He enjoys the rides and the company of his family, and it’s a good break from his going-nowhere existence back in Indiana. Then he meets a certain sexy employee in a pirate costume, and Alex’s vacation gets even better. But thrill rides last only a short time, and sooner or later everyone has to return to real life. Alex long ago gave up on marrying a handsome prince—will he have to give up on his pirate as well? A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2018 Advent Calendar "Warmest Wishes."

    But his criminal attraction to his upper-crust First Lieutenant, Garnet Littleton, threatens to overturn all he’s ever worked for. Lust quickly proves to be the least of his problems, however. The deadly combination of typhus, rioting convicts, and a monstrous storm destroys his prospects . . . and shipwrecks him and Garnet on their own private island. After months of solitary paradise, the journey back to civilization—surviving mutineers, exposure, and desertion—is the ultimate test of their feelings for each other. These two very different men each record their story for an unfathomable future in which the tale of their love—a love punishable by death in their own time—can finally be told. Today, dear reader, it is at last safe for you to hear it all.Note: This is a revised, stand-alone edition of the story originally published in the Hidden Conflict anthology in 2009.

    The ring he’d bought to propose was the first item he had to sell, and it wouldn’t be the last thing.With this December fast approaching, he tells his agent he’ll take an assignment to get out of the city, but he pictured Tahiti, not wintery Eden Vale, Vermont. He’d signed the contract, there was no way out, and he was trapped in a town cut off by snow. Not only that, but the entire town population of only a thousand souls was determined on dragging him kicking and screaming into Christmas, led by the sexy teacher-handyman-hotel owner, Gabriel.Gabriel has lived his entire life in the mountains, in a place awarded Best Christmas Town, 2011. A teacher at the elementary school, he shows others that the season of goodwill unites community, family, and that love resides in everyone’s heart. When Jesse arrives in town, lacking even an ounce of Christmas spirit, Gabriel immediately sees through his defenses and bonds with him. Despite the barriers that Jesse throws up, Gabriel is determined to show the deeply sad man what a real Christmas can be. And, who knows, after that, maybe get him to stay in Eden Vale for longer than just a few snowy weeks.rewritten, new cover art

    When Will is left carrying responsibility for the flower shop he’d leased for his cheating ex-boyfriend, he is sure it will lead him into financial ruin.Just when he’s about to abandon all hope, in walks Milo Hart—young, overflowing with energy, and perhaps best of all, a genius when it comes to flowers. Will hires him on the spot and they begin a working partnership that might be Will’s only saving grace. The more time they spend together, the more Will’s feelings for Milo evolve and Will must choose between keeping things strictly business, or taking a chance to let love bloom.

    But when fate sends him a gift in the form of an abandoned puppy, he can’t keep his heart from melting. With the puppy’s companionship, he doesn’t feel so isolated anymore, and the holidays don’t seem as bleak. He even finds enough Christmas spirit to take Roger tree shopping. But just when Colt’s starting to hope Roger’s owner doesn’t show up… he does, and Colt doesn’t want to say goodbye.Will Roger end up being Colt’s Christmas heartbreak… or his Christmas miracle?

    That's all Barry Richards wants for Christmas. Desperate for a traditional holiday, he creates a profile on "GetaDate.com," in hopes of finding the perfect man in a matter of weeks. One date after another goes sour, while all around him friends are falling in love, and Barry starts to lose faith.The first snow falls and the world fills with seasonal cheer, all except for Barry, for whom time is running out. Facing the prospect of a lonely holiday, he tries just once more to make The Match Before Christmas.

    A throng of sugar-frenzied kids might be enough to send this uptight photographer back into the darkroom permanently. Inappropriate thoughts about his far-too-attractive—and far-too-young—assistant aren’t helping fight that urge to hide, either.For Noah Hawkins, adulting is a snap. Too bad relationships aren’t. With his business temporarily closed for repairs, he’s happy to help his sister out of a jam, even if the costume he’s given to wear borders on obscene. Constantly being mistaken for a teenager is no treat either, especially when he discovers his temporary new co-worker is sexy as hell and 15 years his senior.Can Noah convince Jamison that age is just a number? Or will Jamison resist the gift Santa seems to be handing him on a platter?

    With his black-Irish good-looks and easy bedside manner he’s a favourite among patients. Surrounded by death on a daily basis, however, Bran has learned to harden his heart quite effectively. That is until he starts treating Ian Fitzgerald.Ian’s warm smile and determination easily punch holes in Bran’s barriers. Taking a step back to rebuild the walls around his heart, Bran takes off to his weekend house in Newport. He can’t surrender to Ian and he can’t ever get involved with a patient. When a treasure and a message in a bottle wash ashore on his beach, he’s forced to re-examining his determination and wonder if he can’t open himself to love after all.Reader Advisory: This story was released as part of the Legend Anthology by Total-E-Bound.

    But tensions are mounting again, and agent Robert “Hart” Hartley-Battridge has uncovered plans that indicate someone is planning to kidnap one of their most brilliant minds—the tempestuous Karol Zieliński. Hart is only too familiar with the hotheaded, beautiful scientist. He spent years working alongside Karol, concealing his love for him, convinced he would have been just one in a string of conquests lured into Karol’s bed. Then a mission gone wrong left Hart scarred and near death, and Karol abruptly quit the Service and never approached Hart again. But the new threat is about to close the distance between them. For one day and one night, Karol will have only a single guard to watch over him, and Hart doesn’t trust anyone but himself to keep Karol safe. Twenty-four hours in the presence of the man he loves, a man he hasn’t seen in three years. Hart expects Karol to have forgotten him. But Karol remembers their every mission—especially the last. And he has a surprise for Hart so daring and unprecedented it brought danger—and Hart—back to his door. With peace and Karol’s life on the line, Hart needs to accept that he was never a conquest. That for him, Karol would change the world.

    He no longer has the energy to deal with mean classmates, inner doubt, and fear of familial rejection, so he takes a razor to his wrist. When he wakes up in the hospital, Shiloh meets Travis Kahn, the EMT who saved him and didn’t leave his side.Travis is handsome, smart, and funny—the type of guy Shiloh would never be brave enough to approach. But his near-death experience has an unusual side effect: the life that flashed before his eyes wasn’t the one he had already lived, but rather the one he could live. With visions of a future by Travis’s side, Shiloh will find the strength to confront his fears and build a life worth fighting for.Word Count: 18,388Edition: 2ndA story from the Dreamspinner Press 2013 Advent Calendar collection Heartwarming.

    He tracks down its creator, a sad and quiet young sculptor. But neither the angel nor the sculptor is done with John just yet. The blasted angel refuses to leave him be, behaving not at all like an inanimate object should.Alec Allston is resigned to the fact that his love will ever be a river that flows out and never flows in. All he wanted to do was create a special gift so that a small part of himself could be with his unattainable and noble beloved, always. But when the gift keeps showing back up at his shop in the hands of a windblown and rugged thief-taker, Alec will need to reconsider his conviction that love is destined to remain an aethereal ideal.

    J. Charles ups the ante in her Society of Gentlemen series with a sizzling eBook short story. The youngest son and the blackest sheep in his family, Lord Gabriel Ashleigh never imagined he could sink so low. Though he’s a notoriously bad gambler, he takes on the formidable but strangely alluring Francis Webster, only to lose everything: all his money, the lovely estate he inherited from his aunt, and any hope of future happiness. So it’s a shock when Webster summons him to a private game for a chance to win back his possessions. The stake? If he fails, Ash must surrender his body. Francis has been waiting years for this moment. At Eton, Ash’s elder brother harassed him relentlessly. Now, consumed by lust and rage, Francis is only too happy to exploit Ash’s foolish indiscretions. But as Francis strips the magnificently built youth—first of his family assets, then his clothes—he begins to wonder whether he’s been plotting revenge . . . or exquisite seduction. Praise for the Society of Gentlemen series “The Regency period gets more rakish than ever in the Society of Gentlemen series. I’ll read anything K. J. Charles writes!”—New York Times bestselling author Kate Pearce Includes a special message from the editor, as well as an excerpt from another Loveswept title.

    Who is he really, and who or what is he pretending to be? What sort of trouble will his secrets cause him? I'd be grateful if you could answer these questions for me.Photo Description: With a black sky dotted in luminescent stars framing him, a beautiful young man stares into the darkness, his face concentrated, as though his thoughts are with someone else. His golden hair reveals him as a stranger in a land so very far from anything he’s known, and yet he’s comfortable in the silk kimonos draping his body. He gently holds one between his fingers, as if caressing the skin of his lover. Strings of gold and jade earrings adorn him, tokens of affection from the one he waits for now.This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love is Always Write" event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story.Download the story, read it online or find it in Love Is Always Write: Volume 7.

    Divorce attorney and live-in boyfriend Owen, however, believes just as passionately that the gay community should focus on a plurality of equal rights protections instead of allocating so many resources and man-hours to one hot button issue.Owen won’t marry Seth.Relationship deteriorating, the couple visits the Murphy farm outside Brunswick for Christmas. Seth’s family never considered that Seth and Owen wouldn’t be first in line for a marriage license as soon as same-sex marriage passed. When they find out there won’t be a wedding, their season of miracles is invaded by pornographic gingerbread cookies, frowning church ladies, and a determined father with a tactical assault shotgun.Neither Seth, Owen, nor their love may survive the family holiday circus to say, “I don’t.”

    But when they both arrive at the store at the same moment, the proprietor tells them to figure out between themselves who gets the bed. Elliot and Shawn decide to hold a contest: winner buys bed.And so the competitions begin, from selling charity tickets to cleaning out stables, and interpersonal tension and burgeoning attraction mount as the days until Christmas pass. But who deserves the gift more: Elliot, who can afford the expensive gift for his casual sex partner, or Shawn, who can barely cover rent, and the mysterious man he’s head-over-heels for?