Title: The Humbug Holiday
Format: Audiobook
Author: Lane Hayes
Narrator: Michael Dean
Publisher: Lane Hayes
Release Date: December 12, 2022
Heat Level: 4 – Lots of Sex
Pairing: Male/Male
Length: 03 Hours 50 Minutes
Genre: Romance, Holiday romance, Bisexual romance, Grumpy/Grumpy, Small Town
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Synopsis
Two grumpy bears and a holiday season neither will forget…
Joe
So this sexy silver fox rolls into my small New England town and buys a run-down old house in need of renovation. That’s where I come in. My job is to do some basic repairs, so he can write in peace. Yep, the hotshot is a bestselling author, but that’s not why I recognize Cameron Warren.
No worries, I won’t let a one-night stand make things awkward. I could use the work, but is he seriously asking me to help him buy a Christmas tree too?
No way.
Cameron
I’m a good-natured guy all year long, but I have to admit…I hate the holidays.
There. I said it.
This season, I’m hiding away on the opposite side of the country in a picturesque village. My family isn’t excited about my decision, and the only way to assure them I’m fine is to deck the darn halls. Or hire someone else to do it.
The handyman might not be the logical choice for an elf, but his grumpy act makes me smile. Which makes me think the holidays might not be so “bah-humbug” this year after all.
The Humbug Holiday is a bisexual, age-gap romance featuring two grumpy bears who find unexpected magic and learn to embrace everyone’s favorite time of year!
“You’re kissing my knuckles. Should I be alarmed?”
Cameron grinned. “Definitely. Uncharacteristic displays of affection are concerning. But…I can’t help it. I’m a sucker for a tough guy with a gooey center. Something tells me you’re paying penance. Like you took too much at one point and you’ve decided you don’t deserve anything more.”
That was so eerily true that it knocked the wind out of me for a beat. Which of course, made me angry.
“Don’t fucking psychoanalyze me. And don’t think you know me. You don’t know me,” I grumbled.
“Ouch.” He held his hands up in surrender. “Maybe not, but I like what I see. Can I say that, or are you going to bite my head off?”
It was hard to maintain a cranky expression with him smiling like a cat who’d finally caught the canary he’d been chasing for days on end.
“Hmph. I’ll permit it. By the way, I’m not paying penance. I prefer to think I got a timely reminder about what’s important in life. This is a good place, but…”
“What?” he prodded.
“Sometimes I think I’m playing it too safe. It’s comfortable. It’s what I know. I’m not taking chances the way I used to, and…I can’t tell if that’s just part of getting older or if I’m taking the easy route.”
Shit. That was a lot of sharing. What the fuck was up with me?
Cameron lowered his eyes solemnly and inclined his head. “I know how that feels.”
I huffed incredulously. “How? You’re living the dream. Your books are being made into movies, for fuck’s sake.”
“Yes, but…” He tapped his temple. “This is where I live. My world is smaller than you’d think.”
That struck me as lonely and kind of sad. I didn’t want to dwell on our collective inadequacies, though.
“The real world is overrated,” I commented, nudging his knee. “And for the record…I’m more of a nibbler than a biter.”
“Is that so?” His eyes took on a stormy, intense hue as he leaned forward and set his hand on my thigh.
There was nothing overtly sexual in the maneuver, but there didn’t need to be. We’d been skirting around a near-constant buzz of desire from the moment he’d stepped onto the porch looking like a bear emerging from his cave. A hot bear, though kind of rumpled and wild-eyed. And I’d been fighting a peculiar urge to caress his cheek and ask if he’d slept at all over the past three days. Somehow, I’d kept my mouth shut and my hands to myself.
It wasn’t my style to fawn over a lover. Cameron didn’t need that anyway. He was older and wiser and—well, I assumed he was wiser. Truthfully, his intensity had a haunted quality that hinted at secrets. He pulled off the charming artist for short stints, but I wondered about the man behind that suave mask. The one who’d flinched as if in pain before suggesting we grab something to eat.
If I were a betting man, I’d say he didn’t hate Christmas…he was afraid of it. He was hiding from something in this tiny town in the middle of nowhere Vermont, snooping in other people’s lives and hoping inspiration kept darkness at bay.
Christ, we made quite a pair. Two grown-ass men licking old wounds we did our best to ignore.
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Lane Hayes loves a good romance! An avid reader from an early age, she has always been drawn to well-told love story with beautifully written characters. Her debut novel was a 2013 Rainbow Award finalist and subsequent books have received Honorable Mentions, and were winners in the 2016, 2017, 2018-2019, 2020-2021 Rainbow Awards. She loves wine, chocolate and travel (in no particular order). Lane lives in Southern California with her amazing husband in a newly empty nest.
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