Beautiful Temptation (So This is Christmas Book 2)

by Christina Lee

  Beautiful Temptation

  So This is Christmas #2

  Christina Lee

  Copyright ©2018 by Christina Lee. All rights reserved.

  Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without prior written permission by the author(s), except where permitted by law.

  Beautiful Temptation is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  All products and/or brand names mentioned are registered trademarks of their respective holders/companies.

  Published by Christina Lee in The United States of America

  Cover Art by Sleepy Fox Studio

  Edited by Keren Reed

  Proofreading services provided by Lyrical Lines and Judy’s Proofreading

  Additional thanks to Erin Clancy Lazzarini

  Contents

  Blurb

  Prologue

  1. Blair

  2. Caden

  3. Blair

  4. Caden

  5. Blair

  6. Caden

  7. Blair

  8. Caden

  9. Blair

  10. Caden

  11. Blair

  12. Caden

  13. Blair

  14. Caden

  15. Blair

  16. Caden

  17. Blair

  18. Caden

  19. Blair

  20. Caden

  21. Blair

  22. Caden

  Epilogue

  Thank you for Reading Beautiful Temptation

  About Christina Lee

  Other Books by Christina Lee

  Have You Read Beautiful Dreamer?

  An Excerpt From Beautiful Dreamer

  Blurb

  Blair Anderson only thinks of Caden Bell as his best friend’s younger brother, a straight-laced jock still dating his high-school sweetheart. They are as different as night and day. Caden has always considered Blair an enigma, the way he lights up every room with his self-confidence and perfectly sculpted cheekbones. But since childhood they’ve drifted worlds apart.

  Life as an international model isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, so when Blair escapes to his best friend’s beach house for some R&R, he’s shocked to discover Caden had the same idea. Apparently, he called it quits with his girlfriend and was looking for a little alone time too.

  Instead of rock, paper, scissors to determine who gets to stay, they decide to share the house and keep out of each other’s way. Easier said than done. As they reconnect, Blair is captivated by Caden’s bald honesty. And Caden realizes that Blair isn’t a mystery—he’s genuine and funny and still utterly gorgeous.

  Seeing Blair in a new light short-circuits Caden’s brain, and before he knows it, he’s confiding in Blair about his bi-curiosity. Blair couldn’t be more taken aback as advice turns to solace, then ignites into an intense spark neither man anticipated. Blair had done and seen it all, so what could it hurt to help Caden experience some new things?

  After all, it’s only a holiday hookup.

  Until it’s not.

  **PLEASE NOTE: This book completely stands alone from Beautiful Dreamer and they do not have to be read in order.

  Prologue

  Caden

  I waited on the sideline for the signal from the coach. When he waved the special teams in, I got in position on the five-yard line opposite the end zone.

  The punt from the opposing team was high and hung too long in the air for me to make a decent run down the field. So I raised my arm to signal a fair catch.

  Once the ball was caught on the ten-yard line, I breathed out in relief as my teammates clapped me on the back. It wasn’t the greatest field position, but I wouldn’t have accrued much better yardage before being tackled from all sides.

  At least I caught the damned ball.

  I’d just jogged back to the sidelines when I heard familiar voices from the stands.

  “Nice job, Cady.”

  “Way to go, Cady.”

  My neck prickled when I spotted my brother, Christopher, and his best friend, Blair, standing beside my parents and girlfriend. I wanted to kill them.

  “Getting some love, Cady,” one of the defensive ends said with a smirk, and the others on the bench laughed.

  “I bet he’s Cady’s biggest fan,” another linebacker added, staring up at the stands.

  “Knock it off,” I said through clenched teeth.

  There were rumors floating around about Blair being willing to service the football team, and no matter how much he pissed me off, he was still like family and I needed to defend him.

  I didn’t even know why Blair showed up—unless the rumors were true and he was scoping out his next hookup. The idea of it made my stomach feel strange. Blair was out and proud, and model perfect with that shiny blond hair and razor-sharp cheekbones. Plus, he possessed more confidence than I had in my middle finger, which I felt like saluting with right now if I knew Coach wouldn’t see me. Or my parents.

  Blair definitely wasn’t a sports fan. So the only other plausible explanation for him showing up at my game was to help my brother torment me with that ridiculous nickname—that everybody now knew about, fuck you very much.

  But it was their senior year, and they had become even bigger jerkoffs. Blair was absent from school some days due to his modeling career taking off, and I admit that seeing him—the guy I grew up with—all stunning and sophisticated in ad campaigns was really trippy.

  Pushing that thought away, I focused on Lauren, returning my girlfriend’s shy smile before my gaze swung back to Blair. It was hard to ignore him because he sort of commanded any room he was in. In this case, it was the football stands, and when his pouty lips transformed into that confident smirk, I couldn’t stay pissed. My cheeks heated, and I shook my head as I fought a grin. Jackass. Then I got my head back in the game.

  1

  Blair

  I jetted around St. Armands Circle in my sporty rental as Finn’s voice took on a concerned tone. “Are you sure you don’t want to join us again for the holidays?”

  “I’m sure. Stop worrying. I’ve been traveling for months and need a time-out.”

  I’d last been in London for a sunglasses campaign and left my no-strings lover, Harry, and some young hunk in bed to catch my flight back to the States. I avoided heading home to Ohio because the latest weather report called for snow and more snow, so I opted instead for warmer weather. Besides, who the hell needed frigid temperatures when salty sea air was available?

  Nothing says Christmas like palm trees!

  “That’s not like you, Blair. Your parents—”

  “Know where I am, and I’ll see them in Switzerland for the New Year.” I rolled my eyes, even if he couldn’t see me. My parents enjoyed traveling more than me, and never stayed home during the holidays. My dad was a local councilman, my mother a lawyer, and though they’d provided me a nearly idyllic childhood in Dublin, Ohio, where I still kept an apartment, I also couldn’t wait to strike out on my own. I’d been modeling for years, rarely stopping to catch my breath, until now. “C’mon, Finn, don’t you ever just need to check out for a hot minute?”

  “Yeah, okay. I hear you,” he finally conceded. “Just take care of yourself. Garrett sends his love.”

  I hummed into the phone. “Unless the two of you want to join me?”

  “Not on your life,�
�� Finn growled, which cracked me up. Finn’s possessiveness of Garrett was hot as hell.

  I rubbed at my chest, feeling that familiar pang of longing I couldn’t explain. What was it about the two of them that got me so sappy? I admit I was jealous when Finn found his true love. I never had something like that. But I was also never one to be caged, so it was confusing and something I pushed out of my thoughts immediately.

  I’d never dated anyone seriously or steadily—unless you counted a string of ongoing hookups with Finn and Harry and countless other men, as well as more threesomes than I could recall.

  It was definitely best to spend the holidays on the beach, alone.

  Besides, my therapist had a thing or two to say about my current lifestyle. I’d had an eating disorder nearly my entire career, and though I’d turned a corner, I still struggled every now and again.

  “Get away from that scene,” she’d said during our last FaceTime session. “Stop snorting crap up your nose, put healthy stuff in your body, and go to a place that makes you happy.”

  The ocean made me happy. So when I considered all the coasts I’d ever visited in the world, I’d settled on Sarasota, the place I’d gone nearly every spring break with my childhood best friend, Christopher Bell. Christopher had bought the rental property in Lido Key when it went up for sale a few years back as a sort of tribute to his younger days. And when I’d texted my friend to ask if they were using it for the holidays, I knew it was a crapshoot and probably too short of a notice. But I’d lucked out. He’d replied that the Bell family was meeting in Lake Tahoe for Christmas.

  Holing up on the Gulf Coast was the perfect escape, and though it’d been about four years since I visited, I was already calmer as I got in the rental car and drove over the John Ringling Causeway. Christopher had read me the same riot act Finn did about being alone for the holidays. Christ, was I really that much of an extrovert? Yeah, suppose I was. Life of the party and all that. But something about this last month had left me dragging. It all felt too much. I’d been extra tired, extra crabby—even Harry had noticed in London—so I figured I was just wiped out from my schedule. A nice, quiet rest would do me good.

  Maybe I was finally growing up. I could almost hear Finn’s incredulous voice in my head.

  As I got nearer to Christopher’s quaint Cape Cod in Lido Key—in a secluded area with a private gate to the ocean—my shoulders unwound even further. The air was beginning to cool as dusk settled in, and I could smell the salt water through my cracked window. Sure, it might get too quiet after too many days in a row, but for now, it was exactly what I craved.

  So when I pulled alongside a black sedan in the driveway, I was confused.

  I was about to call Christopher and ask him if I got the date wrong, when the door wrenched open and, unless my eyes were deceiving me, Christopher’s younger brother, Caden, stepped onto the landing. At least I thought it was him. It’d been a good eight years since I’d laid eyes on him outside of a profile pic on social media. I hadn’t seen Caden Bell in person since I graduated high school and went off to join the international modeling world. He was on the cusp of his junior year, already on the varsity football team as a punt returner—I thought I got the position right, but who the hell knew—and wow, what a transformation from that baby-faced kid I remembered.

  As I exited the car, I noticed he’d grown out his dark hair a bit and had some impressive scruff growing on his chin. And even though I’d kept tabs on him through Christopher—about how he’d earned a football scholarship in college and went on to get a sports broadcasting job in Cleveland—seeing him from this perspective was eye-opening.

  He’d always been hugely into sports, whereas Christopher was more math-minded, thus his career as an accountant. Christopher and I had stayed friends all this time most likely because we had history. I was an only child, and I’d found a sense of security and comfort with the Bell family. I was always welcome in their home, and though we didn’t vacation together anymore, thinking of them made my cold, black heart happy.

  “Blair? What are you doing here?” Caden looked around the street as if he’d find an answer. “What a surprise.”

  He had the same smile and dimples that indented his cheeks. His voice had deepened and his muscles had filled out even more, but otherwise, he might’ve been that same kid who loved wearing his varsity jacket and hanging with his teammates, even if some of those dudes were assholes to a very gay me, including the closeted linebacker I knew pretty intimately outside of school hours. Ugh. I was so gay in high school, pink glitter spilled from my ass. So I stayed far away from Caden and his jock friends, not only because he looked almost skittish when I came around, but because those were so not my kind of people.

  Christopher had always been loyal and kind, and I was pretty sure he liked that I let him ramble on about all kinds of brainiac stuff during our lunch periods. Even back then, I was beginning to get noticed in modeling campaigns and sometimes skipped school to audition, but we still found common ground, which usually involved video games, stupid YouTube clips, or shared classes.

  I sighed dramatically and placed my bag down on the step. “Christopher said nobody was using the beach house, so I asked if I could crash here for a few days, but I must’ve gotten the dates wrong.”

  “I, um…fuck, I should’ve told him,” Caden said, rushing a hand through his hair. “But it was sort of a spur-of-the-moment decision for me.”

  Spur-of-the-moment? Unless he was already in the state, he would’ve had to jump on a plane to fly here from Ohio.

  “I’m sorry. I’m gonna leave. Just let me grab my stuff.” Caden turned back toward the door.

  “No, wait… You shouldn’t have to take off,” I said, feeling guilty. He was Christopher’s brother, after all. We were familiar to each other—as you would be with someone you knew since grade school—and yet not, after so many years apart. But we’d definitely spent a bunch of time together at this beach house. “Let’s figure something out.”

  I was already calculating the nearest accommodations, even though I was so sick of hotels. Ah, just as well. No way was I going to put Caden out. I was only a friend, and he was family.

  He bit his lip, and I couldn’t help focusing on the stubble on his jaw. He looked so…grown up.

  “Come inside, at least, so we can talk about it.” He held the door open.

  I hesitated a moment more, then picked up my bag. Well, fuck, this was awkward. He was probably just getting settled in when I showed up out of the blue. “Okay.”

  I stepped into the large foyer that led to the great room and that stunning view of the ocean. I sighed as I set down my stuff and walked toward the large picture window. The white sand looked spotless, and because it was a more private area, there were fewer visitors, unlike the public access down the road. The beaches were emptier in general around this time. The weather could be unpredictable, and it was a holiday, after all. But I enjoyed the cooler temps in Florida’s winter months, the only time the humidity was far less sweltering.

  Damn, I really wanted to relax and soak in the view, but I was only holding Caden up, gawking out the window like this. I supposed it wasn’t meant to be. Story of my life.

  I felt frustration bubble up. I could’ve sworn Christopher had said his whole family was meeting for their ski trip. I thought that included Caden and his girlfriend from high school—or maybe now it was fiancée? No, I didn’t remember an engagement announcement on social media. What was her name again? Lauren, that was it.

  Talk about the perfect little relationship, most likely with marriage and kids in their future. Not that it was the life I envisioned for me. I found the idea of it mainly nauseating. Except during those lonelier moments when I longed for something more permanent.

  I’d bet my next spa treatment that Caden never had those moments. Figured.

  Speaking of Lauren, I wondered where she was. Maybe she was on her way since Caden said it was a last-minute decision? Or had I interrupted
something? Fuck. Was she already in the bedroom upstairs?

  I turned toward my best friend’s younger brother, who was watching me warily from the arm of the couch. Now that I got a closer look at Caden as light washed over his features from the window, he looked…worn out. Maybe he’d had a tough week at work or something. Yeah, something definitely seemed up.

  I stepped toward him. “You okay, Cady?”

  His jaw ticked. He seemed taken aback by my use of his childhood nickname, which he’d hated as a kid, something I always suspected was because it was way too feminine for him. Hello, Blair Anderson here, named after my late grandmother. I’d learned to embrace it along with all the teasing, but in hindsight, it fit me perfectly, and I was sure my mom knew that early on.

  In fact, being known just by my first name had worked to my advantage over the years in the modeling world. I wasn’t top in my industry or anything, but I’d normally gotten steady work and sweet endorsement deals, mostly because of how versatile my look could be.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” Caden said through clenched teeth, like he’d barely restrained himself from telling me off for the nickname. “Why?”

  “Because Christopher indicated your family was headed to Lake Tahoe for the holidays. And I figured you and Lauren would be on your way too. Is she…?” My gaze swung toward the upper level, and I heard him sigh heavily.

  “No, it’s just me,” he said, clearing his throat, and I could tell he didn’t want me to probe any further. “I just…needed some time to myself.”