Fruitcake is the laughingstock of the holiday season. But is it really an aphrodisiac instead? Motorcycle mechanic Sam McGuire is surprised to find a gaily wrapped box on his doorstep with a piece of fruitcake inside. The note on the present is an invitation to a holiday party. Intrigued, Sam attends the party -- mostly to get more of the fruitcake he falls in love with -- and meets his new neighbor, Jay Merriweather. The lure of Jay’s big family and its holiday tradition of enjoying Grandma’s fruitcake hook Sam, as does the sexy man himself. But Sam can't imagine why handsome, college-educated Jay would want someone like him, who was raised in a children’s home and barely graduated high school. Can the magic of the holiday season help two men who seem so different come together like the ingredients in a well-made fruitcake?

Blame It on the Fruitcake

“Then I invited you over for Christmas dinner, and everything broke off. I don’t know what I did, but I apologize. If you don’t want to be friends with Jay, well, that’s one thing. And it’s between you two. If, however, you don’t want to have anything to do with him because I was too pushy or something, well, then that’s between us.”


Oh God. I didn’t want to have to explain the facts of life to Jay’s grandmother. What the fuck? Still, she looked like the kind of woman who wouldn’t move until I told her something.


“Uh, well, it’s not you. See, I haven’t told Jay this yet, but I was abandoned as a baby and raised in the Children’s Home. He thinks we’re a lot alike, but we’ve got nothing in common.”


“Oh. Oh, I see. You’re not gay?” she asked gently. No judgment, which was nice. Just concern about the mix-up.


Chapter 12