His perpetually bright and cheery personality feels right at home for Christmas. He has time off from work and a husband who’s waiting for him at home, what else would he need? Well, he had no idea he would be needing to sign divorce papers - let’s start there. Declan Rose-Covington, part of a luxury hotel dynasty, is coming into Stonewall Investigations because he needs help with a family issue. With his mom’s huge holiday retreat around the corner, he’s hoping to solve it before Santa comes to town. The last thing he’s expecting is to enter the detective agency and fall for the strikingly handsome man sitting behind the front desk. Of course, life has ways of delivering well-wrapped surprises. When Declan and Andrew meet they both feel an instant connection. Soon, the connection grows powerful enough to push Declan toward a crazy proposition: invite Andrew to the family retreat as a fake boyfriend. Andrew would get a nice week-long vacation out of it and Declan would avoid the judgemental jabs from all the spoused-up family members. The potential for disaster was there, but there was also a chance to truly make this the most wonderful time of the year. And that was something neither of them wanted to miss out on. ______________________ Deck The Halls is a full-length and standalone Stonewall Investigations story.

    Locey - Dressed In Holiday StyleCan the spirit of Christmas save this budding love affair?Clare London - Five Gold BlingsWhere Christmas sparkle leads two lonely hearts.Posy Roberts - Sojourn with YouThis year, a place to stay is the best Christmas gift Sawyer could ask for.Felice Stevens - The Gift of ForeverWhat do you get the man who has everything?AE Via - An Unworthy GiftWhat do the lonely do at Christmas?Word Count: 157,000

    It’s December in Perth, Australia and it’s stinking hot. He's lonely, he’s homesick, and it really doesn’t feel like Christmas. The one bright point is his cute disaster of a co-worker, Travis, except Levi can’t figure out why Travis keeps running away whenever Levi talks to him. Working at Booze Barn over the Christmas period is hell, but at least Travis has maple-syrup flavored eye candy Levi to brighten his days—except Levi’s miserable. To cure Levi’s homesickness, Travis comes up with a brilliant plan. After all, how hard can it be to recreate a Canadian Christmas in the cool room? One thing’s for sure—between cranky customers, fake snow, and a deflating reindeer, this Christmas Eve is going to make for a cool story one day.

    Greg's nights are silent and his bells don't jingle. This time last year his boyfriend broke up with him, and he's determined to get through these holidays with only minor bruising. So what if he lives with a cat and his best friend is his mother? Peace and quiet: that's life how he likes it. Nothing is going to blindside him this year, no sir. Especially not a rogue secret Santa.

    With his parents on a cruise and his brother and sister out of town, he's on his own. His mother insists he escape to her friend's mountain cabin. Eli reluctantly agrees, but he takes off unprepared and ends up driving into the worst snowstorm the area has seen in years.He survives the trip, but he's stuck with no logs for the wood stove and little food. Fortunately, he gets the number for Mac's Wood Delivery. Mac doesn't mind riding to the rescue, and his deep, sultry voice has Eli eagerly anticipating the delivery. Is Mac the little bit of Christmas cheer Eli has been needing?

    He spends his days surrounded by books and chatting with the library patrons. He especially adores the head librarian, Mr. Miggles, who is kind, witty, knowlegable about everything, and hopelessly addicted to Christmas. Sean Miggles is also pretty cute—especially for an older guy who wears ties and suit pants every day. But Sean keeps himself at a distance, and there’s a sadness about him that Toby can’t figure out. When Sean is accused of a crime he didn’t commit, he gives up without a fight. Toby realizes that he alone can save the library—and their head librarian. Toby will need to uncover the darkness in Sean’s past and prove to him that he deserves a second chance at life and at love too. And while Christmas miracles are being handed out, maybe Toby will get his own dearest wish—to love and be loved by Mr. Miggles.

    When Office Steve Coleman pulls him over and gives him a speeding ticket, he doesn’t react well. He’s even less happy when he discovers the cop lives next door to his parents’ house. No matter where they turn this holiday season, Steve and Mason keep running into each other, and whenever they talk for more than a minute, they piss each other off. But from wayward dogs to Christmas tree hunts to maple syrup festivals, it proves impossible to avoid each other in the small town. If Mason can see the good man behind the badge, he might just get a cop for Christmas.

    Until he meets Tork. Tork is clever and funny. He makes origami models and reads Dickens. Tork has green hair and makes Adam's heart race with longing. But Tork is homeless and not at all impressed with Adam's attitude.Can Adam see past his fear and arrogance? Can Tork give Adam a chance? Can two such different men turn the world upside down and find out what really matters? Read to find out their story.Content Warning: the story includes reference to and description of self-harming.* * * * *A story from Boughs of Evergreen: A Holiday Anthology

    All words used to describe Dr. Micah Steinberg by the hospital staff for their next head of surgery. When a letter arrives from his grandmother’s friend at the assisted living facility, his orderly world tilts dangerously out of control. Josh Rosen had everything until it was revealed much of his world was a lie. Forced to re-evaluate his life, Josh gives up his career and returns home to New York City to care for his beloved grandmother. What Josh didn’t figure on was an attraction to a man who on the surface, appears to be exactly like the life Josh chose to leave behind.As Micah struggles with the reality of his grandmother’s illness, the bond these two share deepens, as Josh helps Micah heal, then open his heart. Micah discovers there is more to life than work, control and success. Josh is in deep but has yet to tell Micah who he really is.When the fight for the hospital’s head of surgery turns ugly, Josh’s past and present collide. Micah must let go of the past and accept who he is, if his life is going to move forward.Life is full of surprises, and as both Micah and Josh learn, love can happen whether you plan for it or not.

    Office workers Tim and Noel do nothing all day but antagonize each other—petty fighting that might be based on hatred… or a heated mutual attraction. It’s up to Jack Frost and his elf-friend Rudy to broach the hostilities and introduce some Christmas kisses, but is the Frost Prince up to the challenge of launching a new romance when someone’s trying to break his holiday spirit?

     The buyer is none other than world-renowned billionaire and corporate raider Brant Linton, recently named one of the hottest and most eligible gay businessmen. Electricity crackles at their first meeting, and Alec's thoughts drift far from business, despite his distaste for Brant's business practices. When Brant takes off early to spend Christmas with his sister's family on the exclusive French Polynesian island of Taha'a, Alec has no choice but to follow if he wants to get Brant to sign on the dotted line. But Brant's sister has forbidden him from conducting business during the holidays and Alec must masquerade as Brant's boyfriend lest she find out what they're really up to. Then business turns into pleasure, but neither Brant nor Alec know whether the other is there for the deal, or for something more personal in EM Lynley's sizzling holiday novella A CHRISTMAS BONUS.

    But now the rich and unscrupulous Mr. Stephanopoulos has a proposition. A previously unpublished Christmas book by Charles Dickens has turned up in the hands of an English chemistry professor by the name of Sedgwick Crisparkle. Mr. S. wants that book at any price, and he needs James to get it for him. There’s just one catch. James can’t tell the nutty professor who the buyer is. Actually, two catches. The nutty Professor Crisparkle turns out to be totally gorgeous—and on the prowl. Faster than you can say, “Old Saint Nick,” James is mixing business with pleasure…and in real danger of forgetting that this is just a holiday romance. Just as they’re well on the way to having their peppermint sticks and eating them too, Sedgwick discovers the truth. James has been a very bad boy. And any chance Santa will bring him what he wants most is disappearing quicker than the Jolly Old Elf’s sleigh.

    Featuring Chris and Lance from Delivered Fast

    He’s ditched his no-good ex, sworn off men, moved to a new town with his four best friends, and started the pottery business of his dreams. And then he slept with his hunky new neighbor. Oops. Jesse needs to focus on work, but all he can think about is getting Finn between his hands like a perfectly-shaped work of clay.Trouble just blew into town, and his name is Jesse. Finn Hart knows that pursuing Jesse will ignite old family tensions, but he can’t stay away. The construction foreman has never built a lasting relationship. He’s too busy keeping the peace in a town that was founded by one Hart, but is slowly being strangled by another—Finn’s grandfather.Finn and Jesse are on the same page: they want to save Hart’s Bay, and it starts by bringing tourists in with Jesse’s new art gallery. But their hearts are bruised, and taking a chance comes with a price. Not everyone in Hart’s Bay wants change. For a few narrow minds, nothing good should come to Finn’s branch of the Harts, and that includes love.Can love wash away twenty years of bad blood and bring a new dawn for Jesse, Finn, and all of Hart's Bay?Hard Hart is the first book in the new Hart’s Bay series about a small town full of nosy but well-meaning neighbors and brotherly banter. It’s a standalone novel with a happily-ever-after ending, and plenty of smiles and steam along the way. If that cove could talk… oh boy, has it ever seen things. The second Hart’s Bay novel, Changed Hart, will be released September 3rd, 2019!

    Desperate to try and save the life of his unborn child, he makes one last attempt to get to the omega clinic, but his old car has other ideas.Gabe Johnson, exhausted from being on call as a veterinarian and depressed at the thought of another lonely Christmas, nearly gets run off the road by a driver who loses control of his car. When he finds that the driver is actually a young omega about to give birth all his protective instincts rush in and as he battles frantically to save their lives, he realizes all he wants is to take the little family home and claim them for his own.Bo has never had the Christmas he’s always wanted. Gabe gave up on the holidays a long time ago. But just as they both think that it’s their turn to experience the season of miracles, Bo’s old alpha finds them, and unless Gabe can manage the impossible, all their Christmas dreams will melt like snow.