A/N – Six times Marian kissed Harold, and one time she didn't. Written in the form of 100-word drabbles.
XXX
July 1912
The first time Marian's mouth touched a man's, she wanted to retch. Kissing Charlie Cowell was thoroughly disgusting – he reeked strongly of tobacco and the poor hygiene of constant travel. Even though her lips were mashed firmly shut, she could still taste his sourness. However, she persevered for Harold's sake, hoping with all her heart that their embrace would be so much sweeter and nicer than this. After ten agonizingly long seconds, the train whistle finally sounded. Triumphantly pushing the anvil salesman away with all her strength, the librarian gulped a large lungful of perfumed summer air before denouncing him.
XXX
July 1912
When Harold finally kissed her, it was even better than Marian dared to dream it would be. She had already gotten a tantalizing preview of his personal grooming, and to her delight, he tasted every bit as delicious as his bewitching aroma of Sen-Sen, bay rum, and sandalwood soap promised. Not only did he kiss her as sweetly and expertly as he led her in their dances together, his mouth met hers with a passion that thrillingly suggested he was just as besotted as she was. Even though he couldn't stay in River City, she would never regret their embrace.
XXX
August 1912
Although the librarian was aware that kissing could involve more than mouths meeting, and her mouth parted eagerly beneath Harold's from their first kiss, he gallantly refrained from taking such liberties. Of course, he did test the waters from time to time, tantalizingly tracing her bottom lip with his tongue before ending their embrace. It wasn't until a month into their courtship that Marian realized he was waiting for her tongue to meet his in return – and did just that. When he let out the most delicious groan and deepened their kiss, she wished she had realized this much sooner.
XXX
September 1912
After Marian gave the signal to Harold that she eagerly welcomed his "clinging" kisses, a wonderful new world opened up to her. She had thought their first kiss exhilarating enough in its own right, and was stunned and elated to discover that there were even sweeter delights a man and woman could engage in without having to be married first. And so she dreamily spent the second month of their courtship under the music professor's adept tutelage, learning all the enticing ways she could move her tongue against his in order to draw out his pleasure and increase her own.
XXX
October 1912
As both autumn and courtship deepened, Marian became conscious of the dizzying and delightful accoutrements that could accompany kissing – such as the way Harold gently threaded his fingers through her loose curls and stroked his way from the nape of her neck down to the small of her back. Although he was forbidden by propriety from caressing her in certain areas, he was a master at finding the line and remaining just shy of it – she particularly relished when he subtly shifted his chest against hers during their embraces, making her shiver pleasantly as her breasts tingled at the stimulation.
XXX
November 1912
While they had rehearsed the wedding ceremony a few days before it took place, Harold didn't actually kiss Marian at the altar until the minister formally pronounced them man and wife. Although she knew by now how to kiss him as skillfully and thoroughly as he did her, the librarian modestly followed his lead, just as she had during their first sweet rendezvous on the footbridge. He kissed her not as chastely as he had that night and not as passionately as he had on the few heady occasions when their hips were pressed together, but somewhere delightfully in between.
XXX
December 1912
When Marian was a maid, she surmised kisses would lose their luster once she and Harold were free to make love in earnest. But to her delight, kissing remained every bit as thrilling in marriage as it had been during courtship. Indeed, the tenor of their kisses varied even more excitingly once they no longer had to be so circumspect. Though the librarian still had a ways to go in learning how to make love, she was every bit as proficient in kissing as her seasoned husband was, and reveled in demonstrating this to him as often as she could.