Sweeter Than Honey

By Jessica Payseur

Bradley Kim is just trying to make the time without his boyfriend Lance go by faster when he takes on an additional article for his small town newspaper. But the moment he meets Shay Wilton, amateur beekeeper, it's definitely not the honey that catches his eye.

Bradley is lonely, and Shay is everything Lance is not -- passionate, fun, and kind -- and soon Bradley's interview becomes something more intimate as Shay gives him a hands-on experience with the honey extraction.

Turning down Shay's advances shouldn't be so difficult, but Bradley won't let temptation lead him to cheating. Too bad Lance doesn't have similar scruples, and after a fiery revelation, Bradley finds himself suddenly single, with nothing standing between him and a certain beekeeper who might just be sweeter than honey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Oct 21, 2017
• ISBN: 9781634864855

Jessica Payseur

Jessica Payseur lives and writes in Wisconsin, where she spends the long winters typing with cold fingers. When not writing she enjoys snail mail, trying not to get lost geocaching, and bicycling around the countryside. For more information, visit twitter.com/jessica_payseur.

Book preview

Sweeter Than Honey

By Jessica Payseur

Published by JMS Books LLC at Smashwords

Visit jms-books.com for more information.

Copyright 2017 Jessica Payseur

ISBN 9781634864855

* * * *

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.

* * * *

Sweeter Than Honey

By Jessica Payseur

Bradley kept the windows cracked a couple inches as he drove, letting the late summer air fill his car with the smell of warm, ripe fields. So maybe he’d been given the assignment no one wanted. So maybe he’d kind of-sort of volunteered for it to get his mind off Lance. In the end, it could mean a raise, and he wouldn’t say no to that.

For now, it meant the two other reporters and the intern had rolled their eyes and wished him a good Friday evening. Sarcastically. Bradley had grabbed his pencil and notebook and fed the directions to his GPS. Working for a small town newspaper often meant a lot of driving out to the middle of nowhere to get a story, and the place he was going was about the farthest outside of town he’d been for a piece.

He passed by fields dotted with farmhouses and the occasional five-hundred-thousand-dollar new custom home for those families who wanted country living in comfort. Corn fields turned to soy turned to fenced-in expanses peppered with cows, and Bradley yawned. He should have had that last coffee before leaving. He passed by an apple orchard and wondered if he’d get that story, too, in a couple weeks, then nearly missed his turn. He hit the brakes hard and took the right without signaling, glad there were no oncoming cars because he’d ended up in the wrong lane.

This place was so far out there, the road didn’t even have lines. He drove through more fields, then saw the old ranch house up ahead with the large yellow hexagon hanging under the mailbox. It swung in the wind, a weathered piece of wood with chipped amber paint he’d been told marked the place he was going. Bradley pulled down the gravel driveway and parked.

He got out and retrieved his notepad and pencil. He could have brought his laptop, he supposed, but he liked the feel of pencil against paper. It made him feel the part, which was otherwise difficult working at a tiny publication in a small town.

Shay did not come out to greet him. Bradley didn’t take that as a good sign. He wandered about, not wanting to stray into anything dangerous, and turned around the side of the house. In front of the unattached garage stood a large metal tub with what looked like a hand crank sticking out of it. Bradley stared.

Hey, are you the reporter?

Bradley turned at the voice and saw a man walking up to him, white apart from the odd smudge of dirt on him. He wore red plaid and jeans, his brown hair tossed about by the wind. Bradley hadn’t expected him to be so young—mid-twenties, he guessed, about his age. The man was wiping his hands on an old, yet clean, towel.

Bradley Kim, said Bradley, sticking out his hand. "From the Local Times."

Shay Wilton, but you could have guessed.

Shay grinned at him, and Bradley pushed the tip of his pencil into his palm, hard. It would be too easy to get caught up in that grin, in those eyes. Those were mischievous eyes.

But Bradley had a boyfriend. He cleared his throat and