Page 1 of Christmas with the Elkin Billionaires

1

CHASE

American Alpine skier and two-time Olympic medalist, Chase (aka Ace) Elkin, was injured on the giant slalom course at the Beijing Olympics when he violently crashed one gate from the finish, fracturing his left femur vertically and fracturing both his patella and tibia. One of the youngest Alpine skiers to ever compete in the Olympics, Ace qualified for the American team at seventeen and went on to compete on the Olympic team, consistently earning medals throughout his career….

“Well, that’s enough of that,” Chase mumbled into his pillow. He wished the radio in his head had an off switch so he could silence the replay of every news report about his accident. They were always loudest in the mornings. Sighing, he rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling, wondering if he had time to take a shower. His phone beeped with an incoming text and he didn’t have to look at it to know it was from his brother Jonas reminding him he had a morning appointment and to get his ass out of bed.

Unable to stand the mystery, he checked when his phone beeped again. “Yep. Jonas.” Not bothering to reply, he rolled to his side and sat up, wincing at the stiffness in his leg. More than a year after his career-ending injury, he knew it would take time for the muscles to loosen up and the stiffness to subside and a hot shower would definitely help. The decision made, he headed for the bathroom.

He spent too long in the shower pretending he wasn’t back at Elk Lodge, and as he was getting dressed, he heard his phone ring with Jonas’s ringtone. He tapped the answer button. “Dammit! I haven’t forgotten.” He didn’t bother to listen to anything his brother might have said before disconnecting the call and tossing the phone on his bed. He dressed quickly hoping there would be coffee in the lobby so he could grab a cup before he headed upstairs.

Pushing through the double doors into the lobby, he waved to Helen and Aimee, who were busy checking people in, and headed over to the hot drinks station that had been a staple in the lobby since his grandparents first opened the lodge more than fifty years ago. A woman was shepherding two kids as they eagerly helped themselves to what looked like more whipped cream than hot chocolate while she attempted to retrieve the can before it was emptied.

“Joanie, you shouldn’t have that much sugar before your lesson. Sammy, don’t fling that at your sister. We do not throw food. Wait! No-no-no.” The woman’s panicked voice reached him just as Sammy or Joanie whirled around and upended the contents of their cup all down the front of his sweater. Everyone seemed to gasp and the woman lifted her head to make eye contact, an apology already tumbling out of her mouth. “Oh no! I am so sorry.” She grabbed a wad of napkins off the table and began to frantically press them against his sweater while continuing to spew out apologies and telling the kids to apologize as well.

It was way too early for this. Stopping the woman, he gently took the napkins from her and tossed them in the trash. She seemed downright distraught over what had happened, since she frantically continued to fuss. Chase finally had enough.

“Hey. It’s fine. No harm, right? Looks like you have your hands full with your children, so why don’t I just get out of your way.”

“Oh. Oh! These aren’t mine. They’re my students. I didn’t birth them or anything. Not that that’s a bad thing.”

Her face turned a pleasing shade of pink and under different circumstances, he would have loved to stick around to tease her and possibly see what else might happen, but as it was, his phone was beeping again. Jonas. It had to be him.

“Well, I’ll leave you to your non-birthed children.” Chase’s phone beeped and he looked at the drink station, the whole area now covered in hot chocolate and whatever else was in those cups and sighed.

He diverted his path to swing by the reception desk, pulling his sweater off over his head as he walked.

"I’m late for a meeting with Jonas, or I wouldn’t do this,” he said to Aimee. “Could you send this out to be cleaned for me?”

“No problem, Chase.” She turned and poured him a cup of coffee from the receptionists’ personal coffee maker. “Still take it light?”

“Yes, ma’am, and thank you.” Smiling, he took a long sip and smacked his lips. Aimee patted him on the arm, and he resumed his walk to the bank of elevators. When the elevator car chimed, he stepped on and pressed and held the DOOR OPEN button as he watched the woman finally manage to wrangle the kids and herd them toward the side exit that would take them to the ski rentals. She paused at the exit and turned, catching his eye, and the smile she directed his way lit up her features. His finger fumbled on the elevator button, and the doors closed before he could react fast enough to stop it.

2

TANA

Tana Birch jumped as the door closed right in front of her. She’d been so intent on staring at the hottie Sammy had bumped into that she hadn’t realized how close to the door she was standing until it almost smacked her in the face.

He looked familiar but she couldn’t place him. In the short time she’d worked here, she’d run into a few celebs, so maybe that was why.

"Give it to me! Miss Tana! Sammy took my hot chocolate!”

Whirling around, Tana reached for the cup that Sammy had stolen from Joanie but he bounced out of the way and finished off the drink with a grin. Frowning, Tana held her hand out for the cup, but the little boy merely dropped it on the ground and continued to torment his younger sister, which resulted in Joanie letting out a high-pitched scream that could easily cause an avalanche. Time to stop this right now.

She crossed her arms and tilted her hip up as she stared at both kids without saying anything. These two had been an absolute thorn in her side from the moment they arrived here, often not listening and talking while she was attempting to teach them how to ski. Their parents had dropped the kids off with her early and then vanished inside, probably to enjoy a quiet breakfast without the squabbling pair.

She couldn’t blame them, but at the same time, she was a ski instructor and not a babysitter. With a huff, she sat down on the bench and began to loosen up the buckles on her boots. Finishing the right boot, she shifted to the left but before she could finish, two sets of feet appeared in her vision.

“Miss Tana?” Sammy asked. “I thought we were getting lessons today.”

With her head down, Tana smiled before pasting on a more serious expression. Lifting her head, she frowned at them. “Well, we were, but it seems that you’d much prefer to tease your sister than ski today, so I decided to take my boots off. Was I wrong?” She stared at the older boy, who couldn’t have been more than eight, as he shuffled uncomfortably in front of her.

“Nooooo.” His answer came out more of a whine.

Joanie, who was five, crossed her arms and frowned at her brother. “Momma’s gonna be mad at you if Miss Tana doesn’t teach us. She doesn’t want us skiing without lessons. You know what happened last time.”

Well, this was info she needed. “Um, what happened last time?”

---