I had no recollection of.  I was so intrigued to hear details about my life.

Athen wanted to walk the beach, and I thought that sounded wonderful.  I quickly got dressed and met him in the kitchen where he was preparing a plate of smore’s ingredients.  That made me chuckle.

“What are you giggling about?”  He asked.

“Nothing.  Sometimes it seems too perfect.  Like I am in a coma and will wake up at the worst moment.”

“Nope.  We belong together.  Besides when you are together for as long as we have been, you don’t sweat the small stuff.  That’s what people always get caught up in, but stretched over our lifetimes, most things are pretty inconsequential.”

He grabbed the skewers, the Ziploc baggies full of goodies, and my hand as we left out the back door.  I hadn’t really gotten to visit the beach since I arrived. 

I never noticed from the house, but they had little solar lights on the trail down to the beach, which was nice especially with my lack of coordination.  The beach was amazing, not the typical sandy beaches that are on postcards, but rather shiny, multicolored pebbles with patches of sand and boulders encasing the path.  Athen brought me to the largest patch of sand.  Enough for a picnic or maybe sunbathing, not that there is ever that much warmth, I thought to myself.  I looked over to the right and saw the ferry heading back to Edmonds, how special this place was.  I was extremely lucky to be a part of it.  The sun was gently saying its goodbyes for the evening, and I scanned the beach for Athen.  Finally I spied him behind me gathering pieces of wood.  I was wondering if it was for a bonfire or for a backup at the house.  The twilight hours were so mind numbingly beautiful that it was easy to forget the chill that was hovering in the air.

“What are you doing?  Is there anything I can help with?” 

“I am about to start a fire.  It’ll only take a second.  I think I got it handled.” He said beaming.  I noticed how proud he was whenever he did something to make me happy.  My insides immediately warmed.  I felt so special, so very lucky.

“Oh yeah, the smores!  How could I forget?  I think I must be a little antsy.”  I laughed.

“Can’t imagine what for.” He said with his eyes reflecting the moonlight that was beginning to show itself.

I sat on the blanket near the fire, purely in awe of everything.  As the sun drifted away, we were left with nothing but darkness.  The gentle lapping of the waves mixed with the crackling of the fire was so soothing.  I looked over at the glow as it danced in the darkness.  I leaned my head against Athen, soaking up everything that this day had brought to me so far.  I knew it was coming to a close.  I didn’t want it to end.  I looked up at Athen, wanting nothing more than him for all eternity.  I knew he wanted the same. 

“Thank you Athen.  Thank you for everything.”  Then it hit me – the beach!  My dream!  This was my dream - this was the beach.  Heaven was about to exist.  I was certain of it.

Athen stood up, grabbed me from the blanket where we were sitting and cradled me in his arms.  I could feel him moving, that he was taking me somewhere, but with the darkness I wasn’t able to judge where we were going until he gently laid me down against a boulder.  The coldness of the boulder mixed with the heat of my body was shocking.  I looked into his eyes, with the darkness around us, I saw that his eyes had a gentle, green glow, very soft and sensual.  I wondered if mine had the same.  I saw the man who I had loved for centuries and would for centuries more, but at this moment in this lifetime, it was a first.  He began lightly kissing my neck as I began unbuttoning his shirt.  The quiet sound of the fire crackling brought me back to reality for a moment before I heard Athen begin speaking. 

“Tonight’s the beginning of our eternity Ana.  I will not lose you again.”  His hand was lifting my sweater up, and I could feel his breath on me like never before.  It hovered over every inch of my body, bringing me to a level of pleasure that I didn’t think possible.  I grabbed his neck and didn’t ever want to let go.  I could feel the strength of his arms as he continued to caress and kiss every inch of my body.  With every crash of a wave, an insurmountable flood of desire ran through me.  A love that I had longed a lifetime for was finally my reality.  A partner who would carry me into eternity was finally with me.  Nothing in my life was predictable any longer, and that was fine with me as long as I had Athen by my side.

My body moved rhythmically with his, never wanting this moment to end.  I had tried so many times before, and Athen was right.  This was the right moment.  I could feel his hands gracing every part of my body with the lightest of touch as he cradled me in between him and the boulder.  His kissing became more intense and passionate, stopping every so often to hold my head in his hands to look me in my eyes.  I had never been more connected to him.  This was perfection for me.  I knew this was the life that was meant to be mine again.  I grabbed his shoulders and began kissing his chest more intensely as he held me closer.  He lifted me from the boulder, carrying me to the blanket that he had so carefully laid out for us near the fire.  His warmth came through me again.  I knew that this night would continue for as long as I wanted.  I hoped the fire between us would never die down.

Doesn't this look like an amazing!!  Come back soon for the review!!!!