Page 15 of Forbidden Billionaires, Vol. 9

Ash tossed her straw aside and downed the rest of her hot chocolate. “Let’s go! We can’t be late!” Then she grabbed me and Slavanka and pulled us up the staircase back into the glass atrium.

Nine men all turned to look at us and my heart skipped a beat.

Hot damn, boys!

There was something about a man in uniform that did things to me. And these sexy elf uniforms were no exception.

My eyes were drawn to the red team first. They were dressed head to toe in tight red tuxedo pants, fitted red button downs with the sleeves rolled up, black suspenders, Santa hats, and creepy ass elf masks. The best part, though? Their shirts were all unbuttoned and open in the middle.

I instantly recognized Ghostie’s eight-pack and chiseled pecs.

And the absolute beef tower next to him was probably the banana king.

He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off Ash’s red hair.

Yup…definitely the banana king. It must have been driving him crazy that he’d missed out on taking her virginity.

Maybe if I was lucky, he’d take it tonight.

I turned to the third member of the red team. It was supposed to be the Chadwicks’ underboss, Tommy Rapide. But his delicious black abs looked familiar. Which was odd, because I’d never seen Tommy’s abs. Or maybe I had? No. I would have remembered that he had abs like that.

“Guten abend,” said one of the guys in green to Ash.

Definitely the bellhops. The original plan had been for her to be on a team with my brothers from the Gryphon Club, but…

Wait a second! I knew I’d seen Flash Robinson in that chocolate shop earlier.

I looked over at the white team to confirm my suspicions. Or, more precisely, I looked at the white team’s bulges.

Yup. One of them was definitely Flash. Pants that tight just didn’t have anywhere for such a big cock to go.

“Wow,” he said as he gave us the up-down. “I knew we were waiting for sexy elves. But damn.”

“Let’s open the presents,” growled Ghostie. He turned around and grabbed three presents – one red, one green, and one white - off the table behind him.

“Where’d those come from?” whispered Ash.

“The sexy elf factory,” I said with a wink.

“No, not them. The tables.”

I looked past the men at the four tables.

One was directly under the end of the conveyor belt, and the other three were spaced out equally around it and covered in ribbon and rolls of wrapping paper.

So. Many. Rolls. “Santa must have put them there,” I said.

And by that, I meant Teddybear and Ghostie did.

I still couldn’t believe they’d set all this up. They were the freaking best.

“Santa is the freaking best,” said Ash, mimicking my thoughts almost exactly. “But where is he?”

“Winner meet Santa?” asked Slavanka.

“Maybe,” I said. “Good luck, girls.” I probably should have reminded them to let me win. But I always won everything, so it didn’t really seem necessary.

Ghostie handed one large present to each team and then we huddled up around ours. It was as beautifully wrapped as the red button had been earlier. But instead of being addressed to me, Ash, and Slavanka, the tag on this present read: “Do not open until your sexy elves arrive.”

“Your sexy elf has arrived,” I said with a smile and a shimmy. “Shall I do the honors?”

The three men nodded.

I grabbed the paper and tore the present open. And then I opened the box inside to reveal a letter resting on top of red tissue paper. I wanted to just dig right in and find the real presents, but Ghostie opened the letter and read:

Elves,

Thank you for agreeing to help me deliver presents this evening.

Tonight you’ll be assembling, wrapping, and delivering as many presents as you can before the clock strikes midnight.

You’ve been put in random teams of four:

- One Assembler

- One Wrapper

- One Courier

- One Deliverer

The female elves will be the deliverers. The other three roles can be filled by any male elf.

I require precision in all aspects of these deliveries. If your assembly or wrapping are not up to my standards, those deliveries will not count. Likewise, a delivery will not count if you get caught…unless you make the target think they’re having a sexy dream.

One lucky member of the winning team will get a special treat, so don’t dilly dally.

Merry Christmas,

Santa Claus

“Seems simple enough,” said Tommy. “Any objections to me being the assembler? I’m pretty quick at building stuff.”

“Sounds good to me,” I said. That was exactly what he was supposed to do.

The Chadwicks’ had built their entire empire on their ability to put buildings up at record speeds.

And Tommy was the brains of their construction business.

Daddy always complained that Tommy Rapide could work three times as fast as our best man.

Ghostie grunted in approval too.

I turned to the banana king. “You look like you’d be good at wrapping.”

“Does he?” asked Tommy. “His hands are massive.”

True. But the Locatellis were known for their fine Italian finishes.

And when I broke into his office I’d seen that painting of me that he’d done.

Not to mention the model town he’d built.

And I’d never forget what it felt like to have his hands all over me.

If there was one thing I was sure of with the banana king, it was that he was good with his hands.

“I’ll wrap,” said the banana king. His tone left no room for argument.

“And I’ll take the presents from the wrapping station to our sexy elf for final delivery,” said Ghostie. “I guess that’s what the courier does?”

“I think so,” I said. “Now let’s see what else is in the box.” I dug into the tissue paper and found four more presents wrapped in red paper, each labeled with one of the four roles.

Tommy the assembler got a schematic for how to make a wooden toy gun.

The banana king the wrapper got a diagram of a perfectly wrapped present.

Ghostie the courier got a map of the hotel, with some rooms circled in red.

And I got a Royal Spielzeughersteller Hotel key card. In the spot you’d usually write a room number, it just had an infinity sign.

Phew. I’d really hoped that Ghostie and Teddybear would get me a keycard instead of making me go down chimneys and climb between balconies. After my near-death slip while getting to the hot tub earlier, I’d had quite enough balcony climbing for one evening.

“Anything else in there?” I asked as I pocketed the keycard.

Ghostie dug further into the red tissue paper and pulled out four smart watches. The digital displays all showed 28 for a second, and then 27. And then 26.

We each put one on and watched them tick down to 0. When they got to three, the countdown switched to words:

ON YOUR MARK. Our watches dinged, like a cute little Christmas bell.

GET SET. Our watches played a slightly louder bell.

GO! Those were the loudest bells yet. Almost deafening, really.