Page 1 of Forbidden Billionaires, Vol. 9

The text came through right when the Christmas movie ended. My bodyguards had impeccable timing.

I clicked on it just to make sure it was the message I’d been hoping for. And it was. One simple word from Teddybear: “Ready.”

Ah yes!

“Food’s here,” I lied. “Let’s go grab it.”

“Go ahead,” said Ash. “I’ll cue up the next movie.”

“Another one? Isn’t five movies enough for one day?”

“Five Christmas movies? Never.”

Christmas movies were fine. But we’d watched so much freaking TV since the semester ended.

Ash literally hadn’t left our dorm in a week.

We weren’t even technically supposed to be here until after Christmas.

But Ash’s parents had ditched her for a couple’s cruise, so the poor girl had nowhere to go except a sad empty house.

And I couldn’t let my bestie be alone on Christmas, so I’d agreed to stay in the dorms with her.

“Come on,” I said. “I don’t want to get the food alone. What if the delivery guy works for one of Daddy’s enemies?”

Ash sprung out of bed and triple locked our door. I’d never seen her move so fast. “The kidnappers can’t get us if we don’t leave the room.”

“No one is going to kidnap us.” That was a one-time thing.

It was practically a rite of passage for being friends with a mafia boss’s daughter.

And Ash had survived the kidnapping completely unscathed.

She didn’t even remember it. But she did have a newfound paranoia of kidnappings.

“As long as we go down together, we’ll be fine. ”

“What about Ghostie and Teddybear?” she asked. “Can’t they get it for us? That’s what bodyguards are for.”

For fetching food? I much preferred being spit-roasted by them, but to each their own. “They’re busy doing something else for me.” Setting up your surprise. “Come on.” I grabbed her arm and tugged her towards the door.

“Fine. But only because I’m starving.” She grabbed her can of pepper spray, almost knocking over the framed picture of Santa on her nightstand.

I smiled as I stared at the picture. If that and the endless Christmas movies were any indication, Ash was going to absolutely love this early Christmas present.

She tucked the pepper spray into the pocket of her extra poofy sherpa pullover. And then she stared at me like I was forgetting something.

“Ready?” I asked.

“Yup. Are you?” Her gaze shifted down to my chest.

“What?” I asked.

“You don’t have a shirt on.”

“Sure I do.”

“That’s a bra.”

I looked down at my super cute red lacy top. “It’s a bralette. It’s both a shirt and a bra. It’s not my fault my boobs look amazing in everything. I have another one if you wanna borrow it.”

“No thank you.”

“Are you sure?” I asked, staring back at her sherpa pullover and equally baggy sweats. “You look like the love child of a yeti and a sexy ginger model. And I hate to bring it up again, but… Single Girl Rule #16: Either your legs, cleavage, or…”

“…Stomach must be showing at all times. Preferably all three,” she finished for me. “I’m well aware of the rule. And if you look closely, you’ll find that I’m in full compliance.” She gestured down to her legs.

“Those are the baggiest sweatpants I’ve ever seen in my life,” I said.

“Look lower.” She stuck her leg out and wiggled her foot around. “My ankles are everywhere. I’m basically dressed like a whore.”

“We’re not fucking pilgrims.”

“Why would we fuck pilgrims?” asked Ash.

“I meant that we’re not pilgrims, with fucking added for emphasis. But now that we’re on the topic, I’m still pissed that I didn’t get to fuck any of those frat guys at that Thanksgiving costume party.”

“I didn’t stop you. I wasn’t even there.”

“Exactly! I was serious when I vowed not to get any dick until you lose your virginity.”

“I never asked you to do that.”

“Too bad. The fate of my sex life rests in your hands. If you don’t have sex, neither will I.

” When I made the vow, I’d hoped it would force Ash to get out of our dorm and find a nice big dick to sit on.

But it had totally backfired and ruined the last month of my life.

It was very hard to keep my hands to myself when I had two hot bodyguards following my every move.

I couldn’t keep going like this. But I had a feeling this was all going to be fixed soon…

“Come on,” I said. “The food is probably getting cold.”

I grabbed her wrist and pulled her down the hall.

“Where are we going?” she asked as we passed the door where our food deliveries usually arrived.

“The tracking said he’s at the common room.”

“Weird,” said Ash.

It was weird. Because it wasn’t true. I just needed an excuse to get her to walk down to the common room so she could find her surprise.

“Do you smell that?” asked Ash.

I sniffed the air. It was faint, but the smell was unmistakable. “It smells like freshly baked cookies.”

Ash nodded and then put her hand to her ear. “And is that Christmas music?”

“I think so,” I said.

Ash started to look excited.

“Whoa,” I said, pointing to the floor. “Are those…”

“Hoof prints,” whispered Ash. She stopped and grabbed my arm. “Chastity. I think we’re about to find S…Sa…Sa…Santa!” She was so freaking excited that she could hardly get the word out. “I knew that Santa used deserted dorms as his local bases of operation!”

“Holy shit. I think you might be right. Should we follow the hoof prints?”

Ash never heard my question though, because she was already halfway down the hall.

I sprinted and caught up to her in the stairwell. The Christmas music was at full blast now. And the cookies smelled amazing.

It really felt like I was running down the stairs on Christmas morning. I half expected there to be a pink Lamborghini waiting for me at the bottom. But alas, my eighth birthday was not to be repeated.

Somehow, though, Ash’s excitement made this feel even more magical.

Especially when we passed a window and saw that it had snowed a whole foot this evening.

And the snow was still coming down. She pressed her nose to the window for a second, taking in the view of the winter wonderland that our campus had suddenly become.

And then she was back to following the hoof prints.

She threw open the doors of the common room and gasped.

“Oh my God,” she whispered.

And I could see why. It looked like we’d stepped into Santa’s workshop.

Christmas lights, wrapped presents, three fully trimmed trees, giant candy canes, a full spread of Christmas cookies…

Teddybear had even dressed up like Will Ferrell in Elf .

The only thing that felt off was Ghostie wearing his usual crisp suit and totally botching the last-minute construction of a gingerbread house. But he looked damn good doing it.

“Merry Christmas,” I said to Ash.

“You did this?” she asked. Tears were forming in the corners of her eyes.

“It was my idea. But Teddybear and Ghostie made it happen.”

“This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me.” She pulled me into a giant hug.

“Ramen with syrup?” offered Teddybear as he cracked chocolate Pop-Tarts over a steaming bowl of ramen.

He looked amazing, even in his costume. But the food did not.

“Ugh,” I said, trying not to gag at the sight. I appreciated him taking the role so seriously, but that was foul. “How about some cookies instead?”

“Good idea,” said Ash.

We started navigating through a sea of giant presents and candy canes on our way to the cookie decorating table.

But halfway there, someone tore through the side of one of the presents and lunged for Ash.

“Die, pervert!” she screamed, delivering a wicked throat punch to the assailant and following it up with a swift kick in the nuts.

And then her eyes got huge. “Kyle?” she asked.

The guy groaned and looked up at her from the floor. “Good to see you too, sis,” he said, trying to smile through the pain.

Ash threw her hand over her mouth. “I’m so sorry. I thought you were a pervert.”

“Who said I’m not?” he joked. “You should have seen what I was going to do to your hot friend if you hadn’t stopped me.” He flashed me a smile.

Holy shit. Ash’s brother was kind of hot. He was giving real homeless bad boy vibes with his trucker hat and long hair.

“Ew.” Ash laughed and offered him a hand.

Give me a second here,” he said, still grabbing his junk. “And fair warning – Rosalie is going to pop out of the next present.”

“Rosalie?!”

“Merry Christmas!” yelled Rosalie as she tore out of a giant present.

I didn’t think it was possible for Ash to look any more excited than she had earlier. But her little sister coming to visit for Christmas had her smiling from ear to ear.

And she hadn’t even gotten her main present yet.

Speaking of which… I glanced around to confirm that Teddybear had hung all the mistletoe I requested.

Perfect. Everything was all set for Ash’s big surprise.

Now I just had to wait for him to arrive.

Did I say him? I meant it. Because I definitely didn’t order her a stripper or anything like that…

I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face at the thought of her surprise. Ash was totally going to freak out.

“Who wants cookies and milk?” I asked.

“I do,” said Ash and Rosalie.

“How about burgers and beer?” suggested her brother.

“We don’t have any of that.”

“Oh really?” He reached into the present he’d been hiding in earlier and pulled out two brown bags. One was filled with burgers and fries. The other had a six pack of peppermint flavored craft beer. He cracked a beer open with his eye socket and offered it to Ash.

She shook her head. “I don’t drink.”

So I guess she’s still in denial about Banana Juice being alcohol. Or maybe she got so drunk every time she had it that she legitimately didn’t remember drinking it.

Kyle shrugged. “More for me.”

“I got you a present too,” said Rosalie. She handed Ash a wrapped present.

Ash tore into it and then read the label on the bottle.