For today's Sneak Peek Sunday, I'm offering the first look ever into one of my current works in progress. This is from my upcoming paranormal romance novel 'Playing with Fire'.

Oh yes, she was missing him, and that was probably the strangest thing of all. It wasn’t something physical, although merely thinking about their kisses and fantasizing about the possibilities had her tingling and her inner flames soaring higher. There was some raw need inside her to be with him, not unlike how she felt whenever she was close to fire. She wished she knew why she was falling in love with this man. How much did she know about Joshua? His name, his age, his current address, his signature. Any of these could be faked. She didn’t even have his bloody phone number, and here she was acting all pathetic like a naïve girl in a lovey-dovey relationship. Neither of them had confessed their feelings and she had no idea whether his were anywhere close to hers. Heck, if truth be told, she had no idea what exactly she was feeling either. If you stripped away the top layers of attraction, of finally having somebody show interest in her and knowing her true nature, and of having found a sort of teacher and role model, what was left? When she pondered on it, her eyes seeing but not really processing the people crisscrossing the leisure area with all its benches and food stalls and street artists, she found reason after reason why she felt that magical pull toward him.

The quiet confidence he carried himself with that sometimes hid behind patronizing aloofness and annoyed her, but boiled down to something she wishes she possessed too. The way he’d half-smile and half-grin and look so roguishly handsome, younger and at the same time older than he was. The fact that he liked to read and was obviously cultured and well educated and full of interesting knowledge that he’d share if she showed some interest.

The most important factor? That he was different and special and a true match for her. Where she would have to hide a part of herself, turn things down, live with fear and conform to certain standards with any other man, Joshua would understand and accept and give as much of himself in return.

Exactly that was what had her frown and bite her lip. Was she loving what he stood for and not what or who he was? If somebody who could morph into a werewolf, belonged to vampire lore or was a wizard of some sort turned up tomorrow, would she feel the same and throw herself at the man and into a tempting relationship? Or was she really falling for him? Did she miss having him around and long to get to know him better because he was all she had? And, oh God, what did his view of the picture look like? Were the same motives spurring him along or was he in love with her for other reasons, understandable and good or not? Was he in love with her at all?