Happy Valentine’s Day!

As I sit here admiring the flowers that my husband probably paid waaay too much for and eagerly anticipating enjoying a caramel-filled chocolate or two (okay, five), it occurred to me that I needed to put up a Valentine’s Day blog. Say what you want about this being a “Hallmark Holiday,” as a YA romance author, I couldn’t let February 14th go without a post and a set of romantic teasers for my readers!
I’ll also mention that Becoming is presently on sale for 99 cents as a Valentine’s promotion. If you have a “valentine” with an e-reader, you can hook them up with some romance in the form of a book through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or wherever e-books are sold!
For your reading pleasure today, I’ve decided to include excerpts of a romantic nature from Becoming, Central, Foretold, Defy and Shift.  I thought this would offer something fun for new and existing Estilorian fans alike. I hope you enjoy them…let me know if you have a favorite!

Without another thought, she leaned forward while using her hand to guide him toward her lips. She sensed his hesitation, knew she had caught him off-guard and his brain was trying to catch up, but she didn’t let it deter her. As though they had practiced it a hundred times, her mouth found his.
His response astounded her. There wasn’t so much a spark as a lightning strike when they connected. If she had thought the feeling of his hands on her back earlier that day had been amazing, the touch of his lips against hers now had rockets firing in her synapses. He kissed her with such intensity she wondered how she could stand it.
In that moment, she knew all that he held in his heart for her and wondered how he had kept it from her all this time. Even more, she understood her own heart in glorious, almost painful clarity.

She moved her lips against his, teaching him without words what he needed to know. Ever the ardent student, he lifted his hands to cradle her face, slowly moving his mouth against hers. Once. Twice. Then again, and yet again, varying the positions and the amount of pressure exerted.
When she opened her mouth beneath his, he followed her lead without a thought. Somehow, although he probably should have found it at least mildly shocking, he was unsurprised when she gently touched her tongue to his. It just seemed to him as though that was a perfectly logical transition for this amazing experience, and he responded in kind.
He savored the taste of her. It absolutely defied description. She made soft sounds indicating her pleasure as her hands caressed his back and shoulders. His body felt as though it was going to erupt in a rapturous flare of pleasure.

He had been prepared for the entire experience to be awkward. He had even been prepared for it to be mildly repulsive.
He had not been prepared for it to feel so good.
Everywhere she touched started tingling. Pulsing sensation coursed through him at the touch of her fingers as well as where he felt her warm breath against the side of his neck. He felt her body pressed against him, felt the heat from her skin warming him through their clothes, and instinctively reached up to hold her at her waist, enjoying the feel of the feminine curves of her hips beneath his hands.
Then he felt her lips move along the outer edge of his ear, taking his sensitive earlobe gently between her teeth for one teasing, incredible moment before she slowly rained tender kisses along the side of his neck and jaw. He realized when his brain finally kicked in that her particular position exposed the slender line of her neck to him. He didn’t have to move at all to breathe in the scent of her. He registered that she smelled like jasmine, sweet and bit mysterious.
Of course she did.

~ DEFY ~

“When you want to kiss someone,” he said, making her realize she had been speaking her thoughts again, “do not talk it to damn death.”
And then he pulled her against him and captured her mouth with his.
He didn’t kiss her. No, that was far too sedate a term for it. He claimed her.
This was no gentle brushing of lips against lips. This was an undiluted assault of the senses. This was lips and tongue and heat and urgent, roaming hands. This was erratic breathing, bodies pressed together, skin touching skin, bursts of unbelievable and unexpected pleasure. This was beyond her wildest imaginings.

~ SHIFT ~

At first, he stiffened in shock. But he quickly sank into the kiss, making her realize just how little she knew about this particular activity.
His warm lips moved tenderly against hers, telling her that her urgent pressing of her mouth against his wasn’t quite right. She deliberately relaxed, focusing on every sensation as his hands moved to cradle her, one hand against the small of her back and the other at the base of her neck beneath her hair. Every touch sent waves of heady sensation pouring through her. It was even more potent than the charge of energy she experienced when she shifted.
A soft moan built in her throat as his lips moved against hers. She felt his hand move from around her neck to the side of her jaw. When he traced the delicate skin there, it sent another shiver through her.