Elkin Brothers Christmas
The Billionaire Athlete’s Christmas Fling
The Billionaire’s Fake Christmas Engagement
The Billionaire’s Christmas Son
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.
RELAY PUBLISHING EDITION, DECEMBER 2020
Copyright © 2020 Relay Publishing Ltd.
All rights reserved. Published in the United Kingdom by Relay Publishing. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Leslie North is a pen name created by Relay Publishing for co-authored Romance projects. Relay Publishing works with incredible teams of writers and editors to collaboratively create the very best stories for our readers.
Cover design by Mayhem Cover Creations.
www.relaypub.com
Blurb
One alpha billionaire. One fake engagement. One Christmas they’ll never forget.
Gabe Elkins, President and CEO of a Silicon Valley digital security tech firm, has just launched another successful app. But instead of celebrating, Gabe learns his grandmother is sick and he has to return home to make her last Christmas a memorable one.
Gabe’s family has never been impressed by his corporate success and they’re constantly hounding him about marriage. He wants nothing more than to give his dying grandmother the news she’s been waiting years to hear—that he’s finally engaged. If he’s going to pull it off, he’ll need the help of a professional miracle-worker, and he knows just who to ask—his intelligent, gorgeous, and impressive as hell conference liaison, Anna Waters.
Anna has just been offered the job of a lifetime: Agree to be this bad boy billionaire's fake fiancée for the holidays at his family’s luxury ski resort, and he’ll help her build her private conference consultation business. The idea is more attractive than Anna would like to admit—almost as attractive as the man proposing the charade.
Once Anna agrees, she is quickly swept up in putting on the biggest show of her career. Except, the more time she spends with Gabe, the less their sweet moments and toe-curling kisses feel like acting. And when the lines between the charade and reality start to blur, Gabe and Anna are faced with deciding if their relationship could work in the real world or if their romance only shines under the twinkling Christmas lights.
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
End of The Billionaire’s Fake Christmas Engagement
Thank you!
About Leslie
Sneak Peek: The Billionaire’s Christmas Son
Also by Leslie
1
Las Vegas stretched out beneath the Top of the World restaurant, all glittering lights and flashing signs under a night sky tinged orange on the horizon by the glow rising from the city. Gabe Elkin sat back in his seat and took in the Christmastime glow of the city below. It was a great view. But it was nothing compared to his view of the woman who sat across from him—Anna Waters, the conference liaison who’d spent the last several weeks at his side.
The job they’d just completed had been a massive one for his company, and the adrenaline rush of the conference still lingered in Gabe’s veins. Tech leaders had gathered from across the country, and even the world, for the expo hosted at the Palazzo. Gabe’s own company had demoed a new app to rave reviews.
“We couldn’t have done it without you,” he told Anna. “Have I mentioned this was our most successful launch?”
She looked across at him and winked, the glow from the casinos nearby reflected on her face. “You might have mentioned it a couple of times. But I’m still impressed, don’t worry.”
“You should be impressed,” he teased. “You’re the one who’s seen this up close and personal, and now you’ll see how far we can take it.”
“Ooh,” she said. “Is it going to have an international presence, then? Are you going to be world-famous?”
They both laughed. Of course the app would have an international presence—in fact, Anna had been instrumental in planning for its introduction to colleagues from other countries. Honestly, she’d been a godsend, and that wasn’t something Gabe thought about many people. He had been his own godsend when he moved away from his family’s luxury ski resort in Colorado. He’d built his company and his own life, here in Las Vegas, much to the chagrin of those who thought he should have settled in the Silicon Valley. But now that the year’s final expo was over, a hollow feeling nagged him underneath all the adrenaline.
Which was why he’d wanted to take Anna out for one last dinner. They’d eaten together plenty of times in his office and at the conference hotel, tucked away by the pool or in the lobby. They’d spent so many late nights on the phone, planning the launch down to the last detail. And now he didn’t really have a reason to keep talking to her. She was, after all, a conference liaison, not his personal assistant.
And if she had been his personal assistant, he would have no business wondering where the night might lead.
The laughter settled. Gabe wrapped his hand around his wine glass. Anna’s dark chocolate eyes still lingered. Eyes that were a perfect complement to her hair, which reminded him of smooth toffee. He loved the dimple she sported on one cheek, one that far too many times he thought of kissing. And then there were those curves. He wasn’t supposed to be thinking about those, either.
Gabe cleared his throat. “I wanted to thank you for everything you did.”
“You’re welcome.” Her smile got wider. “I take pleasure in a job well done.”
“It was a job very well done. I wish I could steal you away for my own company.”
She waved this off with a grin that tugged at something deep within his chest. “You promised—no work talk at the celebration dinner.”
“I would never promise that, and you know it.”
Anna laughed again, sending a bolt of joy straight into the middle of Gabe’s chest. Making her laugh—he was going to miss that most of all. It was a low, sweet sound, and he’d heard it plenty over the past few weeks, both over the phone and in person.
“Okay, fine.” She smoothed her napkin over her lap. “Can’t get anything by you.”
From the way she was looking at him now, all big eyes and pink cheeks, she didn’t want to get by him. Gabe wouldn’t mind takin
g her back to his penthouse apartment. He wouldn’t mind it at all. The air heated between them. Dinner was only half-done, but at the end of it, he had the feeling he wouldn’t be going home alone. Anna leaned forward, one hand beneath her chin, and watched him.
Yes.
Gabe’s phone buzzed in his pocket. Irritation quickly replaced the heady feeling of anticipation that had spilled over him like fine wine. Whoever it was could wait. He dipped a hand into his pocket and silenced the call.
But Anna had heard it, or she’d seen the movement, and her wide smile had turned to a concentrated look. “Someone from the hotel?”
“It can wait, whatever it is.” His phone rang again, and worry crept in at the edges. “All right—maybe it can’t. I’m so sorry. Let me take this.”
“Of course, but I’m not going to let my dinner get cold.” Anna shooed him away and picked up her fork. She’d ordered steak, medium-well, and butterflied to perfection. He’d ordered the same, and the green beans had come dripping in butter, reminding him of long-ago family dinners at the Elk Lodge.
Nothing, however, reminded him of his home so much as the sight of his brother’s name on his phone screen. Gabe headed for the restaurant’s lobby, bypassing a couple wrapped up in each other on the bench. He found the first available quiet spot near the restrooms.
“I’m at dinner, Jonas. Can I call you back?” Typically, his brother would say yes and that he was only calling to strategize.
“No, I’m afraid not.” His brother’s tone shook Gabe out of his rushing thoughts. “I need you to come home.”
“What? Now?” A hundred possibilities tumbled into his mind. An accident with one of his brothers. A fire at the lodge. Or worse, something about his grandmother. “Is everything all right?”
Jonas sighed, and Gabe felt that sigh in every bone in his body. “It’s okay for now.” He recognized his brother’s careful tone. It was the one Jonas used when hedging—when he didn’t want to tell the whole story or wanted to hold something back. “You know about Grandmother’s lung cancer.” Of course he knew. Jonas himself had called him late one night to drop the bomb, following it up by telling him everything was under control.
“Yes, yes.” Gabe hated how impatient he sounded, but his heart beat fast and hard. If Jonas had something to tell him, then he should say it now. Right now. “Did something happen?”
In the beat before Jonas’s answer, dread fanned out in the pit of Gabe’s gut and clenched hard.
“I don’t want to make it seem worse than it is,” Jonas told him. “But it’s not good. The cancer has progressed, even more since Thanksgiving. She might not make it through to Valentine’s Day, and she—” There was a pause, and Gabe held his breath. If Jonas was struggling through this, then it was bad. “Look. She’s asking for you to come home and spend the time before Christmas with the family. She wants all of us to be together.”
“I’ll be there.” It surprised him how easily the words slipped from his mouth. Gabe had avoided going home for long stretches since he moved out to Vegas. It would be too easy for the Elk Lodge to reel him back in, and he didn’t want that. He had his own life now, and a place like home—with all the gravity of its family relationship and traditions—would threaten to suck him back in. “Of course I’ll be there. I’ll get a flight in the morning.”
“Good. The holidays won’t be right for Grandmother unless you’re here.”
Maybe Jonas believed it, but that wasn’t true—he’d never fit in with his family. His life choices didn’t align with the family’s plans for him, and they’d been hugely disappointed by his decision to leave Colorado. His grandmother had never wanted him to go into the tech field, and she’d never warmed to any of his girlfriends. Of course, neither had he. The women were just a way to pass the time, and his grandmother had seen right through him and disapproved. She wanted him to find love, the same way she had with their grandfather. It was something she wanted for all her grandsons.
Nothing he did ever measured up, no matter how much his accomplishments impressed the rest of the world. And he doubted his family had changed their opinion of him. But what did it matter if this was Grandmother’s last Christmas? At least he would be there, even if it was as the family disappointment.
“Thanks, Jonas,” he said finally. “I’ll text you when I have the flight number.”
They ended the call, and Gabe stared down at the screen as he tried to gather himself. It felt like falling, news like this. He’d always assumed his grandmother would be indestructible, even in the face of lung cancer. He’d wanted her respect all his life, and now it sounded like there wasn’t much time left to get it. To prove to her that he had his life together and would be happy. There wasn’t much he could do in the business world that he hadn’t already done—his successes international. But what if he could at least prove to his grandmother he’d settled down and found someone to love? Maybe then she’d forgive him for leaving and see that he had his life together. Except there was a little problem with his plan—he wasn’t dating anyone, and time was limited.
An engagement would fix everything.
The idea popped into his head the same way a new idea for an app would—the outlines already there, waiting for the details to be filled in. If an engagement would make Grandmother happy, then all he had to do was get engaged. Never mind that there was no time to actually fall in love and have a romance. The romance wasn’t the point—the engagement was.
He put his phone back into his pocket and headed back to the table, where Anna sat watching over the lights of the Las Vegas Strip with her hands tucked under her chin. Gorgeous. Her little black dress hugged her in all the right places. Her hair spilled over her shoulders, gently curled at the ends, and he wanted to run his fingers through it more than he wanted to finish his dinner. More than he wanted to do anything else in this moment. Her huge brown eyes met his as he slid back into his seat.
“Something happened,” she said definitively. “Tell me what it was.”
Gabe wasn’t the type to get into personal discussions with colleagues, but her voice was so forthright that something broke free in him. She was so intuitive. It was what had drawn him to her as a liaison in the first place. “My grandmother was diagnosed with lung cancer a while back, and it’s progressed.”
“Oh, Gabe, I’m so sorry to hear that.”
He suddenly had no appetite. “It’s all right. I mean—it’s not all right.” The one thing he had a craving for was Anna’s voice. “My family wants me home for the holidays. I’m leaving tomorrow. But the thing is—” He pursed, sensing the edge of a precipice under his feet. If he admitted this to her, then...then they’d be closer than he’d bargained for when he originally planned the night. “The thing is, I’ve never brought home anyone who passed muster with my grandmother.” An old ache to please her reared up. “I want to make her happy, especially if this is her last Christmas.”
“Make her happy?” Anna cocked her head to the side. “You mean, give her some good news? Maybe that you’re seeing someone?”
Not good enough. “I mean, I want to bring someone home with me.” The restaurant rotated a bit further, the smooth motion bringing different lights into focus on Anna’s face. Sure, she wasn’t an actress or a business magnate, but he’d tried bringing home women like that, and it hadn’t panned out. “I want her to know that everything’s going to be all right with me and that I’m settled and happy with my life choices.”
“Even if it’s an act?” There was no judgment in her tone or her eyes.
“Yeah. Even then.” Nothing was more important than giving his grandmother peace of mind. And no one would be better at it than Anna. She was perceptive and skilled at making connections, and she would fit in at the Elk Lodge just as well as she’d fit in here. “This could be my only chance to paint the picture for her.” Another ache rose in his throat and he swallowed it back. “So, I have to ask you a question.”
Anna straightened up. “Are you p
roposing to me, Mr. Elkin?”
He let out a laugh, the tension that cut across his shoulders loosening. “I’m making an insane proposal. And I realize how bonkers it sounds, but—what do you think about marrying me?”
“I do,” said Anna seriously. “Think it’s bonkers, that is.” She was joking, but he wasn’t. It was the perfect plan. His grandmother would see him happy and fulfilled. His last and best Christmas present to her.
“No, really. Would you pose as my fiancée and go home with me for the holidays?”
2
Of all the things Anna expected at the dinner, which Gabe had pitched as a thank-you meal between two close colleagues—she had not expected a proposal.
It was fine. Of course it was fine. He wasn’t actually proposing. Anna’s heart didn’t seem to know the difference. It jittered and pounded and leapt up into her throat like he’d really gone down on one knee at the table with a ring in a box. Anna did what she usually did when she had no idea what to do—smiled. Big. Warm. Inviting him to laugh it all off if he wanted.
“I think we should get to know each other better before we go in front of the priest.” She threw in a wink for good measure.
Gabe leaned forward. “What do you want to know? I’m an open book.”
He was not an open book. They had their jokes and conversations, but Gabe didn’t talk about home or his family very much. He certainly hadn’t mentioned anything as earth-shattering as the fact that his grandmother had cancer. Anna knew from tidbits he’d dropped into conversation that his parents had long since passed away, but aside from those drive-by facts, she didn’t know much about him.
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