Unwrapped: A Steamy Holiday Romance Paperback

It's the holidays at MetroGen, and the wedding of year is right around the corner. However, not everyone is on their best behavior. A few drinks and a Merry Christmas wedding shower will get the party started.

And that's even before the naughtiness of the New Year's Firefighter Ball! Get your fan and prepare for a cold shower because you jaw will be dropping when the ball does. (hmm, did that sound too dirty?) Join our sexy firefighters, dirty doctors, and naughty nurses for the drama of the season.

“Uncle Raymond, I see you met Fabian,” Cassie approached, and her uncle guiltily put his phone away. Most members of the family usually stopped him before he shared his latest hobby over eggnog.

“Hey, paixão.” Fabian put his arm around her, kissing her cheek.

Only Fabian could make an overly loud red Christmas sweater look hot due to the muscles Cassie knew were underneath. She’d deliberately chosen not to coordinate with him, lest they give off the weird ‘pod people’ matchy vibe that weird, out to prove themselves couples tended to trot out.

“Nice guy you have here,” Uncle Ray backed off quickly.

“Gotta catch up with your mom. Besides, Mel is here.”

Cassie watched him go as Fabian asked, “Who’s Mel?”

“His ex. What did he show you? I’m sorry if it was his moles.”

“I missed moles?” Fabian let his hand fiddle with the passionflower necklace he’d given her last Christmas.

“What’s a family party without moles?”

“My best friend, Kyra, vowed never to come back.” Cassie glanced up at him. “What was he showing you?”

“His possessed cricket collection.”

“What? Did you say ‘cricket collection?’”

“‘Possessed cricket collection.' If I followed his line of reasoning, he believes the movie Cloverfield is based on the encoded messages from Pinocchio.” Fabian lifted his hands in a helpless gesture.

“Cloverfield? Is that a place?” Cassie couldn’t follow this line of reasoning.

“It’s a horror movie. New York is destroyed by a praying mantis-cricket alien. I have the DVD.” Fabian had pretty eclectic taste in movies.

“Of course you do. If only we had a DVD player, instead of stacking them around the house.”

“Look, paixão. I can just order us a DVD player, and then we can watch—”

“No. We don’t need a DVD player too. But let me get this straight. Uncle Ray showed you pictures of dead crickets?” Cassie’s family was not showing their best side today.

“He has a few thousand. I guess he feels Jiminy Cricket isn’t letting his conscience be his guide.”

“We have to leave. Now.”

“Why? I’m having a good time.” Fabian frowned at her. “I didn’t think I’d miss my family this much when they left the country.”

Fabian’s sisters had remote tech jobs and his parents were retired. When he’d told her his ‘people’ were tropical people, he hadn’t been joking.

“We zoomed them.”

“It’s not the same,” Fabian said, though a three-month trip to Brazil wasn’t possible for a working firefighter. “How are you doing?”

“Still a failure. Can we leave?” Cassie asked.

“How can you be a failure?”

She didn’t get a chance to answer because Uncle Ray hadn’t been lying. Auntie Mel was bearing down on them, intent on getting more intel.

Stepping up to them, Auntie Mel’s eyes lit up with interest. “So, this is Fabian. The firefighter.”

“Lieutenant Fabian Santos, at your service, ma’am.” He gave her a little tilted bow without removing his arm from Cassie. “You are?”

“Cassie’s Aunt Mel. I was with Uncle Raymond a while ago,” she said.

It was interesting how she stated that since they’d dated fifteen years ago and had two kids, before she’d cheated and moved to Detroit for a while. She was still invited every year and showed up when she felt like it.

Uncle Ray disliked her enough at this point, even he wasn’t going to show her cricket pictures—though Cassie admitted Mel had one of those sharp, pointed faces that reminded one of a praying mantis.

Or cricket.

“Oh, I met him. Nice guy. Had a good talk,” Fabian said pleasantly.

“Right. Now that Cassie’s introduced you to the family, is she going over to the Santos’s this year?”

“Not this year. My parents and sisters are in Brazil for the winter.”

“It’s summer there,” Cassie said. “I’ve already met his family.”

Via Zoom, but that counted.

“Why aren’t you two in Brazil then?” Mel suggested, a thinly veiled comment that Cassie and Fabian weren’t solid enough.

“Firehouse 10 and the ER need us for the holidays,” Fabian said. “I’m working Christmas and Cassie’s working the day shift starting on Christmas Eve.”

“They’d better pay you extra,” Mel huffed. “It’s wrong for a couple to put their jobs first.”

“We’ll make up for it the next week,” Cassie said.

“The two of us home together,” Fabian seconded.

“Oh, you two live together?”

“Hey, Fabian, did you try Uncle Jackson’s sweet potato pie?” Cassie decided she was done with this line of questioning—again.

“I loved the last four. Why not this one? Bye, Mel.” Fabian followed her lead to the stacked table of ham, cookies, and twelve different sweet potato pies.

Cassie found a paper plate and selected a pie at random. “Enjoy.”

“Are you okay? Is it the living together? You said you told your parents.” He’d moved into Cassie’s house in October.

“I did. And they’re fine. Mostly.” Cassie hunted for a clean fork. “Pretend you love it.”

“I’ve eaten way worse at the firehouse.” Fabian took a forkful. “What’s the issue?”

“Mel would have asked when you’re proposing or if we’re having kids. If you hesitated, she’d keep going for more details, and then she’d go tell my mom and every other person here.”

“The long-term plan is—”

“Yes, but then it will become about the WHEN. ‘If he’s so sure, why hasn’t he done it? Why buy the cow when the milk is free?’” Cassie’s voice raised a pitch.

Fabian’s brows drew together. His easygoing nature had a few trigger points and making Cassie upset was one of them. “Did anyone say that to you?”

“Umm, three chats ago…” Cassie didn’t want to make her family sound horrible. It was how most families were, getting into each other’s business. But she hadn’t expected it to be this constant.

For some reason, she’d imagined finally showing up with a guy who adored her on her arm would have spared her the ‘sad single girl’ talks she usually got.

“Are you being serious?”

“Yes. Obviously having a good job, a retirement plan, and a house isn’t enough. Not without the guy and the kids. Even if said guy moved in with me to MY house and not the other way around. If there’s no wedding, I’m worthless.” Cassie said. “Let’s leave.”

He set down the pie. “You aren’t worthless, and we can’t leave. There’s still three more hours on for the party.”

“Come up with an excuse. You’re a firefighter. There’s an emergency. A building is on fire.”

Her boyfriend shook his head. “Cassie, I spent the last hour telling your whole family I have the whole day off to spend with them. Because you are important to me.”
Her phone beeped three times, and Cassie checked her messages.

“Wow, Kyra.” The entire screen filled up with texts to the point that Cassie had to scroll through four messages. “Well, I guess that will work for an excuse.”

Fabian peered over her shoulder. “Kyra? Did she write you a novel?”

“These are highly detailed instructions.” Cassie started to beam. “Great news. It’s wedding time.”

“Wedding? Didn’t we just say we’re not—”

“Not our wedding. Or at least not yet. I’d love to have one, but I’m talking about The Wedding.”

His eyes became slits. There was only one event in Cleveland called ‘The Wedding.’ “Kyra wants you to help with The Wedding?”

Another one of Fabian’s sore spots might have been Fire Chief Baker. Not the man himself but more of his effect on Fabian’s life. First, Baker had unintentionally discouraged Fabian from pursuing Cassie for three years. Then Cassie had later failed to disguise her open admiration of how steaming hot the blonde chief was.
Fabian had not appreciated her joke about the fire chief being her ‘free pass.’

Except it was only a joke. Chief Baker was publicly marrying one of his female firefighters in what was sure to be the Valentine’s Day wedding extravaganza of the year. The entire city could not get enough gossip and info on preparation for The Wedding. The British Royals had nothing on the coverage Cleveland, MetroGen Hospital, and the Fire Department were putting out for public consumption.

Cassie might have been following their Pinterest, Instagram, X, TikTok, and Facebook accounts. Nor should anyone ask her if she checked regularly for a new bridal party member profile. Aiden Clarke still needed one, and Luna Rodriguez’s was so depression. Dead parents. Dead uncle. Alone in the world.

“Your family is going to accept helping with The Wedding as an excuse to ditch the once a year family party?”

“You and the rest of the firefighter guys can pretend this wedding stuff is beneath you, but trust me—EVERYONE else is obsessed. Including my parents and everyone here." Cassie scrolled the message. “Kyra says I need to help set up the bridal shower, and that she wants you to stop by to help at the anti-bridal shower.”

“What is an anti-bridal shower?”

“According to her, it’s whatever the guys do during the bridal shower. They probably just need you to pour beer or something.”

“I’ve barely had time to meet your parents, let alone talk to them.”

“You’re fine. Employed, a lieutenant, and have all your teeth. Standards are different for guys.”

He hesitated for a few seconds. “Cassie. This is a family event. We should stay. I can handle more moles, crickets, and pushy aunts.”

“You might be able to, but I can’t.” Suddenly in a much lighter mood, Cassie linked arms with Fabian and headed toward her parents to use the best excuse ever. She might not have been a doctor or a lawyer, but she had connections no money could buy.