Holiday: Annihilate Him, #4
Page 1
Also by Christina Ross
A Dangerous Series
A Dangerous Widow
Anéantis-les
Anéantis-les
Anéantis-les : Noël
Aniquílame
Aniquílame: Volumen 1
Aniquílame: Volumen 2
Aniquílame: Volumen 3
Aniquílame: Volumen 4
Aniquílame: Navidad
Annihilate Him
Annihilate Him (Vol. 1)
Annihilate Him (Vol. 2)
Annihilate Him, Vol. 3
Annihilate Him: Holiday
Annihilate Me
Annihilate Me, Vol. 1
Annihilate Me, Vol. 2
Annihilate Me, Vol. 3
Annihilate Me, Vol. 4
Annihilate Me: Holiday
Annihilate Them
Annihilate Them: Holiday
Brucia con Me
Brucia con Me (Volume 1)
Brucia con Me (Volume 2)
Brucia con Me (Volume 3)
Brucia con Me (Volume 4)
Brucia con Me, Holiday Edition
Brucia con Me (Volume 6)
Brucia con Me (Volume 7)
Brucia con Me, Vol. 8
Rapita Da Te
Brucia con Me: Vendetta
Brucia con Me: Holiday Edition, 3
Captive-Moi
Captive-Moi (Vol. 1)
Captive-Moi (Vol. 2)
Captive-Moi (Vol. 3)
Captive-Moi (Vol. 4)
Captive-Moi (Vol. 5)
Captive-Moi (Vol. 6)
Captive-Moi (Vol. 7)
Captive-Moi (Vol. 8)
Captive-Moi: Noël
DESÁTAME
DESÁTAME, Vol. 1
DESÁTAME, Vol. 2
DESÁTAME, Vol. 3
Enflamme-moi
Enflamme-moi: Vol. 1
Enflamme-moi: Vol. 2
Enflamme-moi: Vol. 3
Enflamme-Moi: Noël
Liberami
Liberami (Volume 1)
Liberami (Volume 2)
Liberami (Volume 3)
Protège-Moi
Protège-Moi: Volume Un
Protège-Moi: Volume Deux
Protège-Moi: Volume Trois
Protège-Moi : Un Mariage
Protège-Moi: Volume Quatre
Protège-Moi: Volume Cinq
Protège-Moi: Volume Six
Série Encore une nuit
Chance - version française
The One More Night Series
Chance
Unleash Me
Unleash Me, Vol. 1
Unleash Me, Vol. 2
Unleash Me, Vol. 3
Unleash Me: Wedding
Unter Feuer
Unter Feuer: Band 1
Unter Feuer: Band 2
Unter Feuer: Band 3
Unter Feuer: Band 4
Unter Feuer: Band 5
Unter Feuer: Band 6
Unter Feuer: Band 7
Unter Feuer: Band 8
Unter Feuer: Weihnachts-Special
Standalone
Ignite Me
Perdue sans Vous
Persa Senza Te
Annihilate Them
Embrase-Moi
Impuls
Une Veuve Dangereuse
Annihilate Me: Omnibus
ANNIHILATE HIM:
HOLIDAY
By
Christina Ross
Annihilate Him: Holiday is a new book set in the Annihilate Me universe. It’s an extension of the series, with more than two million books sold worldwide.
Although this new book can be read on its own, readers will clearly enjoy it more if they first read the original Annihilate Me series, followed by the Unleash Me series, the Annihilate Him series, and also Ignite Me, as it shares the same characters. The experience will be dramatically deepened.
For my friends and my family.
And especially for my readers, who mean the world to me.
Thank you for following all of your favorite characters into a new holiday story.
Copyright and Legal Notice: This publication is protected under the US Copyright Act of 1976 and all other applicable international, federal, state and local laws, and all rights are reserved, including resale rights.
Any trademarks, service marks, product names or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if we use one of these terms. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the author.
First ebook edition © 2018.
Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to persons living or dead (unless explicitly noted) is merely coincidental. Copyright © 2018 Christina Ross. All rights reserved worldwide.
Disclaimer
I visited Sugarloaf mountain several times while I was earning my undergrad degree at the University of Maine before going on to earn my master’s degree in English at Columbia University in New York. So, for the purposes of this book, I’ve turned the Widowmaker Lounge into something far less chaotic than what it is in reality. In this book, it’s a calmer place—but one that, nevertheless, is still full of hot, single men!
Many readers have asked, so! ;-)
Here is the reading order for the Annihilate Me series:
Annihilate Me, Vol. 1
Annihilate Me, Vol. 2
Annihilate Me, Vol. 3
Annihilate Me, Vol. 4
Annihilate Me, Holiday
Unleash Me, Vol. 1
Unleash Me, Vol. 2
Unleash Me, Vol. 3
Annihilate Him, Vol. 1
Annihilate Him, Vol. 2
Annihilate Him, Vol. 3
Ignite Me
Annihilate Him: Holiday
A Dangerous Widow
Annihilate Them
Annihilate Them: Holiday
Unleash Me: Wedding
CONTENTS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Other Books by Christina Ross
Can’t wait for Christina’s next steamy book?
ANNIHILATE HIM:
HOLIDAY
By
Christina Ross
CHAPTER ONE
New York City
December
IT WAS A FRIGID DECEMBER morning and the snow was flying high in midtown when I gave my husband, Alexander Wenn, a kiss on the lips and told him that I loved him.
“I love you, too,” Alex said when he returned my kiss. “And by the way, Jennifer—just so you know, you’ve already got that warrior look in your eyes.”
I furrowed my brow at him as our limo pulled alongside the Wenn Enterprises Building on Fifth.
“What ‘warrior look’?”
“The determined one that says ‘I can move the world with the mere flick of my finger.’”
“Well, I’m nothing short of determined this morning!”
After all, today wasn’t going to be just another busy day at the office for me. There was another level to the day that could potentially derail it. I also needed to nail down a commitment from a certain Barbara Blackwell that was going to be trying at best, hellish at worst.
Who knew when it came to that one?
Our head of security, Tank, came out of Wenn and opened the limo’s door for us. I stepped out of the car first, and reached up to give him a quick peck on the cheek. “Morning, Tank,” I said.
“Good morning, Jennifer. Alex,” Tank said with a nod.
“Good to see you, friend,” Alex said. “Oh, and if you wouldn’t mind turning off the snow, that would be great.”
“I’ll work on that,” Tank said.
“Perfect. And I’ll see you at noon?” Alex said.
“Noon for your business lunch at the Four Seasons. I’ll meet you in the lobby. Jennifer, Cutter will meet you in the lobby at noon also for your lunch date with Lisa.”
“I can’t wait to see her,” I said. “I haven’t seen her in a week. Talking to her on the phone every day isn’t the same thing.”
“New book and all,” he said. “She’s been working hard on it.”
“Inexcusable. We need our girl time together. If you’d let Cutter know that I’ll see him at noon, I’d appreciate it.” And then I went in for the kill. “And by the way, you look handsome in your suit this morning, Tank. And you know what? Oh, look—it just occurred to me. I can almost see you wearing something just like that when you and Lisa finally pull it together and decide to walk down the aisle. Not that I’m pressuring either of you to make that happen before I die, of course. It’s just not in me.”
He smiled. I shot him a solid wink, and then Alex and I crossed Fifth’s busy sidewalk and moved into the building, the lobby of which was teeming with people moving toward the bank of elevators at the other end of it. My leg muscles were sore from the night before, but I bit down on the pain and moved through it.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Alex asked.
“I’m totally ready for this.”
“Do you think she’ll agree to it?”
“I have zero idea if she’ll go for it or not, but as you know, this time I’m well-armed. How can she resist agreeing to our little plan when I show her what I have up my sleeve? She can’t. She’ll melt when she sees it. When it comes to that one, what I have in store for her will be better than an orgasm. Well... maybe.”
“I believe you had a few of those yourself last night.”
“In fact, I did.”
“By the way, are you OK? You seem a little stiff—it’s as if you have a limp.”
“After what you did to me last night, I have every right to be walking with a slight limp. Hell, I should be in bed right now with my legs lifted high and wide in stirrups to give everything you pounded against the solid rest it deserves.”
He put his hand around my waist, drew me in close to him, and spoke so that only I could hear him. “It’s not as if I instigated all of it,” he said. “I seem to remember you saying things like ‘harder,’ ‘faster,’ ‘give it to me, stud,’ and ‘woo-hoo, look at me, I’m a cowgirl’.”
I wanted to laugh out loud, but because so many of our employees were around us, I needed to keep it in check. “I never said that last part.”
“Oh, yes, you did.”
“Oh, no, I didn’t.”
“OK, so maybe you didn’t.”
“But I’m pretty sure that I did call you a stud,” I said. “Because, you know, your wife kind of thinks that you’re a pretty big one.”
With a few other employees, we stepped into one of the elevators. After exchanging greetings with them, Alex and I pressed the buttons for our respective floors and stood at the back of the car holding hands and looking up at the dial as the doors slid shut, and the elevator began its ascent.
Since Madison Wells was to be my partner in crime today, I was getting off on the fortieth floor, where Wenn Entertainment was located and where Madison now worked as an assistant director of marketing in the music division. She’d been in this position since we’d found it for her in June, and Alex and I thought—along with Blackwell herself—that she was thriving in it.
“Off to see Madison,” I said to Alex as the elevator dinged. “Wish me luck?”
“Not that you’ll need it, my little warrior, but good luck.”
Since we tried to keep it as professional as possible at work, we simply squeezed each other’s hands goodbye, and when the doors slid open, I was off to find Madison.
MADISON’S OFFICE WAS down a long hallway already bustling with dozens of people, feeding the space with a strong creative vibe.
Wenn Entertainment oversaw all of Wenn’s movie, television, and music ventures. It wasn’t often that my job took me here, but whenever it did, I could feel the electricity and excitement in my bones.
After stopping to say hello to a number of people and checking in on their various projects, I reached Madison’s door, and knocked.
“Come in,” she called.
I stuck my head inside. “Hi,” I said.
She spun around in her chair, placed her palms in front of her on her glass desk, and winked at me. “Hi, Jennifer.”
She looked not only beautiful, but also more confident than the young woman I’d met just six months ago, when she first came to Wenn as Blackwell’s personal assistant. There likely were four other reasons for the change I saw in her now—her relationship with Alex’s cousin Brock was becoming increasingly serious, I knew for a fact that she loved her job, she now had the means to dress in ways that finally had earned her Blackwell’s approval—and then there was that little something I’d noted on Billboard’s site while having my morning coffee.
“Congrats on scoring your first number-one single,” I said.
“I can’t believe it,” she said. “But it was hardly just me. The entire team threw everything they had into getting that song out to radio. Lucky for us, that radio loved it.”
“I’m sure that you had a big hand in it. Alex was thrilled when I told him. He specifically said to me, ‘Didn’t Madison work on that?’ I reminded him that you did, so he’s fully aware of it.”
“Thanks, Jennifer. That means a great deal to me.”
“My pleasure.” I looked around her office and then lowered my voice. “So—did you get it?”
She stood up from her desk and flashed her eyes at me. “Oh, I so got it. Last night—right after work.”
“Let me see it!”
“Close the door. You never know when that one might appear. Yesterday, I was writing a press release and glanced up to find her standing in my doorway, watching me silently with folded arms. She scared the hell out of me.”
“Part of her M.O.” I said as I closed the door.
“Anyway, I put it over here in my closet. Wait until you see it in person.”
And when Madison showed it to me, I knew that the plan she and I had cooked up to sway Blackwell’s decision in our favor might just work indeed.
“You remember the plan?” I said to her before we left for Blackwell’s floor.
“I remember it.”
“Then let’s get this done and nail it down.”
“HI, BARBARA,” I SAID when I reached her office. For the time being, Madison hung back in the hallway and remained strategically out of sight.
“Jennifer,” Blackwell said as her gaze swept over me. “Nice suit. Winter white and all that. Fendi is it? Don’t answer. I already know that it is. And even though you decided to become some sort of a lab rat and not consult me on it, I have to say that it looks good on you.�
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“Thank you—I guess...”
“Believe me—take the compliment while you can. And I have to say that you still continue to surprise me. To top it all off, that suit of yours is actually part of this year’s fall/winter collection—so be still my heart. Perhaps you’re finally learning that last year’s fashion really is last year’s fashion. God knows you have enough money at your disposal to make that a priority—especially since I have to look at you.”
“Are we through with the suit?”
“Oh, we’re through with it,” she said. “Because just by looking at you, I can tell that you’re filling my doorway for some sort of unwanted, subversive reason that I have no intention of dealing with right now.”
“What does that even mean?”
She removed her narrow black glasses from her face and tossed them onto the desk in front of her. Then, she folded her arms across her chest, leaned back in her chair, and studied me with a peculiar look on her face. Barbara Blackwell was the vice president of human resources at Wenn, and despite how harsh she sometimes came off, at this point, I knew that most of it was just a façade. She was a mother figure to me.
“Why are you here?” she asked. “And when you first said hello to me, why was that horrid, yet oh-so-familiar note back in your voice?”
“What horrid note?”
“The one you use whenever you want something from me. Do you have any idea that when you use it that you sound like Snow White, for God’s sake? ‘Hi, Barbara’,” she said in a sweet, lilting voice that mimicked mine. “God! Whenever I hear you sound like that, I half expect blue birds to fly out of your ass and flutter around whatever’s in that head of yours. So, what is it? Clearly, you’re up to something.”
As long as I’d known Blackwell, I’d yet to figure out how to outwit her. It was infuriating to me. Was there nothing this woman didn’t see coming?
“Well,” I said.
“Just spit it out.”
“Fine. Christmas is a week away. Alex and I were talking the other night, and we decided that we’d ask—”
“Oh, no,” she said. “Not that again. Not ever. Not. Even. Going. To. Happen.”
“Just hear me out?”