Read A Billionaire Brothers' Christmas (BBW - Billionaire Brothers 6) Online
Authors: Jenn Roseton
Tags: #christmas, #womens fiction, #billionaire, #holiday romance, #love and family, #jenn roseton
A Billionaire Brothers' Christmas (BBW - Billionaire Brothers 6) (3 page)
BOOK: A Billionaire Brothers' Christmas (BBW - Billionaire Brothers 6)
13.03Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads
“I promised Maddie--”
“I promised Phoebe--”
“I promised Sophie--”
“I promised Laura Christmas dinner was
taken care of,” Alex bit out. He scowled. “How did this
happen?”
Mitch,” Garrett said mildly.
Cole.” Alex glowered at his brother.
“It looks like we’re all to blame,” Logan
pointed out. “We didn’t co-ordinate with each other, we just
assumed one of us would deal with it.”
“Instead, we made an ass of ourselves.”
Garrett raked his hand through his hair.
“Let’s salvage the situation.” Alex
whipped out his cell phone. “We’ll call every restaurant in Aspen
and see if we can get someone to cater for us.”
His brothers each dug out their cells from
their pockets.
Logan picked up the list of restaurants that
had been supplied for their convenience by the rental agency. “We
can divide up this list. Money’s not a problem if we have to pay
extra for short notice.”
“He’s right.” Cole started dialing. “I’m
not going to disappoint Phoebe and the girls.”
“And I’m not going to disappoint Sophie.”
Mitch stabbed the buttons on his phone.
“There’s no way we’re telling anyone about
this.” Alex punched in a number.
“Of course not,” Garrett agreed, dialing
as well.
Fifteen minutes later, all five brothers had
conceded defeat.
“Nothing.” Cole looked
disgusted.
asking at such short notice,” Mitch grumbled.
“Yeah,” Logan agreed.
“So what are we going to do?” Cole
demanded. “There’s no way I’m going to let Phoebe
down.”
“No one’s going to let anyone down,”
Garrett said. “Mom and Dad manage to put on a Christmas feast for
us, so why can’t we do it ourselves?”
His brothers stared at him.
“Anyone got a better idea?” Garrett
challenged.
“We could go out to eat,” Alex
suggested.
“Will any place have a table for, what?
Ten adults and six kids? Now? For tomorrow?” Logan looked
skeptical.
“And a baby,” Cole reminded his
brother.
“I’m going to find out.” A determined look
crossed Alex’s face.
All the brothers pitched in, picking up
their phones again and redialing the restaurants to book a table
for tomorrow.
“We’re in trouble.” Cole looked at his
phone in disgust.
“Big trouble,” Mitch agreed.
“Nothing.” Garrett shoved his phone in his
pocket. “It looks like we’ll have to cook dinner
ourselves.”
“Mom usually makes a turkey plus sides, and her--”
“Pecan pie,” his four brothers chimed
in.
“We’ll look up some recipes online when
we’re at the store.” Alex picked up his car keys. “We can do
this.” A determined look crossed his face. “I’m not going to
disappoint Laura.”
“None of us are going to disappoint our
wives,” Garrett added. “Let’s go.”
December 25
Christmas Day the sun shone, making the view outside the great room
a picture perfect winter scene. Snow covered the front lawn and
decorated the bare tree branches lining the drive.
All five couples had exchanged their
personal gifts in the privacy of their bedrooms, then met
downstairs. The kids jiggled with impatience, each of them
desperate to look inside their stocking hung from the fireplace,
and to open the gaily-wrapped presents under the Christmas
tree.
Last night, Santa had visited - five Santas.
Each of the brothers had taken a turn dressing up as Santa and
dashing downstairs to place their kids’ gifts in their stocking,
making sure to sample the cookies that had been left out for
“Santa.”
Although none of the brothers had caught the
kids peeking in the shadows, hoping for a glimpse of Santa, each of
them were sure that they’d at least had the intention to do so
before they fell sleep.
Now, the wives and children gathered in the
great room, watching the kids play with their new toys, while the
brothers huddled together in the kitchen, attempting to prepare
Christmas dinner.
“I wonder what they’re doing in there.”
Laura frowned. “Alex won’t tell me anything, except not to
worry.”
commented, nodding towards her son and daughter, playing with their
new toys. “I didn’t get much to eat at breakfast because the kids
couldn’t wait to unwrap their presents. And Garrett was already
doing mysterious things in the kitchen.”
sounded inside the kitchen.
“Or maybe they haven’t hired a caterer.”
Phoebe giggled.
on the kitchen counter. The turkey they’d bought yesterday had been
too large to fit in the oven, so they’d decided to hack it up
before shoving it in the oven. The bench top was littered with
shards of semi-frozen poultry flesh.
“At least it’s in the oven now.” Garrett
wiped his hands on the towel wrapped around his waist. “We’ve got
to get going on the sides.”
“How long is it going to take to cook?”
Logan peered at the window in the oven door. “I know Mom starts
cooking pretty early on Christmas Day.”
“We’re not Mom,” Mitch grumbled. “Why is
this so much harder than making bacon and eggs for
breakfast?”
looked at the clock. “It’s noon already. If we don’t have
something ready soon, we’re going to be in trouble.”
Alex snapped his fingers. “Appetizers! Laura
swears by them.”
“Good idea.” Mitch rummaged in the
refrigerator. “We could make - what could we make?”
All five Trask men peered into the
refrigerator.
“Daddy, is dinner ready?” A little boy’s
voice made all five men swing around.
“Yes, Daddy, are you making turkey like
Grandma?” His twin Tyler asked.
Alex looked down at his four-year-old sons.
“Daddy’s got this all under control, guys,” he said confidently -
or tried to. “Why don’t you go play with your cousins?”
The twins surveyed the room, their eyes
wide. “The kitchen doesn’t look like this when Mommy cooks,” Tommy
said.
“Yeah Daddy.” Tyler frowned. “You did give
our letter to Santa, didn’t you, so he could come and help
you?”
help.”
“No!” Alex lowered his voice. “Your Mom
deserves a rest this year. She’s always cooking for us. This is
going to be a present for her.”
“Uh-huh.” Tommy didn’t sound very
impressed. His twin tugged on his sweater, whispering in his ear.
Tommy’s eyes rounded for a second, then nodded. “Okay. We’ll go and
play.”
“Good boys.” Alex looked relieved when
they left the kitchen.
“Quick.” Tyler towed his brother toward
the laundry room, holding up his father’s cell phone. “We’ll ring
Aunt Edna and find out what to do. I don’t think Daddy’s doing it
right.”
Back in the kitchen, Mitch gazed at the
disarray littering the bench top. “Your kids are right. What the
hell are we doing?”
Garrett looked at his phone. “According to
this website, the turkey should take another two hours to
cook.”
“Is that with the oven cranked up?” Cole’s
fingers hovered over the temperature dial.
Garrett squinted at the screen. “Not sure.
But if we turn up the heat too much, it might burn.”
“I’m not serving burned turkey to Sophie.”
Mitch crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“Relax,” Logan said. “We
can--”
“Alex?” Laura called out from the great
room. “Do you need any help in there?”
Alex sped to the kitchen doorway. “No,
sweetheart, everything’s under control.” His confident grin looked
more like a grimace.
“Food, food,” Garrett’s son chanted,
trying to peer past Alex’s tall, muscular body blocking the
entrance to the kitchen.
“Soon, Jack.” Alex gave his nephew a
strangled smile. “Why don’t you see what your cousins are up
to?”
great room carrying a large plate of smoked oysters on
crackers.
“Appetizers.” He grinned, holding out the
plate.
“Mm.” Maddie helped herself to a couple.
“I’m starving.”
Her sisters-in-law crowded around Cole. In a
couple of minutes, the plate was empty, apart from a few cracker
crumbs.
kitchen.
“Try this.” Maddie held out a cracker
decorated with an oyster to her son.
He screwed up his nose. “Eew.”
Back in the kitchen, Alex’s sons silently
re-appeared and held out his phone. “Aunt Edna wants to talk to
you.”
“What?” Alex stared at the cell phone and
then at his sons. “You called Edna?”
“You needed help, Daddy. Edna said she’d
tell you what to do.”
Alex looked chagrined for a moment, then
grabbed the phone. “Thanks, boys.”
As Alex spoke to Edna, his wife’s right hand
in her catering business, Logan handed a small plate to each of the
twins. “Why don’t you two take these out for your cousins?” Ragged
cubes of yellow cheese covered the plates.
“Thanks for calling Edna.” Mitch winked at
the twins.
Tommy and Tyler munched bits of cheddar
while carefully carrying the plates into the great room. Their
cousins descended on them. Thirty seconds later, the plates were
empty.
“Do you think we should go in and help the
guys?” Ellie cast a dubious glance toward the kitchen.
“It’s okay, Aunt Ellie. We called Aunt
Edna for help.” The twins grinned at their mother and
aunts.
Laura bit her lip to keep from
laughing.
“That’s what Daddy always says - be
zourceful.” Tyler said.
“Resourceful?” Laura smiled at her
sons.
“That’s what we said.” Tommy
said.
In the kitchen, the brothers listened to
laughter from the other room.
“I hope they’re not laughing about the
appetizers,” Cole grumbled.
“At least they should stave them off for a
while.” Alex glared at the kitchen counter which was littered with
the remnants of their food preparation. “Laura makes this look so
easy, whether she’s cooking for four or a hundred. How can it be so
difficult to make Christmas dinner?”
“Now we’ve got some instructions from
Edna, the rest should be simple.” Garrett looked around the
kitchen. “We’ve already prepped the potatoes. All we have to do is
wait for the turkey to cook, make the sides, and
dessert.”
“I promised Phoebe--”
“I promised Sophie--”
“I promised Laura Christmas dinner was
taken care of,” Alex bit out. He scowled. “How did this
happen?”
“I thought you were going to
organize it,” Mitch growled. “
You’re
the billionaire.”
Mitch,” Garrett said mildly.
“I thought Alex was going to
organize it
.
Laura’s a caterer. I figured he’d know what to do.” Cole
crossed his arms in front of his chest.
Cole.” Alex glowered at his brother.
“It looks like we’re all to blame,” Logan
pointed out. “We didn’t co-ordinate with each other, we just
assumed one of us would deal with it.”
“Instead, we made an ass of ourselves.”
Garrett raked his hand through his hair.
“Let’s salvage the situation.” Alex
whipped out his cell phone. “We’ll call every restaurant in Aspen
and see if we can get someone to cater for us.”
His brothers each dug out their cells from
their pockets.
Logan picked up the list of restaurants that
had been supplied for their convenience by the rental agency. “We
can divide up this list. Money’s not a problem if we have to pay
extra for short notice.”
“He’s right.” Cole started dialing. “I’m
not going to disappoint Phoebe and the girls.”
“And I’m not going to disappoint Sophie.”
Mitch stabbed the buttons on his phone.
“There’s no way we’re telling anyone about
this.” Alex punched in a number.
“Of course not,” Garrett agreed, dialing
as well.
Fifteen minutes later, all five brothers had
conceded defeat.
“Nothing.” Cole looked
disgusted.
“Seriously. Not even for
one million
dollars
. I
even called all the caterers in the area, too.” Alex scowled. “Are
all the caterers and restaurants doing so well that they can refuse
that much money point blank?”
“Probably.” Garrett rubbed his
chin. “It
is
Aspen.”
asking at such short notice,” Mitch grumbled.
“Yeah,” Logan agreed.
“So what are we going to do?” Cole
demanded. “There’s no way I’m going to let Phoebe
down.”
“No one’s going to let anyone down,”
Garrett said. “Mom and Dad manage to put on a Christmas feast for
us, so why can’t we do it ourselves?”
His brothers stared at him.
“Anyone got a better idea?” Garrett
challenged.
“We could go out to eat,” Alex
suggested.
“Will any place have a table for, what?
Ten adults and six kids? Now? For tomorrow?” Logan looked
skeptical.
“And a baby,” Cole reminded his
brother.
“I’m going to find out.” A determined look
crossed Alex’s face.
All the brothers pitched in, picking up
their phones again and redialing the restaurants to book a table
for tomorrow.
“We’re in trouble.” Cole looked at his
phone in disgust.
“Big trouble,” Mitch agreed.
“Nothing.” Garrett shoved his phone in his
pocket. “It looks like we’ll have to cook dinner
ourselves.”
“Yeah.” Alex checked the time on
his gold Rolex. “We better get to the grocery store
now
.”
“Mom usually makes a turkey plus sides, and her--”
“Pecan pie,” his four brothers chimed
in.
“We’ll look up some recipes online when
we’re at the store.” Alex picked up his car keys. “We can do
this.” A determined look crossed his face. “I’m not going to
disappoint Laura.”
“None of us are going to disappoint our
wives,” Garrett added. “Let’s go.”
December 25
Christmas Day the sun shone, making the view outside the great room
a picture perfect winter scene. Snow covered the front lawn and
decorated the bare tree branches lining the drive.
All five couples had exchanged their
personal gifts in the privacy of their bedrooms, then met
downstairs. The kids jiggled with impatience, each of them
desperate to look inside their stocking hung from the fireplace,
and to open the gaily-wrapped presents under the Christmas
tree.
Last night, Santa had visited - five Santas.
Each of the brothers had taken a turn dressing up as Santa and
dashing downstairs to place their kids’ gifts in their stocking,
making sure to sample the cookies that had been left out for
“Santa.”
Although none of the brothers had caught the
kids peeking in the shadows, hoping for a glimpse of Santa, each of
them were sure that they’d at least had the intention to do so
before they fell sleep.
Now, the wives and children gathered in the
great room, watching the kids play with their new toys, while the
brothers huddled together in the kitchen, attempting to prepare
Christmas dinner.
“I wonder what they’re doing in there.”
Laura frowned. “Alex won’t tell me anything, except not to
worry.”
“Cole said exactly the same
thing.” Phoebe stroked her baby’s cheek. The infant was already
worn out from the excitement of the morning and was taking a nap in
her mother’
s
arms.
commented, nodding towards her son and daughter, playing with their
new toys. “I didn’t get much to eat at breakfast because the kids
couldn’t wait to unwrap their presents. And Garrett was already
doing mysterious things in the kitchen.”
“Maybe they’re getting the
kitchen ready for the caterer.” Ellie watched her daughter play
with her new doll for a moment, then turned her attention back to
the conversation. “They
are
hiring a caterer, aren’t they?”
“I haven’t heard
anything
.” Sophie looked at her sisters-in-law. “A caterer would be
great--”
sounded inside the kitchen.
“Or maybe they haven’t hired a caterer.”
Phoebe giggled.
on the kitchen counter. The turkey they’d bought yesterday had been
too large to fit in the oven, so they’d decided to hack it up
before shoving it in the oven. The bench top was littered with
shards of semi-frozen poultry flesh.
“At least it’s in the oven now.” Garrett
wiped his hands on the towel wrapped around his waist. “We’ve got
to get going on the sides.”
“How long is it going to take to cook?”
Logan peered at the window in the oven door. “I know Mom starts
cooking pretty early on Christmas Day.”
“We’re not Mom,” Mitch grumbled. “Why is
this so much harder than making bacon and eggs for
breakfast?”
The brothers nodded in
agreement, similar grumpy expressions on their faces. So far, their
preparations for Christmas dinner were
not
going well.
looked at the clock. “It’s noon already. If we don’t have
something ready soon, we’re going to be in trouble.”
Alex snapped his fingers. “Appetizers! Laura
swears by them.”
“Good idea.” Mitch rummaged in the
refrigerator. “We could make - what could we make?”
All five Trask men peered into the
refrigerator.
“Daddy, is dinner ready?” A little boy’s
voice made all five men swing around.
“Yes, Daddy, are you making turkey like
Grandma?” His twin Tyler asked.
Alex looked down at his four-year-old sons.
“Daddy’s got this all under control, guys,” he said confidently -
or tried to. “Why don’t you go play with your cousins?”
The twins surveyed the room, their eyes
wide. “The kitchen doesn’t look like this when Mommy cooks,” Tommy
said.
“Yeah Daddy.” Tyler frowned. “You did give
our letter to Santa, didn’t you, so he could come and help
you?”
“Of course I did,” Alex
reassured his sons. “But Santa is very busy and he knew
we
--
”
he gestured to his brothers, “could handle this
ourselves.”
help.”
“No!” Alex lowered his voice. “Your Mom
deserves a rest this year. She’s always cooking for us. This is
going to be a present for her.”
“Uh-huh.” Tommy didn’t sound very
impressed. His twin tugged on his sweater, whispering in his ear.
Tommy’s eyes rounded for a second, then nodded. “Okay. We’ll go and
play.”
“Good boys.” Alex looked relieved when
they left the kitchen.
“Quick.” Tyler towed his brother toward
the laundry room, holding up his father’s cell phone. “We’ll ring
Aunt Edna and find out what to do. I don’t think Daddy’s doing it
right.”
Back in the kitchen, Mitch gazed at the
disarray littering the bench top. “Your kids are right. What the
hell are we doing?”
Garrett looked at his phone. “According to
this website, the turkey should take another two hours to
cook.”
“Is that with the oven cranked up?” Cole’s
fingers hovered over the temperature dial.
Garrett squinted at the screen. “Not sure.
But if we turn up the heat too much, it might burn.”
“I’m not serving burned turkey to Sophie.”
Mitch crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“Relax,” Logan said. “We
can--”
“Alex?” Laura called out from the great
room. “Do you need any help in there?”
Alex sped to the kitchen doorway. “No,
sweetheart, everything’s under control.” His confident grin looked
more like a grimace.
“Food, food,” Garrett’s son chanted,
trying to peer past Alex’s tall, muscular body blocking the
entrance to the kitchen.
“Soon, Jack.” Alex gave his nephew a
strangled smile. “Why don’t you see what your cousins are up
to?”
“We need to give them something
to eat
now
,”
Garrett hissed.
great room carrying a large plate of smoked oysters on
crackers.
“Appetizers.” He grinned, holding out the
plate.
“Mm.” Maddie helped herself to a couple.
“I’m starving.”
Her sisters-in-law crowded around Cole. In a
couple of minutes, the plate was empty, apart from a few cracker
crumbs.
“Where are
our
appy-tizers, Uncle Cole?” Garrett’s
son Jack tugged at his uncle’s trousers.
kitchen.
“Try this.” Maddie held out a cracker
decorated with an oyster to her son.
He screwed up his nose. “Eew.”
Back in the kitchen, Alex’s sons silently
re-appeared and held out his phone. “Aunt Edna wants to talk to
you.”
“What?” Alex stared at the cell phone and
then at his sons. “You called Edna?”
“You needed help, Daddy. Edna said she’d
tell you what to do.”
Alex looked chagrined for a moment, then
grabbed the phone. “Thanks, boys.”
As Alex spoke to Edna, his wife’s right hand
in her catering business, Logan handed a small plate to each of the
twins. “Why don’t you two take these out for your cousins?” Ragged
cubes of yellow cheese covered the plates.
“Thanks for calling Edna.” Mitch winked at
the twins.
Tommy and Tyler munched bits of cheddar
while carefully carrying the plates into the great room. Their
cousins descended on them. Thirty seconds later, the plates were
empty.
“Do you think we should go in and help the
guys?” Ellie cast a dubious glance toward the kitchen.
“It’s okay, Aunt Ellie. We called Aunt
Edna for help.” The twins grinned at their mother and
aunts.
Laura bit her lip to keep from
laughing.
“That’s what Daddy always says - be
zourceful.” Tyler said.
“Resourceful?” Laura smiled at her
sons.
“That’s what we said.” Tommy
said.
In the kitchen, the brothers listened to
laughter from the other room.
“I hope they’re not laughing about the
appetizers,” Cole grumbled.
“At least they should stave them off for a
while.” Alex glared at the kitchen counter which was littered with
the remnants of their food preparation. “Laura makes this look so
easy, whether she’s cooking for four or a hundred. How can it be so
difficult to make Christmas dinner?”
“Now we’ve got some instructions from
Edna, the rest should be simple.” Garrett looked around the
kitchen. “We’ve already prepped the potatoes. All we have to do is
wait for the turkey to cook, make the sides, and
dessert.”
BOOK: A Billionaire Brothers' Christmas (BBW - Billionaire Brothers 6)
13.03Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads
Other books
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Balance of Guilt by Simon Hall
Running Scarred by Jackie Williams
Two Hitmen: A Double Bad Boy Mafia Romance (Lawless Book 1) by Alice May Ball
Crushed Velvet by Diane Vallere
Code Name: Red Rock by Taylor Lee
Zoot-Suit Murders by Thomas Sanchez
Endgame by Frank Brady
Bradley, Marion Zimmer - Novel 19 by The Ruins of Isis (v2.1)
Bye Bye Blondie by Virginie Despentes