CHAPTER ONE

“I hate you a little bit.” Leo Fenner sighed and set a box on the coffee table.

Hayden Bradley smirked. “Nice thing to say to your best friend who’s helping you move into your new place.”

Leo grinned. “Okay, fine. I don’t hate you. But I am jealous. How did you manage to snag the perfect guy?”

“Slipped and fell on my ass in front of his bakery,” Hayden said with a laugh. “And then was rude to him.”

“Yeah, I dunno that I can recreate that one.” Laughing too, Leo dropped onto the couch in his new apartment.

The one right above that very same bakery, Ginger’s Breads.

Hayden had met his boyfriend, Joel MacArthur, last winter in a way that seemed like something out of a cute little holiday rom-com movie.

Hayden had moved from Chicago to the small town of Christmas Falls, Illinois to temporarily live with his mom and stepdad while he desperately tried to find a job as a web designer. His goal was to get the hell out of town as fast as possible. Instead, he’d been swept off his feet by the bakery owner, found a gig working as a website designer for the local college, and been hired to revamp the town’s festival website.

Which was where Leo had come in.

At the time, he’d been living in Chicago and working for a big company as a web developer. When people got the two jobs confused—and they always did—Leo had always liked to joke that Hayden made websites pretty, but he made them work .

Which wasn’t entirely true but it made Hayden get that grumpy look on his face that always made Leo laugh.

Hayden had texted him in a panic late last winter and said he needed help with a misbehaving section of the website, Leo had pitched in. What he’d expected to be a one-time-thing had turned into a semi-regular freelance gig.

While Leo could have done it all remotely, he’d used it as an excuse to visit his friend. Every time he was here, he fell a little more in love with the quirky little town that celebrated Christmas 24/7, 365 days a year.

“Hey, you okay?” Hayden asked with a frown. “You seem a little quiet. I thought you’d be more excited about moving here.”

“I am,” Leo protested. “Just … I don’t know. It suddenly feels a little crazy to realize I totally uprooted my life in Chicago to move to some Christmas-themed small town on the off chance of finding love.”

He laughed after he said that aloud because it was ridiculous sounding. But here he was.

“I get that,” Hayden said, perching on the arm of the sofa. “But you have to admit, there’s something about this place that seems to bring people together.”

“There is,” Leo agreed.

Because in the past ten months he’d spent driving from Chicago to Christmas Falls to hang out with Hayden and do the work on the Christmas Festival’s website together, he heard the stories about how people met. He saw all of the adorable couples strolling down Candy Cane Lane. He watched several first dates and even a proposal happen before his very eyes!

And Leo wanted that. He wanted it so bad but he was getting nowhere in Chicago. Not with the dating apps. Not going to queer spaces. Not at cheesy speed-dating events.

Chicago’s thriving neighborhood of Boystown should have been the easiest place in the world to find the guy of his dreams. But nope. Leo had been ghosted and lied to and even scammed . Yeah, that had been his breaking point.

That was the moment he’d said fuck it and started aggressively planning to move to Christmas Falls.

Leo glanced over at Hayden, who was staring with a worried frown. “I’ll be okay,” he said lightly. “It’ll all work out eventually.”

Because he had to believe that or he’d throw himself into a snowbank and refuse to ever come out.

“Okay.” Leo slapped his thighs, then rose to his feet. “Let’s get the rest of this stuff moved in, then you can take me out to lunch at Frosty’s.”

Hayden snorted. “Uhh, pretty sure you’re supposed to take me out since I was the one who helped you move.”

Leo shrugged, following him to the door. “Potato-potahto,” he said breezily.

As they walked down the steps, they ran into Joel.

Leo stifled an appreciative sigh. The man was a hunky ginger-haired bear of a baker with kind eyes and a sweet smile. Lucky Hayden.

“It’s slowed down a little at the bakery so I can help you guys unload, if you want,” Joel said, flashing that same sweet smile at them both before he bent to give Hayden a quick kiss, wrapping an arm around his waist.

Hayden shot him an adoring look and Leo had to look away. They were utterly, disgustingly in love.

Leo was so fucking envious.

“Thanks, Joel. Help would be amazing,” Leo said gratefully. He’d sold most of his furniture since the apartment over the bakery came with the pieces he needed, but he still had plenty of crap to haul upstairs.

Thankfully, with three people, the work was a whole lot lighter than it had been when Leo packed the car in Chicago by himself. Although, if Leo caught Hayden ogling Joel’s ass one more time, he was going to barf.

Or maybe that was the envy talking again. Because goddamn did Joel have a nice ass.

Joel should use that for the bakery’s tagline: home of the baker with the best buns.

Twenty minutes later, Leo’s car was empty, his thighs ached from the trips up and down the stairs, and a plate of warm ginger-molasses cookies from the bakery sat on the coffee table.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Leo protested, but he was already eagerly reaching for one of Joel’s incredible treats. “You gave me your apartment.”

Joel grinned. “I wouldn’t call having a rental agreement giving it to you, but of course I had to get you a housewarming gift! You’re officially a resident of Christmas Falls!”

Leo bit into the cookie and tried not to moan. No wonder Hayden had fallen in love with the baker. He wasn’t just hot. These cookies were legit . Chewy and sweet, with a bite of ginger that made his tongue tingle.

As if Hayden could tell what Leo was thinking, he slid an arm around Joel’s waist and eyed Leo. “Don’t go getting any ideas though. This guy is all mine.”

Leo laughed and nearly choked on his cookie. “I know that ,” he mumbled around his food.

After he finished the last delicious bite, he glanced between Hayden and Joel. “Seriously, I’m happy for you guys. I love that you got a house together.”

Hayden beamed, which said everything because he had been a horrible grump last year. Though, who could blame him? He’d been through a lot. “Yeah, I’m excited we found a place.”

Joel had lived over the bakery for about a decade and Hayden had moved in with him last winter. A few months ago, they’d found a cute little house on the edge of downtown and had slowly been moving in there.

That was when Leo had, mostly jokingly, said something about moving to Christmas Falls and taking over the apartment. Joel had brightened, looking excited. He’d quoted a price so low Leo nearly fell over.

Once the idea had been planted in Leo’s head, it refused to budge. He’d paid three times more in Chicago and his job could be done remotely except for the occasional trip into the office every few months.

Christmas Falls seemed like a fairytale compared to Chicago so why not?

But he hadn’t been serious about it until a few weeks later when the guy he’d gone on a few dates with had given him a sob story about being kicked out of the house he was renting with friends.

There had been tears as he’d told about his former housemates throwing slurs at him as they tossed his belongings on the lawn. The guy had seemed so scared and traumatized that Leo knew he had to help.

While Leo wasn’t comfortable letting a virtual stranger move in with him, he’d given him enough money to rent a clean—if not fancy—hotel room for a week until he got housing straightened out.

Only a few days later, when the guy went silent and Leo mentioned it to a friend over brunch, the friend rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you haven’t heard about that old scam going around the area?” he said, pity dripping from his voice and written all over his face. “I can’t believe you fell for it. You’re so na?ve.”

Leo had looked online and found proof it had happened to dozens of guys in the area.

So yeah, that was the last fucking straw. That same night, he’d video chatted with Hayden and Joel about the logistics for moving into their old place while he packed his belongings.

Fuck the Chicago dating scene.

Leo deserved real love. Not people who would use real, awful situations actually happening to queer people as some ploy to scam money out of them.

“Leo? You’re coming to Thanksgiving dinner next week, right?” Joel asked now. “We’re excited to host it for the first time.”

“Yep. I’ll be there!” Leo promised. “Want me to bring a side dish?”

“Please,” Joel answered with a smile. “We’ve got the turkey, stuffing, and obviously the pies are all taken care of.”

They all laughed.

The man could cook and bake. Seriously, Hayden had all the luck.

“One green bean casserole coming up!” Leo promised brightly, because he refused to be resentful of his friend’s happiness.

“Great,” Hayden said. “This’ll be fun!”

“It will. But I should head downstairs again. Sorry I can’t help you get settled in more, Leo.” Joel looked apologetic. “We’re ramping up to the holidays and …”

“Yeah, no worries, I get it,” Leo assured him. “Trust me. This won’t take too long to unpack. You were both a huge help already.”

Hayden glanced at his phone. “I think we’ll work for about an hour on getting Leo organized, then head to lunch.”

“Okay,” Joel said, dropping a kiss on Hayden’s lips. “See you at home in a few hours?”

“Yep, I’ll see you then.”

“Love you!”

“Love you too.”

But before Joel could go, Hayden reached out and grabbed his shirt. He kissed him a little more thoroughly, winding his arms around Joel’s neck.

A pang of envy appeared again.

Hayden glowed whenever he was around Joel or even talked about him. And Joel glowed right back.

It was everything Leo had ever wanted and—damn it—this was his year to find it!

He was ready for his own Christmas miracle.