First Kiss

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Epilogue

Don't miss the other books of The Bridesmaid Chronicles

First Date (Available now)

First Dance (Available in August 2005)

First Love (Available in September 2005)

Praise for the novels of Kylie Adams

"Cutting, cunning and real. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough, couldn't forget the characters when it ended."

Stephanie Bond, author of Cover Me

" A breezy, humorous romp." The Best Reviews

"Smart sexy a truly moving story."

Holly Chamberlin, author of The Summer of Us

"Quirky, lighthearted downright entertaining."

The Romance Reader

"My favorite flavor spicy! Kylie Adams's wit and intelligence make this book impossible to put down."

Carmen Green, author of Atlanta Live !

"Achingly hip, furiously funny and thoroughly unput-downable." Emma Gold, author of Easy and Hard

" A talented and creative new voice."

Romantic Times BOOKClub

"Tabloid hilarity with a heart."

Roz Bailey, author of Party Girls and Girls' Night Out

"Fresh and funny a laugh-out-loud romp."

Wendy Markham, author of Slightly Settled

"A razor sharp novel smart and funny!"

Patrick Sanchez, author of Girlfriends and The Way It Is

Books by Kylie Adams

Ex-Girlfriends

Baby, Baby Fly Me to the Moon

Anthologies with Kylie Adams

Santa, Baby featuring the novella Holiday Stud

The Only Things Better Than Chocolate featuring the novella Sex and the Single Chocoholic

SIGNET

Published by New American Library, a division of

Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,

New York, New York 10014, USA

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Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:

Strand, London WC2R ORL, England

First published by Signet, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

First Printing, July 2005

10 987654321

Copyright © Jon Salem, 2005

Excerpt from First Dance copyright © Karen Moser, 2005

All rights reserved

REGISTERED TRADEMARKMARCA REGISTRADA

Printed in the United States of America

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book PUBLISHER'S NOTE

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

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Acknowledgments

Kara CesareMy editor. She's an absolute doll, even in the face of my worst Barbra Streisand moments (I tend to be opinionated/difficult about plot points, character motivations, cover art, back cover copy, font type, marketing plans, basically everything but the routine maintenance of the printing press).

Karen KendallAuthor of Books 1 & 3 in this series. Her e-mails are an absolute hoot, and somehow she managed to bang out a manuscript while moving and fighting a hurricane. She's practically Xena, Warrior Princess.

Julie KennerAuthor of Book 4 in this series. She's prolific beyond belief (by comparison, Danielle Steel works at a snail's pace). Plus, she's raising kids. An amazing multitasker.

Shelley PowersMy hilarious friend. We share a certain solidaritythat would be a common obsession with Tom Welling of the WB's Smallville . Episodes that feature him without a shirt routinely get a second, third, sometimes fourth viewing. And we can spend entire lunches waxing lyrical on how this event (Tom Welling taking off his shirt) is simply just good for America.

Men who have pierced ears are better prepared for marriage. They've experienced pain and bought jewelry.

Rita Rudner

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

[email protected]

Subject: Venting

Suzi-Suzi and Danni!

It's after midnight and too late to call, so here I sit banging away on my laptop. May I please share two things that are currently driving me insane?

1) Polygamy! Why is this a crime? The multiple wives/husbands are at least sharing responsibilities. Meanwhile, there are no laws to protect bridesmaids. I'm already booked for four weddings this summer, and now my brother is getting married. That's five new dresses to buy that I will only wear once! Five trips to spots on the map that require me to get on a plane and fly coach! Five bridal shower gifts! Five wedding gifts! And you know my luck. If there was one straight, single, smoking-hot groomsman to look forward to, then it might be worth it. But that's never the case. I get stuck trudging down the aisle with the teenage boys fighting acne, boring salesmen who are already married, and gay cousins. Never the straight hot guy. Ugh! It's so unfair. I should write my congressman. Hmm. Who is my congressman? Wait! I'll e-mail Hillary. She's a senator. That's higher up the political food chain. I'm sure that she'll want to help. I mean, Chelsea's probably just starting to go through this sort of thing. I imagine that she'd be a very popular bridesmaid. Don't you think?

2) Botox! I can't afford it this month. Why? Because of all these wedding expenses! And there's also the fact that I'm not working right now. That doesn't help. Anyway, I don't know what's worse for my frown linesnot getting Botox, or stressing out about not getting Botox. All I can do is double up on my new Principal Secret products. Victoria's new Reclaim line has an ingredient called Argire-line that's supposed to smooth out lines. I've been applying it every two or three hours. You know, I think it's starting to work.

PS This is way off point, but I would totally get behind the controversial cloning issue if a brilliant scientist agreed to duplicate Jude Law.

Air Kisses, K

At the crack of eleven, Kiki Douglas slowly began to stir. To the crunchy guitars of Hoobastank blaring from the alarm clock radio. To the steady hum of traffic thirteen floors below. To the incessant yapping of the Scottish terrier next door.

For a moment, she simply lay there as the cold, hard realities began to sink in. The weight of the obvious seemed to push her deeper and deeper into the Tempur-Pedic mattress. Sleeping on one of those was a dream. And Kiki had bought it for a steal, thanks to Suzi-Suzi's married boyfriend, who worked for the company. Poor Suzi-Suzi. She was struggling to find work as a model and involved with another woman's jerky husband. But Kiki had her own problems to face down this morning.

Like no job. Damn those writers on All My Children for pushing her character off a cruise ship!

And no money. Damn American Express for ex-pecting that she pay all those Bergdorf Goodman charges at once!

Andworst of allno one to blame it on. If she had a husband/boyfriend/whatever, then she would at least be able to make him responsible for all of this.

WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!

Kiki erupted from the bed and pounded on the wall. "Shut up, Alfie! Your mommy won't be home for seven hours!" Now fully awake, she shuffled into her tiny kitchen to snatch a bottle of Voss water from the could-go-at-any-moment fridge. And the landlord called this cramped one-bedroom newly renovated . Only in Manhattan.

She eyed her Macintosh iBook atop the sleek desk situated in front of the window. The arrangement was very Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City . In fact, when Kiki tapped out her philosophies on the message board of her Web site, sometimes she could feel the muse of Sarah Jessica Parker as her fingertips went peck-peck-peck over the keyboard.