Excerpt of Winters Heat by Cristin Harber

"Excerpt: First Kiss Between Colby Winters and Mia
Kensington. They’re in a truck, driving down a deserted
highway after a gunfight.

She smelled like vanilla and sugar, even after the hell
she’d been through that day. Her soft hair brushed up
against his bare bicep. Unsettled need prickled down his
neck. His throat tightened, and fire ran to his groin.

“Mia…” Distraction and anticipation stole words from his
lips.

His heart pounded loud in his chest, fighting for his
attention. With each flutter of her eyelashes and innocent
movement against his skin, his tension spiked. It was
shocking. He was on the job. There was no time for
distraction. Losing control was unheard of. Unacceptable.

His arm was cemented around her shoulder, and it wasn’t
moving. He stared as the broken white lines on the highway
passed in quick revolutions, one right after another. The
hum of the truck’s engine poked at his concentration.

He needed to get out of this truck. He needed cool, fresh
air to cover him. Right now. Deep, mind-clearing breaths
were in order as soon as possible. Anything to get his
disciplined mind back to what it did best—analyze, act,
accomplish.

Winters made a sharp exit off the highway onto an unlit
ramp. He jammed on the brakes. Gravel spit from under the
truck. The back end skidded and fishtailed before it came to
a stop. His heart thumped. His throat tightened. The faint
scent of burned rubber filtered into the pickup cab.

Oh, what the hell. No way was he getting out of this truck.

As fast as he pulled off the road, he brought her close to
his face, and without even a second to hover over her, he
crushed his lips onto hers. Her tense mouth gasped a breath,
then melted. The hot caress of her tongue sent explosions
from his chest to the palms of his hands. The pounding in
his heart didn’t get any better. It only pushed his racing
pulse faster, making it gallop wild, as intoxicating rockets
flamed inside him.

Insanity. She was delicious insanity.

In between breathless pants, wicked want fired. Her lips
were full. Her kiss was better than he expected, and hell,
he expected a whole lot. She stoked him faster than he could
ever remember. A kiss unlike any other kiss. There was no
denying that.

He knotted a hand in her hair, held her to him, and devoured
her. The press of her silken flesh made him hunger for more.
His breathing deteriorated into a desperate rasp of torture.
With each inhalation, he smelled, tasted, and consumed
feminine beauty. This angel was a vixen in disguise, and God
help him, he wanted her.

Her small hands wrapped into his T-shirt, then she stroked
his stomach, flexing her fingertips against the fabric and
straining against him. He dropped his lips to her neck, and
she moaned. That perfect purr fanned his desperation. Her
goose bumps flashed under his tongue’s caress, and she
shuddered with each whipping kiss.

She tasted of sweat and tear gas, of soft woman, and carnal
ambition. There wasn’t a timid thing about Mia. Who was he
to assume what she wanted? To think she needed soothing and
caring? It seemed all she needed was him. Hard. Tough.
Possessive.