Love Light

By Jane Darius

A Nick and Ben Story

Nick, a bartender, and Ben, a hotel reviewer, have been together two years. Though he hates the paperwork involved, Nick agrees to accompany Ben to a beautiful lodge on the Mozambican side of Lake Malawi. Over a bottle of wine, they trade Christmas horror stories from their pasts. But memories of hurt and loss only serve to remind them how lucky they are to have found each other. It might be time to try out the showerhead built into the tree outside….

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2014 Advent Calendar package "Celebrate!".

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
• Release date: Dec 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781632167491

Book preview

Love Light

"HOLY SHIT."

Well, it’s nice to finally get a verbal reaction out of you, said Ben Seaborn as he hefted his duffle bag into the room. He looked back at Nick McDaniel, who was still standing in the entryway.

Merry Christmas, Ben said, his face flushed.

Nick had seen the excitement in his boyfriend’s animated sales pitch and frantic hand gestures when Ben explained that he’d gotten an amazing destination for his next job. Ben worked as an international hotel reviewer, which had seemed a lot more exciting to Nick when they’d first discussed it. He’d been absolutely on board when considering the possible perks: free hotel rooms whenever, lots of traveling, vacations on a moment’s notice. But after a few review-heavy getaways together, Nick had realized Ben’s job consisted primarily of making methodical marks on a clipboard to rate hotel mattresses (Was it soft enough? Was it too soft?) and listing bathroom amenities in alphabetical order.

After the first month or so, Nick had opted out of all future business trips, content to bartend and wait at home in New York. Ben was usually only gone for two nights out of the week, and that seemed fair to Nick. But Ben had flipped over this lodge place in Africa and had insisted Nick come along. Nick had tried to get excited, but the fact that their itinerary had them arriving on Christmas day was even worse.

You know I have a bad track record with Christmas, Nick had protested. That day just never works out for me. Then he had tried to placate Ben with his favorite holiday film fest. "What about your Jimmy Stewart marathon? You