Hot, Sexy & Bad
Page 6
And, he hoped, it would be the first of many, many Christmases together. And, if they were so blessed, one day there would be kids and grandkids to share it with.
And Arie, the newfound light in his life, would never be alone again.
THE END
BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES
Judy Angelo
Volume 1 – Tamed by the Billionaire
Volume 2 – Maid in the USA
Volume 3 - Billionaire's Island Bride
Volume 4 - Dangerous Deception
Volume 5 - To Tame a Tycoon
Volume 6 - Sweet Seduction
Volume 7 - Daddy by December
Volume 8 - To Catch a Man (in 30 Days or Less)
Volume 9 – Bedding Her Billionaire Boss
Volume 10 - Her Indecent Proposal
Volume 11 - So Much Trouble When She Walked In
Volume 12 – Married by Midnight
Volume 13 – The Billionaire Next Door
BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES, Coll. I - Vols. 1 - 4
BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES, Coll. II - Vols. 5 - 8
BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES, Coll. III - Vols. 9 - 12
The NAUGHTY AND NICE Series
Volume 1 - Naughty by Nature
COMING SOON
Volume 14 – Rome for Always
(Sequel to Rome for the Holidays)
Volume 15 - Billionaire's Blackmail Wife
If you would like to be notified when new
BAD BOY BILLIONAIRE books are out,
please drop me an e-mail with the simple subject line: 'Yes'
judyangelotreasure@gmail.com
I'll keep you posted!
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Judy Angelo Author
Thank you for reading!
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Holiday Treasure
Melody Anne
Holiday Treasure
By Melody Anne
Copyright © 2013 Melody Anne
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either 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.
Printed and published in the United States of America.
Editing by Alison
New York Times Best Seller Melody Anne’s
Holiday Treasure: An Anderson Series Novella
Tanner Storm — rich as sin, disgustingly handsome, and an unwilling slumlord — is sentenced to live in his run-down building for two weeks, and to top it off, he has to play Santa. He sees only one good thing about house arrest — his spirited neighbor, Kyla. If he gets her into his bed, maybe he’ll forget the leaking pipes, the defective heating, and the mice. Her tragic past makes her a bit vulnerable, but he’ll be out of her life after Christmas Day. No problem.
Table of Contents for Holiday Treasure
Dedication
Note From the Author
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
Dedication
This is dedicated to the Eugene Mission, which takes in those who are homeless and provides a warm bed and nourishing food. There are many places like this all over the country, and many people have gotten a second chance because of them.
Note from the Author
I love the holiday season, love all the decorations, and especially love the happiness that’s in abundance as families come together. I wanted to write a short, sweet romance about the way a single event can change the way you think and feel about others and yourself, and that’s how “Holiday Treasure” began.
This holiday season, remember that many people are so much less fortunate than you, and the holidays are a difficult time of year for them. You can make a child smile by picking up a gift from one of the giving trees at stores like Walmart, Shopko and Target. It costs only a few dollars, yet it can bring joy for years to come.
I lived a couple of years in the foster-care system, and I know well that receiving a special gift stays with you forever. My fondest gift was a Cabbage Patch Doll that Santa brought me on Christmas Eve when I was about seven years old. I have it to this day.
Merry Christmas to you all. May your holidays be filled with love, laughter and family!
Melody Anne
Chapter One
“Mr. Storm, you may think that you’re above the law, but I guarantee you that you are not! This is the fourth time I’ve seen you in my courtroom in the last three months. It’s become a bad habit, one that I don’t appreciate. I don’t care how much you’re paying your group of attorneys. It’s not getting you out of trouble this time.”
“Your Honor—”
The judge did not take kindly to Tanner Storm’s interruption. “Do not make me add contempt of court to your list of crimes,” Judge Kragle said. “The conditions of your building are unacceptable. I’m absolutely appalled that you’d leave women and children with no heat, with no working elevators, and with leaky pipes. I’ve thought long and hard about your punishment—”
“Your Honor,” Tanner’s attorney broke in, “Mr. Storm has been trying to get the building condemned since he took ownership six months ago. If the tenants would take his incredibly generous offer, they could relocate to a much safer environment for their families, and he could tear the building down and start the project he has made plans for already.”
“Mr. Henry, sit down. I’ve read through the files — I’m not blind. Mr. Storm has made it more than clear that he looks down his nose at this building, which he seemed to receive as a consolation prize in some family game of inheritances and trust funds. Don’t insult my intelligence by telling me that Mr. Storm has these people’s best interests at heart. The complex that he plans to build wouldn’t be even marginally affordable to the current tenants, who are struggling to make ends meet without having the added pressure of moving,” Judge Kragle said, his voice quiet but stern.
Tanner’s first attorney did sit down, but another one rose in his place.
“You may not like our client, Your Honor, but he’s well within his legal rights,” said this attorney, a well-known shark, his demeanor confident, his suit costing more than most people paid for a car.
“No, Mr. Silt, he most certainly is not obeying the law. If you’ve managed to forget, the jury already rendered its verdict, and not in your client’s favor. We are now in the sentencing phase — remember that? — and I’ve made my decision. Tanner Storm, please rise,” the judge said, a smile of pure satisfaction on his face that made Tanner nervous. “It seems that you haven’t learned from your previous experiences standing before me, so I’ve decided to try a different punishment. You’ll spend three days in jail, beginning immediately after I’ve finished here.”
There was a murmur in the courtroom, everyone shocked that Judge Kragle would dare send Tanner Storm, the son of a billionaire and a wealthy man in his own right, to jail. Tanner just smiled. He’d be out in six hours, max. He had nothing to worry about.
“After your jail sentence, you’ll be under house arrest in the same building your tenants are living in. You will live there for fifteen days, starting December 10th, and ending on Christmas Day, December 25th.”
The judge paused, and Tanner looked at him in shock. He felt his first stirrings of real unease. There
was no way that he could stay in that building for a full two weeks. It didn’t even have Internet access. How was he supposed to get anything done?
“Furthermore, you aren’t allowed to do any updates, additions, construction, repairs, or alterations on your own apartment that you don’t provide for the rest of the building first,” the judge continued. “If you want to bring the comforts of home to the complex, be my guest, but your unit will be the last to be worked on. The conditions of the building are appalling, and it would do you some good to learn a bit of humility. Your father is a good man, a man who is obviously trying to teach you some respect for those around you. He has served this community well since moving here, and he has given you this opportunity in the hopes that you will do the right thing.”
“But—” Tanner was getting desperate.
“I’m not finished! You will also be required to serve eighty hours of community service during your two weeks.”
“I can’t serve all those hours and still do my job,” Tanner burst out, fury overcoming his usual discretion.
“I guess you’ll have to take time off from work, Mr. Storm. You will serve every single hour or I’ll impose the full sentence allowed by law — five years in a state prison.”
Judge Kragle sat back, looking Tanner in the eye. Tanner attempted to exude confidence, but the set of his incredibly high-priced attorneys’ shoulders told him more than anything that he wasn’t getting out of this.
“Do I need to scrub some graffiti off walls?” Tanner asked, not even trying to hide his sarcasm. He donated an astronomical amount of money to charity; his time, however, was priceless, and he wasn’t happy about having to share it.
“No, Mr. Storm. You’ll be volunteering as Santa Claus this season.”
Tanner stared back in horror as the judge banged his gavel and the courtroom erupted. Reporters tried in vain to get a statement from him as — the grossest indignity of all — he was handcuffed and led away through a back door.
Merry freaking Christmas to him!
Chapter Two
Tanner ground his teeth while he packed a bag. Nope. Wouldn’t need his hand-tailored suits. Nope. Wouldn’t need his Rolex. Nope. Wouldn’t need anything he had in his penthouse apartment on top of a luxury high-rise in downtown Seattle.
Anything he took with him to his temporary prison would stay behind when he left. He wouldn’t want to bring back the filth he was sure was going to seep into his very bones while he stayed in that wretched building for two long weeks.
He’d fought the judge’s orders — paid a lot of his own money to his useless attorneys to get him out of this ridiculous sentence. They’d been sweating as they told him they couldn’t get the judge’s ruling overturned. Tanner kicked his newly bought duffel bag, which had the misfortune to be lying in his path.
“Are you almost ready, Mr. Storm?”
Tanner nearly growled at the two officers waiting in his doorway. He hadn’t even been allowed to come back to his penthouse without escorts. No. They thought he might be a flight risk. Damn right, he was a flight risk.
They’d slapped some ridiculous contraption on his ankle as if he were a real criminal and were hauling him by police car to the apartment building in one of the less affluent parts of the city.
When he’d received the building from his father as a test to see whether he was worthy to be reinstated as an heir to his empire, he’d thought it nothing but a joke — a very annoying joke — but no, it was right there in black and white. How was he to follow his dad’s terms and make a go of this stupid place? But when he’d checked out the property, he’d grown excited, seeing dollar signs instead of the brick and mortar before him.
Over the past decade, the city had vastly improved the area the building was in, and the site was ideal for a profitable new building. Ever since he took over the damned place, he’d been trying to buy off the tenants, get them to leave. Over half the people had taken his more than generous offer. The remaining tenants flatly refused to budge.
His legal team hadn’t found any loopholes yet, so he’d left it to his very efficient crew to help out. He hadn’t known the heat was off, and if he’d been aware of his employees’ plans, he would have called an immediate halt. He wasn’t a monster. Not that the judge had let him get that far in his explanations.
“Not yet,” he finally snapped at the officers. Their impatience was becoming almost palpable as he took his sweet time.
Though his father was making him and his siblings jump through an annoying set of hoops, Tanner had amassed a nice fortune of his own through the years by investing his money well. He’d worked in his father’s shipping business, but he hadn’t enjoyed that the way Lance did. What he loved was trading.
His brother Connor was the builder, the one who would be great with this apartment complex, but Tanner had worked on enough sites that he could swing a hammer if need be. Not that he wanted any part of that.
He’d play his father’s game — for now. But only because he saw the potential to add to his own portfolio by building a new complex in place of the monstrosity his father had given him. He just had to get the damn tenants to vacate first.
Because of the clause his father had put in the contract, Tanner couldn’t force them out; all he could do was offer them generous moving packages. Why did everything have to be so difficult? He should tell his father to kiss off, and just walk away from the whole damned project.
The thought of doing just that turned his stomach, though. He loved his family, even if they’d hit a few speed bumps over the years.
Connor was now married and in love, happier than Tanner had ever seen him. Well, that was good for his brother, but none of that was in the cards for him. He was just trying to make an honest buck — well, an honest billion bucks — and between his father and this freaking Judge Kragle, he was hitting walls left and right.
Tanner searched for the running shoes his assistant had purchased for him. He’d sent the man out to buy all new clothes from a local mall, not wanting to be recognized when he was down at those apartments.
Hell, he didn’t know how to shop, hadn’t done it, well, ever that he could remember. Yes, he’d shopped with short-term girlfriends in some high-end malls on the banks of the Seine, but he’d never once entered a middle-class mall, or any mall, in America.
Wearing the scratchy jail clothes for the last three days had been seriously unpleasant, and he planned to ban the color orange from his sight after the horrifying experience. But how much better were things now? For two weeks, he was going to be stuck in denim and cotton, and even worse.
Polyester.
Tomorrow he had to put on a flipping Santa costume. Just the thought made his head itch. Who knows how many sweaty bodies had been in the same suit? He’d insisted on his assistant having it professionally cleaned. At least the senile judge had allowed him that much.
The man obviously needed to retire. It was long overdue and the judge looked like freaking Santa Claus himself. Maybe Judge Kragle should be the one down at the mall letting a bunch of sticky, snot-nosed brats climb all over him.
“Let’s go,” one of the officers said, this time not as pleasantly.
Tanner had dragged his feet long enough. If he didn’t walk willingly with them, they were going to throw the handcuffs back on him and escort him through the building in a far less dignified manner than by simply walking behind him.
This day kept on getting better.
He’d at least managed to talk the officers into allowing him to leave through his private penthouse entrance. The last thing he wanted people to see at this exclusive apartment complex was him being escorted by some of Seattle’s finest.
Soon Tanner found himself traveling the streets of Seattle in the back of a smelly police cruiser. When they arrived at his home for the next two weeks, Tanner couldn’t keep the disgusted look from his face as one the officers opened the back door and smiled.
The guy was enjoying his job far too muc
h for Tanner’s liking. He was probably another underpaid public servant who thought men like Tanner needed to be knocked down a peg or two. No respect for the people who ensured he had a job by paying so much in taxes. Sheesh.
“Have a pleasant stay, Mr. Storm,” the officer said before tipping his hat and leaving Tanner standing on the broken sidewalk.
They weren’t worried he’d run now. They’d find him instantly, thanks to the bulky device on his damned ankle.
Tanner pulled hard on the heavy front door, which desperately needed some lubricant on the hinges. He was grateful to see no one about as he began his trek down the hallway.
He wasn’t there to make friends, and he didn’t feel like speaking to a single person. The only people he’d likely find living here willingly were the type for whom burning in hell seemed attractive.
Tanner reached his apartment, and he was almost afraid to open the door. The hallways weren’t cluttered, but the paint was peeling and there was a musty smell in the air as if there were leaks that no one had bothered to patch up. Tanner was sure mold was running rampant throughout the place.
Surely that was a health risk and should allow him to have the building condemned.
He hadn’t even bothered looking through the reports from the inspection yet, leaving that to his team. Maybe it was time he went through them, line by line. He did have a lot of extra time on his hands for the next two weeks, even with all the hours he had to wear a Santa costume. All he knew for sure was that he wanted to tear the outdated building down and start fresh. It would certainly be a lot less hassle.