a Beautiful Christmas Read online

  A Beautiful Christmas

  Ember-Raine Winters

  A Beautiful Christmas

  Ember-Raine Winters

  Copyright 2017 All Rights Reserved

  Acknowledgements

  I have the best family in the world! They put up with my crap and are super supportive. Especially, My mom and sister. They are the best!

  The best Goodreads group ever! Especially Authors Annie Arcane, Jane Blythe. You ladies have helped me so much in the last few months! Thank youuuu!! Mwah!

  Last, but not least my editor, Randie. [email protected] I couldn’t do this without you! Thank you so much!

  Dedication

  To all the bloggers and indie authors in this awesome community who helped me in my writing journey. You’re all the best! Merry Christmas. Thank you bunches!

  CHAPTER ONE

  GRIFFIN

  “You forgot, didn’t you?” Kaylee looked at me with derision, but she was right. I should have gotten that toy months ago. Everyone said it would be the hot new toy for Christmas.

  “Yeah, I did. I’ve kind of been preoccupied, babe. The weddings in two weeks, and I just forgot.”

  “I know, Griff, but what are we gonna do? That was the thing Lance wanted most.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll find one.” I rubbed my forehead with a sigh.

  Life had been relatively quiet except for our newborn, Natalie, not sleeping through the night. We were all getting somewhat back to normal. It had been eight months since we took down Barnes and his henchmen. Trey was back to his usual self after waking up from his coma, ironically on the day our baby girl was born.

  Tasha was as big as a house, and I don’t think I had ever seen her happier, yet Twitch was a nervous wreck trying to get ready for the baby. Marcy was starting to show her baby bump and she was feistier than ever. Mac had, with the help of physical therapy, gotten back to normal and had become decidedly less of a dick, especially to Kenzie.

  “I’ll get Trey to help me track one down,” I said offhanded to my soon-to-be wife.

  Kaylee rolled her eyes, but her comment was cut off by our screaming six-month-old baby. I smiled and kissed the side of her head before pulling my phone out and dialing Trey.

  “What’s up?” he asked.

  “I need your help.”

  “Are we talking save-the-free-world-from-a-tyrant help or what?”

  “I need my ass saved. Lance wants one of those stupid egg things that hatch for Christmas, and I forgot to get it.”

  Trey full on belly laughed. “You’re screwed, brother.”

  “What do you mean? I have to be able to find one somewhere,” I grumbled.

  “Be prepared to pay a nice chunk of change for it. The stores have been sold out for weeks. People are selling them on eBay… get this… for a grand!”

  I whistled out loud. “Seriously? A grand? That’s ridiculous.”

  “Bro, come over here. I might know where to get one.” He was still laughing at me when he hung up the phone.

  “Babe, I’m headed to Trey and Kenzie’s,” I yelled down the hallway and heard a muffled “shhh.”

  Crap. Don’t wake Nat.

  After Trey was released from the hospital, he moved in with Kenzie, who lived in a nice condo on the beach. No matter how much we tried to convince her to move into the secure building, she’d adamantly refused, saying she couldn’t handle everyone up in her business. And by everyone, she meant our ever-growing family. The one I’d been systematically working on for years with my brothers—both blood and non-blood related.

  Trey let slip once that she was working to help the Department of Defense secure their system against cyber-attacks. I couldn’t help but think of the irony of that, considering she was the biggest cyber stalker out there. The work was significantly less dangerous than what she’d been doing, but she seemed to enjoy it, which made my brother happier than I’d ever seen him.

  Knocking on the door of their condo, I waited patiently outside. As soon as it opened, I stepped in, and grabbed her in a bear hug. “Barbie, how are you?”

  “That’ll never go away, will it?” she retorted, but gave me a hug in return.

  “Ask Pix and Trixie.” I grinned, watching her roll her eyes as she closed the door behind me. “Where’s Trey?”

  “He’ll be out in a minute. How’re Kay and the kids? I feel like I haven’t seen anyone in forever.”

  “Nat still isn’t sleeping all night, but other than that everything’s good. I dare say… quiet.”

  Trey walked out of the bathroom with just a pair of low hung jeans on and grinned at me. “Step into my office.” He walked out the door and to his brand-new BMW parked in the driveway. His last one was totaled when Barnes’ goons ran them off the road up in the Hollywood Hills.

  “Shit,” he swore as he walked to the open trunk.

  “Did you leave that open?” I asked quizzically.

  “No, it’s been jimmied.” He looked at the edge of the trunk, checking the lock. “I had a couple of those damn egg things in the trunk. Someone must have seen them.”

  “Wait… you left this year’s hottest toy in the trunk of your car and didn’t lock it?” I shook my head at his stupidity.

  “I locked it. I’m not that stupid. Come on, we have this place wired.” He stomped back to the front door.

  KAYLEE

  I smiled to myself as Griffin left the apartment. Leanne and Lance were at school, and I was at home with Nat all alone. It was nice. She was a good baby and looked so much like her dad with his dark hair and green eyes. I loved her so much. She was the perfect mix of her dad and me.

  After I got her to sleep, I walked into the living room where all the wedding books were laid out on the coffee table and sighed happily. I couldn’t wait to marry Griffin on New Year’s Eve. It had been a long time in the making. Our love story started so many years ago that it was difficult for me to grasp the fact that we were finally getting our happily ever after.

  No matter what, it was going to be a beautiful wedding. Griffin said to spare no expense, but Tara and I had been finding handmade decorations for cheap on a much-loved arts and crafts site.

  “Hey sister,” I said into the phone.

  “Hey Kay, how did operation ‘get Griffin out of the house’ go?” Tara laughed.

  “Shhh, if Billy hears you, you know he’ll spill the beans,” I admonished, knowing my brother Billy all too well. How Tara still put up with him was lost on me. Thankfully she did, since she was the sister I never had.

  “Oh, Billy’s at work. I’m not stupid. He and the guys have become friends ever since they saved you and the kids. He has some serious respect for them now.”

  I shuddered to think about what had happened when I was kidnapped. Griffin had been trying to protect my mom, brother and sister-in-law by being more than a little tight-lipped about the facts of our kidnapping. He hadn’t wanted them to become a target, and had traveled halfway around the globe rescuing us, but my family didn’t see his protectiveness with as much understanding as I did. The blowouts I’d heard about had been epic. The last thing he’d told me he needed was to get us back, only to find out he’d endangered them as well. I had tried to explain it to Billy once word got out about who took Barnes down, but he kept up with his macho crap about having guns and being able to protect his family himself. Really, what could I say to such idiocy? It had been better to just shut up about it and let him complain.

  “Yeah, I’m glad he finally got off his trip and gave them a chance. You do know Griffin meant well though, right? Even if my brother was too pig-headed to understand?”

  “You don’t have to convince me, and don’t wo
rry, Billy is all good with your about-to-be new hubby. So tell me, how is it going? Did he fall for the toy thing?” She laughed evilly. The woman was a lot like Kenzie when it came to screwing with Griffin. Something about my logical levelheaded man made those two want to prank him and rile him up whenever possible. It was pretty funny when he got flustered.

  “I just sent him to Trey’s for the toy, and if Tasha did her job, the toys should be long gone. I only wish I could see the look on Trey’s face when he realizes they’re missing.” I giggled.

  I loved messing with Trey the way Kenzie and Tara loved messing with Griffin. He was usually the one dishing it out, so anytime I could deliver some back, I was happy to oblige.

  The call waiting beeped and I looked at the caller ID. Perfect. I grinned. “Hey Tara, I gotta go. Kenzie’s on the other line.”

  “Don’t forget to call me back and let me know what happened,” she said before hanging up.

  CHAPTER TWO

  KENZIE

  “Are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked Kaylee. I had called her as soon as the guys walked outside.

  “I’m telling you, they’re bored. They need the chase. It’s been months since they had something like this to do. Plus, Griffin deserves it for not getting the damn thing when I told him to.” Kaylee’s evil laugh was audible through the phone.

  I couldn’t help but chuckle as well. It was one of my favorite hobbies: I loved messing with Griffin. Damn he was so easy. “Where are they being hidden?”

  “After Tasha stole them, Marcy took them up to Bob’s house in the hills. That way, Mac won’t get wind of it.”

  “So, they are all just gonna go on this wild goose chase for a thief that doesn’t exist?” These girls were as devious as I was, and I loved it—even if they didn’t use explosives.

  I hung up the phone quickly when Trey and Griffin stomped into the house. “Babe. Did you see anyone messing with the car?”

  “What? No, what happened?” I asked with what I hoped was a concerned expression.

  “Someone broke into the car and stole Mikey and Lance’s presents.”

  “I told you not to leave them in the trunk, idiot.”

  “And, I told you the kid’s a sneak. He would have found the damn things in an instant.”

  Mikey had been living with us full-time since Trey woke up from his coma. Shelby continued to try to state her case, but after everything came out about the danger we had all been in, the judge refused to allow him to live full-time with a parent as reckless as she had been that day. Mikey spent weekends with her and she got him every other Wednesday after preschool. She definitely wasn’t happy about it and sneered at me every time she dropped him off. It was hilarious that she thought her little tantrum mattered to me in the least.

  “Kenzie, we’re going to the surveillance room to see if we can find anything.” I rolled my eyes at him in response.

  When he woke up after the coma, he decided that the condo wasn’t nearly as secure as Griffin’s apartment building. He was convinced that some of Barnes’ buddies would be coming for us and we needed to be prepared. I told him that he was paranoid, but he shook his head and proceeded to get everything from GTT and wired the place up tight.

  I dialed the phone and called Marcy. “Hello?” she whispered.

  “Pix? Why are you whispering? Is Mac right there?”

  “He’s asleep.”

  “It’s the middle of the day. What’s he doing sleeping?” I asked laughing.

  “I kept him up all night. These pregnancy hormones are insane.” She giggled and I heard a throaty groan in the background.

  “What are you doing?” I asked aghast, not believing what I could actually be hearing. “Oh, that’s just gross. I don’t want that image in my head.”

  I heard something rustling in the background before she squealed and the phone went dead.

  Well that was supremely unhelpful... if not a little bit nasty.

  I shook myself, completely disgusted by what I just heard. Crazy, they’re fucking crazy, as in literally. If being pregnant made you a sex-starved nympho, then I wanted no part of that mess.

  TREY

  I may have been freaking out a little more than I should have. My brother was eyeing me as I combed through the security footage. There was something in that trunk that no one knew about, and I wanted to keep it that way.

  “What’s this all about, Trey? Is this more than just some stupid kids’ toys we’re looking for here?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  My brother was laughing at me as he said, “You know that your nose twitches when you lie?”

  “What the hell? No it doesn’t, you ass,” I replied and felt my nose twitch. Griffin busted up laughing even harder, so I punched him in the arm. “Fine, the toys weren’t the only thing in the trunk, okay?”

  “Little brother, you need to tell me what it is we’re looking for.”

  I could hear the wariness in his tone, and after everything we’d been through in the past year and a half, it wasn’t right for me to let him think it was some new the-world-is-about-to go-to-shit moment. “It’s a little blue box,” I said almost too soft, then winced at his look of shock.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  “Shhh, she’ll hear you!”

  “What the fuck were you thinking leaving that in the car?”

  “She’s sneakier than Mikey. She would have found it in a hot second.”

  Griffin looked at me as though I was dumber than a rock. “Why didn’t you have one of us hide it for you?”

  Aww, shit. Maybe I am, but on second thought…

  “Um, I don’t know?” I added sarcastically, “The women around here can’t keep a secret to save their lives. Letting my girl traipse off to Somalia doesn’t exactly inspire me to trust them.”

  “You gotta let that go, Trey. If they hadn’t, we’d both be dead, and you know it.” Griffin shook his head at me. “I’m calling Mac and Twitch. We need everyone on this if we’re gonna get that ring back.”

  “No. They will tell their women. I do not want Kenzie finding out. You know her!”

  “As far as anyone knows, we’re looking for the kids’ toys. I won’t tell them what a monumental idiot you were.”

  “That’s so not helpful, bro.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  MAC

  I woke up slowly. Moaning, as I felt a hand caressing my cock, I groaned, then sat up and pulled Marcy to me. I took the phone from her and hung it up as she giggled.

  “Again? I think it might be broken.” I nuzzled her neck.

  “It doesn’t feel broken.” She smiled licking her lips, her hand never leaving my cock and she continued pumping it. She attempted to lean down and lick me, but I flipped her under me and kissed her deeply while she continued to fondle me.

  “If this is what pregnancy hormones are like, then I think you should be pregnant forever,” I said thrusting into her hand.

  “Mmmm,” she moaned and the sound went straight to my balls. This girl was would be the death of me.

  “Why are you wearing so many clothes?” I asked as I disengaged myself from her to rip the jeans from her body. “New rule. If you’re gonna wake me up like that, you better be naked first.”

  I bent between her knees and saw how wet she was. I flicked her clit with one finger and her back bowed off the bed. A high pitched keening sound fell from her lips that had me grinning.

  Definitely keeping her pregnant.

  Pushing two fingers into her dripping wet pussy, I grinned when her eyes rolled back in her head. I didn’t remember her ever being that responsive, or sex starved.

  “More,” she moaned out and reached for me. “Fuck me, Mac, hard and fast.”

  “Whatever you say, Pix,” I said and brought my fingers to her lips. “Suck them clean,” I commanded and my dirty girl sucked her juices from my fingers like she was sucking my cock, mo
aning with pleasure the whole time.

  I pulled my fingers from her lips and grinned at the look she gave me. “My turn,” I said and leaned back down licking her up and down. She grabbed my hair and held me to her as her hips bucked against my face.

  I had no idea if it was my imagination, but she tasted better than ever, and I sucked her throbbing clit into my mouth and smiled as she screamed, her juices gushing all over my chin. I lapped at her hungrily as she continued to ride her climax. Sitting up on my knees, I tilted her hips up and slammed into her to the hilt, just as she was going over the edge. My balls were slapping against her ass and I dipped my head to her naked body and took one pert nipple into my mouth. That was another thing I loved about her pregnancy, her tits were incredibly sensitive. It wasn’t a minute before she was milking my cock harder, and I came on a roar.

  “What the hell is that?” Marcy asked, breathless as I barely came down from my sexual high.

  “Shit, it’s my phone.” I groaned and rolled towards the nightstand. “Some one better be dead.”

  “That’s not funny.” Marcy smacked me, doing a complete one eighty. That was something I wasn’t liking so much about her being pregnant. Her mood swings were hard and fast and anything could set her off.

  “We got a job.” I heard Griffin say as soon as I answered. “Trey’s car was broken into and they took our boys’ Christmas presents.”

  “Someone stole some kids’ toys from Trey’s trunk?” I asked bewildered. That’s lower than low. Especially as close as we were getting to Christmas.

  Rolling over on my back and grabbing Marcy to put her on my chest, I continued talking to Griffin. “What information do we have?”

  “None, nothing suspicious showed up on the cameras.”

  “When was the last time someone drove the car?” I asked my mind racing, yet the thought that we were looking into finding Christmas presents considering the hell we’d all been through was a startling adjustment.

  “Kenzie went to the grocery store this morning.” I heard Trey in the background telling Griff. The idea of terrorist Barbie doing anything as normal as grocery shopping was hilarious. Griffin chuckled in my ear and I couldn’t help it, I laughed with him. “I’ll be there in a half an hour,” I said, ending the call.