The Holiday Collection

By Aaron Michaels

In this three-story collection from gay erotic romance writer Aaron Michaels, a stranded traveler finds unexpected holiday romance in "Snowed In, Las Vegas Style." A disillusioned writer with a massive case of writer's block finds both his muse and new love in "It's Tradition." And in "Wiseguys: Change in Plans," a brand new addition to Aaron's popular Wiseguys series appearing for the first time in this collection, former wiseguys Tony and Carter celebrate their first Christmas together and contemplate what life might be like if they stayed in a little town in northern Idaho.

Praise for Aaron Michaels' Wiseguys series:

"There is an art to writing dialogue that accurately reflects real life speech, in which not everything is spoken aloud, and this book is a fine example. The characters are beautifully crafted and intriguing, and the plot will keep the reader turning virtual pages right to the very end." Alexa Snow, author of SLEEPING STONE.

"The characters and plot are strongly written. If you have not yet tried this series you should really give it a shot." Top 2 Bottom Reviews

"These two are so hot they might melt your screen." Joyfully Reviewed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thunder Valley Press
• Release date: Dec 18, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466135901

Aaron Michaels

Aaron Michaels is a romantic at heart. While he's not averse to writing the occasional hard-edged gay erotic story, he prefers love stories where the characters get at least a happy for now, if not happily ever after ending. When he's not writing, he's watching way too much television and movies, which means his video game skills have pretty much fallen by the wayside.In addition to publications from Thunder Valley Press, Aaron's gay erotic romance stories can be found in numerous anthologies edited by Neil Plakcy, including MODEL MEN, THE HANDSOME PRINCE, SKATER BOYS, and HARD HATS, as well as at Torquere Books.

Book preview

THE HOLIDAY COLLECTION

Aaron Michaels

Published by Thunder Valley Press at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 by Aaron Michaels

www.aaron-michaels.com

Cover illustration Copyright Phil Mcdonald | Dreamstime.com

Cover layout by Thunder Valley Press

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

These stories are licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Snowed In, Las Vegas Style

It's Tradition

Wiseguys: Change in Plans

(If you would like to jump directly to the story, just click on the title)

~ ~ ~

Introduction

Christmas is my favorite holiday, so it's no wonder I enjoy writing stories set during the Christmas season. I also like writing stories about men finding romance in unexpected places.

Like a snowed-in Las Vegas airport.

I caught some flack after Snowed In, Las Vegas Style was first published by Torquere Press. People didn't think that a modern airport could be shut down by only three inches of snow. Well, the situation in that story is based on something that happened to a friend of mine a few years ago. She had to spend the night in Las Vegas because three inches of snow grounded all flights in or out of Las Vegas. Why? Well, the Las Vegas airport, being located in a desert, just didn't have the supplies or the equipment to deal with a true winter snowstorm. I remember seeing news reports of the snow falling on the palm trees lining The Strip. Very strange.

The second story in this collection, It's Tradition, is also set in Las Vegas. I don't live there, but I've visited enough times that it's made an impression. I do have a music background, though, and I've been to enough uncomfortable holiday parties (haven't we all?) that I could easily imagine some poor guy forcing himself to go to his famous sister's party when he'd just rather be at home nursing a broken heart and wondering what the heck happened to his muse. It's Tradition was initially published by Torquere Press, but the story has been out of print until this collection.

I have to confess that I have a soft spot in my heart for The Sopranos. My love of mobster stories is directly responsible for my most successful series to date, WISEGUYS. I've written numerous stories featuring former wiseguys Tony and Carter and their adventures after a narrow escape from a mob hit designed to wipe out their crime family. The Wiseguys story in this collection -- Wiseguys: Change in Plans -- is new to this collection. You don't have to read any of the other stories in the series to enjoy Change in Plans, but I hope you'll be intrigued enough to check out more of Tony and Carter's adventures.

This is my first collaboration with Thunder Valley Press. The fine folks at Thunder Valley will be publishing more of my backlist as well as brand new stories. More three-story collections like this one are in the works, as well as single stories. I'm thrilled to be working with them.

I'd like to take a moment to thank you, the reader, for giving this collection a try. I hope you enjoy the stories, but most of all, I wish you a happy holiday season.

--Aaron Michaels

December 10, 2011

~ ~ ~

Snowed In, Las Vegas Style

Stuck in Vegas two days before Christmas. Because of snow. A measly three inches of snow.

Kevin Cole stared at the airline ticket agent. What do you mean, the airport is closed? This is Vegas. Vegas never closes.

The young woman standing behind the check-in desk at the gate, whose name tag identified her as Donna, wore a uniform that looked as wilted as her hair. She stared back at him, her professional smile tarnished a bit around the edges. No doubt she'd been dealing with complaints all night, but that didn't alleviate Kevin's problem. He was supposed to be in Portland for a meeting at ten the next morning, a little over fourteen hours from right now. Even if he rented a car, no way could he drive from Las Vegas to Portland in time for his meeting.

Vegas never closes, Donna said, but all out-going flight are grounded until the weather clears. She smiled a little wider. It had no effect on Kevin. I'm sure it will all be cleared up tomorrow morning.

That wasn't going to help him any.

So what now? Kevin asked. He'd never been stuck in an airport before, not overnight. Especially not the Las Vegas airport. Between clusters of slot machines belting out Wheel! Of! Fortune! every fifteen seconds and