Her Secret Santa

By Jill Shalvis

A Very Naughty Holiday!

Playing Sexy Games…at Christmas!

At Christmastime, arson investigator Ally Dauer runs the toy drive. A job made all the moreinteresting now that sexy firefighter Eddie Weston has volunteered to bring over presentsfrom the firehouse. Except each box he brings includes a special gift, addressed to Ally,on top of the pile. Eddie swears the gifts aren't from him. Too bad, because these arevery special toys—for adults only!

Ally and Eddie start their own investigation to find Ally's secret Santa. And what betterway to begin than trying out the toys—on each other! It could be they'll never find outwho the merry holiday prankster is. But does it matter, when they're having the hottestChristmas ever?

Originally published in 2009.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harlequin Special Releases
• Release date: Dec 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781488024245

Jill Shalvis

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill’s bestselling, award-winning novels wherever books are sold and visit her website, jillshalvis.com, for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.

Book preview

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A Very Naughty Holiday!

Playing Sexy Games…at Christmas!

At Christmastime, arson investigator Ally Dauer runs the toy drive. A job made all the more interesting now that sexy firefighter Eddie Weston has volunteered to bring over presents from the firehouse. Except each box he brings includes a special gift, addressed to Ally, on top of the pile. Eddie swears the gifts aren’t from him. Too bad, because these are very special toys—for adults only!

Ally and Eddie start their own investigation to find Ally’s secret Santa. And what better way to begin than trying out the toys—on each other! It could be they’ll never find out who the merry holiday prankster is. But does it matter, when they’re having the hottest Christmas ever?

Originally published in 2009.

Look what people are saying about these talented authors

Jill Shalvis

Shalvis thoroughly engages readers.

—Publishers Weekly

Witty, fun and sexy—the perfect romance!

—New York Times bestselling author Lori Foster

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

USA TODAY bestselling author Jill Shalvis is happily writing her next book from her neck of the Sierras. You can find her romances wherever books are sold, or visit her humorous daily blog at www.jillshalvis.com, where she chronicles her I-Love-Lucy life.

HER SECRET SANTA

Jill Shalvis

For Rhonda Nelson, who dreamed up

Damon Claus in the first place.

I cherish your warm heart…

and your twisted sense of humor.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

CHAPTER 1

Thanksgiving Day

IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN the scent of pumpkin pie assaulting her senses, but instead, she was surrounded by the smell of scorched wood and melted steel. Arson investigator Ally Dauer carefully scanned the burned-out shell of what had only yesterday been a home improvement warehouse.

And then she found it. Gotcha, she murmured, crouching down for a better view of the dark triangle burn spot on the concrete floor.

A spot she’d be willing to bet was the origin of the fire.

She’d pulled on disposable gloves so as not to destroy evidence, but there was nothing to do about her clothes at the moment. Having been called away from Thanksgiving dinner with her parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins, she still wore her little black dress and favorite black heels.

The Dauers dressed for Thanksgiving.

They also fought, a lot. Except this year, she’d actually made it through the pre-dinner social hour and then meal itself without being tempted to use the gun she was licensed to carry. Then she’d been paged just before dessert, the best part of the evening.

That had sucked.

Promising herself a run for ice cream when she was done, she lifted the digital camera from around her neck and began snapping away while attempting to keep her dress down far enough on her thighs so as not to flash any of the other fire personnel around her.

Excuse me, Ms. Dauer?

Yes? She glanced over at a tall, well-built man. Ageless. Dark hair, dark eyes. Wearing black trousers and a blue button up, looking like he’d been trying for office casual, but not even the respectable clothes could hide the edgy, slippery air around him.

That was odd.

She was on a fire scene, and possibly a crime scene, as well. No one was allowed but personnel, but she didn’t recognize this guy. Her job was half-firefighter, half-cop, and the cop part of her kicked in now. Who are you?

Damon Claus, he said, quickly flashing a department badge. I just wanted to let you know that your toy drive has been shifted from your jurisdiction to mine.

It took her a minute to shift gears, going from an arson investigation to…toys. The annual toy drive was an unofficial part of her job. And since the official part of her job revolved around bad guys doing bad shit, she’d really been looking forward to the toy drive. Why?

Damon lifted a shoulder, noncommittal.

She narrowed her eyes, unwilling to concede. She loved Christmas, or at least the idea of it. Making sure every kid in Santa Rey had a gift was a mission she’d wanted. I don’t recognize you. What do you do again?

Toy director.

At that she laughed, relieved. Brushing off her hands, she stood up and looked around. You at it again? she yelled out to an invisible prankster. I’ve been here six months already! Determined to ignore the on-going hazing that came with being the lone woman in a sea of men, she went back to work, ignoring Damon Claus. When he’d walked off, she once again lost herself in the work, shifting through the melted metal and blistered paint for more clues, alternating between taking notes and pictures.

It was definitely arson, she eventually decided, looking at this like she always did, like a puzzle that needed solving. Fires like this, hell most fires, did not start on their own. She already knew, from her initial research, that the company that owned this warehouse had been struggling financially for nine months. This was their third warehouse to have an unexplained fire.

She had no doubt that the insurance company would cry foul and launch their own investigation, as well.

Ally walked through the rest of the warehouse and out the back, where there were rows and rows of building material, most of it destroyed. The economic down turn had pretty much crashed and burned the building industry here in Santa Rey.

Then, out of the corner of her eyes, she caught a flash of movement. A small man, she thought, or maybe a teenager. Hey, she called out. This is a crime scene—

The crack of a gun being fired answered her, and then the resounding ping of the bullet finding a home over her head in the steel frame of the warehouse behind her as she dove for cover.

At this rate, she was never going to get dessert!

When she heard running footsteps, she tossed aside her camera, pulled her gun from her thigh holster, and took off after the man, yelling behind her for back up in the form of Tommy, her boss, the head of Arson Unit.

She caught sight of her perp at the far back corner of the yard. He was limping, and swearing and sweating as he tripped over something and hit the ground hard.

Definitely a teenager.

She’d just about reached him when he leapt up and attempted