Bad Boys Under the Mistletoe: A Begging for Bad Boys Collection

by Anthology

  We drove about fifteen minutes from the airport, following poorly maintained roads clogged with small cars and motorbikes. Eventually we got there, and I followed Langdon inside to the front desk.

  The resort hotel itself was amazing. It had a huge central foyer with a large reception desk. Langdon went straight to it as if he knew precisely where he was going. After he finished checking in, they took his bags and he gave me a little grin before disappearing again.

  I went through my own check-in process, which was surprisingly easy. Everything had been prepared for me in advance, and so all I had to do was follow the porter down the hall toward my room.

  The whole resort was breathtaking. It showed some signs of aging, but overall the place was absolutely beautiful. Maids and guests moved freely through the halls and I just kept looking around, surprised at everything I saw. There was art on the walls and the carpets were perfectly clean, not at all like the hotels I could afford back home.

  The porter finally showed me to my room. I gave him a little tip and headed inside and found that my bags had already been placed by the bed. I gaped at the room, at a loss for words.

  It was very modern with a large, spacious bed and television in the main room. Down a short step was a sitting area with a table and some chairs, plus a large armchair. Out through the glass sliding door was a gorgeous balcony that overlooked the swimming pool. Back inside, the bathroom was near the door, and it was huge. It had an enormous tub in the center with two large showers flanking either side. It also had two large vanities with enormous sinks on either side of the room.

  It was way too much space for one person. I couldn’t help but laugh to myself as I headed back outside onto the balcony, shaking my head.

  I leaned up against the railing, still laughing to myself, when I heard his voice.

  “What’s so funny?”

  I nearly jumped out of my skin. I looked around, but couldn’t find him.

  “I’m in the room to your left,” he said. “I can hear you laughing.”

  It was Langdon. I walked over to the divider and craned my head to look around it. He was sitting in a chair, legs crossed, drink in hand, cigar slowly gathering ash on the table in front of him.

  “You look comfortable,” I said.

  “I’m very comfortable. I don’t like to waste any time.” He grinned at me.

  “I was just looking at this room. It’s really gorgeous.”

  “It is,” he agreed. “Get some room service if you’re hungry.”

  “Room service? Seriously?”

  “Seriously,” he confirmed. “It’s all-inclusive, so go crazy. The food’s pretty good.”

  “Uh, thanks.” There was a pause. “So you’re staying next door?”

  “Sure am. Feel free to hop on over any time you’re feeling bored.”

  “Oh, sure. Okay.” I couldn’t be sure if that was meant to be as sexual as it seemed.

  He grinned and winked at me. “Or if you’re feeling something else,” he said.

  That was definitely sexual.

  I retreated back to my side of the barrier and I could hear him laughing again over there. I quickly went inside, anger and excitement warring inside of me.

  What the hell was I doing here? Did Langdon just bring me along so he had someone to hit on?

  No, that couldn’t be true. He was the CEO of a major corporation, not some crazy stalker guy. He was just an asshole being an asshole, that was all.

  Still, I couldn’t help but wonder. He sat next to me on the plane and now our rooms were next to each other. It seemed very convenient for him, especially if he was interested in trying to get in my pants.

  Not that it would be the worst thing in the world, sleeping with Langdon. So he was turning out to be a selfish ass, but at least he was attractive.

  I shook my head, reading over the room service menu. I was going to have a good time, despite this jerk in the next room over.

  Chapter 5

  Some Of The Truth Comes Out Some Of The Truth Comes Out

  I slept like a log that night. After room service came, I ate like a pig and then passed out. I didn’t wake up again until the next morning, surprised to find the sun slowly rising through the curtained sliding door.

  I climbed out of bed, ordered breakfast, and got into the shower. I showered for what must have been an hour, and by the time I got out, my breakfast was delivered just a few minutes later. I ate out on the balcony, then got dressed.

  One of the problems of an all-inclusive resort was that I was entirely on my own. I’d never really been on vacation before, so I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. I grabbed my book and went downstairs to the pool where I found a spot in the shade.

  I sat there reading, watching the pool and listening to the ocean waves maybe fifty yards away. This was my first day in paradise, and already I didn’t know what to do.

  “Is this seat taken?”

  I looked up, and Langdon smiled down at me. For a second, I felt like he was stalking me, but I quickly felt grateful. He was the only person that I knew in this whole resort.

  “It’s all yours,” I said.

  He put down a towel and got into the chair next to me. He wore short black swimming trunks and a white t-shirt, his eyes hidden by expensive-looking sunglasses. He was holding The Da Vinci Code in one hand, and his cell phone in the other.

  “Do you get service here?” I asked him.

  He nodded. “Sprung for the international plan.”

  “Fancy.”

  He grinned. “Everything I do is fancy.”

  Soon, the poolside waitress came by. We both asked for coffee and when they arrived, I worked up the courage to finally ask him.

  “Okay Langdon,” I said.

  “Okay Anna.” He cocked his head at me.

  “Tell me the truth about the ticket now.”

  He laughed. “Are you serious? We’re in paradise, and you’re still obsessed with the ticket.”

  “Yes,” I said. “It’s been bothering me.”

  “The solution is simple.” He leaned toward me, perfect face smiling mischievously. “Ready?”

  “Just tell me.”

  “I had you followed.”

  I blinked, surprised. “Excuse me?”

  “For about two weeks, actually. You know you’re amazingly regimented, right? Same shop, same chocolate. We figured the chocolate thing out pretty fast.”

  “You followed me?” I felt shocked and revolted for a second, not sure how to respond.

  “Not me personally,” he said. “I hired some people for that.”

  “People? You had people following me?” I started to stand up.

  “Wait a second,” he said. “Just listen.”

  “You had me followed. Why? How? What’s going on here?”

  “Do you know the story behind Saint Nicholas?”

  “You mean freaking Santa Claus?” I asked, incredulous. I had been preparing to run away and get the heck off the island, but that question made me want to find out where he was going. It was such a strange thing to ask.

  “Not exactly,” he said. “Santa Claus is a fictional character. Saint Nicholas was a historical person, though Santa is based on him. Nicholas used to give gifts to people, which is where the Santa thing comes from.” He cleared his throat.

  “Anyway, he wasn’t always a priest. He grew up with wealthy parents, but they died in a plague at some point. After that, he went to live with his uncle.”

  “What does this have to do with you following me?”

  “I’m getting there. Saint Nick wasn’t always a saint or a priest for that matter, and when he first went to live with his uncle, legend has it that he had many, ah, dalliances with the local ladies.” Langdon grinned at me. “He was a man after my own heart, actually.”

  I stood up, tired of this. I couldn’t take him hitting on me, not after he admitted that he had me followed by some strangers, only to slip some chocolate in my path. It was way too much a
nd too insane.

  “I think you’re a descendant of his,” Langdon said before I could walk away.

  I stared at him for a second. “Are you kidding me?”

  “No,” he said. “I’m not. I think you’re a long-lost descendant of Saint Nicholas.” Langdon stood up, suddenly very serious. “I’ve been looking for you, Anna, for a very long time.”

  “This is insane. You’re an insane person.”

  “This is very real, Anna. And I’m not insane.”

  “You trapped me. You flew me out to this island for what, so you could try and reproduce with me? Continue some fake bloodline?”

  “What?” he asked, laughing. “Nobody said anything about reproducing with you.”

  “What do you want from me? Why would you have me followed?”

  “I need your help, Anna. You’re the key to everything.”

  I backed away from him, my eyes wide. “I am not descended from Saint Nick,” I said. “Absolutely not.”

  “You are, Anna. And I can prove it.”

  “No,” I said. “I don’t want to hear it.” I turned and quickly walked away. He didn’t call after me or follow, and I managed to get inside and out of view before I collapsed onto the carpeted hall floor, hyperventilating.

  Langdon was a crazy person. I could see it in his eyes. He thought I was descended from a freaking saint from thousands of years ago and I was the key to something. It was totally nuts and terrifying. He was just a crazy rich guy that somehow decided I was important to his whack-job theory, and I was stupid and naïve ever to go along with it.

  There was no company retreat. He was sitting next to me because he bought our tickets. Our rooms were next to each other because he arranged it. My god, this wasn’t a corporate-sponsored event at all.

  This was all Langdon. This was a personal thing for him.

  I got sucked into this world, and now I had no idea how to escape.

  Chapter 6

  Crazy Is As Crazy Does

  I took a long, hot bath and tried to figure out what to do next.

  As far as I could tell, my plane ticket was only good for a single flight in ten days. I called the airline, but it cost too much to change to a different flight and I just couldn’t afford it. Maybe I should bite the bullet and do it, but I still had a life to live after I got away from this craziness, plus rent to afford. Student loans were killing me, and I never had much left over after expenses every month.

  No, I realized, I was good and stuck. He had trapped me, and now I had nowhere to go.

  The best I could do was avoid him for as long as I could. I would stay away from him until it was time to leave, and then maybe trade in my first class ticket for one in coach, away from Langdon.

  That was the plan, at least. I got out of the bath, totally buying into it, and went out onto the balcony wearing a fluffy white robe. I looked out over the pool, at the crowd of other vacationers, and felt a little better. At least there were other people around and I wasn’t alone with him.

  “Did she have a tattoo?”

  I nearly jumped again. “Don’t do that,” I said harshly.

  “Your mother. Did she have a tattoo?”

  “I’m not talking to you, psycho,” I said. “Leave me alone.”

  “On her wrist. It was a little book with a cross on it, but a weird cross. It was wide at the edges. You never knew what it meant. Right?”

  I paused. He was right, but that didn’t prove anything. I saw a picture of my mother with that tattoo on her wrist, and I had always wondered what it was. I asked my grandmother about it once, but she said she wasn’t sure.

  “That’s a common symbol of Saint Nicholas,” he said. I could tell that he was right next to the barrier.

  “You’re insane,” I said.

  “Listen, Anna. I know you don’t want to believe me, but it’s true. Your mother knew what she was, and she died because of it.”

  “My grandmother never told me this,” I said, trying to ignore the implications of his previous statement.

  “She was your father’s mother, right?”

  I paused. “That’s right.”

  “Your father wasn’t involved.”

  “Okay, so you say someone killed my mom because of this. Why didn’t they kill me?”

  “Because they want to use you. Your mother learned what she was and fought them, but you’re ignorant. They want to take you, teach you, and keep you.”

  “Who are you talking about?”

  “The Syndicate.” He paused. “We can’t talk out here. Please, come to my room. I’ll explain everything, I promise.”

  Chapter 7

  The Syndicate

  I half expected to find some kind of ritual magic circle in the middle of Langdon’s room. He struck me as a totally normal guy, maybe even something of a playboy and an asshole, but he was showing me an entirely new side of him.

  A crazy, conspiracy theory side.

  But I was intrigued. I couldn’t help myself. I didn’t know much about my parents, especially my mother, since my grandmother mostly only talked about my father. I knew he was a good man, that he worked in the aerospace industry for the military for many years as a scientist, but I didn’t know much beyond that. As far as my mother went, I knew she was also a scientist, but that was all my grandmother would say.[Okay, earlier in the story Anna says that she didn't know her parents because they split up when she was young, leaving her to be raised by her grandmother instead. Maybe you could add a sentence or two here elaborating on that, or else the earlier, initial mention of her parents will have to be changed because otherwise these origin stories are a bit disparate I think?]

  I had a gap in my life that I’d always wanted to fill. There was nothing about them online, or in any major records or newspapers that I could find, which I'd always found a little odd. It was more frustrating than a reason to believe in conspiracies, but maybe there was something to it.[So her parents are dead and she's known that this whole time? Or she thinks her parents just abandoned her? Sorry to be nitpicky – it just sounds a little inconsistent as far as the deal with her parents.]

  Maybe my parents really were in some kind of fight against a mysterious group called the Syndicate.

  Langdon let me into his room, looking both ways down the hall before he shut the door. I walked into a room that was the mirror image of my own and didn’t find a single magic circle anywhere.

  “I’m glad you came,” he said. “I was worried you’d run off.”

  “I still might.”

  He grinned at me. “Hear me out first.”

  “Fine.” I sat down at his table and crossed my arms. “Talk.”

  “There’s a lot to tell you. I’ll say as much as I can.”

  “Try telling me everything.”

  He sighed, nodding. “Okay, so. I told you about Saint Nicholas. The Syndicate is a group of people that are hellbent on destroying Christmas.”

  I laughed, unable to stop myself. “They killed my parents because of Christmas?”

  “Not exactly,” he said. “They killed your parents because they were resisting. They knew what Christmas means to the world, and they didn’t want to see that power fall into the wrong hands.”

  “That power?” I shook my head, amazed.

  “Christmas is more than just a holiday. It goes way beyond Christianity and brings millions of people together every single year. It’s also an enormous industry with billions of dollars involved. Christmas is run and controlled by a group of well-meaning business men, my company included, and for thousands of years we’ve kept Christmas pure and beautiful.” He paused to take a deep breath before continuing.

  “But the Syndicate wants to stop that. They want to use descendants of Saint Nicholas himself to sway public opinion against us and destroy everything we hold dear about Christmas. They want to use you, Anna, to show that Saint Nicholas was a bad man and not a saint at all.”

  “This is crazy.”

  “I know. It sound
s nuts. But what do you know about your mother?”

  I bit my lip. “Not much.”

  “There’s a reason for that. Most of her work was secret.”

  “Well, she worked for the government.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  I thought about it and finally shook my head. “I guess not, no.”

  “Your father worked for the government,” Langdon said, “but not your mother. She worked for my father.”

  “What? She worked for a candy company?”

  “No. She worked for the International Christmas Empire, or ICE.”

  “ICE,” I said softly. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “I wish I were.” He stood and walked over to his bed where he opened a briefcase. He returned with a thick manila folder. “Everything is in there.”

  I hesitated, not sure I wanted to see what he was trying to show me. Maybe it would be information about my mother, or maybe it would just be more craziness.

  But Langdon didn’t seem crazy. Honestly, he seemed totally normal and sincere. Everything I’d seen from him so far suggested that he was a normal guy, minus all this ICE and Syndicate stuff. I half expected him to start telling me that Santa was actually real and elves genuinely made toys all year long up in the North Pole, which totally had to violate some labor laws.

  I took the folder, not sure what to expect, and slowly opened it. Inside were pictures and files, most of them about my mother, some of them about projects she worked on. I couldn’t take it all in with Langdon watching me, so I focused on the pictures.

  Group photographs, solo photographs, and some with my father in them. She was smiling, happy, and serious. She was surrounded by other scientists, and the captions all read something about ICE and had the corresponding dates. There she was working in a lab. There she was on a retreat in the mountains. She looked so young and so beautiful.