Building Sexual Tension in Writing: Part I

If you're going to write in the romance genre, you will need to learn to build sexual tension to keep readers hooked. For the record, this scene is from my forthcoming novel Body in the Trunk due out in Spring 2014. This kiss you're about to read is nothing more than a forbidden kiss between two would-be lovers. You don't have to get graphic to make a scene very hot and steamy. Notice it builds in literal beats. This scene doesn't take place until nearly page 80 of the book, so the reader till now has been watching the romantic leads tease each other. If the book were all-out erotica, you would have much more graphic scenes, which there is going to be a passionate payoff for sure. But not so early in the storytelling process: 

An invisible soul gave me permission. I kept my eyes on his. And ever so slowly centimeter-by-centimeter I let my lips move toward his. He didn’t stir. He was quiet and waiting. My lips slowly enfolded his supple lips, and the embers began to smolder, heat up, ignite and burn. I sucked in air, and then I sighed and freed myself. I gave in. I abandoned everything that cried to stop, and allowed the wanton craving for his sex to come over me in building waves. The kiss turned from a soft peck and to an all-out passionate French kiss with two tongues gently licking and touching – and wanting. I lifted my hands and touched each of his cheeks, and the swell of lust overcame and overwhelmed me. The yearning to straddle him and wrap my long legs around his chair and grind my hips into him was so strong that I ached for him. And then just as swiftly I pulled back, out of breath, and startled by my own act. I looked down and touched my lips that still felt as if his were on mine.