David Miles and Richter Layover are young lovers from West Hollywood who move to Snowden to open a liberal and fun bakery called Cupcakes. What follows is a string of extraordinary men who enter their lives and change their matrimony and the bakery forever. Realtor Anthony Jarr, handsome and alluring, who lives above Cupcakes and considers himself an exceptional lover. When he meets Ryan Glayson, a professional cellist with a relentless urge for sweets, Jarr falls in love for the first time, turning his life into a topsy-turvy spin of surprising romance and selflessness. The magnetic and strange Stefan Pavlov is one of Cupcakes' regulars. Although he comes across as being sweet and charming, he has secrets that are quite damaging, which are exposed during a heated summer along the lake. Erich Misslow, a part-time employee at Cupcakes, becomes enamored with Pavlov, who is almost three times his age. Erich has always enjoyed the company of older men, but does Pavlov have too much peculiar baggage to share? Cupcakes also draws in Ken Eclipse, a charming underwear model with a taste for sweet men and sultry sex. Eclipse searches for Mr. Right like a slice of cinnamon cake for his appetite and personal needs. Can he find the man of his dreams at Cupcakes, or will he forever be single, enjoying the bakery's treats alone? These employees, friends, and lovers combine together with their individual recipes of bliss and loss, and the little bakery called Cupcakes comes to life as the sugary flavor of a gay neighborhood along the lake bursts into life.

Cupcakes

Jarr was late for his shift, as usual, and I nailed him with an assortment of questions regarding Gray’s buddy swim: Do you know about the party? What’s a buddy swim? Does Gray always invite strange, but hot, guys to these parties?


Jarr responded while drinking a cup of coffee, looking interrogated in the process, “Yes, I know about the party. A buddy swim is a group of guys who enjoy a swim together. It’s not an orgy or kinky. It’s sort of like going to the bar. And Trafford Gray loves to mix up the parties with new faces, particularly those that are adorable, just like your husband’s.”


I took offence to his last comment and asked, “Why wasn’t I invited?”


He rolled his eyes and guzzled more coffee. “There is no nice way to tell you that Gray finds your husband more attractive than you. Now the cat is out of the bag. Do with it what you will.”


“Whatever,” I said in a huff, spun around, and went in search of numbers to crunch and ways to save the bakery money.


Chapter 4