A Christmas Wish: Gay Holiday Romance E-Book

Trina Solet

• Herausgeber: Trina Solet
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Jared is a new adopted dad to his four year old son, Leo. This is the first time Jared and his new son will be spending the holidays together. When Jared finds out about the special wish Leo made for Christmas, he isn't sure if he can make it come true, but Flynn can.
Flynn is on a mission and he just happens to be wearing a Santa suit when little Leo tells him his wish for another dad. But what draws Flynn's attention is Jared. There is something special about him that makes Flynn want to get close to him at any cost. Flynn wants to find out more about this man, but he might just fall in love with him.

Leseprobe

A Christmas Wish (Gay Holiday Romance) By Trina Solet

Copyright © 2023 by Trina Solet

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, locales or actual events is entirely coincidental.

All sexual activity takes place between persons eighteen years of age or older.

This novel contains material intended for mature readers.

Cover image is only for illustrative purposes. Any person depicted is a model.

A Christmas Wish

Gay Holiday Romance

Trina Solet

Chapter 1

Holding Leo's hand, Jared was noticing how the chilly winter air made his little cheeks ruddy under his knit cap. Then he noticed that Leo was frowning as he watched a boy a little older than him pull his hand away from his mother's as soon as they were done crossing the street. Jared was worried Leo might not want to hold his hand either, but he only held it tighter.

"We have to hold hands so we don't get lost," Leo said to Jared.

"Sure, but I just like holding hands with my son," Jared said and Leo smiled.

Leo had been his son for less than a year so both of them appreciated having someone to hold their hand. Leo was only four, but now Jared wondered when he would think he was too old to hold his dad's hand.

They were strolling through the shopping center as lights were coming on. The festive decorations in green and red and gold made it feel like Christmas was already here, but there were plenty of Thanksgiving decorations too.

Leo was still worried. "They have Christmas here. Is Thanksgiving gone?" He was worried because he and Jared were shopping for Thanksgiving decorations. Jared was determined to give Leo a special and memorable first Thanksgiving as his son.

Jared gave Leo's hand a reassuring squeeze. "Nah. Thanksgiving isn't going anywhere until we eat some turkey."

"What if they don't have any Thanksgiving stuff?" Leo asked.

"If we can't find any decorations to buy, we'll make some ourselves," Jared said but he shuddered at the thought of having to engage in crafts. They could order some though.

Leo must have liked the idea of a craft project because he nodded happily. Jared was wondering what a Thanksgiving craft project would even look like when Leo suddenly stopped. "Daddy! Look!" Leo eyes lit up as he pointed at a guy dressed as Santa. "I have to talk to him," Leo said, his expression very determined.

The man dressed as Santa was looking at a window display of a menswear store so Jared didn't think he was on duty. Before he could find a way to explain this to Leo without telling him that Santa is just a guy in a costume, Jared got a text. It was his brother Ethan. He was supposed to let him know if he was coming for Thanksgiving.

While Jared was checking the text, Santa had moved on from the window display and he was walking toward them. To Jared's shock, Leo stepped up to the man and said, "Mr. Santa, I have to talk to you."

Jared couldn't believe it. Leo was usually very timid around strangers. What he had to say must have been really important for him to be so brave.

Then Santa surprised him by getting down on one knee in front of Leo and telling him, "OK. I'm listening." Leo leaned in to whisper and Santa gave him his full attention.

Jared couldn't hear what Leo was saying so he found himself watching Santa's face, his intent expression and amazing green eyes. Those eyes flickered towards Jared, and he found himself holding his breath as Santa smiled at him. Damn, Santa was hot under that fuzzy, white beard and padded, red suit.

"Alright," Santa told Leo, nodding solemnly. "I'll see what I can do." His gaze shifted back to Jared, who froze. Oh, come on, he didn't need to develop the hots for Santa. They had Thanksgiving decorations to shop for.

"Thank you, Mr. Santa," Leo murmured looking happy.

Santa gave him a reassuring wink before standing up and asking, "Are you doing some Christmas shopping?"

"No, Thanksgiving shopping," Jared told him.

"You might be too late for that," Santa said unwisely and Leo got worried again.

"Oh, no, too late," Leo pouted.

Jared put his hand on the top of his head to reassure him. "We're not too late. I see some stuff in that store right there. We won't have any trouble finding some good decorations."

Santa realized his mistake. "I saw lots of Thanksgiving stuff too," he said quickly.

Leo raised his head toward him with a trusting expression on his face. That Santa costume certainly worked its magic on Leo. "I didn't realize it was time for Santa Claus to make an appearance," Jared said.

"There was a charity thing," Santa said vaguely.

Just then, a lady juggling a shopping bag and an open coffee cup bumped into Jared. Some of the coffee sloshed on him and the lady apologized before rushing off. Santa did something odd when the coffee went flying though, he snapped his fingers. Now he looked shocked for some reason.

"She got you?" he said and stared at the coffee stain on Jared's coat like it was something unbelievable.

Leo was whispering, "Oh, no."

"I guess this coat is going to the dry cleaners," Jared said to him. "They'll fix it up."

Santa's green eyes followed the lady with the coffee cup as she disappeared into the throng of shoppers. He frowned. "A hit and a miss," he muttered. What was he talking about? He turned back to Jared with a guarded smile and a questioning look.

Caught in that gaze, Jared was feeling too warm on a cold November evening. Forcing himself to snap out of it, he said, "We better get to our shopping."

He was about to walk away with Leo, when Santa said, "I'm walking that way too."

He fell into step with them, and Jared didn't know what to say. It was weird because he didn't know the guy, but he was hardly going to send Santa on his way. Who was he kidding? Jared was thrilled this guy was still hanging out with them. It had nothing to do with him being Santa.

The man was like a source of heat next to him, and Jared wished he wasn't wearing the Santa suit so he could see him better. It also made him conspicuous and Jared wouldn't have been surprised if a crowd of kids started following them. The other odd thing was that handsome Santa kept snapping his fingers at random intervals. That was a weird habit and each time, Santa would frown and look puzzled.

While Jared was noticing things about Santa, Leo had fallen in love with a big, colorful turkey decoration on display in the kitchenware store. Jared thought it was too big, but then he realized it was actually made of paper that unfolded and then folded up flat. "That's perfect. Good find," Jared said to Leo with approval and squeezed his shoulder.

"We can buy it?" Leo said. "It's not expensive?"

"It's paper. We can afford it," Jared said with a chuckle.

Leo was very pleased but he expected them to take the one on display, not the flattened one. Once they bought it, Jared unpacked it and showed him it would unfold into a big, colorful turkey. "It's magic," Jared told him and heard Santa grumble behind him, saying something like, "More like a magic blackout."

Turning, Jared looked at him and wondered what his problem was. Maybe he didn't like paper turkeys. "It's cool," Santa said with a smile for Leo. "Like you said, magic."

Santa walked with them for a while longer, but when they reached the next store, he said he had to go. They said their goodbyes to Santa, and he told them, "Good luck with your Thanksgiving shopping. Hope you find what you're looking for." With a wave, he turned and disappeared among the shoppers.

Leo was very happy as he waved back even after Santa was gone. "I met Santa," he said, but Jared was thinking that he was a very strange Santa and they didn't even get his real name.

Soon Leo was tugging on his hand so they could do more shopping. "Come on, Daddy!" he said, and being called that still made Jared smile.

* * *

Back in his hotel room, the Santa suit was coming off and Flynn couldn't believe how overheated he got in that thing. That was the fault of that tall, dark and handsome guy with a kid. Flynn didn't think he'd go for a dad type. If it wasn't for the weird phenomenon he experienced around the guy, Flynn would have had his number. Instead, all he had was his license plate which was all he needed to track him down.

Now Flynn was calling Marsha, his business partner, to give her a couple of pieces of news. One was that he got the flask from Mrs. Howard. He skipped over how he had to dress up as Santa and let her sit on his lap so she could send out holiday cards of herself perched on a hot Santa's lap, her words. In exchange she was making a big donation to a children's charity, and Flynn used the opportunity to get the flask from her.

Marsha didn't treat it as good news since she wouldn't get commission on the flask. "Too bad it's not something you can sell. The bidding war would be insane."

Putting it up for sale was out of the question. The flask was cursed. Now Flynn was telling her his other news. "A curious thing happened, or maybe I should say didn't happen."

"Make sense. What are you on about?"

"I experienced an odd effect. I'll be looking into what caused it. I never heard of an artifact that can do that. I'll need to find a more permanent place to stay around here. Someplace close to the cause of it," Flynn said.

"Why are you being so cryptic?" she asked.

"Need to know," Jared told her.

"Whatever. Just find me something I can sell," she told him. "Securing cursed artifacts doesn't pay the bills."

That was true, but they earned plenty when they sold an artifact that wasn't dangerous, so it evened out. Finding out what neutralized his magic took priority though. It had to be something that guy or his kid had with them. Flynn had to figure out what it was and make sure it wasn't dangerous.

Chapter 2

Anyone would think that the grape juice spilled on Jared's office rug had to be Leo's fault. Not so. Jared had put Leo's backpack on the extra chair in his office. He placed it precariously and the backpack tipped over and some stuff tumbled out of it. No harm done. But the box of juice was one of the things that fell out. It was closed. It should have been fine, but then Jared stepped on it and juice went splattering all over the carpet.

Actually Jared never felt the need to have a rug in front of his desk until Leo came along, but the little guy liked to play on the floor of his office. Jared had ordered a new one, and unfortunately it got delivered and left outside just as rain was starting to fall. They were supposed to bring it up, but the van that brought it was already gone.

Now he had the carpet over one shoulder and Leo was standing inside the entrance to their building holding the door open for him and looking anxious. "Are you afraid I'll melt in the rain?" Jared teased him.

"No. It's heavy," Leo said.

A vaguely familiar voice reassured Leo. "Don't worry about that. Your dad is strong."

"I don't know him," Leo said sounding even more anxious.

Jared leaned the carpet just inside the door of the lobby and found himself staring at a gorgeous guy who looked as vaguely familiar as he sounded. Where had he seen those green eyes before?

"Add a fluffy beard and a red suit," the man said as he stepped into the lobby with them.

Now Jared recognized him. "Santa?"

"Where?" Leo said and looked all around.

Jared didn't want to disillusion him about where Santas really come from so he told him, "This guy knows that Santa we met the other day."

Now Leo wasn't as fearful of the man. He looked up at him curiously as he introduced himself. "I'm Flynn Escher."

"Jared Watt. This is my son, Leo."

"Leo means lion," Leo said.

"He says that every time he's introduced," Jared said and smiled at him.

"Of course he does. People need to know," Flynn said.

"So are you just passing by and taking shelter from the rain?" Jared asked. Their street was quiet and tree lined, perfect for taking walks, but he had a feeling that wasn't what Flynn was doing.

"Oh no, I'm moving into the attic apartment." Flynn pointed up then at a rented moving van just down the block. "Couldn't park any closer than that. I'm hoping a space might open up. Until then, can I help you with that giant sausage?" he asked and that made Leo laugh and laugh.

It was quite a coincidence that he was their new neighbor. But Jared was considering his offer. Bringing the carpet in out of the rain was just a start. He also had to lug it up to the second floor. The building was only two stories and no elevator. He could manage it but he was still glaring at those stairs.

"You can help me and I'll help you with your stuff," Jared said like he was some freak who loved helping people move. Blond guys with amazing green eyes anyway.

"That's what I was hoping," Flynn said. He picked up one end of the rug and noticed that Leo was still laughing about Flynn calling it a sausage. "Oh, he's the perfect audience for dad jokes."

"Not mine," Jared complained. He wished his own jokes went over like that. He was a little bit jealous.

Once again Leo was holding the door open so they could carry the carpet inside the apartment. "Your place is really nice," Flynn said as they went in.

"Thanks. Leo helped me decorate," Jared said since there were a lot of Leo's toys scattered all over the living room.

"He has great taste. No living room is complete without a purple airplane," Flynn said.

"He likes my toys," Leo whispered.

As they carried the carpet through the living room, Flynn asked, "Do you need help moving any furniture or will Leo handle that?"

"It's going in my office and the space is cleared already," Jared said, nodding to the area in front of his desk. "We need carpet there so Leo can play and keep me company while I work."

"So you work from home then?" Flynn said as they set down the carpet and started unrolling it.

"Yeah, so I can be with Leo," Jared replied. Then he told him about his job before he asked. "The work isn't very interesting, just number crunching for a distribution company, but it allows me to spend more time with this guy."

Jared straightened and put his hand on top of Leo's blond head. Leo turned his brown eyes from the carpet to him and pronounced, "It's a good carpet." The pattern was more interesting than Jared would have chosen but Leo helped him pick it out.

"Roll around on it, test it out," Jared told him.

Leo did and then he stretched out on it with a sigh. "Ahh, good carpet."

"What do you do for a living?" Jared asked Flynn as they were leaving the office.

"How do you know I'm not a full-time Santa?" Flynn asked, but Leo set him straight.

"You're not Santa," he said very seriously.

Flynn agreed, "That's right. Santa is big and jolly. I'm just a regular guy."

Leo nodded. "Santa is magic."

Flynn managed to both smile and frown at that. "Right." He then answered Jared's question. "I work from home too. I do research."

Jared wanted to ask him what kind of research but Flynn pointed his thumb out the window. "The rain stopped. I guess it was just a drizzle."

"Perfect timing," Jared said, glancing outside. "Now it's my turn to help you. To start with, I can move my car so you can park closer to the building."

"That's a big help already," Flynn said.

As they went outside, Jared said, "So you're taking the attic apartment. I looked at it when we were moving in. I might have been tempted if it was just me."

"I liked it as soon as I saw it." Flynn then turned to Leo who was coming along with them. "Are you gonna help me carry the heavy stuff?"

"Me?" Leo said surprised he was getting such a big job.

"You can hold the doors open. You're good at that," Jared told him.

Opening the back of the van, Flynn touched the nearest box and traced a pattern on it then just stood there. Jared wondered, "Uh, should I just grab one of these other boxes?"

After a moment, Flynn chuckled. "Just trying to remember what I had in here."

"Didn't you mark them?"

"Some of them," Flynn said.

"Do you have anyone else helping you out, friends or family?" Jared asked since a lot of the stuff in the van couldn't be carried by one person. He must have planned for someone to help him out.

Flynn shook his head. "I'm new in town. Don't know anyone here yet." He flashed Jared a grin that made his heart skip a beat. "But I think I've already found some good neighbors."

"Then how were you going to move all your stuff up all those stairs to the attic?" Jared asked.

"I was counting on Leo," Flynn joked. "But most of it isn't heavy."

With Leo's enthusiastic help holding the doors open, Jared and Flynn managed to carry all of Flynn's belongings up to the attic apartment. The big open space was lit by dormer windows and one round window that faced the back. Leo looked up at the sloped ceiling and the exposed beams with a curious expression like he was wondering what might be hiding up there.

"There are probably bats nesting up there," Flynn told him and Leo looked startled and peered harder. Leaning close to Jared, Flynn whispered, "Little kids believe all sorts of things, don't they?"

His whispering drew Leo's attention so Jared asked him, "What do you think of Flynn's place?"

"Your room is nice," Leo said and Flynn laughed.

"I guess it is just one room. You guys helped me out so much today. How about I treat you both to lunch? Do you have time?"

"Sure," Jared agreed, not able to resist spending more time with Flynn. "We'd love that."

Jared took them to the nearest place to eat, a neighborhood diner called Dinah's. It was cheerful with mismatched booths and cutouts of waitress uniforms on the walls. Leo always stared at them like they were kind of scary to him. But the cakes under glass domes got most of his attention.

What Jared was noticing was how the young, attractive guy behind the counter smiled at Flynn as soon as he walked through the door. Jared felt unreasonably jealous and not because the guy didn't smile like that at him.

Just because Jared had the full attention of a guy like Flynn for now didn't mean he had any hope of keeping it. Thinking of that, Jared wasn't sure if having a gorgeous guy like Flynn as a neighbor was going to be a good thing or not.

It was the young guy's mom who came to take their order and Jared was way too glad about that. She brought a bowl of crayons and paper for Leo and Flynn told him, "Hey, don't eat those."

Leo laughed, another dad joke hitting the mark. While he started drawing, Jared and Flynn talked about places in the neighborhood. Jared caught himself gazing at Flynn too long, admiring the angles of his jaw, the darker blond hair growing there, measuring the length of his eyelashes. He forced himself to look away and noticed the young guy behind the counter eyeing Flynn hungrily. Jared hoped he didn't look like that when his eyes were on Flynn.

"You see something you like over there?" Flynn asked.

Jared thought he was asking about the young guy, but Flynn was actually asking Leo because he was eyeing the cakes under glass. It looked like Jared might have to get him one of those.

"You have a taste for something sweet or salty?" Flynn now asked Jared. It came across as seductive but he probably didn't mean it that way. Flynn then reached across the table and Jared was sure he was going to take his hand. It turned out that he was just catching a crayon that Jared was about to knock off the table. He really had to curb his imagination around Flynn.

Chapter 3

It had been a long time since Flynn had experienced being without magic, since he was a kid and his ability hadn't manifested yet. Since those days he got used to moving things with a snap of his fingers. Now he could do that only when he left his apartment, but when he was home, he couldn't even put up any kind of barrier or early warning spell to let him know if a magic user approached. It was enough to make a guy paranoid. One thing he was sure of was that Jared wasn't aware of magic or the effect his artifact had on it.

Any time Flynn was around Jared and Leo, he tested to see if his magic might work. No luck. When he was moving in, he even had to actually carry his stuff up. Normally he would have used magic to levitate the boxes while pretending to carry them and dematerialized the bigger pieces of furniture to rematerialize them in his apartment exactly where he wanted them.

By this point, the magic nullifying effect was a proven fact, but Flynn still needed to pinpoint the exact object that was causing it. He had already determined that his magic didn't work even when Leo was at preschool. It wasn't any object the little boy carried with him.

That meant it had to be something Jared always had with him. When Jared was away from the apartment, Flynn could do magic so he hadn't left it behind so far.

The object that caused the block wasn't anything Flynn could see. Jared didn't wear any jewelry or a watch. Since whatever it was blocked his magic, Flynn couldn't sense it like he could other artifacts.

Objects that were touched by magic were his specialty, he should have been able to figure this out by now. If he could only strip Jared naked, he would have it figured out. Flynn grinned at the idea. Given time, he might just do it, but for other reasons. For now he didn't mind sticking close to Jared so he could solve this puzzle.

That afternoon, he was going to test the range of the effect. The sky out his dormer windows was clear. The sky was all he could see other than the branches of trees with no leaves left. He wished he could see in front so he could watch for Jared's comings and goings.

To test if Jared was home, Flynn tried to levitate a pen. The spell worked. That meant Jared had gone out. It was too early for Jared to pick up Leo from preschool. Flynn had a fleeting thought that maybe Jared had gone on a lunch date and he felt his jaw clench. Was he jealous of some imaginary guy Jared might be dating that he just made up?

His test of the effect's range would have to wait. Flynn instead casts a spell to tell him if anyone nearby was looking for him. The spell didn't detect anyone but then it cut off before it finished. The next spell he tried failed so he knew Jared must have just come back.

The test of the artifact's range was back on so Flynn grabbed his jacket and headed out. As he went past Jared's apartment, he almost collided with him as Jared stepped out.

"Oh, sorry. Are you going out again?" Flynn blurted out. Even as he said it, he realized he shouldn't have.

"How did you know I went out?" Jared wanted to know.

He couldn't say he saw him out his windows, they only showed him the sky. "I was getting my mail when I saw you out in front of the building," Flynn lied.

"The mail hasn't arrived yet,"Jared said.

"I forgot to pick it up yesterday," Flynn lied some more.

Jared nodded. "I had an errand. I'm going to pick up Leo from preschool now."

"If you're walking, I'll walk with you," Flynn said. "I want to stretch my legs." He couldn't do his range test anyway, not if Jared wasn't staying put. He might as well stick close in case the mystery object made an appearance.

They strolled to the preschool then waited with other parents who came on foot to pick up their kids. Flynn teased Jared, "Watch out, someone will think we're a couple."

"God forbid," Jared said.

"Umm, what?" Flynn asked, appalled. "I'm a great guy, or at least a pretty good guy. Mostly good." He had been lying to Jared.

Jared laughed at him but didn't take back his 'God forbid.' Damn. Flynn thought he had made a better impression than that.

Kids started streaming out and soon Leo was among them, but he looked unhappy. "What's wrong?" Jared asked gently.

After gulping a little, Leo very loudly declared, "I didn't pee!"

Jared blinked, not sure what to make of that statement. But his dad instinct were top notch because it only took him a second to get past his confusion and assure his son, "OK, I believe you."

Leo now told him more. "I spilled juice on my pants and Rodger said I peed. I didn't pee."

Flynn laughed at the preschool drama and Jared elbowed him. Now Leo was pouting at Flynn and he had to make it up to him.

"I know you didn't," Flynn says. "It was all juice."

Leo nodded and pointed to his clean pants. "These are my clean pants. The juice pants are in here," he said and handed a bag to Jared.