Unexpected Christmas

By Nell Iris

Daniel Erickson stormed out of his family celebration after choking on turkey served with a side of bigotry. Utterly miserable, he reluctantly lets himself be charmed by the hulk of a man and gets into the stranger’s car ... hoping he won’t be axed before the night is through.

Axel Wilson -- Ax for short, unfortunately -- is a sweetheart. Really. He may be badass-looking but his heart melts into goo at the mere mention of his four-year-old niece. Surely he isn’t dangerous?

Thrown together by family drama, the two men spend the evening getting to know each other. Axel is nothing like Daniel expected. But it doesn’t matter that he loves poetry, is gentle and patient -- and hot! -- Daniel is absolutely not falling in love at first sight. There’s no such thing.

Right?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Dec 16, 2017
• ISBN: 9781634865241

Nell Iris

Nell is a forty-something bisexual Swedish woman, married to the love of her life, and a proud mama of a grown daughter. She left the Scandinavian cold and darkness for warmer and sunnier Malaysia a few years ago, and now spends her days writing, surfing the Internet, enjoying the heat, and eating good food. One day she decided to chase her lifelong dream of being a writer, sat down in front of her laptop, and wrote a story about two men falling in love. Nell writes gay romance, prefers sweet over angst, and wants to write diverse and different characters.

Book preview

Unexpected Christmas

By Nell Iris

Published by JMS Books LLC at Smashwords

Visit jms-books.com for more information.

Copyright 2017 Nell Iris

ISBN 9781634865241

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Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

All rights reserved.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America.

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Thanks to Sunny for being awake and chatty when everyone else is asleep, and for loving Danny and Ax. Also to my trusted friend Addison Albright for your invaluable support.

All my love to my family. I could never do this without you <3

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Unexpected Christmas

By Nell Iris

Chapter 1

I should have taken the extra five seconds to grab my fluffy warm jacket before storming out of my mom’s house. My fancy wool suit did nothing to protect me from the icy winds howling along the empty road, and my hands had turned red and stiff even though I’d shoved them into my armpits to keep them warm. As the icing on the cake, it had started snowing a few minutes ago. Not the romantic kind of snow normally associated with Christmas, with large, beautiful snowflakes dillydallying their way toward the ground. No, these were heat-seeking missiles disguised as sleet, bombarding me from every direction. Finding their way down the neck of my suit coat and even into my goddamned ears.

When my shiny dress shoes slipped on yet another patch of black ice—and I barely managed to keep myself from landing on my butt on the roadside—I tilted my head back and screamed out my frustration. An angry, wordless wail, directed at the universe in general and homophobic relatives in particular. But my bellowing drowned in the roaring winds and I regretted it the second the ice pellets found their way down my throat.

I coughed and looked back over my shoulder. I could still tuck my tail between my legs and trudge back. Mom would welcome me with open arms like she’d always done—no questions asked—and fuss over me and give me dry clothes and a hot beverage to make sure I wouldn’t catch my death.

It was far closer than the town, but I didn’t want to face my idiot Uncle Bob again, or any of the others who’d just turned their heads away as he spewed his hatred on me while the radio played jolly Christmas songs in the background. I didn’t know what made me angrier: his hateful words, or my cousins’ feeble avoidance. I’d expected more from them.

Mom had avoided confrontation as usual, but I hadn’t expected anything else. We’d argued about it lots of times, but she didn’t have it in her. Once, I’d even watched her throw up when she’d tried standing up for us, and I didn’t pressure her about it anymore.

She had caught up with me before I’d left—eyes full of disappointment with herself—and pleaded with me to stay. I couldn’t do it, even for her. I’d fought hard to keep the angry tears at bay and the last