The Fireman's Christmas Read online

  Next thing she knew, his jeans were so close she could have reached out to stroke them. But as incredibly tempting as that thought was, courtesy demanded she look up instead.

  "I'm sorry," she said, offering a tiny shrug. "I wasn't really waving at you. I was trying to order a salad."

  A wrinkle appeared between his eyebrows. "You mean you're not Tessa Doherty? You sure look like you're supposed to be."

  Her mouth dropped open, partly in surprise and partly at the thrill of hearing her name spoken in the sexiest baritone she'd ever heard. "Huh?"

  "Never mind." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked sheepish. "It's my turn to apologize. I thought you were someone I was supposed to meet. I'll get a waiter for you."

  "No. I mean…don't do that."

  "You don't want a salad?"

  "No…yes…I do want a salad, but don't call the waiter just yet." Tessa sighed. She was beginning to smell a rat. "You may as well sit down."

  Confusion clouded his expression for an instant, then he smiled. Tessa almost bit her lip at the sight. Perfect, dazzling teeth nearly blinded her, even in the restaurant's dim light. And was that a dimple? A small one, to be sure, but a dimple nonetheless. She had to hand it to Rhonda. She sure could pick 'em.

  The gorgeous specimen pulled a chair out and sat down. "You are Tessa Doherty, aren't you?"

  She raised an eyebrow. "How ever did you guess?"

  His grin widened as he reached across the table to take her hand. Apparently sarcasm was lost on him.

  "Hi, I'm Danny Santori. Rhonda gave me a pretty good description, but you had me going for a minute there. Didn't she tell you I managed to work things out so we could meet tonight?"

  His hand was warm and calloused. His eyes twinkled with suppressed humor. A tingling awareness raced up Tessa's arm, halting only when it reached the pit of her stomach. Good Lord, he was attractive! With that wavy dark hair and perfect tan, all he needed was an eye patch and cutlass and he'd be right at home on the set of a classic swashbuckling pirate movie.

  "Rhonda didn't tell me a thing." Tessa withdrew her hand, shaking her head reluctantly. "She knows better."

  Her cryptic comment didn't seem to faze him at all. He nodded and grinned. "She didn't actually tell me much more than the bare bones of your situation. Only that you're just about as desperate as me."

  Desperate? Tessa tried not to let her hackles rise. She was perfectly content with singledom. Only her interfering friends thought otherwise. "Look, Mr. Santini—"

  "Santori, but I prefer Danny. I thought Rhonda was supposed to meet us here, but I guess she figured we'd work out the details on our own."

  "And what details might those be?"

  He tipped his head sideways. One black lock fell over his brow. Tessa had the unsettling urge to push it back. For a moment she wondered if she might be a little hasty to let this one go.

  His grin widened. "You know…details like when and where, your house or mine. I've definitely got more bedrooms, but if you're not comfortable with that, we can always try your place."

  At that, Tessa's mouth dropped open again. "What—what…" she spluttered. She stopped and pulled herself together. "Mr. Santori…"

  "Danny."

  "Danny, I'm afraid Rhonda may have given you the wrong idea. I'm not really looking for anyone now."

  "You're not?"

  "Definitely not. And I have to tell you, I find this conversation moving a bit too fast for me." She grabbed her water and took a quick gulp.

  "I have a time crunch. I thought you did, too. I thought we could get business over with and then…"

  At his statement, Tessa choked on her water. She started coughing.

  "Hey, take it easy. You okay?"

  Tessa waved him away. His face clouded over, though instead of diminishing his appeal, it gave him the dark, brooding look of a hero straight off the cover of a novel. Tessa wondered how any man so gorgeous could be desperate enough to agree to a blind date. Probably because his arrogant assumptions turned off every woman he met.

  "Just dandy," she gurgled around another cough.

  His smile returned, not quite as bright as before but just as lethal. "So it isn't a total waste, at least we can have some dinner and talk. The manicotti here is excellent." He raised a finger to beckon a waiter. He winked at Tessa. "Who knows, maybe I'll change your mind."

  Mindful of the other patrons, Tessa placed both palms on the red-checked tablecloth and leaned forward, saying in her most determined yet whispering voice, "Look here, pal, perhaps you didn't hear me. I have enough to handle with two kids and a business. I don't have time for a relationship or…whatever other kind of business you think we're going to do."

  His eyebrows almost disappeared into the curls on his forehead. "A relationship?"

  "That's right."

  "Who the hell said anything about a relationship?"

  "You just propositioned me."

  "The hell I did."

  Tessa wasn't buying it. She crossed her arms and gave him her big bad mom stare. "Then what was all that bedroom stuff?"

  Danny clenched his jaw, flushing to the roots of his hair, but whether it was embarrassment or anger, Tessa couldn't tell. "I don't need to proposition strangers to get them into bed. I need a babysitter."

  "Then why did you…What did you say?"

  Danny overenunciated his words. "I…need…a…baby…sitter. Clear enough?"

  Tessa's chin almost hit the table for the third time before she recovered enough to snap her jaw shut. She wrinkled her nose in confusion. "I need a babysitter, too."

  "I know. That's what Rhonda told me."

  "She did?"

  "Yeah, isn't that what she told you?"

  Tessa shook her head. "Rhonda didn't tell me anything except that she had the answer to my problem. She's always trying to fix me up, so I thought she meant—"

  "A date? With you?"

  "Well, you don't have to say it like that," Tessa said, looking around to see if anyone was staring.

  "I never accept blind dates. Too risky." A sharp shake of Danny's head emphasized his point.

  Tessa crossed her arms over her chest, trying to seem secure and well in command of the situation, but positive she'd just made a complete fool of herself. "I agree," she snapped. Just then the waiter appeared carrying a tray laden with a bottle of Chianti, two glasses, an antipasto plate and a basket of bread sticks. With a flourish he placed them on the table, then leaned over to uncork the wine. "How ya doin', Danny? Put out any fires lately?"

  Danny took a deep breath as he slid Tessa a look from under his lashes. "More all the time, Jorgi. How's school going?"

  The young waiter rolled his eyes. "Okay, I guess. Already I'm working on Mama's books. But me, I'd rather be a fireman like you, so I can be a hero and have dates with beautiful women."

  Danny's deep, resonant chuckle curled Tessa's toes. "Trust me, Jorgi. There are plenty of days when I wish I were an accountant. And this isn't a date."

  Jorgi flashed a brilliant smile that showed exactly what he thought of that. "It should be, man. What's the matter with you?"

  Danny gave him a stare that had Jorgi hurriedly asking, "You want the usual?"

  "Maybe we should ask what the lady wants so we don't have any more confusion. Tessa?"

  Trying to regain some dignity, Tessa reached for her purse on the chair next to her. "I'm not very hungry, thank you. I'm just going to—" She started to rise, but her stomach chose that moment to let out a roar worthy of the MGM lion.

  Danny sat back in his chair and lifted a quizzical eyebrow. "Not hungry, huh?"

  Tessa sat down, placed her purse on the table and busied herself with her napkin to hide her mortification. "Maybe a few bites of something."

  "A few bites?" The dimple in Danny's cheek deepened as he smiled. "Bring the manicotti, Jorgi. We'd better feed the woman." The young waiter all but saluted as he sped away. "I hope that's okay with you, or should I call him back?"

 
Tessa tried to give him a relaxed smile. "Sounds delicious."

  "It is and it's Mama's specialty," Danny said. "Look, Tessa, we got started wrong. Let's try again. We can sort this all out while we're waiting. In the meantime," he continued, "have a bread stick."

  Tessa threw up her hands. "I have no idea what's going on here, Mr. San…uh, Danny. I thought I was supposed to meet Rhonda for dinner, and instead you show up talking about how many bedrooms you have. Then you say this isn't a fix-up, which is probably good since the only thing we seem to have in common so far is we both have kids—"

  "And we both hate blind dates," Danny added solemnly.

  "So what are we doing here?" She grabbed a bread stick from the basket he held in front of her and sank her teeth into the perfectly crusted dough. After chewing ecstatically for a minute, she perked up. "God, this is good."

  He shoved the antipasto plate closer to her. "You eat and I'll try to explain before you decide to call the cops on me."

  As he took a breath to begin, Danny watched her with growing interest. He remembered that Rhonda had mentioned how attractive her friend was, but he hadn't paid attention at the time because it wasn't all that important to him. He sure was paying attention now.

  Even though she was sitting down he could tell that Tessa Doherty was tall for a woman, and slender. Her face was tanned a golden hue and the blond streaks in her light brown hair reminded him of the sun setting through the clouds. Her eyes were a warm, true hazel. The unique mixture of green and brown made him think of the earth and growing things.

  Except he'd never heard of a wood nymph putting away bread sticks quite the way Tessa did. She was already on her second one.

  Danny couldn't believe how fanciful he was getting. He took a bread stick of his own before they were gone. He cleared his throat. "Like Jorgi said, I'm a firefighter. I work out of Firehouse 173. I'm hoping to be transferred to another position in the fall, which would mean a change to more normal hours. Right now I work a twenty-four-hour shift, then have two days off before I'm on again. That's why I'm having so much trouble finding someone to watch my kids. Not many sitters want an erratic schedule or to spend the night, you know."

  Tessa gulped down an artichoke and nodded. "I can imagine. You're divorced?"

  His eyes shadowed. "Widower. Until recently my wife's great-aunt helped out with the kids, but she's seventy-two and needs hip surgery. She's with them now, but those long hours during my shifts are too much for her to manage. I need to make some other arrangements."

  "How old are your children?"

  "Alison's almost fourteen, Kyle and Kevin are ten and Emma is almost four."

  "Four kids?" She looked startled.

  Danny squirmed. "They're good kids. But…they can be a handful. Especially the twins."

  Tessa worked her mouth around a black olive. "Mine are twelve and seven. A boy and a girl. And even with two I'm overwhelmed half the time. I'm not sure how anyone can handle more than that."

  Her comment made Danny wonder if they were on the same wavelength after all. Maybe Rhonda had her wires crossed. He decided to try a different tack.

  "Rhonda told me you own your own business."

  "Mmm-hmm. Landscape design."

  "Fooling around with plants and stuff, you mean? Do you work full-time?"

  "As much as I can. I like to fool around with growing things." She glared at him as she picked up a bread stick, broke off a chunk and popped it into her mouth. After a moment she said, "But this is in my busy season, or what should be my busy season. I'm hoping to increase my client list by word of mouth. Not that it's looking too good at the moment. My most recent job was more difficult than I'd expected. I'm not sure my client is going to recommend my services."

  "Why not?"

  Tessa drained her wineglass. "As a matter of fact she almost fired me over a slight garden mishap that my kids caused. It was really awkward."

  "I'll bet."

  "She was kind of stuck because her daughter's getting married in that garden and she'd already paid me part of the fee. I had to drop my price to satisfy her, though."

  "Tough luck," Danny sympathized as he sipped his wine.

  Tessa sighed. "I'll say."

  "So who takes care of your kids while you're working?" Danny watched her out of the corner of his eye as he poured them each another glass of the excellent house wine.

  "I do—at least I have been since my babysitter moved into a retirement home last month. I can't really afford a sitter right now, but Mrs. Carey and I had an arrangement. I did her shopping and errands and she watched the kids when I needed her, which was most of the summer, actually. Since she moved, they've been going along on jobs with me. That's what caused my problem with Mrs. Sherbourne. No one else has objected but—"

  "It's not really working out anymore?"

  "Oh, you could say that. Plus, I'd get more done if they weren't around. I end up breaking jobs into two days when I might have finished in one. Still, what choice do I have?" Tessa hesitated, peered at him for a long moment, then muttered, "They were supposed to spend August with their father, but he decided to go to the Bahamas instead with his latest girlfriend—or maybe I should say his latest assistant."

  Danny took a slow sip of wine. Rhonda had mentioned Tessa's difficult divorce. He wondered if that was why she insisted she didn't want a relationship, or if, like him, she was simply too busy for the opposite sex.

  "One thing about having kids," Danny said as Tessa snagged another veggie, "you sure can't plan too far ahead. They're always coming up with somethi—Do you always eat like this?"

  Her eyes widened, and she gulped down the carrot sliver she had just put into her mouth. "Like what?"

  "Like a horde of locusts descending?"

  Tessa dropped her gaze to the empty plate and breadbasket, lifted her stricken expression to his, then smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. It's my metabolism. I burn it right off."

  "Then it's lucky for you the food's here."

  The next several minutes were occupied with Jorgi removing empty plates and arranging steaming platters of pasta and more fresh bread sticks on the table. Tessa sampled the manicotti with a rapturous groan, obviously relishing every bite, while Danny ate more slowly. "I can't imagine where you're putting all of that food," he said.

  Once Tessa had slowed down to the point where conversation was possible, Danny pushed his plate away and leaned forward.

  "Here's the situation as I see it," he began. "We both need dependable child care. If you'd consider watching my kids during my shifts, I can keep yours for an equal number of hours on the other days."

  Tessa looked skeptical. "Six children at once?"

  "Why not?" Danny shrugged. "It's not like either one of us isn't used to kids. The more the merrier, my mom always used to say."

  "You have how many brothers and sisters?"

  Danny grinned. "Five, now scattered all over the country. And my mom ruled us with an iron hand. Never a problem."

  From the impish twinkle in his eye, Tessa felt certain he was exaggerating, but she couldn't help smiling back. "I'm sure that's true. Still, six children…"

  "Only for a day with two days in between—"

  "And nights."

  "And nights. The other days I'll watch them. What d'ya say?"

  His expression was a combination of wistfulness and roguish charm. Tessa wasn't sure which was more appealing, but she knew the intelligent thing to do was to give him an unequivocal no.

  "Maybe," she heard herself say, then wondered if it was the wine or the manicotti that had softened her brain. "Can you honestly trust your kids to someone you don't even know?"

  Danny frowned. "Of course not. But I trust Rhonda to vouch for you. I first met her at the E.R. on one of my hospital runs. I've known her for years. That's as good as going through a child-care service or putting an ad in the paper. We're getting to know one another now, aren't we? Come on, ask me anything."

  Even though Tessa was immediately s
uspicious of so much undiluted charm, his guileless expression slipped beneath her defenses. A smile nudged her lips. "What do your kids think of this…possible arrangement?"

  "I haven't had a chance to tell them yet, since I only talked to Rhonda today. But it might be a good idea to let the kids meet each other before we firm anything up. How's tomorrow?"

  "Whoa!" Tessa leaned back in her chair. "I said maybe. I need some time to mull this over."

  "I suppose a maybe is better than nothing. How long do you need?"

  His dark eyes captured hers, sending another wave of warmth spreading from her cheeks all the way down to the pit of her stomach, which made her uneasy. After Colin she'd sworn off men with charming smiles and dark melting looks.

  "I don't know. I'll have to think about it."

  Danny gave her a puzzled look. "You have to think about how much time you'll need to think about it?"

  Tessa stared at him. "No, I have to think about the consequences."

  "What consequences?"

  "Are you always this pushy?" Tessa asked in a prickly tone.

  "Sorry I'm late, guys." Rhonda's breezy greeting interrupted their conversation and was followed by a loud scraping sound as she dragged a chair over from a nearby table without missing a beat. "The E.R. was packed to the rafters when I left, and no one could figure out how to unjam the computer. I just might have to borrow your Eric someday for that, huh, Tess? Hey, you guys started without me!"

  "Tessa was hungry," Danny replied, eyes twinkling.

  Rhonda snorted. "So what else is new?"

  Since she owed her friend big-time for pulling this stunt, Tessa didn't feel at all guilty about eating without her. "I didn't think you'd make it," she explained. "In fact, I wasn't sure what you had planned for tonight at all. Your message was very brief. Unusually so."

  Her thorny comment caused Rhonda to smile crookedly. She spread her fingers through her hair, tousling her short red curls. "That's 'cause I was late already, and only had time to give you the basics after I talked to Danny. No, thanks," she said, waving Jorgi away as he approached with a menu. "I'll just grab something at home." She picked up Tessa's untouched water glass. "The whole idea was just too perfect. I don't know why I didn't think of it before."