The Forever Endeavor [Moonie]

[Zane]

And then there, in that instant, was their first real kiss. His lips touched to hers, slow- tentative, curious. And despite the maidens his uncle has hired to train him how to kiss- he couldn't help but feel inexperienced. Julia didn't kiss like someone who was paid to do it. She kissed like someone who genuinely wanted to be there, but just as slow, and tentative, and curious, and inexperienced as he was. It was maybe a few seconds before the first kiss faded, instead of pulling away, Liam tilted his head to the side and moved back in.

The second kiss faded a few seconds later, as did the third. By the fourth kiss, Liam realized he rather liked kissing Julia. Her soft lips had encaptured him- he could do this all day. But the turning of the heavy brass knob alerted him to the arrival of someone else- and while he didn't end the kiss any more quickly than he would have, he didn't chase it with another kiss.

"My apologies Master Sinclair, your Uncle bade me tell you both that the Lady Sinclair's father shall be departing soon, would you like accompany me to see him off, or shall I tell him that you are... otherwise occupied?"

Liam hadn't stepped away from his wife, hadn't unwrapped his arms from around her, so he turned his head to look her in the eye after being addressed by the butler, "What do you think, dear?"

[Zero]

The kiss shared between them at the alter could be discounted, as if Julia were being embarrassingly truthful, she could hardly recall it. In that moment her brain had barely been functioning, mind and heart racing with anxiety. That had been a kiss given out of necessity, as the ceremony demanded it, and in front of a room full of hawkeyed witnesses.

This was the first kiss that the newly married woman would remember. Nobody was there to impress or demand. They were alone in the library, just the two of them, bodies pressed close as they embraced each other and kissed for no other reason than they wanted to. Julia's heart still raced, a warm feeling spreading through her as her husband turned his head to draw her into another kiss, and then yet another and another.

Each kiss was less hesitant than the last, her lips moving against his softly as she allowed herself to be caught up in the moment. Her fingers had curled against the nape of his neck.

It was when the sound of the door opening reached her that Julia felt a blush creeping back into her face as her eyes fluttered open again. For a moment all she could do was stare up at Liam owlishly at being caught kissing in the library, barely able to rationalize that there really was nothing scandalous about it as they were now husband and wife.

Otherwise occupied.

Julia wasn't sure she could blush any harder as she somehow managed to meet those gentle green eyes momentarily before burying her face against his chest, arms sliding from around his neck to let her hands once again rest upon his chest.

"I should say goodbye to them." Her family had horrible timing. She hadn't expected them to leave so soon. Despite her new bright outlook on a future as Liam's wife, it was still not easy for Julia to part with her family knowing just how far away they would be.