About It Started With Fruitcake
Author: Sean Michael
Word Count: 12300
Page Count (pdf): 64
ISBN: 978-1-988377-84-1
Price: 2.99
Pairing: M/M
Series: n/a
Genre: Contemporary
Date Published: February 14, 2019
Publisher: Sean Michael
Heat Rating: 
File Types available: pdf, mobi, epub
Summary:
It Started wih a Fruitcake. When Mike takes home the gift of fruitcake from the office White Elephant Christmas Exchange, he never would have guessed that it would lead to a date, or that said date would lead to more. But that’s exactly what happens when Theo, the baker of the fruitcake, offers to take it back in exchange for his White Elephant gift. Mike refuses the offer, but accepts a date with Theo.
Go on a sweet adventure with Mike and Theo and find out where fruitcake takes them.
Excerpt:
December 21
Fruitcake. Mike stared down at the thing like it was poison. He’d clearly gotten the booby prize for the office White Elephant gift exchange. This one looked homemade, too. Why would anyone actually make a fruitcake? Of course, he’d never tasted one, so maybe he was being judgmental. For all he knew, fruitcake was the food of the gods. Yeah, right.
He did manage to grin and grab it up. “Yum. I hope no one steals this from me.”
Darren, sitting next to him, snorted and a sneer settled over his pinched features. “I don’t think you have to worry about that. Nobody is interested in taking that from you. Not to mention it’s clearly at the bottom of the price range.”
Oh, now, that was mean and totally unnecessary. Darren could have just kept his mouth shut instead of making such a nasty comment. Someone had gone to the trouble of baking this. Besides, not everyone was making the big bucks—in fact most of them weren’t.
“I hope you’re right because this is the gift I want to go home with.” He patted the fruitcake.
In the end, he did indeed get to keep the fruitcake. He was going to try it, too, because he was always willing to try something once and it really wasn’t fair that he’d judged fruitcake by what everyone else said instead of making an informed decision for himself.
He was at his desk, throwing what he needed to bring home with him for the holidays into his backpack when Theo came over, looking terribly nervous, twisting his fingers together. The latest hire, Theo was a cutie, but painfully shy and Mike hadn’t had a chance to talk to him much. So this was a surprise.
“Hey, Theo. Happy Holidays.”
Theo adjusted his glasses. The guy was even more adorable close-up. “You too. I just wanted to let you know, if you don’t really want the fruitcake, I would be willing to trade the restaurant gift card I got for it.”
Well that was a bit weird, but maybe Theo liked him? That wouldn’t be a bad thing at all, the feeling could potentially be mutual. Or possibly Theo really liked fruitcake. Mike liked the first possibility best.
“Are you kidding? This is clearly homemade, which everyone knows is the best kind of gift. I’m looking forward to trying it. Thanks for the offer, though.”
“Oh.” Theo beamed at him. “That was my contribution.”
“You made this yourself? Like from scratch?”
Theo nodded, blushing hard.
“That’s cool.” Mike meant it, too, whether he wound up liking the fruitcake or not. “I can’t boil water without ruining the pot.”
That earned him a laugh.
“And I really am looking forward to trying it,” Mike added.
“Cool. I uh…” Theo cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. “I don’t like going to restaurants on my own, so I was wondering… maybe you’d… I uh…”
Mike decided to help Theo out. “I’d love to.”
Theo beamed at him again. “Are you busy tonight?”
“Yeah, actually, I am. I have a family thing. But I’m free tomorrow or the day after.” Mike loved it when Christmas fell on an early weekday because it gave you the whole weekend to prepare or whatever before the actual day.
“Tomorrow works for me.”
Mike was pleased he’d given Theo alternate times he was available. “Me, too. It’s a date.”
Theo nodded, then gave him an unexpected, quick hug before heading toward the door.
Mike watched him go, smiling. His weekend was looking up. And all because of fruitcake. He had a hunch he was going to like it.