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

“It was,” David answered. “Jarr likes to hold grudges. Shame on him.”


“I have no shame,” Jarr said. He pointed a French spatula at Erich, started to wave it in the man’s direction, and added: “You be extra careful. I know the two of you have fucked around like high school boys, and Eclipse has you right where he wants you, but that doesn’t mean you should let your guard down. The man gets off by hurting other men.”


“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Erich admitted.


The words hadn’t even surfaced between Jarr and David’s ears when one of the bakery’s front glass doors opened and in walked the underwear model. Stunned, all three men behind the glass counters stood motionless. Erich eventually beamed with a smile and said, “There’s my sweetheart.”


David called out, “Hello, Mr. Eclipse.”


And Jarr mumbled under his breath with disgust, “Fuck me sideways.”  47: To Get With an Underwear Model


Chapter 33