You would think your boss showing up out of the blue at an event that was her gig and not mine would have been a good thing. In a perfect world, she would have smiled and urged me to go home before thanking me for everything I had done.

But it wasn’t a perfect world.

Not that I could complain.

Not when she oohed and aahed over the work I had done. Not when she was extremely happy and proud of the work I’d accomplished in such a short time.

“Daisy, this is incredible!” Karen fawned, a bright smile pasted on her face.

“I thought you were snowed in.”

“I did too. Until someone gave me a ride on their private plane.” She winked, her cheeks flushed slightly pink, and I wondered what or who might have put that there.

“Fancy.” I winked good-naturedly.

“Long story. I promise I’ll tell you more. But honestly, Daisy, honey, you did an amazing job. The ballroom looks incredible!” she gushed again, and I smiled sincerely, receiving her words like a kindergartner receiving a gold star from her teacher. “You did amazing!”

“Thank you!

“By the way, I saw the bachelor auction list. You scored Gabe Blanco?” Her eyes were wide and sparkling, and for a second I wondered again how everyone but me seemed to know this guy.

“Umm. Yes.” I tried to sound confident.

“The Gabe Blanco?” she repeated, and I nodded, feeling her enthusiasm.

“Yeah. His sister was one of the volunteers, and she talked him into it.” Or at least that’s what I’d assumed. Suddenly, I was seriously nervous. What if she hadn’t? I needed to make sure with her.

“You have no idea who he is, do you?” she teased, and I shrugged. Karen knew me too well.

“No. I’m sorry. Sofi mentioned we needed fireman bachelors at the Firemen’s Ball, so I put two and two together, assumed he was a fireman.”

“Oh, no, Daisy.” Her eyes went wide with glee before she locked her arm with mine as we walked deeper into the bustling kitchen. “You put two and two together but only made three,” she shared in a loud whisper. “He’s more than a fireman. He’s going to be the next Beech Grove Fire Chief,” she shared in a hushed tone.

“Oh. That’s cool.”

“Cool?”

“Yeah, I mean, what a great way for him to serve his community. Great networking idea, though knowing Sofi, she probably saw that and that’s why she offered him in the first place,” I rambled. My stomach twisted this way and that way with nerves. I really needed to confirm with her.

“You haven’t met, have you?”

“No.”

“Shame. He’s very easy on the eyes.” She wagged her eyebrows.

“Hot, huh?” I giggled, and her eyes went wide with joy before going serious and turning to me.

“If I were ten years younger…” She winked conspiratorially, and I couldn’t help my laughter. I loved my boss.

“Karen!” I giggled shaking my head, playfully scolding her. She was an amazing woman to work for.

“Okay, let me see the magical clipboard,” she said when we reached the small poker table I’d set up as a makeshift office. I handed it to her, and she scanned through and grinned at me.

“You are going to give me a run for my money,” she ominously said with a wink. “This looks great! Go have fun.”

“Excuse me?” I mumbled, lost as to what she meant with ‘go have fun.’ I had work to do. With her here, I figured she would either go home, seeing everything was under control, or work with me.

“It’s New Year’s Eve, Daisy. Go.”

“Go where?” I questioned, trying to bat away the image of the sexy stranger and his warm gaze.

“Out there.” She laughed pointing toward the ball. “Have fun. This was my gig, and you have made it so easy, I will probably just sit here until it’s time for the auction.”

“But—"

“No buts or coconuts,” she giggled. “There is a free seat.” She looked at the seating chart and grinned ear to ear. “With your friends Ruby and Karina.” I knew there was. I had made the seating chart.

“I can’t go, I’m not really dressed for—"

“I have that taken care of.” She winked before she pointed at the wall.

A white garment bag hung from a hook. “Consider it a late Christmas gift.”

“What?” Is she crazy?

“I saw it, and it made me think of you. I realized in the rush of me leaving and getting everything packed up, I didn’t get you a Christmas present. That is my apology. Get dolled up and party tonight.” She winked. What is going on? There was no way I could do that.

“Are you Fairy Godmothering me?” I joked, unable to stop myself from walking toward the bag.

“Fairy Godmothering. I like that!” She laughed softly as I unzipped it. My breath hitched. I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. It was beautiful.

“Karen,” I whispered, “this… this is too much.” The tips of my fingers touched the glimmering material.

“Nonsense! You have gone above and beyond the call of duty. Not just tonight either. All year round. Though tonight, Daisy, you have to know, you blew it out of the water.”

“I was just doing my job,” I mumbled over my shoulder, glancing at my boss. “But this, it’s just too much.”

“I won’t hear of it. It’s perfect. That shade of red will look fabulous on you.”

“This is designer,” I croaked, taking in the label. Karen giggled. How could she giggle? This was a serious designer gown. “Karen, this is serious designer, designer. Stuff I only see in a magazine type designer.”

“I’m guessing you like it?”

“Like it? It’s beautiful! But, Karen, this is seriously too expensive—"

“Trust me, it wasn’t.” She winked. “Let’s just say I have great friends in fantastic places.”

“Fashionable places?”

“Very.” She took a seat in the folding chair by the table. “You and your girls remind me of them. How we used to be, before… before life changed and took us in different directions. I guess that’s why I felt the need to go home for Christmas this year.”

“Was it okay?”

“Honestly?” Her eyes softened. “I didn’t want to come back,” she admitted with a small smile. “Guess it made me realize how much I missed the people I left.” She shrugged but smiled brightly. “Enough of that for now. You need to go and get dressed! Your girls are out there, and I want you to have an incredible night.”

“Are you sure?” My hand skimmed the material longingly before I turned to meet her eyes. “There is still a lot of work to get done, and you just got in.”

“And you made my job super easy.” She pointed at the clipboard. “Go,” she urged. “Have fun for the both of us.”

Yesterday, I had gone home and thought of nothing but the beautiful woman in the crowd. She’d invaded my dreams as if I knew her intimately instead of someone who had simply caught my eye and then vanished into thin air.

Not ten minutes into arriving tonight, dressed to the nines in a monkey suit, she had all but fallen into my arms.

Like magic.

Jesus, magic? What the fuck was wrong with me? What kind of voodoo spell had she cast over me?

I could still smell the soft clean scent of her lotion on her skin. Damn, her skin. Soft and silky. A baser, more primal part of me wanted to know if the rest of her was just as soft. Oh hell, what if she is softer? Would that even be possible?

But it wasn’t just the softness of her skin or the way her body seemed to fit perfectly in my arms. There was also the raspy quality of her voice, an unexpected but pleasant surprise.

I still couldn’t get over the fact I’d held her.

She’d fallen right into my arms, and I was a lot of things, but an idiot was not one of them. I’d held on. Probably longer than was appropriate, seeing as we didn’t even know one another’s first name, but the temptation had been too great.

When she had put me in my place instead of batting her eyelashes or giggle girlishly like every other woman I’d known, she’d made my decision pretty easy. She’d called me on my behavior. My flirting. It might make me sick in the head, but it was sexy as hell. My gut was saying she’d be worth the chase.

Me, Gabe Blanco, looking forward to chasing after a woman. Who would have thought?

“Earth to Gabe!” Sofi hissed, snapping me out of my thoughts as I looked next to me.

We were in the ballroom sitting at our table. Frank Titan and the two women with him were accompanying us as table mates. A chair sat empty between Frank and me.

“Sorry, Sof.”

“What is with you?” she asked, concern written on her face.

“Nothing.”

“Are you still mad?” she asked, the smallest hint of concern on her face.

“Mad?”

“You know, about the thing I sorta volunteered you for?” She squished her face, trying look cute, and a wave of slight annoyance washed over me.

The auction.

“Don’t try to be cute. That shit might work on Mav, but I’m your older brother. I’m immune.” I should have trusted my gut earlier. I knew she was up to something.

“You need to get me off that list.”

“What?” she squeaked, her eyes narrowing.

“I’m not doing it.”

“You have to, Gabe,” she groaned.

“Sofia,” I warned, but I knew she wasn’t going to listen.

“Gabriel,” she mimicked my deep voice. “The police department has more volunteers for this than the fire department. You need to step up.”

“Sofia, I’m not going to—"

“My friend is the one organizing this whole thing. Last minute, might I add. She needed volunteers, Gabe.”

“Wait. Your friend?”

“Yeah. Daisy.”

“Dark hair, dark eyes, couple inches taller than you?” I questioned, not giving a shit I was showing too much interest and my little sister would use that to her advantage.

“Yes.” She studied me. I could see the wheels in her head turning, but I was too busy focusing on the fact my mystery girl had a name.

Daisy.

Daisy.

Fuck, that was as cute and pretty as she was.

“She needed a volunteer,” she repeated.

I would be helping her? I couldn’t step away if it was helping her, right? That would make a terrible impression, more than coming on too strong. But then again, I didn’t want to be auctioned off to someone else.

“Fine. But only if you promise to do me a favor,” I mumbled, a plan coming together in my head. If I was going to be sold off, I wanted to guarantee who I would be kissing at midnight.

I told her what I wanted, and by the glimmer in her eye, my sister was far too amused by me to turn me down.

She was going on about something or other, and I glanced way for a mere moment when everything in the world faded away. There she was.

My mystery girl.

My Daisy.

Mine? Get your head in the game, Blanco, I chastised myself. The woman who had me going crazy was walking toward the table.

She was no longer in sensible shoes and pencil skirt with white blouse and red cardigan, her hair in a high bun like she had been earlier.

She was a fucking vision.

A goddess.

A goddess in fire-engine red.

The dress she had on fit her like a glove. Not leaving much to the imagination about the curves she possessed. She had curves where a woman should. Tits and ass and hips that flared out, making a man’s mouth water to grip as he drove into her. The off-the-shoulder dress made me want to do wicked things to her bare skin.

Visions of endless possibilities filled my mind.

Standing behind her, brushing her lush, dark hair she was now wearing down to the side. Tracing her flesh with the pads of my fingers as I took in every reaction my touch caused. Taking my time over one side and then the other with my mouth. Soft kisses that would gradually get deeper, her taste infusing my blood. Licking and nipping until the taste of her skin was engrained in me.

She took another step, and my mouth fell dry when I caught a glimpse of more.

The dress had a slit. A high slit.

One that gave the tiniest peek of her tanned and toned thigh. My hands clenched tightly.

I was about to stand and walk over to her when our eyes met. She blinked once. Twice. Damn, I was jealous of her blinking because it impeded me from seeing her gorgeous eyes.

Fuck. What the hell had she done to me? I was saying shit like ‘impeded.’

“Daisy!” Ruby, Frank Titan’s daughter, called, and the eye contact was broken. Her attention back on who was obviously her friend. “That dress!”

“You look amazing!” Karina, Frank’s date, added.

“Karen came back early,” she shared. Her eyes glittered with amusement. “This”—she pointed down before turning around, making whatever blood I had left move to a southern extremity—“is my belated Christmas gift.” The girls gushed and fawned over her dress, my own sister chiming in.

Daisy’s eyes drifted to mine but all too quickly moved away as she smiled nervously at her girls. “She is going to take care of the rest of the night and wants me to have a good time. Her words.”

“Yes!” Ruby clapped, and Karina squeezed her hand.

“I know you would probably rather be at home than here, but we have two available seats at our table!” Ruby offered, and I wanted to buy her flowers of gratitude for placing my girl with us. Stop thinking of her as yours!

“Are you sure you guys don’t mind?” She worried her lower lip painted red, and damn, I wanted to kiss her.

“Of course not!” Sofia exclaimed. “Sit next to Gabe!” she suggested, earning herself a best little sister award.

“Please, Daisy,” I found myself saying as I stood up and pulled out the chair next to me before she could argue and end up at the far end next to her friends. “Sit with me.”

“Oh.” Her cheeks enflamed, and I wanted to see where else the blush would fall over her body. Later. “Okay,” she rasped before clearing her throat and moving closer to me.

She was close enough to touch, but I didn’t. I needed to keep my wits about me, so I breathed in deeply, filling every one of my senses with her scent. Taking in every detail about our height difference, how she looked in front of me as she sat and I pushed her seat in. She looked up at me and said thank you, but all I could wonder was if that’s what she would look like on her knees.

“Are you going to sit down?” she asked with a knowing smirk. She had absolutely caught me fantasizing over her.

“Of course.”

“So, you are the infamous Gabe Blanco?” she asked once everyone at the table seemed to be talking to one another.

Her big brown eyes were set on mine, and I found myself smiling wolfishly even though I worried what infamous might mean.

“You’ve heard of me?”

“Hmm.” Her eyes moved from my lips over my face. “I have. Thank you so much for volunteering for the auction by the way.”

“Yes. Anything for the community.”

“When my boss saw your name on the list, she was past excited.”

“Was she?”

“Rumor has it you are going to be the future fire chief of our wonderful city.”

“It’s just a rumor until I’m given the position.” I shrugged.

“It’s just a matter of time. He will get it,” Maverick decided to chime in. “We all know it. Our boy Gabe is a little too modest.”

“Modest, huh?” Daisy’s eyes widened with humor, and I didn’t blame her. She knew Mav was talking me up. I had come on pretty strongly before. “I would have never guessed,” she flirted low enough so only I would hear her.

I couldn’t resist. I dipped my head lower, shifting my body, my thigh now touching hers, the heat of her body radiating through mine, my lips hovering right over the shell of her ear.

“I’m sorry for earlier,” I softly whispered, not missing the way her skin seemed to pebble up in goose bumps.

“Earlier,” she whispered back, looking up. We were mere inches away from one another.

“I came on too strong.”

“Hmm.” She smiled and moved away from me, but I noticed she didn’t pull her leg away. “Changed your mind?” she asked, looking over her shoulder.

Changed my mind? The question repeated in my head, and I watched her blink.

Her eyes on mine, warm and sweet, it was like thunder hit my heart. I hadn’t even kissed her yet, but right then and there, my eyes on her, the gravity of the moment hit me. Who she was. The undefinable need to see her. To be near her. The way I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about her.

Changed my mind.

I almost wanted to laugh. She had no idea just how wrong she was.