First Kiss Friday – An Excerpt from “Two Wrongs Make a Right” by Ann Everett

Today on First Kiss Friday, we welcome romance author, Ann Everett, and an excerpt from her Contemporary Romantic novel, “Two Wrongs Make a Right.” Discalimer: I read this book a few years ago and loved it!

All Quinn Dorsey wants is a white picket fence fairy tale. But after another failed relationship, and her biological clock ticking double time, she's decided happily-ever-after isn't in the Tarot cards. Forget Cupid, it's time to take matters into her own hands. A simple seduction should do the trick, but then everything that can go wrong...does!

Dak Savage isn't interested in commitment. He's been burned by women before - lied to, used, even shot. Hell, he considers women a curse and has one rule he never breaks - don't pick up women in bars. But when he agrees to a guys' night out and meets up with feisty, fast talking Quinn, his rule shatters like a dropped shot glass.

A one night stand turns into a long weekend and as Quinn tries to abandon her ridiculous scheme, she finds herself nose-to-nose and toe-to-toe with the best mistake she's ever made.

First Kiss Excerpt

As Quinn stepped into the warm night air, a voice called after her.

“Hey, wait!”

Her heart jumped into her throat, but she kept walking and picked up speed. She needed to get out of there, but he called again this time closer. Louder. When she turned, he stopped a few feet away.

“You’re not leaving, are you? I haven’t properly thanked you for the drink.”

Quinn couldn’t speak, but Molly had plenty to say. She raised her voice an octave, animated her movements for effect, and spewed words at lightning speed. “That’s okay. That was a mistake. Coming to the bar was a mistake. I’m as out of place in there as a priest at a 2 Live Crew concert.” She flapped the air as if swatting flies. “But I saw the bar from my hotel window, and I thought crap, I’m only in town for the weekend, so why not do something crazy for once in my life? I mean, I never go to bars, so I don’t know what possessed me.” She tried to stop her head from bobbing and weaving, but her evil twin, Molly, had taken command of Quinn’s motor skills.

“I can tell you’re a nice guy and you’re not interested, so if I stayed in there, you’d feel guilty, and come over out of obligation, and ask me to dance or offer to buy me a drink, and then I’d feel guilty for putting you in that situation, so it’s better I leave. You don’t want to get mixed up with me, I’m a mess.” Quinn attempted again to shut the Doppelganger down, but Molly wasn’t having it.

“I don’t exercise. I don’t diet. I don’t do yoga, which is proven to keep you flexible well into your seventies and possibly prevent osteoporosis.  My mother says I’m insane for letting Brad, the attorney, get away. Clearly, I am nuts. I don’t know you, and I’m buying you a drink? What was I thinking? You could be a serial killer, although I don’t believe you are. Still, you see what I’m talking about?”

He laughed when she got to the yoga part. He should run away, and Quinn wished he would because now she was having a conversation with him and didn’t know how to end it.

Then he reached out and took her hand, and the parking lot spun. Was he going to detain her until he called EMTs to bring a straight jacket? Probably.

He tugged her forward and smiled with sincere interest.  “Why don’t you come back inside and buy me another drink?”

Lord Jesus, Molly.
 

                                                         ~~*~~

Dak didn’t have a clue why he chased after the woman. Maybe it was the look his friends gave him. Like somehow if he didn’t, he’d be admitting they were right about his choice in women. Or the strange feeling he’d gotten when she’d locked eyes with him. Whatever the reason, he rushed through the door into the parking lot like a high school boy after his first crush. And before he could stop himself, he called out to her. When she didn’t acknowledge him, he hollered louder.

Intending to tell her it was nothing personal. Explain his no-pickup rule, and thank her for the drink, he hoped to let her down easy. But she turned to face him, brown eyes wide, hands and head kinetic, dark curls flying in every direction, sensuous lips forming words faster than he could listen. Then he felt it. A little skip in his pulse. It only lasted a second, but long enough to get his attention.

Whatever it was, it vanished, and he focused on her again. She was trying to brush him off in some type of reverse psychology. Who was this woman? In a few minutes, he found out more about her than most women on a first date. She had mother issues. Broken up with her boyfriend. From out of town and looking for a good time.

And when he held her hand, there it was again. That missed beat. Longer this time as if the physical contact intensified the symptom. Her hand, small and warm, trembled. He believed her story. This was a woman who didn’t pick up men in bars, or, he wagered, any other place.

He pulled her closer, and she stiffened, so he relaxed his grip. Hell, rules were made to be broken, so he asked her to buy him another drink. Not the best come-on line and wasn’t sure she’d go for it.

She hesitated and drew a shallow breath. “See, I was right. I’ve shamed you into saying that. I should go back to my…”

Dak yanked her closer and crushed his mouth down on hers. At first, she went rigid, then clutched his shirt to pull him against her. He hung on to the kiss, and the heart blip became a full blown arrhythmia. By the time their lips parted, she’d gone limp. He kept his hands around her waist for fear she might collapse onto the pavement.

She struggled for breath, and he tightened his grip. He’d hold her all night if he had to. “Did that feel like guilt or obligation?”

Head lolled back and eyes half closed, she uttered, “Uh-uh.”

“I didn’t think so. Can you stand without me holding you?”

“Oh. Umm, yeah, maybe. I wasn’t expecting that.”

He released her and grinned wider. “Me neither. Now, let’s get back inside. I want to see this band. I’m Dak Savage.”

“Molly Harper.”

“Two Wrongs Make a Right” is available through:

AMAZON