It's Simple, Simon

By Lee Brazil

It's Simple, Simon

Simon Carter has achieved unimaginable success, but he owes it all to a man from his past whose scorn set fire to his ambition.

"It's Simple, Simon. You lack ambition."

As a young college student, his lover's jibe sent Simon Carter on unexpected paths and brought him unimaginable success. No longer a penniless musician, the highly paid investment banker returns home for the first time in years. His plans include rest, relaxation, and rubbing his ex's nose in his success.

A visit to the Renaissance Fair brings this not-quite-so-simple- Simon nose to nose with his past and somehow revenge doesn't seem quite so attractive. Chase Garvin, Denver, Colorado's very own Pie Man, is still incredibly handsome. What's more, the more mature Chase is very appreciative of Simon's talents.

When the old attraction flares between them, Simon and the Pie Man get caught up in tasting the wares, and neither counts the pennies.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lee Brazil
• Release date: Apr 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311777515

Lee Brazil

Somewhere in a small town in up-state New York are a librarian and a second grade teacher to whom I owe my life. That might be a touch dramatic, but it’s nevertheless one hundred percent true.Because they taught me the joy of reading, of escaping into worlds crafted of words.Have you ever been nine years old and sure of nothing so much as that you don’t belong? Looked at the world from behind glasses, and wondered why you don’t fit?Then turn the page and see... there you are, running from Injun Joe in a dark graveyard; there you are fencing with Athos; there you are...beneath the deep blue sea- marveling at exotic creatures with Captain Nemo.I found myself between the pages of books, and that is why I write now, it’s why I taught English and literature for so many years, and it’s why my house contains more pounds of books than furniture.If I’d had my way, I’d have been a fencer...or a starship captain, or a lawyer, or a detective solving crimes. But instead, I am a writer, and that’s the best thing in the world to be if you ask me, because as a writer, I can be all those things and more.If I hadn’t learned to value the stories between the pages, who knows what would have happened? Certainly not college...teaching...or writing.

Book preview

It's Simple, Simon

Simon Carter has achieved unimaginable success, but he owes it all to a man from his past whose scorn set fire to his ambition.

It's Simple, Simon. You lack ambition.

As a young college student, his lover's jibe sent Simon Carter on unexpected paths and brought him unimaginable success. No longer a penniless musician, the highly paid investment banker returns home for the first time in years. His plans include rest, relaxation, and rubbing his ex's nose in his success.

A visit to the Renaissance Fair brings this not-quite-so-simple- Simon nose to nose with his past and somehow revenge doesn't seem quite so attractive. Chase Garvin, Denver, Colorado's very own Pie Man, is still incredibly handsome. What's more, the more mature Chase is very appreciative of Simon's talents.

When the old attraction flares between them, Simon and the Pie Man get caught up in tasting the wares, and neither counts the pennies.

COPYRIGHT

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, locations and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. As such, any resemblance to any persons, living or deceased, businesses, events, or locales is coincidental.

Cover Art by © Author Services

Formatting and Proofing by The Writer's Avenue

Published in the USA by Lime Time Press

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

It's Simple, Simon

An M/M Contemporary Romance

A naughty, modern take on a classic nursery rhyme

By

Lee Brazil

Published in the USA by Lime Time Press

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

It's Simple, Simon

Simple Simon met a pieman,

Going to the fair;

Says Simple Simon to the pieman,

Let me taste your ware.

Says the pieman to Simple Simon,

Show me first your penny;

Says Simple Simon to the pieman,

Indeed I have not any.

Chapter One

Simon Carter sat cross-legged in his favorite green silk pajama bottoms on the twin-size bed in his childhood bedroom, staring at his collections. The beautiful cones and spheres of his glass water pipe collection, the ornate ceramic and carved wood of his one-hitters and standard pipes were arranged neatly and lovingly dusted. His songbooks and CDs had been likewise tenderly cared for in a manner they'd certainly never experienced when he lived in this house.

Who? Who had cherished these glittery bits of the sordid past he tried so hard to forget when he left them behind?

Mom? Dad? He shook his head. Incredible. Neither of them actually knew what the pipes were for, of course, naïve ivory tower academics that they were. Neither had he considered that either of them would come out of the clouds long enough to realize he didn't clean his own room anymore and do it themselves. Could have been a new housekeeper or something. Why couldn't someone have just come along with a box and swept all his ignoble mementos away to the trash, or the thrift store or even the farthest reaches of the attic?

It didn't really matter. The pipes and the music were his past. He didn't need or want either of them anymore. Wasn't that the reason he'd come home after twelve years? To prove to them, to everyone, that bad boys could be good, that miscreants grew up to be successful businessmen.

No. If he were honest with himself, he'd have to admit that it wasn't. His parents hadn't ever cared that he loved music more than school, and they certainly never knew that the herbs he smoked were illegal. They smiled indulgently with distant affection and upped the limits on his credit cards when he asked.

Simon stretched, arching his back until the vertebrae cracked loudly in the silence of the early morning. No. He wasn't here for them. Though they'd been vaguely pleased to see him. He had to admit, at least to himself, he was here to prove himself to the one person who'd disapproved of him.

The person whose disapproval had devastated him and turned him on a course leading directly to his current success.

Crossing the cold hardwood floor to the window, Simon looked out over the street in front of the stately home. Chase Garvin didn't live across there anymore. His parents had sold their place and moved south long ago. But Chase did live and work here in Denver, and though he'd ignored Simon for years, Simon now had the perfect plan for rubbing Chase's nose in his success. The success Chase had sneered at Simon ever attaining.

He whirled about and approached the closet. His plan was simple and elegant, and Chase Garvin would regret his hasty words for the rest of his life.

The words that had broken them up, the words that had changed Simon's life.

They'd snuggled in this bed, on this exact day, twelve years ago. The day before the two of them had graduated community college with their AA degrees, and Chase had been bouncing and excited. Simon had been dreamy and luxuriating in the aftermath of a sound fucking. Life had seemed pretty damned perfect. The future lay ahead of them to explore together.

The plan was to spend the whole day together at the Renaissance Faire, fencing, eating, drinking and taunting the pretty boys and girls alike. At least, those had been Simon's plans. Chase's eyes had darkened when Simon foggily lit his pipe and toked up. He'd scowled in derision when Simon offered the pipe to him.

"Dude, it's time to