From Winter's Ashes: Girl Next Door Crime Romance Series - Book Two by Amy Leigh Simpson

the living room. She’d decided to take her first peek when a figure rounded the corner and slammed into her.
    “Ahhh!” The sound of her scream punched through her illusion of confidence. The terror made her frantic, and she sent the seemingly weightless bat into attack mode.
    “Hey! Oww!” Strong fingers immobilized her wailing arm and the rest became a blur of struggling limbs and smothered grunts. In a scant moment of clarity she consciously brought her knee up hard and fast.
    The hand on her arm dropped away, and the man fell back into the light. Before Joselyn could initiate her escape she caught sight of her assailant. One she would recognize anywhere.
    “Finn?” Releasing the bat, she sank to the floor beside him. “Are you okay?”
    He’d gone fetal, hands cupping his groin, face scrunched in silent agony. With great hesitance she settled her hand on his side. He hissed out a breath and shrank back from her touch. “Umm, is there anything I can do?”
    “Haven’t you done enough?” he growled.
    Her spine whipped straight. “Oh, I’m sorry . I wasn’t aware you’d be prowling around the living room uninvited. What do you think you’re doing here anyway?”
    Wincing, he propped himself up to a seated position. “Geez, girl, you sure do know how to show a guy a good time.”
    It was obvious he was in pain. But after the start he’d given her she couldn’t muster a whole lot of remorse. It was his own fault, after all.
    At this point she wasn’t even upset with him, only grateful she was still alive to laugh about the misunderstanding. Though she suspected Finn wouldn’t appreciate her laughter at the moment. So instead she bit back a grin and offered him her hand.
    Though he was glaring up at her, she thought she saw a glimpse of a smile hiding somewhere in those much too pretty eyes. His hand was warm and rough-skinned, a compelling contrast to her always chilled yet pampered fingers now completely swallowed up in his grip. When he was to his feet, she assumed he’d let go. But he held on, and some kind of magnetic trance planted her in place. A hot rush flowed through her, heating feverishly in her cheeks.
    Joselyn wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that. Time slowed and her brain turned to haggis. Finn’s body was so close she could feel the heat of him. And as always she was so very cold, and so very lonely, for a split second she considered closing the gap between them and filching a free embrace. Her fingers fidgeted in her moment of indecision, except the movement resembled more of a caress than a spasm and that flame in his eyes bumped up to scorching.
    His grip tightened, she shifted her weight forward, and—
    Sadie’s landline rang.
    Spell broken, Joselyn jerked her hand free of the ridiculously long handshake, turned tail, and sprinted to the kitchen. She bobbled the cordless phone twice before managing to finagle it to her ear.
    “He-Hello?” She cringed at her breathless tone.
    “Hey, Joss.” Sadie chirped. “I know I haven’t been gone an hour yet, but I wanted to check in. Finn showed up as we were leaving, and you were still in the shower. I assume you know that by now.” The tint of remorse in Sadie’s voice was overshadowed by her obvious excitement for her date.
    “Yeah. Great, thanks for the heads up.”
    “I know. I’m sorry. I promise I didn’t call him to play babysitter. Archer did.”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “I won’t harass you with phone calls now that Finn’s there. But make sure he doesn’t crank up the new surround sound Archer installed too loud. It’s pretty intense, and since I finally have new neighbors I’d rather not rattle those flimsy walls and scare them off the first week.”
    “Pretty intense, is right.” Joselyn mumbled.
    “Oooo. Okay. I think we’re here. Play nice, now. Love you!”
    “You too. Have fun.” Joselyn disconnected the call and tried to shake off the nervous energy still making a mockery of her cool and confident