Short Stories

This winter, Jude Bloch can't decide what bothers him more—the crowds of people or the holiday revelry. Even meeting handsome chef Mac Appel fails to cheer him up because Jude knows the most he could hope for is a one-night stand. But one night turns into two and then more. Maybe Mac can bring some warmth into Jude's holiday season.

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After his Aunt Dee Dee sends him a windfall, Ethan decides to bail on the family holiday drama and go on a college skiing trip instead. Then a reservation snafu lands him in the same room as Henry, another student on the trip, and Ethan stumbles onto a bonus present of another kind: one that could last through Christmas and beyond.

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The Yule festival of Twelfth Night is a time when servants are the masters and vice versa, and tension and humor fill the air. Dan and his partner, Taj, have busy lives even without their duties as members of the Society for Creative Anachronism. When Taj is selected to coordinate the holiday activities and assigned the title Lord of Misrule, it encroaches on their time as a couple—until they negotiate their way to a happy holiday.

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Crotchety and cranky Rudy—aka Santa—is in a foul mood every Christmas season. He talks to lots of children and even more parents but not with guys looking for dates. Only when his best helper makes him a very special gift does he meet someone to his liking. Kind of. Because that someone is made of flour and spices—and to impress him, Rudy seriously has to work on his seduction skills.

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When Aaron finds out Ben is missing out on some important Christmas traditions to be with him, he starts thinking of ways to give Ben new ways to observe the holiday. Can a homemade bear, a friend-made video, and a sock-eating goat become the traditions that keep Ben and Aaron together?

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Baker Brockton’s lover, Coby Darling, left town last year because Baker was afraid to come out and admit Coby was more than a friend. Baker’s been miserable ever since, but now Coby’s home for the holidays, and Baker thinks they might have a chance until Coby hints that he might move back to town if Baker can give him what he wants. Baker is furious about another ultimatum—is he willing to compromise if it means they’ll be together?

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Back in 1989, Theo Wellis made a mistake: he ran from Luke, the man he loved. He’s regretted it ever since--especially because the man in question died more than twenty years ago. One lonely, drunken night, he gets the chance to change the past. Will he take it or run away once again?

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English professor Dale Hoberman is out of his depth as a visiting professor at Oxford. His one comfortable social connection is with a man long dead. In his spare time, he takes on the task of analyzing the possessions of Martin Winthrop, a brilliant physicist who met with a tragic end.  When science and serendipity give Dale a chance to meet Martin, Dale is suddenly comfortable in his own skin, but is his happiness with Martin worth risking the powerful forces of time and physics, or is Martin’s tragic end destined to be?

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History is written by the biased victors, leaving only their view intact. Future civilizations are now trying to learn from the past, sending agents Niall and Dafydd to record lost perspectives from destroyed cultures. To achieve this, they keep Dafydd in the dark, and it takes a thousand lifetimes of love and loss before he sees the light.

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Engall is supposed to hit a party and hook up with his longtime crush, Chandler—at least that’s what Engall’s unlikely guardian angel keeps telling him. But the more Dagiel tries to fix the situation, the weirder it gets. How many do-overs will it take to make Engall’s life right?

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Terry is grieving the loss of his former lover, Dante, when an enigmatic and very attractive stranger named the Professor drags him into an Airstream trailer/time machine. Together with his trusty hedgehog companion, Thigden, the Professor sets out to show Terry a vision of his future with a rakishly handsome pirate. Terry doesn't expect an intergalactic space cruise, ginger snaps, or an attack for something he hasn’t even done yet, but one thing is certain: when it comes to time travel, romance is never truly dead.

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Jeritt Troy is a Scourge, a guardian tasked with patrolling cracks in time and righting the unspoken wrongs in history. His next task is a killer—not just for him, but for his husband and partner, Frost Ramsey, because Jeritt’s not just tracking a bad guy; he’s tracking his previous partner—his best friend.

Brekin Creed is as deadly as he’s ever been, and when Jeritt finds himself both abandoned and stranded in time, he has only a handful of years to figure out what went wrong with Brekin and, in doing so, save Frost’s life. Is there time enough for Jeritt to save Frost, or will he be locked in the judgment of his mistakes for eternity?

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Two weeks from his thirtieth birthday in the year 2020, Temporal Agent Charleston Meeks Jr. is assigned to work for his father on a special project. The government’s Restore Point Program sends small teams back in time to save the life of one person, just once, but Charleston’s father wants to explore what would happen if the RPP intervened in the life of one person repeatedly. Charleston is tasked with saving the same child, Barnaby Rosenthal, from a series of events from birth through his teens. When Charleston approaches his terminal step—the last temporal trip an agent can make before possibly suffering permanent damage—his father forbids any further contact, but Charleston has too much invested in Barnaby to give up.

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David tried not to stare, but it wasn’t easy. Gorgeous Guy had a mop of dark hair, dark brown eyes that David knew he could stare into for eternity, an adorably dimpled chin, and just enough of a five o’clock shadow (it was just after noon) to give him that dangerous, bad boy look. This guy is totally out of your league, Lassen.

Then GG is gone, replaced by a little man with spectacles telling David he’s got one more opportunity to connect with the love of his life. The question is… will David take the chance?

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Kody Higgins is crossing the park in a spring thunderstorm when - kapow! - he suddenly wakes up in 1898. The turn of the century may not be the ideal age for a graphics designer/gym bunny to surface in, but when handsome tinker Jarvis Banks takes Kody under his wing, Kody decides that Victorian-era America just might have some perks.

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When teenager Perry Green witnesses his adult neighbor, Seth Moore, crying in his car late one evening, Perry sets out to console the man he’s spent many a year fantasizing about. But Seth’s personal crisis takes a backseat when a magical grandfather clock sends the two of them back in time to witness a pivotal moment in his past. As Seth and Perry work to solve the problem, romance blossoms—or it would, if Perry could just convince Seth that love surpasses time itself.

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When Matt’s Great-great-aunt Violet dies, she leaves him a precious gift: a photo album he loved as a child. Then Matt starts having dreams—very good dreams—about Joseph, one of the men in the pictures from the 1940s. One morning when Matt wakes up, the bruises are still there. Could there be more to Violet’s present than he thought?

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Michael isn’t used to casino blackjack dealers telling him to cash in, but that’s what Daniel Aldaine does, recognizing the group of men waiting to collect what Michael owes them. He even fronts Michael the money he’s short to get the goons off his back. It’s the beginning of the best relationship Michael’s ever known, but a problem he doesn’t even recognize he has could end it all.

A Bittersweet Dreams title: It's an unfortunate truth: love doesn't always conquer all. Regardless of its strength, sometimes fate intervenes, tragedy strikes, or forces conspire against it. These stories of romance do not offer a traditional happy ending, but the strong and enduring love will still touch your heart and maybe move you to tears.

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