Santa Wore Leathers: The sexiest firefighter Christmas romance of the year!

She bent to grasp the end of her dog’s leash. “Yes, I do.”

He extended his hand when she straightened. “Dan Wolford.” His dimple flashed again and his smile did all kinds of twitchy things to her insides. “Most people simply call me Wolf.”

I’ll just bet they do.

She glanced at his hand for a second. No need to be rude, even if she didn’t care for his cavalier attitude toward women. She did the polite thing. “Welcome to the neighborhood, Dan.”

“Wolf, please.” His large paw enveloped hers, and warmth spread upwards from her stomach, did a backflip and then dove downwards. Meanwhile, his dark gaze assessed her entire body and face, as if she were the most dazzling woman in sweaty running clothes he’d ever seen. His solitary dimple winked along with his thousand-watt smile. One dark eyebrow rose as if he were waiting for her to share her name. She wasn’t sure why she hesitated. She was reluctant. Fueled by his cocksure attitude, no doubt. Now there was a cliché, if ever she’d heard one.

His thumb rubbed slow, lazy circles over her knuckles detonating sensual signals straight to her core. Oh, he was good at this magnetism stuff.

Wolf glanced at her prancing, panting dog. “Einstein, does your owner have a name? It looks like she’s not sharing today.”

Oh, for Pete’s sake.

Einstein whined, his tongue lolling crooked from his mouth.

“Huh, looks like Einstein’s not talking either.” She tugged her hand free. “Excuse me. I have Christmas shopping planned for this afternoon. I better get going.” She pivoted toward her front door.

“Have a good day, Becca Sinclair.” His deep voice washed over her, sending an annoyed shiver up her spine. So the man knew her name all along and was just playing dumb. Was that sneaky arrogance or stalker-creepy?

She glared at him over her shoulder. “If you knew my name, why’d you make a big deal out of asking for it?”

He shrugged and looked down for a beat before aiming his dark eyes at her again. “When a man finds a strange woman attractive, he asks around until he finds out something about her. Mrs. Minelli, two doors down, fears you’ve been pining away for your ex-husband.”

Sneaky stalker creepy.

She turned, snapped her fingers once and Einstein sat at her feet before she planted her hands on her hips. “I don’t appreciate being the topic of neighborhood gossip, Dan Wolford.” Her earlier blog post came to mind, but she mentally swiped it away like a nasty bug on a windshield. On her blog, he and anyone else she wrote about remained anonymous. No one knew exactly who these men were or if they even existed. No harm; no foul.

His smile slid from his face and he stepped toward her. “Mrs. Minelli also said you never smile anymore. I can see she’s right. Look, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

She turned to leave and he reached out to grab her arm.

Einstein growled deep in his throat.

In response, Wolf’s hand slipped into his pocket. “Before you go, I’m having a party tonight for my birthday. Nothing big. Family and a few guys from the station. You’re more than welcome to come.”

He has to be kidding. No way am I spending an evening with him, birthday party or not. “Sorry, I have plans.” A pizza and a romance book. “Have a good day, Mr. Wolford.” Clearly she needed to establish some boundaries with this guy. She strode the few feet to her door. Einstein followed.

“Becca, the name’s Wolf,” he called after her.

“Whatever,” she waved her hand in dismissal, “Mister Wolford.”

His deep, warm laughter swept over her like a balmy breeze off the Gulf of Mexico. In response, her temper whirled hot like a cyclone and her fingers curled into fists. Damn, what an arrogant man.

“Seven o’clock. No need to bring a gift. Having you there will be present enough.”

Seriously? Couldn’t the man come up with more original material? Was this how he spoke to every woman to coax them into his bed? And wasn’t that a sad commentary on the brainpower of the female gender if even one fell for it?

“Don’t hold your breath, Fluffy Daddy,” she yelled as she slipped her key in the lock.

He laughed harder. “Make it seven, baby.”

Seven, my ass.

Chapter 2 (#uf488b9af-e68b-5543-9556-ead914fa2187)

He shouldn’t have pushed her like that. Hell, he’d be lucky if his attractive neighbor ever spoke to him again. But, wow, how dazzling she’d looked with that brimstone flashing from her hazel eyes. For some reason, the more he talked, the more they sparked. It was almost as if she were pissed at him before he even opened his mouth. But, why?

Wolf’s four younger sisters had initiated him into the mystifying workings of the female mind. His naturally intuitive nature responded fairly well to their fluctuating moods. Once more his gaze shifted to Becca’s front porch. Her body language had been one of total disdain and he hadn’t responded well to it at all. In fact, he’d egged her on. “Yanked her chain,” as April, the oldest of his four sisters, would say.

No doubt he should go next door and apologize for acting like such an ass. Maybe then he could convince the auburn-haired beauty to come to his party tonight. In the two weeks he’d lived here, she’d jogged past his window several times. Her beauty dazzled him. Her long legs were too distracting. And the tales Mrs. Minelli, an elderly neighbor, told about Becca’s giving nature charmed him too. He’d never cared much for self-centered women.

He strode to her townhouse, rang the doorbell and waited.

Finally, her door opened and he was greeted with a scowl. “What?” She tugged the lapels of her short white silky robe together.

“I…ah…” His gaze snagged on all those ample curves showcased by the slinky material. “I…ah…”

“You said that already.” She fisted a hand on her hip.

Einstein cannonballed around Becca with something red clamped in his jaws. He streaked across the grass, his strong muscles propelling him as he circled both of their yards.

“Get back in here!” Becca pointed into her house.

Einstein loped across the grass and shrubbery, ignoring his owner’s command.

Maybe if he acted the hero and returned the pet to its owner, he’d gain a few brownie points. “Stay here. I’ll get him.” Wolf took off after the dog.

Seeing he was being chased only made Einstein run faster. Wolf followed him twice around the yard in front of Becca’s house. The dog leapt over a flowerbed and stopped, his head lowered, shaking his prize, his hind end elevated, wiggling in excitement.

“Give me that.” Wolf stepped to the right around the flowerbed. The dog trotted to the left. In a quick move, he sprinted to the left and the dog dashed to the right. “Think you’re smart, don’t you?” He could have sworn the dog smiled.

Wolf leapt across the blooms, hoping to grab the smartass canine. Once he’d grabbed the collar, they rolled, and Einstein yelped. Wolf grimaced as he, too, rolled across a low-growing cactus and into the trunk of a palm tree. “Dammit.”

The dog whined and dropped the fabric to lick and bite at the prickly thorns in his groin.

“Easy now, Einstein.” Wolf cooed as he slipped his Swiss army knife from the front pocket of his jeans.

“What’s wrong? What’s going on? What are you doing with that knife?” Becca tugged on the hem of her short robe and glanced up and down the street as if she thought to run out into the yard.

“Stay where you are. He’ll be fine. He’s got some thorns in his hide.” Wolf removed the tweezers stored in a slot in the knife and began extracting the offending needles. “We can’t have an awesome fella like you in pain now, can we?” He worked as quickly as he could. “One more, big guy, and then you’ll be fine.” The dog licked him several times. “Yeah, I like you too. Let’s keep what I’m about to do just between us, shall we?” He ran his fingers over the affected groin area, keeping his attentions on the dog’s reactions. “Looks like we got them all.”

“What in blue blazes are you doing to that dog? Are you performing some kind of ‘beasty-wildy’ on him?” Mrs. Minelli, his neighbor, punctured the air with her cane, her white eyebrows arched in question.

He fought the urge to laugh. “No, Mrs. Minelli. I was taking out thorns.”

She cocked her head to the side, her cataract-clouded eyes widened. “In his penis?”