Showing Going Down (Holding Out for A Hero, #1) by Shelli Stevens

One man wants her heart. The other wants her dead...

Holding Out for a Hero, Book 1

Eleanor Owen needs to get out of Chicago and quick. It's not that she doesn't want to obey the subpoena to testify against her drug-trafficking ex-boyfriend. It's making it to the witness stand alive, should a dirty cop make good on his threats.

Tiny, remote Wyattville, Oregon, looks like the perfect place to disappear, but it's hard to blend into the woodwork when one of the town's infamous namesakes sends her heart racing. Worse, Mr. Tall, Hot and Packing is the town sheriff, which means she should stay as far away from him as possible.

Tyson Wyatt is positive the sexy new girl in town is hiding something. Question is, what? He vows to feel out her secrets--including what she feels like beneath him. Preferably naked. Until then, he's not buying the story she's selling.

Their chemistry is sheet-melting hot, and Ellie realizes much too late that the man with the badge is as dangerous to her heart as her ex is to her life...


Warning: A city girl on the run, and a small-town sheriff set to seduce. Explicit sex. Dirty talk. A hint of danger. Oral sex with a cupcake.


Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.


Eleanor made a beeline for the bathroom, grabbing a small towel and running it
under the water. Before she could tend to the scratch, the sheriff was right behind her.

He took the towel from her hand.

"Let me," he said softly and caught her wrist, lifting her palm upward so he could dab it with the cloth.

Her pulse fluttered again as she watched him gently cleanse the small wound, his face crinkled with concentration.

She was way too attracted to him, Ellie realized with unease. Oh, this guy was
trouble and in a big way. For the briefest second, she thought about packing up and fleeing town the moment he left--if he left and was convinced that she was some criminal.

But packing up and leaving just wasn't an option, or would have to be a worst-case scenario one. She'd already paid rent for two months on this place. Cash. And she didn't have bottomless funds.

"How's that feel?"

She blinked out of her thoughts to discover he was watching her closely again
instead of her wound.

"It's fine," she managed to reply huskily. "Thank you."

He stepped closer, leaning forward to drop the washcloth in the sink, but not
moving away after. Their chests almost touched and his face was just inches from hers.

Ellie's body stirred with awareness at his proximity, her nipples tightening beneath her tank top. She licked her lips, acutely aware of the thin cotton covering her bare breasts.

"How long do you plan on being in town?" he asked softly, his gaze on her mouth.

Her heart thumped wildly and she had the craziest urge to lean forward and press her mouth against his.

"Probably just a couple of months. Getting out of the city for the summer..."

"Well then, Ellie," he murmured. "I have a feeling we'll be seeing each other again real soon. So you'd better get over that distrust of law enforcement bit."