The Billionaire’s Fake Christmas Engagement: Elkin Brothers Christmas Book Two

by North, Leslie

  Except, of course, that he was extremely handsome, with golden blond hair that made him look like he’d just stepped out of a magazine. That and the gray-green eyes, piercing and gorgeous. And the cut jaw. And don’t forget the lanky frame, kept in shape by near-daily runs.

  Handsome. Driven. Talented. Rich. It had Anna at a loss for words. “You’re sure you’re not kidding about this?”

  Those piercing eyes met hers again, as though he were planning something in his head. “I’m sure. I want you to be my fake fiancée.”

  Maybe he was a little bit crazy. Bad news could do that to a person. They’d had a long day at the expo, and the day had stretched out into the evening. People often made rash decisions when they were tired. Anna didn’t know how often those decisions amounted to “come home and pretend to be my fiancée.” But it was certainly within the realm of possibility.

  She scanned the restaurant, taking in all the other couples enjoying the view. They weren’t so much looking out the window as they were at each other, eyes alight in the candles from the centerpieces. Those were real couples. It wasn’t feasible to expect she’d pull off an act like that with Gabe. Not without having her breath stolen away. And the way he was looking at her now...

  It seems real. But obviously, it wasn’t.

  “I don’t know if I’m up for the part.” She gave him a cheeky smile, one she hoped covered her nervousness and the fact that she wanted to lean in close to him. Flirt with him—even more than they’d already been flirting. But then, with a man like Gabe, it wouldn’t be all fun and games. There would be press and public recognition of their engagement at some point. And then Anna’s past would come out. “Maybe you should hire an actress.”

  “If I did that, I’d have to get to know an actress. I already know you. And I already like you. I want you, Anna, not some random woman from a casting call.”

  I want you. The words came out in a seductive tone that made her swoon a bit. Not too much, but a little. Anna sat bolt upright in her seat, quietly assessing Gabe.

  He leaned in close, his eyes alight, and focused on her. He was flirting with her. Wanted her. For a fiancée if nothing else. And it would be nothing else—she decided that right away. Her last boyfriend hadn’t thought she was worthy enough to be seen in public with him. Anna wouldn’t make the mistake of giving anyone the power to hurt her again. Relationships were a thing of the past.

  “My family’s not nearly as big-time as yours,” she said, trying to keep her voice in check. “We might not fit on paper.”

  “What does that matter?” Gabe cocked his head to the side, gray-green eyes skimming over her skin and heating her up from the inside. “This is only a charade, not a real engagement, and even if it was a real engagement, a person’s past doesn’t matter nearly as much as the present. And the future.”

  “It could matter,” she argued, keeping her tone light and pretty. “Wouldn’t that kind of thing matter to your grandmother?”

  “She’s not going to dig into your past if that’s what you’re saying.” A grin flashed across his face and disappeared. “She’ll be preoccupied with the holidays and being happy. She’ll like you, Anna. That’s why I want you to come with me. You’ll be wonderful for her.”

  I could be wonderful for you, too. But she didn’t say that out loud.

  “Listen.” Gabe leaned in another inch, nudging his plate out of the way so he could speak to her in a low voice, one that sent desire curling through a place in her belly Anna had ignored since the breakup.

  Desire! Who got such a mad crush on her own boss? Or colleague—whatever he was.

  “We’ll stay at my family’s luxury ski resort for the holidays. It’s one of the nicest, most sought-after places in the country for winter vacations. There will be tons of Christmas traditions, like carols and cocoa and the whole nine yards. Lights on the trees—everything. And we can talk about your dream.”

  “What dream?” She wrapped a hand around her wine glass and took a sip. They’d traded dreams back and forth over the many hours they’d been working together, but it had always been lighthearted and joking. For the life of her, Anna couldn’t remember what she’d told him.

  “Of owning your own conference consulting firm. There are ways I can help you with that.” Gabe’s mouth curved up in a smile so attractive that she felt a gravitational pull toward it and had to keep herself firmly planted in her seat to resist it.

  Anna would never have dreamed of asking him to give her a hand up. She’d worked hard all her life to overcome the lousy hand she’d been dealt—the father with the criminal record, the mother who married four times and couldn’t ever decide when to come down to earth. Holidays had been nothing like the picture Gabe was painting of his family’s resort. No cocoa, no carols, just fighting and bitter silences. Then there was the year her parents had finally split but decided they wanted to spend Christmas Day together. It had not been in the holiday spirit, suffice it to say.

  Not that she was going to tell Gabe all of that. Getting that deep into her history would be way across the line for two people who worked together, no matter how close they’d been over the past few weeks.

  “And...” Gabe sat up, looking her square in the eye. “Don’t forget, my grandmother is dying.” The confident look on his face slipped. “Please. Do it for me. It would mean the world to me if she knew I was engaged to someone wonderful and had my life all sorted out.” He let out a breath. “There. That’s it. That’s all my cards on the table.”

  Anna felt like she was still holding a fistful of cards with things like a criminal father and her mother’s four marriages in her hand. But none of them could top the pleading look on Gabe’s face, or how incredibly handsome he was. She’d stolen so many glances at him while they were working together at the conference, trying to ignore the twist of want in her chest. Up until now, she’d been pretty successful at it. It was her job, after all.

  And beyond that, the offer was one of the most attractive she’d ever received. Christmas at a luxury resort, far from anywhere she’d ever lived. No tense hours spent trying to calm high emotions with her parents. No new husband showing up with her mother. It would be like stepping into a different world for the holidays—the kind of world she saw in Hallmark movies.

  “For how long? Fly out Christmas Eve, come back Christmas morning?”

  “Oh, no. My family wants me there as soon as I can get there. Tomorrow morning at the latest.”

  Her breath caught. “You want me to spend two weeks with you out there?” Suddenly Colorado seemed like a vast state of forests and wildlands, Anna trying to picture a luxury mountaintop resort they’d need snowshoes to get to.

  Gabe shrugged. “Three. We’d leave in the morning and come back after the New Year.”

  “But my job...”

  He gave her a look. “You and I both know there’s nothing scheduled from now until after the holidays. No big conferences. Everybody’s going home for Christmas.” His eyes twinkled. “Honestly, Anna, no pressure. If it doesn’t seem like something you can do, then I’m not going to hold it against you. But it would be nice if I could show you off as my significant other.”

  “I know you wouldn’t hold it against me.” She heard the sincerity in his voice as clearly as she felt it. Gabe moved fast when it came to making plans, but he was flexible, too. It was why they’d managed to put together such an excellent presentation. It was why they’d hooked all those international clients on his app. It was another success in his portfolio, but he still wanted more.

  If that was how he was when it came to romance...

  No. This wasn’t going to be a romance. This was going to be a project, like the one they had just wrapped up, only with more acting. A bright spark of anticipation lit up in her chest. A luxury Christmas—the very first in Anna’s life. And a chance to collaborate with Gabe on her own business idea. When she landed in Vegas after the New Year, life could be completely different.

  The ten-year-o
ld version of Anna, who had wanted a whole new life more than anything in the world, had become her personal cheering section inside her mind.

  Look at him! that part of her squealed. Go to Christmas with him!

  And really, she had nothing to lose...except Gabe as a client if the whole thing went south. Anna had never allowed a project to end on bad terms in her entire career. She wasn’t about to start now.

  Gabe rested his fingertips on the linen tablecloth, his plate abandoned, and his body tense. He was ready to go now, she realized. Right now. And if she waited to leave until morning, she might lose her nerve. Might decide that it wasn’t very professional to jet off with one of your clients to spend Christmas as his pretend fiancée. Might consider all the many and varied possible consequences and decide that it wasn’t such a good idea after all—for either one of them.

  “Let’s go now,” she said quickly.

  His eyes went wide. “What?”

  “Isn’t part of the bargain a flight on your private jet? How soon can it be ready?”

  The shock on Gabe’s face gave way to a surprised grin. “Ninety minutes, if I make the call now. But we can’t just hop on a plane, you know. We need something first.”

  “Our clothes?” She would have to shop, come to think of it, her mind was already picturing the Forum Shops at Caesar’s Palace and wondering if she’d have time to head out to the sportswear store at the outlet mall. Anna’s wardrobe was geared toward convention centers and business dressy, not winter in Colorado. After a lifetime in the Nevada heat, she'd need a parka and boots. The thought thrilled her more than a little. Maybe a parka with faux fur around the hood. Something soft and sexy.

  “More important than that.” He reached out a hand to her across the table, and Anna took it. The simple touch took her breath away. Play it cool. She couldn’t be breathless and blushing the entire time they were with his family, or else they’d know something was up. Gabe ran his thumb over the empty space on her ring finger. “We need a ring.”

  3

  Gabe’s high from getting the go-ahead on the most ambitious plan of his life lasted all through their trip to the jewelry store. The owner, a close friend of his, had opened during off hours as a special favor. They’d managed to catch the owner of the winter sports boutique next door as she was closing, and she was happy to remain open for them while they picked out what they would need, especially once she realized how much they were spending.

  He’d bought Anna everything he could think of for the trip to Colorado. Never mind the cost. Any woman who agreed to marry him would have a full winter wardrobe, of course, and be comfortable in it. It took three hours to shop and another thirty minutes to get to the private jet, which waited for them on the airport’s tarmac.

  By the time they landed in Colorado, it was late. Too late to wake up his entire family and have a meet-and-greet with Anna. Gabe felt like he was sneaking in after curfew. As he walked across the lobby at a fast clip, the night receptionist blinked at him curiously. “Mr. Elkin?” She wore a pleasant smile, but it was clear they hadn’t expected him to arrive mere hours after Jonas’s call.

  “Hi, Rebecca.” He leaned on the counter, trying not to let sleep drag him down into oblivion. “I’m a bit early, or late, depending on how you look at it. I’m assuming the family suite is available?” He could have chosen to stay in his personal home, but he wanted to be close to his grandmother.

  “Of course it is.” Like several of the properties around the resort, the penthouse family suite was reserved for visiting Elkin family members and other high-profile guests.

  His phone beeped, signaling that it was set up to act as his key card, and the receptionist’s hand hovered over her landline phone. “No need to wake anybody up. I’ll let them know I’m here in the morning.”

  He brought a half-asleep Anna through the lobby and up to the suite on the lodge’s top floor. To call it a “suite” was a bit of an understatement. It featured a hot tub, a formal dining room, and a sunken living area with a spectacular view of the ski slopes and the mountains. She fell gratefully into the king-sized bed in the master bedroom. It was only then that the full extent of the suite hit Gabe. It only had one bedroom.

  The sofa was an option.

  But he hadn’t been able to sleep on the plane, and now exhaustion pulled him toward the bed with all the force of a black hole. He tumbled onto the other side, leaving a big gap between them, and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Only to wake up to his cell phone buzzing itself off the bedside table and falling to the floor. Gabe rolled over and snatched it up, answering without looking to see who it was. “‘Lo?”

  “You’re here already?” Jonas’s voice was all too chipper, as though he’d been up for hours, showered, and exercised. His brother ruled the resort with an iron fist and expected others to have the same determination. “I thought you weren’t coming until today, and the receptionist let me know you checked in in the middle of the night. You should have told me.”

  Gabe rolled onto his back and groaned. “I didn’t want to wake anybody up.”

  “Well, if you’re up now, we’re waiting for you in the lobby.”

  He stared at the ceiling, trying to make sense of this. “Waiting in the lobby for what?”

  “For you.” The bed rustled next to Gabe, and a painfully sweet awareness shuddered through him—Anna, stretching and yawning, her dark hair spread out over the pillow in gentle waves. “We can all sit down to breakfast together.”

  “No,” Gabe said quickly. Too quickly. “I don’t know if we’re ready for breakfast.” Oh, God. The word we’re slipped out before he could stop it, and now it was time to put his plan into action. And all without a cup of coffee.

  “We?” Jonas did an extraordinarily bad job of hiding the surprise in his voice. “I didn’t know you brought a guest.”

  “I did. But we need some time before we make introductions. Meet you after breakfast?”

  “Sure. See you then.”

  Gabe dropped the phone and rolled back over to find the bed empty and the door to the ensuite bathroom closing. He could hear the water running a minute later.

  Anna, in the shower. In the shower. After sleeping in bed with him all night.

  That’s what a fake fiancée did, right? It was no big deal. It was nothing. He brushed by her once she’d gotten out, wrapped in several towels. “Go like that,” he joked.

  Her beautiful smile was reflected in the mirror as she dried her hair and put on her makeup. Gabe showered, trying to eradicate the freshly showered and still wet image of Anna from his brain.

  Gabe emerged a few minutes later dressed in a button-down shirt and pants that wouldn’t have been out of place at a fancy dinner. He never knew what to do with himself here. Should he play the tech mogul, too suave to get out on the slopes? Or should he switch into ski gear and head off into the snowy distance? There had to be a middle ground and a button-down shirt was it.

  For now.

  Anna followed him out to the elevators, and they got in, sharing a collegial silence. This isn’t another expo. But Gabe couldn’t help treating it like one.

  “So, my family is downstairs,” he said. “They’ll be headed out from breakfast soon, and we’ll have introductions.”

  “All right.” Anna didn’t seem particularly bothered by this. She was dressed in a pair of gray slacks and a matching jacket that had the shape of business wear but in a softer fabric. It made him want to slide his palms over it and pull her close. She watched him intently. “Are you thinking about a change of plans? We can always say I’m a business associate.”

  His stomach turned over. “No. This is for the best.” But the high he’d ridden for the previous day had melted. The last dregs seeped away as the elevator let them out into the lodge’s grand lobby, with its soaring ceilings and enormous Christmas tree decorated to its last inch. All that, and his family, standing at the foot of the Christmas tree in a tight circle.

  Oh, no.
This hadn’t been a good idea at all. Gabe had brought home a stranger, and now what? Jonas caught sight of him and waved as if they were in a crowded room and not a mildly busy lobby. And then they were all looking at him—Chase, Jonas, and his grandmother.

  He grabbed for Anna’s hand, relieved when she squeezed back. A stolen glance at her revealed nothing but a confident smile. She was so good at this, and they hadn’t even started to talk.

  They joined his family, Anna’s ring pressing against his own fingers, and Gabe couldn’t wait to break the news. “Grandmother.” He bent down to embrace her and kiss her cheek. She seemed smaller and frailer than she had before. It twisted at his heart. “I’d like you to meet my fiancée, Anna Waters. I brought her with me for the holidays.” He introduced both his brothers and his grandmother.

  Jonas blinked at him. “Your fiancée?”

  “You got engaged? Good for you, man.” Chase stepped forward and pounded his back with an open palm. “Nice surprise for the holidays.”

  “It is surprising,” his grandmother said quietly. “Why would you keep this from us, Gabe?”

  Abort mission. This wasn’t what he wanted—not more disappointment for his grandmother. He searched for a way to say that he was only kidding, that this was a joke, a family joke, but Anna’s soft voice interrupted his thoughts.

  “I know it probably seems shocking. We got engaged a few months ago, but we wanted to spend some time settling into the idea before we announced it.” She shyly held up her ring for everyone to see. “It felt right to come here and be with his family while we celebrate.”

  Grandmother’s face softened, but she still hesitated. “Won’t your family be expecting a visit?”