About Working to Win
Author: Sean Michael
Word Count: 13700
Page Count (pdf): 58
ISBN: 978-1-988377-54-4
Date Published: April 10, 2017
Publisher: Sean Michael
Price: $2.99
Genre: Contemporary, BDSM
Pairing: MM
Series name and number: n/a
Heat Rating: 
Summary:
Together for over six years, lovers Jason and Bryan rarely see each other anymore. Their jobs are running them ragged and keeping them apart. It’s gotten so they barely even communicate anymore.
A trip to a winter cabin for a long weekend, a last ditch effort to rekindle their romance, reveals a side to the two men the other never knew existed and their weekend suddenly includes power play games.
Is this new aspect of their relationship doomed to fail, or will it help them find what they both need to make their lives work again?
Previously released through a different publisher. Also currently available in the At the Office anthology.
Excerpt:
Chapter One
Jason followed the directions they’d been given, turning onto a small road that looked like it had been recently cleared.
“ETA five minutes if these directions are right,” he told Bryan, not looking at his lover.
Four-day weekend. Six years together and it all boiled down to four days. If they couldn’t…he didn’t know…rekindle the spark? Well, if they couldn’t do that, they’d just go their own ways. So far they were off to a great start—not. Bryan was sending emails and running through files on his laptop, had been since they’d gotten into the car, and it made Jason want to scream.
“Cool.” Bryan’s face was pinched, lips tight, eyes squinting as he stared at his computer.
Jason gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles went white.
They turned onto a rocky road and Bryan shut his laptop with a click. “There.”
“There?” He shot Bryan a glance, but they went over a bump and he had to focus back on the road.
“I got everything done.”
“As in ‘you’re turning the laptop off for good’?” He didn’t know if he could believe that.
“You said you wanted the weekend.”
“No. We agreed that we needed the weekend. Four days with no work, no interruptions, just you and me.”
If Bryan wasn’t willing to give this a chance, they weren’t going to resolve or rekindle anything.
“Yeah.” Bryan nodded, fastening up his coat.
God, sometimes Jason just wanted to tear the clothes off his unflappable lover and rough him up a little. Or a lot.
All Bryan did was work—fourteen hours a day at the office, then more at home. Not that Jason could say much. He was working himself to death, literally.
The recession had been hard on his family-owned granola company and it had been a close thing—they’d nearly lost the whole place. It would have killed him to have to shut down, to put all those people—most of whom he’d known since he was a boy—out of work.
So between the two of them, he and Bry barely even had a few hours in bed asleep together. They were like strangers. Wealthy, hard-working, exhausted strangers.
Frankly, when they got to the cabin, he was taking a nap. Then he wanted to wake up next to his lover. When was the last time they’d actually done that? Woken up together, shared kisses and touching? God. They were a pair. A sad-sack sorry pair.
Jason pulled up in front of the cabin. It was like a fucking postcard, out in the middle of nowhere, everything covered in white.
“It’s lovely.” Bryan took a picture with his phone, then he slipped out of the car and grabbed his briefcase and headed for the suitcases in the trunk.
“Here’s the key. I’ll get the bags.” He grabbed their cases, and slammed the trunk closed before following Bryan up the stairs.
Bryan got the door open and headed for the thermostat before heading out. “I’ll get the groceries.”
Jason brought their cases into the bedroom. Oh, damn that’s a great bed. A nice four-poster. He put their suitcases in the corner and headed back to see if Bryan needed help getting the food into cupboards and the fridge.
Bryan had already put everything away and was headed outside. “I’ll bring in wood.”
“Man on a mission.” To not be alone with him. This weekend was looking more and more like a losing proposition.
“It feels like snow.”
“I hope so.” Jason would love to get snowed in. Nothing to do but be together.
“I’ll be right back.” Bryan headed outside, hood pulled up. The sky was dark for the afternoon, almost velvety.
Jason put a couple of beers in the fridge so they’d cool, then grabbed the milk and looked for the hot chocolate mix. Finding it, he put some milk in a saucepan and started heating it for hot chocolate.
The sound of wood filling the wood box startled him. It seemed weird, thinking of his perfectly composed, classy lover carrying and stacking wood.
God, what was he going to do? He’d been in love with Bryan for years. He needed this long weekend to work.