Book Title: Christmas Beau
Author and Publisher: Amy Aislin
Cover Artist: Morningstar Ashley Designs
Photography by: Wander Aguiar
Release Date: November 29, 2024
Tense/POV: third person/past tense
Genres: Contemporary M/M Romance
Tropes: Single dad, small town, dog dads, crafty guys, Christmas
Heat Rating: 3 flames
Length: 50 500 words / 220 pages
It is a standalone story and does not end on a cliffhanger.
Buy Links – Available in Kindle Unlimited
Blurb
Hank Beaufort’s life is a mess.
Oh, he looks like he has it all together, but the reality is that he’s freshly retired from an unimpressive minor hockey career, and the ink is barely dry on his equally unimpressive second divorce. Now he’s the hockey director at the community center in a small town that treats Christmas like Santa Claus is real, and he’s not sure his new career is any more impressive than the last. As the new guy in town, he’d be lonely as hell if it weren’t for his dogs.
The one spot of brightness?
Scott Jersey, the adorably awkward single dad who brings his son to practice every week.
Hank’s not interested in a new relationship so soon after the disaster of the last one, but when doggy play dates lead to real dates, will he be able to set aside his reservations to be someone’s Christmas beau after all?
Christmas Falls, Season 2 revisits a small town that thrives on enough holiday charm to rival any Hallmark movie. It’s a multi-author M/M romance series.
Scott stood aside and watched while Hank and his dogs took photos with Santa. Damn, he looked good. Even outside of the community center, he was put together. He wore that off-white double-breasted wool coat with the cowl neck Scott loved so much—though it was liberally dotted with dog hair—over jeans and black lace-up boots, and with the dark gray scarf and black leather gloves, he looked like he should grace the winter edition of a men’s fashion magazine.
Scott had given Teddy and Yuri a few dollars so they could get themselves a snack from one of the food trucks before they met some friends for an afternoon of ice skating, Anna had left to take her cat home, and Scott had another twenty minutes before he was due to relieve his mom at the fair.
Biting his lip, Scott bounced on his heels and waited for Hank to—
Fallon lurched forward, nearly tearing Scott’s arm out of its socket. “Ow. Fallon. Sit.” Fallon did not sit. In fact, she pulled harder, trying to get to a dog of indeterminate breed nearby. “Fallon,” Scott whispered fiercely as Hank shook Santa’s hand and began to lead his incredibly well-behaved dogs toward Scott. “You’re going to make us look bad in front of the hunky hockey director and his NHL dogs.”
Fallon clearly didn’t care, and Scott was still trying to restrain twenty pounds of sheepdog when Hank approached.
“Don’t judge Fallon for her lack of manners,” Scott said. “She gets that from me.”
Hank chuckled, crinkling the skin at the corners of his eyes and making him appear infinitely hotter. He pulled a treat from seemingly nowhere and held it in front of Fallon’s nose. “Sit.”
Fallon’s butt hit the ground instantly. Hank gave her the treat and she munched on it happily, then licked her chops and looked up at Hank devotedly, ready and willing to work for more food.
“That’s a neat trick,” Scott muttered. “Got any more of those treats handy?”
“Sure.” Hank pulled a fabric pouch out of his coat pocket, loosened the pull tie, poured a few treats into his palm, and held them out to Scott. “I bring them everywhere. These guys—” He tipped his head at his dogs, calmly sitting at his feet. “—are well-trained, but they’re not perfect. A treat often distracts them from something they shouldn’t be doing.”
“This one—” Scott jerked a thumb at Fallon. “—is not well-trained, mostly because I didn’t have time to train her when she came to me. She pretty much does whatever she wants, and I pretty much let her.” He smiled brightly, curling the treats in his palm. “Anyway. Want to grab a coffee at one of the food carts? It’s cold, and I could use a hot drink.”
Hank glanced away, his gaze shuttering.
He’d decline. Scott knew it based on how Hank took a step back, his dog’s leashes clutched in one hand. Scott’s gut sank to his toes in disappointment, and he took his own step back, ready to tell Fallon they had to go when Hank said, “Sure. I don’t have much time to linger though. I’ve got to drop these guys off and get back to the fair.”
“Same, neighbor.” Scott winced, aware he was coming on a little too strongly, and told himself to dial it back. “Uh, how about this one?” He gestured at the nearest food truck.
Hank nodded. Scott waved at Elias—an old childhood friend—and fell into step with Hank. Fallon trotted between them, looking up at Hank as though he held the secrets to the universe.
It wasn’t unlike how Scott looked at Hank, which was both embarrassing and a little funny.
They stood side by side in line, the dogs sniffing each other, and Scott tried to think of something to say that wasn’t a wildly inappropriate Come home with me or an equally inappropriate You top, right? Tell me you top.
Scott was happy to top or bottom—his preference during any particular sexual encounter depended on the mood he was in—but he really wanted to be held down by this guy.
Mind out of the gutter!
Honestly. What was it about Hank that reduced him to a hormonal teenager?
Amy’s lived with her head in the clouds since she first picked up a book as a child, and being fluent in two languages means she’s read a lot of books! She first picked up a pen on a rainy day in fourth grade when her class had to stay inside for recess. Tales of treasure hunts with her classmates eventually morphed into love stories between men, and she’s been writing ever since. She writes evenings and weekends—or whenever she isn’t at her full-time day job saving the planet at Canada’s largest environmental non-profit.
An unapologetic introvert, Amy reads too much and socializes too little, with no regrets. She loves connecting with readers. Join her Facebook Group to stay up-to-date on upcoming releases and for access to early teasers, find her on Instagram, or sign up for her infrequent newsletter.
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