For this edition of First Kiss Friday, I am sharing the first kiss between Alma Whitecrow and Charlot Baudelaire from Born Like This, book two in the Maizemerized series, a time-travel, historical romance.
She went back in time to rescue him. She never counted on falling in love…
Alma Whitecrow prefers hunting and fishing with men, not romancing them. But hearing about the roguishly handsome coureur de bois, who saved her sister from the Dakota, haunts her thoughts and dreams. Well-versed in surviving the wilds, Alma resolves to travel to the mid-eighteenth century, as her sister once did, to save the man from impending death.
Charlot Baudelaire thumbs his nose at society’s expectations, content living as a loner, trading with people he calls the Saulters. If he needs a woman for the night, there is always a willing maiden. What he doesn’t expect is a spunky and stubborn female warrior to challenge him.
Charlot is not the man Alma dreamed about, and Alma is not the kind of woman Charlot pursues. But the longer they are together, the more drawn to each other they become, until Alma faces the biggest decision of her life. Stay with a man who may never reciprocate her love, or return to her Ojibway home and bland existence.
Genre(s): Time Travel, Historical Romance, Contemporary Romance, First Nations Romance, Paranormal Romance, Adult.
Heat Rating: Level 3
Publication Date: October 31, 2025
Publisher: eXtasy Books
She dipped one foot into the lake. This helped cool her rapidly heating skin.
Charlot stepped forward, coming closer, the water giving way to his firm body.
Alma submerged her other foot, drawing in a big breath. She could take this one moment with her and hug the memories close once she returned to the twenty-first century.
The water only reached Charlot’s thighs. His cock stood proud, a true indication of his desire. But according to Edie, Charlot desired every maiden. He was a man determined to live by his own rules, spend his life in the interior until he grew too old. Then, just like his father, he would return to Montréal when age got the better of him.
A loner.
A man meant to walk without a companion.
He drew his arms around her waist.
His touch sent pure electrical excitement buzzing between Alma’s legs. He was close enough to smell. Even taste. The water continued to trickle from his hair along the lean planes of his face, dipping into the hollows of his cheeks. A droplet clung to his prominent chin.
Gosh, he was gorgeous. Too damned handsome.
“Are you ready for this?” His soft words caressed her skin. “You can always turn back.”
Turn back?
Was he crazy?
She’d dreamt about this moment.
“I am ready.”
“You are shivering.”
She couldn’t blame the cold because she’d arrived here in the middle of July. Fine, she’d own the truth, and if he behaved like an ass, spoiling this wonderful moment, she’d drown him. “I am nervous.”
“There is nothing to be nervous about. What we are about to do is perfectly natural. What we enjoy out here is as natural as the turning of the seasons. As natural as nature itself.” He lifted his hand to indicate the forest. The water in his palm drained from between his open fingers.
His reassuring words touched a spot she didn’t think existed. He could be a true gentleman. “I know it is natural.” She wet her lips.
His gaze followed the movement of her tongue.
Part of her yearned to squirm, even back away, but the bold girl hiding in her ached for this too bad. Edie was now a wife and mother, even though her older sister was only twenty. But in this century, they’d be considered fully mature women ready for a home, husband, and family.
Charlot leaned forward, closing his eyes.
Before she could think or digest what was happening, his mouth came down over hers. His sensual attack unleashed a storm within her. One filled with lightning and crackling heat. She never experienced such tenderness from lips before, marked with desire as his mouth tasted hers.
This wasn’t anything like the kiss she’d received at a dance. Nor was Charlot a boy. He was a man in the raw, who had dared to draw her into the deepest temptation of her life. And it was easy to return what Charlot offered. So what if she ignored the consequences of her actions?
Charlot had shifted from a nightmare into the sweetest dream possible.
Maggie Blackbird 