Excerpt:

His heated gaze flicked from my eyes to my mouth and back again before he moved closer and pressed his lips against mine for a moment.

My body tensed and stopped moving. My heart thundered in my chest and my breathing sped up. I pulled back with enough force to break Aidan’s hold and stepped away. My gaze flew around the club until I’d located the exit. I strode towards it without looking at anybody, panic driving me forward. I vaguely heard my name and ignored it. I needed to get outside, away from all these people, away from the new experiences and away from all these feelings I didn’t know how to deal with.”

Poor Lennart, nineteen year old, deeply insecure, and never been kissed. It takes all his courage to walk into a gay club and not run away when he’s approached by a handsome man. When Aidan initiates that first soft kiss, Lennart panics and runs.

I sympathise. I was fifteen when a boy kissed me for the very first time and I froze. It is just as well I didn’t try to run like Lennart does, since we were sitting on a branch (yes, we really were K.I.S.S.I.N.G in a tree). But my stunned and unresponsive reaction to that boy’s lips against mine ended my first kiss almost as soon as it started. A day later he told me that while he liked me, he thought I was too young for anything beyond friendship and shattered my innocent heart in the process. It would be another year before we tried that again and managed to move beyond pressing our lips together. 🙂

Fortunately Lennart is luckier than I was. Aidan follows him when he flees the nightclub and a few minutes later he is given a second opportunity to experience his first kiss, and this time he grabs it with both hands.

“If I kiss you, will you run again?”

If he kisses you he’ll know you’ve never done it before. The voice was back, jumping on another opportunity to sabotage me but I ignored it.

“No. I won’t run.” I held my breath as Aidan closed the short distance between us. He touched my cheek and looked straight into my eyes, forcing me to look back at him. This time his lips didn’t take me by surprise when they pressed against mine. The emotions the soft touch evoked in me did. I didn’t panic and never thought about fleeing. Quite the opposite, I yearned for more and pressed my lips against his in a quiet demand.

Feeling his lips curve under mine before parting filled me with wonder. I gasped when his tongue stroked my mouth and Aidan took full advantage of my reaction. I remembered reading somewhere that you never forget your first kiss and in that moment I knew it to be true. What on earth had I been worried about? I might be clueless but my mouth and tongue knew exactly what to do as the kiss got deeper. He explored my mouth and I explored his, lost in feelings so heady I felt faint.

And that’s only the first of many ‘firsts’ Lennart will experience with Aidan.

How about you? Do you remember your first kiss? And are those memories sweet, sad, happy? I’d love to hear about your experience, so please leave a comment below.

Scenes from Adelaide Road

By Helena Stone

About the book:

Can a young man find the courage he never knew he had when faced with losing everything he holds dear?

A few months before his final exams in secondary school, nineteen-year-old Lennart Kelly discovers he’s inherited a house on Adelaide Road in Dublin from a grandfather he never knew. Having been ignored, bullied and abused for as long as he can remember, Lennart can’t wait to leave behind his father and the small town he grew up in. Moving away as soon as he finishes his exams doesn’t cure his deep-rooted insecurities though.

Meeting twenty-three-year-old Aidan Cassidy in a gay club on his second night in Dublin, scares Lennart. Used to being ignored and ridiculed, he doesn’t trust the attention he receives and can’t believe a man like Aidan could possibly be interested in him. It takes infinite patience and understanding from Aidan to slowly coax Lennart out of his shell.

But the past refuses to stay where it belongs and Lennart’s father is determined to take the house in Dublin off his son by whatever means necessary. Just when Lennart is learning to trust and embrace life, a violent attack threatens everything he holds dear. Suddenly Lennart is in danger of losing his house, the man he’s grown to love and maybe even his life. If Lennart wants to protect Aidan and safeguard his future, he’ll have to find the courage he never knew he had.

Buy links:

Pride Publishing | Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Barnes & Noble

Link to book trailer: YouTube

About the Author:

Helena Stone can’t remember a life before words and reading. After growing up in a household where no holiday or festivity was complete without at least one new book, it’s hardly surprising she now owns more books than shelf space while her Kindle is about to explode.

The urge to write came as a surprise. The realisation that people might enjoy her words was a shock to say the least. Now that the writing bug has well and truly taken hold, Helena can no longer imagine not sharing the characters in her head and heart with the rest of the world.

Having left the hustle and bustle of Amsterdam for the peace and quiet of the Irish Country side she divides her time between reading, writing, long and often wet walks with the dog, her part-time job in a library, a grown-up daughter and her ever loving and patient husband.

Helena can be found in the following places:

Author website        GoodReads     Facebook       Twitter         Pinterest