A Firefighter in Her Stocking

Shaking his head, the man looked at his wife for confirmation and she said, “Never.”

The woman’s answer surprised Sarah and she glanced toward Jude, who looked as if he’d rather not be the topic of conversation.

“We were hoping the calendar would help him out. Guess it did.”

Expression terse, Jude made a slashing motion, trying to silence the man.

Curiosity piqued, Sarah arched a brow. “The calendar?”

“You don’t know?” The man slapped Jude on the back. “Hey, fellas, Davenport didn’t tell his girl about his modeling debut.”

Jude winced.

“What kind of modeling?” she asked the older man, who was all too eager to tell her.

“Here,” another said, coming over to join them. “We’ll show you.”

“Let’s not,” Jude interjected, sounding flustered.

“Oh, let’s,” another added, laughing and joining in as the first flipped the pages of a calendar. “Check out Mr. December.”

Jude did something Sarah had never seen him do.

He blushed.

Which made it difficult to look away from him to what the men were shoving in front of her. When she glanced down her eyes bulged at what she saw.

Jude Davenport in his fire uniform pants, boots, helmet, and suspenders, but no shirt.

She’d seen him shirtless.

That week.

She knew he boasted a major six pack.

But seeing the visual reminder in print stole her breath. There was nothing subtle about Jude. He was sexy. Seriously sexy.

Knowing his friends were waiting for a response from her, she glanced up and made a scolding noise with her tongue. “Now, honey, you know January is my favorite month, it being the beginning of a new year and all. December is so...commercialized.”

Looking relieved at her teasing, Jude shrugged. “December was all they’d give me.”

She flipped the calendar pages and let out a low wolf whistle when she got to January. “This guy from the Bronx fire department beat you out?” She gave a disappointed shake of her head, enjoying the men’s good-hearted laughter around her. “Clearly, you are way hotter than him. He must have paid off someone.”

“Clearly.” He leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to her lips.

“You must have this one hoodwinked, Davenport,” the man who’d brought the calendar over accused with a big grin.

“Nah, she’s a smart one. A doctor.”

Sarah tried not to beam under Jude’s praise, but she puffed out a little at the pride she heard in his voice.

“I think I feel sick,” a male voice said from somewhere in the crowd. “I need some mouth to mouth.”

Wow. Sarah needed to go back to the mall and give Cher a bigger tip than the generous one she’d slipped into the girl’s hand. Obviously, she’d performed miracles.

Subtly sexy.

Sarah would take it.