Welcome to the first of the Finalists Rounds!

First off, thanks to everyone who played along. I hope you all continue to vote and push the entry you think is best to the rounds where we take on the Kiss-Off team! They’ve got some great lines over there so I’m sure it’s going to be a nail-biter!

Now, before we get to the Top 5, some reminders:

Finalists, you can pimp the contest, but not your line. Any suspicious behavior will be investigated. If anyone is DQd, I’ll have the Super Secret Tie-Breaking Judge choose between the lowest scoring entry and the alternative (which only I can see at the moment.) UNLESS the lowest scoring entry is the DQd person — then that will be the dropped entry.

So, here they are. Read them all and vote for ONE of the following entries.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

 

~~~ONE~~~

One of my eyebrows shot up. “A weird secret passage in the wall?”

She laughed, and my pulse jumped again. “God, I missed you.” She leaned forward, pushing me into the wall. “There are a shitload of these passages in this house. I used to run through them as a kid.”

I glanced around the passage, which was surprisingly clean. There was even a light not far off. “So how many people know about these?”

Ginny leaned in closer, her fingertips playing with the skin in the V of my shirt. “Mom knows, Alix and Hanna. A few of the staff. Me.”

My pulse pounded with every brush of her fingers. I was drowning in the sunshine scent of her that I’d missed all week. “So nobody, really.”

She smiled, and I felt her breath on my lips when she spoke. “Exactly.”

“Good.”

My hands grabbed her shoulders, pushing her back against the opposite wall. Her mouth opened in a gasp, and I took full advantage of it. I was tired of the teasing, and I knew exactly what she wanted. Her nails dug into my arms as our lips met, both of us hungry for the other. Her mouth worked against mine, tongue sliding in and out and driving me mad.

And then her hands pushed me away.

I pulled back, heat rising through me. Pushing me off wasn’t supposed to be part of the plan.

“Shirt. Now.”

I grinned, kicking myself. I should’ve known. “Yes ma’am.”

I pulled the shirt over my head, not even bothering with the buttons.

 

~~~TWO~~~

“I shouldn’t have pushed you into going with him that night.  It was a big mistake.”

“You just now figured this out?”

“I wanted to turn around and drive back so I could tell you, but I passed him on the highway and knew I missed my chance.  Dave came home that night talking about how Kurt said you two had such a great time.”

I winced.

“I couldn’t stand it but it was my own fault for letting you go.  And if you wanted him instead of me… I wasn’t going to mess things up for you.”

I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or if I wanted to cry.  Maybe both.

“You just backed off and let me go.  I thought you didn’t want me,” I said.

In one swift movement, he had my face in his hands and his lips hard on mine.

One of his hands ran around the back of my neck, twisting into my hair and pulling me even closer.  It was desperate and crushing but I wanted everything he could give.  I pushed into him until it hurt.

His mouth pulled away and he rested his forehead and nose against mine, and I gasped for air.  I could feel the flush in my face, the electricity in his touch, and the wild butterflies inside.  I tilted up my chin and kissed him again.

Where Kurt’s touch burned right through me, Will’s was deep and consuming.  I wanted to slip under and stay forever.

“This is gonna cause problems, you know,” he said, still breathing heavy.

 

~~~THREE~~~

Luc pulls back and his mouth grazes my temple, so gently, like a whisper against my skin. My fear thaws and the only thing I’m left with is the deepest ache I’ve ever felt.

He whispers, “I still want to kiss you.”

His lips barely touch mine, like the brush of a butterfly’s wing. That’s all it takes. There’s the same feeling as before, like I swallowed a beam of sunlight. Our eyes meet. His are wide and stunned. Then he’s leaning in again, his hand wrapping in my hair and tilting it firmly to the side, his lips suddenly hot and insistent.  And in that split second of our first real kiss, something in me gives way—some unseen, never-before-touched part of my heart becomes completely, unequivocally his. I’d be terrified if I could feel anything but bliss. My hands slide around his neck, pulling him closer. His mouth is soft and sweet with just a slight edge, like burnt sugar melting through me.

Luc pulls me into his lap, one hand around my waist, his fingertips slowly tracing my face, like he wants to memorize the shape of it. And everything in me is burning hotter and brighter than ever before. In this moment, I know I’ve spent my whole life lost. Now, somehow, I’m finding myself in the feel of him, the scent and taste of him. It’s like I needed his breath in my lungs to be able to really breathe.

His mouth slants over mine again and again, until the heat building in me is almost painful.

 

~~~FOUR~~~

Seth wets his lips. “I like your eyes. And your smile. I like the way your hair feels between my fingers, the way your hips move when you walk, the way you blush when I compliment you.”

I cover my cheeks with my hands. He smiles. “Yes,” he says, “like that.”

My heart has basically stopped beating. He straightens his arm and lets it rest across the back of the couch.

I turn into him, and his breath catches. I lift my hand and run my fingers across his cheek, tracing his jawline.

When my thumb sweeps across his bottom lip, his hand comes down on my leg, squeezing my thigh.

He’s going to kiss me.

I am going to die if he doesn’t kiss me.

“Harper.” He shakes his head.

I’m so tired of this. “Why?”

He’s breathing hard. The hand on my leg tightens. My fingers drift down his neck. “Harper,” he says again, but it’s softer than before, like he doesn’t really want me to hear.

So I pretend that I don’t.

I close the space between us, so close that I can feel his breath against my lips. His hand moves to my hip.  He presses his lips together, and I can almost hear him arguing with himself.

He whispers my name once more, and I lick my lips. He brushes the fingers of his other hand down my cheek, sweeping my hair back from my shoulder.

His mouth is on mine before I have time to notice the way his fingers trail down my neck. The kiss is more delicate than I’d imagined, his lips softer, his touch lighter.

I slide both of my hands around his neck and shift into his lap, unable to get close enough to him.

 

~~~FIVE~~~

The absolute dark made me feel both safe and vulnerable. Pandora’s hands slid up my back, tracing my spine, to my shoulder blades and around to my chest. Her face burrowed into my neck and I smiled at her heightened breathing on my skin. I lowered my nose to her hair as my hands moved as slow as hers. I followed the arch of her hip and the dip of her waist to the delicate ridges of her ribs. My hands slid around to her shoulder blades and up her back. Her hands dropped to my waist and traveled around to the front of my stomach.

My heart thundered and my blood roared in my ears.

I traced the slope of her neck with my fingertips. Her pulse jumped as I traveled over it and I leaned over, pressing my lips to that spot.

A faint gasp escaped her, her fingers curling into the waistband of my pants.

I traced her jaw and kissed it. My fingers memorized her cheekbones, followed by my lips. I kissed her eyelids. My thumb followed the outline of her lips, which parted under my touch. Her breathing sped up and I knew mine was doing the same as I leaned to her and brushed my lips so faintly over hers it was if they hadn’t touched.

Her fingers curled into my shirt then slid up my chest as I whispered my lips across hers again. “Pandora…”

“Kiss me, Lucas.”

I let out a strangled exhale and kissed her, parting her lips gently with my own.

~~~~~~~

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