Join Prism Book Alliance® as Clare London goes Outside the Margins today.
I’m full of a surfeit of goose, christmas pudding, prosecco and chocolate. And as well as clearing all the torn wrapping paper, stepping around piles of discardrd cardboard packaging, and picking flakes of tinsel out of coffee cups, you want me to think of a witty and entertaining blog post?
Love you all – but here’s a brief and seasonal flashfic instead. Don’t judge me! LOL – and I hope you enjoy it. I wish you all a happy holiday season and the very best for 2016. Thanks for joining me here and elsewhere in 2015 xxx.
RAMPANT MISTLETOE
Mason didn’t turn around from his PC to look at his visitor, even when Josh gave a loud and very deliberate cough.
“Go away,” he said.
Josh smiled, ignoring such unseasonal rudeness. He leaned over Mason’s shoulder and dropped the small green sprig with white berries into Mason’s IN tray.
“I’ve seen the stuff before,” Mason snapped. He stared down at the papers on his desk, resolutely. The tip of his ears looked a little pink. “In fact, I just dumped some in the trash.”
“The sprig I left in your desk drawer?” Josh asked, with genuine interest.
“No.” Mason growled the words. “The bunch you left in my coat pocket. But now you mention the other one…” His hand jerked open his desk drawer and snatched out another sprig. He tsked, and dropped it distastefully into the nearby trash can.
“Ah, yes.” Josh nodded, unfazed. “Never mind. My Secret Santa—” Who Josh suspected was his friend Amy, who was always shamelessly matchmaking, “—left a full box of Christmas greenery on my desk last night and a ‘good luck’ card, for some reason. There’s plenty more where that came from.”
The muscles across Mason’s back tightened. “If you mean the deposit in my coffee mug, I dragged that out and dumped it too. And the bunch in my pigeonhole. And the bunch under my windscreen wipers.”
Josh smiled. “Mistletoe is a Christmas decoration, it adds to the joy and visual delight of the occasion—”
“It’s a nuisance and a mess.” Mason’s hand tightened on one of the papers in front of him, crumpling the edges of it. “Especially when you dash out to the shop for a quick coffee and turn the wipers on without realising it’s there. I had to wash my windscreen twice to get it all off.”
“Ah,” Josh said again, a little ruefully. “So you’re not going to be too pleased with—”
“—the sprig of it in my left boot?” Mason’s voice was a little strangled. “Oh yes, I found that, too. Eventually. After I’d pulled them both on and stood up. I had to change my socks, Josh. Some of the stickiness is still there, seeped in between my toes.”
Josh nodded, gazing thoughtfully at the back of Mason’s head. “It’s Christmas, Mason. Join in the spirit of it all. I know you want to. We’re the only guys working in Tech Support over Christmas and it’s going to be a long and miserable time otherwise. It’s the only present I got, and I wanted to share it with you.”
“And with my salad?” Mason complained. “I couldn’t fail to notice another bunch in my lunchbox, nestled between the lettuce and the grated carrot. Some strains are poisonous to eat, you know.”
Josh sighed. “It has traditional connotations, you know. Sometimes people use mistletoe to inspire—”
“—you think I should kiss my salad?” Mason interrupted. “Pucker up for my parmesan? Ravish my radish? Slip some tongue to my celery?”
“So you do know what I mean by inspiration,” Josh said, softly. He grinned wider. “What to do with it—”
Mason’s chair scraped across the floor, as Mason abruptly stood. Startled, Josh took one step backwards, but Mason whirled around and grabbed his arm. They both staggered back a couple of steps and Josh’s back hit the partition wall with a thump.
“I know what it is,” Mason snarled. He waved the bunch from his IN tray above their heads. “I know what to do with it. I don’t need constant reminders and mystery deposits in my clothing, and green and white booby traps around every corner. You hear me?”
Josh’s eyes widened. He flicked out his tongue to moisten his lips. “I hear you,” he said, and quite calmly considering Mason’s fierceness.
Mason’s eyes were following the movement of Josh’s tongue. There was soft silver saliva on Mason’s lips, too. “And one more thing, you bloody annoying man…”
“Bah, humbug?” Josh asked, innocently.
“I don’t need mistletoe to kiss you.” Mason tossed the sprig across the floor, took hold of Josh’s face with both hands and proceeded to do so.
At length.
~Clare London
Title: One Night Stand
Author: Clare London
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Publication Date: 12/01/2009
Cover Artist: Paul Richmond
Genre: M/M Romance
Blurb:
Teddy realizes he drank too much at the office Christmas party when he wakes up in a hotel room with confused memories of a night of fierce, fabulous sex and a man asleep beside him. He doesn’t know how his outrageous behavior will be judged by his boss, but he’ll find out soon… when his boss wakes up.
Links
One Night Stand on Goodreads
Dreamspinner Press
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
About Clare London
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| Farewell Giveaway I have a number of paperbacks, most of which are signed, to giveaway. Over the between now (11 Mar 2017) and 31 Mar 2017, every comment on the blog (this post and all other new posts), will be entered to win 1 of these paperbacks. There are also some misc swag items, so there will be a few packs of these to give away as well. |
Thank you so much for your support over the last 4 years. Prism will be closing its doors on 1 April 2017. All content will remain available, but no new content will appear after 31 Mar 2017. As such all request forms have been turned off. Again Thank you, Brandilyn |
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