A Crane Family Christmas (Billionaire Bad Boys Book 4) Read online

  A Crane Family Christmas

  A BILLIONAIRE BAD BOYS FREEBIE

  Jessica Lemmon

  Contents

  Also by Jessica Lemmon

  A Note From The Author

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  About the Author

  Also by Jessica Lemmon

  Billionaire Bad Boys

  The Billionaire Bachelor

  The Billionaire Next Door

  The Bastard Billionaire

  SECOND CHANCE

  Bringing Home the Bad Boy

  Rescuing the Bad Boy

  A Bad Boy for Christmas

  Return of the Bad Boy

  Real Love

  Eye Candy

  Arm Candy

  Man Candy

  …AND MORE…

  You can learn more at jessicalemmon.com

  This short story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events and incidents are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2017 Jessica Lemmon

  Cover Copyright © 2017 by Jessica Lemmon

  First Edition December 2017

  A Note From The Author

  Dear Reader,

  After many, many requests for an update on the Crane family including: an epilogue for Isa and Eli, a short story for Alex and Rhona, and what became of [insert favorite character name here], I decided to write a Christmas freebie and answer at least some of your burning questions. This short story is, in every way, my gift to you. It’s my way of saying thank you for reading and loving the Billionaire Bad Boys series and the characters within. It means so much to me that you care enough to contact me about the heroes and heroines I love every bit as much as you do!

  Now a disclaimer of sorts… This book was written as a freebie and has not been professionally edited. However, it was read over (and over) by not only myself but a few lovely volunteers. Huge thanks to Kate Meader, Shannon Richard, Nikki Snider, and Jill Wymer for your input. If you come across comma splicing, dangling modifiers, or a misused adjective, please know that the fault lies with me. I intend only to produce the best work for my readers.

  If you’re new to the Billionaire Bad Boys world, an FYI: this book is very much an Epilogue to the series. It’s intended to be read as an extension of the series rather than a standalone. That said, if you don’t mind spoilers—go for it. ☺

  Wishing you all a very merry Christmas,

  Jessica Lemmon & the Cranes

  Chapter 1

  Elijah Crane

  “Well, I didn’t know I’d be hosting this year, maybe that’s why I’m crabby.” Eli fussed with his bowtie before grimacing at his wife’s reflection behind him in the bathroom mirror. Isa wore her usual bemused expression on a face so beautiful it still hurt a little to look at her. It hurt because of how close his bumbling had come to losing her.

  Thank God she was as stubborn as he was.

  “You’re crabby every day. It’s what I love about you.” She dragged her fingernails over his crisp white shirt and smiled. She wore a slinky, sequined black gown that accentuated her voluptuous figure and made his mouth water. Her beauty had always contrasted his “beast” nicely.

  “How much time do we have?” His eyes feasted on the low V-neck, danced around her luscious hips and jerked back to whiskey-colored eyes he couldn’t get enough of.

  “Don’t even think about it. Your family is due to arrive any minute.”

  “Why are we dressed like this if everyone is coming here?” His warehouse was more rustic and comfortable than formal. His frown returned, but only so that his wife would tut at his tone.

  “You know why.”

  He’d been the last to know—or at least he felt like it.

  “Tag ruins everything.” He turned to face her, but some of the bite went out of his tone when his hands found her supple hips. Fingers digging into the dress’s material, he growled, “I’d like to take you out of this dress.”

  Her pupils dilated, full lips opening to suck in a breath. That was his Sable. Still in love with him, still turned on by him—and he hated to admit it, but he was the tiniest bit surprised. Good things didn’t last. Not for him. Not usually. Yet here he was, Isabella Crane sharing his last name after they’d married this past summer. Sharing his home despite having nearly botched their relationship altogether for behaving like a jackass. And sharing his bed every single night since. Naked or not, he didn’t care. He just wanted her here. With him. Always.

  He dropped his forehead onto hers and breathed in the soft fragrance of her perfume—an early Christmas gift. As per their own tradition, they were allowed to open one gift on Christmas Eve from each other. She’d loved the delicately shaped bottle and had spritzed it on as soon as she’d torn open the package. He’d chosen a random gift from under the tree, pleased to find a black ceramic ashtray with four divots for cigars on the odd night his brothers and father indulged in a smoke on the rooftop. It was her way of giving him permission and he loved her for it.

  Hell, he loved her for everything she did for him—not only the gifts, not only the company, not only the fact that she had organized grocery lists on the fridge and a notebook in every room with bullet-pointed lists—but because she was here and her presence meant everything to a man who never dreamed he’d have a woman stay close, let alone marry him.

  “Have I told you I loved you today?” He closed his eyes and inhaled her essence again.

  “Yes,” Isa whispered, her fingers gliding over his trimmed, full beard. Whenever she did that it sent tingles down his spine and straight to his balls. His dick gave a mournful twitch.

  Not now.

  “But if you want to tell me again, don’t let me stop you.” She moved those wandering fingers to his hair and tickled his skull through hair in need of a trim. Eli opened his eyes and moved in for a taste of the mouth he’d never tire of kissing.

  The kiss started sweet, turned deep, and in a heartbeat they were clinging to each other like the silver icicles they’d draped over the Christmas tree. When they’d put the damn thing up, he would’ve sworn more tinsel had been hanging from his limbs than the tree’s. Isa had laughed, and he’d slotted that moment into his memory, taking a mental snapshot in case he would need it later. Nothing lasted forever, but where Isa was concerned he was determined to make it endure—and help it grow—for as long as humanly possible.

  As if the universe was content to prove Eli’s belief that “nothing lasted forever,” the sound of his large metal door sliding aside interrupted their kiss. His youngest brother’s “Yo!” punctuated the air as he entered Eli’s sanctuary in his usual bull-in-a-China-shop manner.

  “Tag’s here,” Isa breathed as Eli tongued her racing pulse on the side of her neck.

  “Don’t care.”

  “He’ll see,” she said on a giggle.

  “Shut the door.”

  “We’re in the bathroom.” Her breathy sigh caused his enlarging member to jerk again and this time he pressed his hips against hers.

  “What’s up bro—oh.” Tag sounded mildly alarmed as he spotted them. Eli reluctantly raised his head as Isa straightened her dress. “Sorry, E. Didn’t meant to interrupt your snogging.”

  “Yes, you did.” Eli released his wife and brushed by his gargantuan six-foot, five-inch brother and strode into the hall. “I blame you for everything.”

  “We said four o’clock.” Tag said in his
defense, not that he was the least bit defensive. The man was like a lazy cat most days. Problems slid effortlessly off his broad, Teflon-coated back.

  “Merry Christmas, Rachel.” Eli nodded his greeting to Tag’s fiancée. She and Tag had been engaged going on two years now, which was so like Tag it wasn’t funny. He’d regaled the tale of his proposal via a bottle of sand in this very warehouse and at a time Eli had been licking a pretty nasty wound in regards to Isabella Sawyer. But he’d since extracted his head from his ass, whereas Tag’s took up permanent residence in his own.

  Well, until today.

  Eli smiled at the real reason they’d gathered here rather than Dad’s. Namely the open space in the warehouse was second to none. Plenty of room for an aisle. His smile endured as he took in his brother’s beautiful fiancée. She didn’t have a clue.

  “Merry Christmas to you, too.” Rachel rose to her toes to kiss his cheek. “Good to see you smiling. I take it married life is treating you well?”

  “She moved the silverware and the dishtowels and the coffee mugs.”

  “It makes sense to have the dishtowels by the sink.” Isa, undeterred by his ever-present grumpiness, leaned in to hug Rachel. “You are wearing that dress.”

  “Thank you.” Blonde Rachel did look amazing in the red frock. Tag had wedged his big shoulders into a crisp, white shirt, but he wasn’t wearing a tie or a jacket, even today. It was rare that the youngest Crane brother went to the trouble of dressing to the nines, but Eli had gone full-on tux. The least Tag could’ve done was dress his best on his—

  “When’s the caterer arriving?” Tag asked, hand over his stomach. “I’m hungry.”

  “You’re always hungry.” Isa cocked one eyebrow. “And if by caterer, you mean Rhona, she’s running late but she’ll be here.”

  “I begged her to let me help,” Rachel said. “She refused.”

  “I talked her into letting us provide the wine. Since Eli and I honeymooned in Napa Valley and brought home enough bottles to stock the cellar twice over, she let me.” Isa winked at him and his heart leapt against his ribs in an effort to get closer to her.

  Napa Valley had been beautiful and watching his wife’s features soften as they drank wine and took in the sunset had been another snapshot moment for him. So many good things had happened in a row, he’d begun sincerely thinking that the Man Upstairs was firmly Team Eli. There was no other way to explain the way every aspect of his life had come to heel to line up in a neat row. He didn’t throw around a word like “blessed” often, but if the prosthetic fit…

  He’d turned one of the rooms upstairs into a wine cellar. (Uncommon, but since when were he or Isa known to be traditional?) Eli made use of the metal staircase often and had worked hard over the last few years to build the skill of walking up the stairs and back down. He’d recently replaced his prosthetic with a new one, and getting used to it was challenging. Isa was far more patient than him. Whenever he’d slip and swear, she’d simply say, “Try it again. You were close” and then blow him a kiss.

  Incorrigible woman.

  “What are you smiling about?” she asked, her own grin Cheshire-cat wide.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” he answered, his voice more growly than usual. He had a proposition for her. A big one.

  But now wasn’t the time.

  Chapter 2

  Tag Crane

  Those two needed to get a room. Or hell, another room.

  Tag smiled all the same as his older brother pulled his wife into his arms and laid one on her. Seeing Eli happy was a hell of a lot better than seeing him grouchy. He’d always been grouchy, but this grouchy was more of a fun old-man grouchy. Like Dad.

  Wherever the hell he was.

  Tag’s stomach did a somersault and he shot a longing glance at Eli’s warehouse entrance.

  “You okay, Tarzan?” Rachel teased as she slinked toward him, hips and ass swaying. His sex kitten. She knew exactly what she was doing to him in that dress—just like she’d known when she’d put it on way too early for them to leave. She knew he’d strip her out of it, lay her on the sofa and drop his head between her thighs.

  They’d had sex twice before they arrived and damned if he didn’t want her again. Now would be good. The distraction would stave off his nerves, which were starting to make him jumpy, and he sure as shit didn’t do “jumpy.”

  “Dimples, when have you known me not to be okay?” he asked, affecting a half-lidded, relaxed expression for both their sakes.

  She winked and didn’t answer. Probably because she’d seen him very not okay. Like the shaky moment he’d taken the mic at her cousin’s wedding and announced in front of God and her entire extended family that he loved her.

  “They’re so happy together.” Rachel’s eyes held a hint of wistfulness as she watched Eli and Isa play-bicker. “Marriage has done them good.”

  Tag swallowed thickly, knowing he’d been putting off what Rachel wanted. Knowing she’d put up with him being hesitant to make them an official “us.”

  He cleared his throat and she looped her arms around his waist and rested her chin on his chest.

  “I love you.” Her bright eyes shone and he lowered his lips for a kiss.

  “Love you, too.” He did. More than anything in this life. In his defense, he’d made huge leaps from the man he used to be to the man he was now. Always chasing a good time, he never could’ve imagined settling down until he’d met a certain adorable blonde. Rachel in his life and in his penthouse morning and night had become not only a habit he loved, but also a life he’d embraced.

  Her smile faded as she turned the engagement ring on her third finger. Rachel needed more. Deserved more.

  Tag frowned at the door.

  Where the hell were Alex and Rhona?

  Rachel Foster

  Tag was acting more squirrelly than usual.

  Almost like… the old him. He was still the same cocky, confident, sexy man she’d fallen for, but over the last month his smile had seemed more tentative and he’d been quiet. Truth be told, it was scaring her half to death.

  She accepted the wine offered from Isabella and took a hearty gulp, watching her fiancé across the room. She hadn’t meant to wake up on Christmas Day and wonder about the state of her relationship, but she’d been in long relationships before and had watched them incinerate before her eyes.

  Tag and Rachel had overcome great obstacles to arrive at this point. And other than a niggling sense that something was different, there were no signs on the outside that he was any less than one-hundred percent into her. But the holidays served as an excuse to look both back and forward, and when she looked at those two timelines stretching in opposite directions she couldn’t help noticing that, of the two of them, Tag was the one who wanted things to stay the same. She wanted a big, budding, promising future. Their future.

  Watching Tag’s happily married brothers love on their wives hadn’t quelled the want thrumming in her veins, either. A helping of envy added itself to the mix, which was unfair to Merina and Isa who Rachel loved as sisters. Even that hadn’t stopped her from asking When is it my turn?

  “How’ve you been, Rach?” Isa leaned a hip on the countertop next to her and pegged her with a sharp gaze suggesting she wasn’t asking that question casually.

  “Good,” Rachel tried anyway.

  Isa said nothing, simply tilted her head.

  Rachel huffed a sigh and answered her future (she hoped) sister-in-law’s question. “It’s Christmas. A time for miracles and magic. And when you don’t get exactly what you want, some of the shine dulls.”

  “I assume you’re not talking about a present under the tree.”

  “I’m being impatient.” Rachel sent a longing look at her left hand. A gorgeous diamond band sat at home on her finger, where it’d sat since Tag had asked her to marry him. A prospect she thought would’ve scared her half to death, but instead had taken firm root in her heart.

  “You’re not impatient.” Isa too
k Rachel’s hand in her own and squeezed. “You’re just… ready.”

  “And he’s not.” Rachel nodded, accepting that truth. Across the room, Tag dropped his head back on his shoulders, his hair a long, golden mane, his beard parting to reveal strong, white teeth. He was so happy and here she was being a killjoy.

  Rachel pasted a smile on her face. “You know what? Ignore me. I’m so blessed to have Tag. To have you guys. To have this luxury life in a city I love. To live with the man I love.”

  Isa’s expression was undiluted sympathy. “You want more. It’s normal. It’s expected! If my story with Eli had ended the night I went back to him at the Crane affair, I’d have wanted more as well. No one wants to freeze in place.”

  “I know marriage isn’t that big of a deal, but—“

  “But it is.”

  They both looked over at Tag and Eli as the men turned their heads. Tag winked at Rachel. Carefree, laid-back. Why couldn’t she accept him for who he was and stop trying to push her own agenda?

  “After Thanksgiving dinner, I mentioned to him that we should set the wedding date,” she confessed to Isa. “My mom had mentioned that she didn’t want to wait too much longer. I let the idea of being in a hurry get into my head and… fester.”

  “Big fight?”

  “Worse. Tag laughed. Not in a mean way. In that good-natured, life-is-grand way. He said I shouldn’t worry about the future. He said he didn’t put a ring on my finger to leave me in limbo forever. When we spent last weekend on Maui I thought…” She blinked away tears. “I was so sure that’d be our wedding day. That he’d surprise me.” A lavish, over the top affair that he’d planned in secret, which would’ve explained his recent behavior.