Title: Coffee Cake
Author: Michaela Grey
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Aaron Anderson
Length: 220 Pages/67000 words
Release Date: 11th May, 2015
Blurb: Bran Kendrick never expected
to fall in love. He’s asexual, after all. What chance does he have of finding
someone who’ll see past that? So when Malachi Warren catches his eye, Bran
tells himself his crush will pass. Malachi disagrees. He has been attracted to
Bran for some time, something he is delighted to find Bran reciprocating. They
begin to date and feel their way through an intimate relationship that meets
both their needs.
Suddenly Bran finds himself juggling a new boyfriend,
a demanding job, and a college degree he’s not sure he wants, but he couldn’t
be happier—until a series of seemingly random accidents befall Malachi. When
they escalate, Bran realizes someone is trying to take away the best thing that
ever happened to him, and he must scramble to keep Malachi safe while they
search for the would-be killer.
EVEN IN early September, Vermont meant that
Saturday morning dawned crisp and cool, and Bran tugged on his favorite beanie
and scarf before making the trek across campus to the Grind, the tiny coffee
shop that was his main source of income.
He couldn’t help the smile that flickered across
his face when he walked into the kitchen, breathing in the smells of bread,
cinnamon, almonds, and toasted sugar. He could feel the tension draining from
his shoulders as he mentally flipped through the list of things he needed to do
before he opened the café.
Start the blueberry muffins first. They can bake
while I put together the topping for the coffee cake. Sweet-talk the cappuccino
maker into starting up and leave yet another note for Naomi about getting a new
one. Put the croissants in the oven last; I really need to set aside a couple
of days to perfect making those myself so I can actually recommend them with a
clear conscience. Call Katie and find out where the hell she is and why I’m
here alone again.
He spent the morning making cappuccinos,
espressos, and Americanos for the students who straggled in, bleary-eyed and
hungover from the night before. He knew a lot of them—it wasn’t a large
college, after all—and he dispensed smiles and the occasional aspirin along
with the blueberry muffins and croissants.
When the bell jingled midmorning, Bran was in the
back. He was handling the store alone, since Katie had phoned in sick.
“Be right there!” he called. He tugged a tray of
muffin batter out of the massive refrigerator and slid it into the
industrial-size oven before wiping his hands on his apron and hurrying back into
the storefront.
Only to slam on the brakes and stare at Malachi
leaning against the counter, smiling at him.
“Um,” Bran said eloquently.
“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Malachi
agreed. “What’s good this morning?”
Bran dragged his brain into gear. “The, uh,
coffee cake is decent. I made it myself. Or the blueberry muffins. I don’t
recommend the croissants—we don’t make them in-house.”
“Coffee cake sounds good, Bran! Can I have a hot
chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles with that, please?”
“Sure,” Bran said, and he moved to obey, mind
whirling.
Malachi leaned on the counter and watched him,
and Bran still couldn’t figure out what to say.
“Did you go to any good parties last night?” Malachi
asked, and Bran jumped.
“I, uh, no,” Bran said, cursing his fumbling
tongue. “Had to study. I don’t… party much.” And there goes any chance of
Malachi wanting to get to know me, he thought a little despairingly.
“I know what you mean,” Malachi said, and Bran
turned to stare at him, nearly dropping the coffee cake. Malachi lifted an
eyebrow. “Oh, I party plenty, don’t get me wrong. But this English class is
kicking my ass, and I can’t seem to get my head wrapped around it.”
“Do you have a study group?”
“I did,” Malachi said, popping a toothpick in his
mouth. “But we went our separate ways at the end of last year, and I haven’t
found anyone else to work with yet.”
“You should talk to Dave,” Bran said, and then he
wanted to kick himself. Why hadn’t he volunteered himself? He could study with
a senior, couldn’t he?
“Dave’s a great guy,” Malachi agreed, “but what
about you?”
Bran did drop the coffee cake that time, and
stood there staring at the mess on the floor for way too long. Idiot. He went
to his knees and began picking up shards of pottery.
“You okay down there?” Malachi asked.
“Fine,” Bran said, and then he gasped as he
sliced his hand on a sharp edge, blood welling up and then dripping onto the mangled
coffee cake on the floor.
Malachi rounded the counter and pushed Bran away
from the wreckage, gripping his wrist. “You idiot, what were you thinking?” His
voice was warm with concern, and Bran couldn’t think of anything but how gentle
Malachi’s hand was on his skin.
Malachi reached up, grabbed a clean towel from
the counter, and wrapped it around Bran’s hand with deft movements. Then he
stood up. “Stay there,” he told him, and disappeared.
Bran obeyed, resting his head against the
cabinet. Dimly, he heard Malachi’s voice and the jingle of the coffee shop
door. Silence fell.
That was that, then. Bran sighed. He was a klutz,
and he’d scared off the cutest boy he’d ever seen by being a fumbling idiot who
didn’t know how to talk to people like a normal person.
He nearly jumped out of his skin when Malachi
appeared above him again.
“Whoa, hey, easy there!” Malachi said, grabbing
his shoulder.
“I… thought you left,” Bran said, then wanted to
kick himself.
“Nah, I closed the shop. Kicked out the few
people savoring their muffins and locked the doors behind ’em. We’ve got the
place to ourselves. Now get up, c’mon, we need to clean that wound and bandage
it properly.” He steadied Bran by the arm as he levered himself to his feet,
holding the red-soaked towel aloft with a grimace.
“Not feeling faint from blood loss, are you?”
Malachi asked, steering him toward the back.
Bran shook his head. He was light-headed but it
wasn’t blood loss. It was the firm hand that held his arm, steadying him as he
led Bran to the bathroom, and the concern in those bright brown eyes.
Malachi opened the bathroom door and tugged Bran
inside. It was a tiny room, and Bran held his breath at his proximity to the
other young man. Malachi turned on the sink and unwrapped the towel with
careful fingers. Bran hissed as it pulled at the edges of the gash, and Malachi
winced.
“Sorry, kiddo,” he murmured. He dropped the
bloody towel on the floor and held Bran’s hand under the running water,
tightening his grip when Bran involuntarily pulled back at the stinging pain.
“Gotta clean it out,” he reminded him. “Where’s your first-aid kit?”
“Under the sink,” Bran managed through his teeth.
Malachi fumbled for it one-handed, his soft hair
brushing Bran’s arm as he bent down, and Bran swallowed hard.
Malachi came up triumphantly with the kit
clutched in his fist and set it on the edge of the sink. After turning off the
faucet, he gave Bran a gentle push toward the closed toilet lid.
“Sit. I’m gonna put my astounding first-aid
skills to work here, and I don’t need you passing out halfway through. I need
constant positive feedback or I shrivel up and die, you know.”
Bran huffed a laugh and sat down. “Are you a
trained medical professional?” he teased, and Malachi grinned at him.
“Nah, I just play one on TV.” He examined the
edges of the wound, tsking to himself. “The bleeding’s almost stopped, and I
don’t think it’ll need stitches, but I can take you to the emergency room if
you want?”
Bran’s head swam at the thought of having that
long with Malachi, of being in a car with him, having his attention, but he
shook his head regretfully.
“I can’t leave the store,” he said. “There’s
muffins in the oven and, I have a lot more to bake, and Naomi would kill me if
I took off now, especially since Katie’s not here to cover.”
“Sense of duty, huh?” Malachi said as he pressed
gauze into place and began to wrap the wound. “I like that in a man.”
Bran blinked. Was Malachi… flirting with him? He
fumbled for something to say, something witty, something that would make
Malachi laugh, but then the moment passed, and Malachi was standing back to
admire his handiwork.
“I can’t guarantee you’ll play the piano again,”
he said, “But you’ll be able to impress all the girls with your wicked scar, so
that’s something, right?”
“I’m not… interested in girls,” Bran mumbled,
ducking his head.
There was silence from above him for a moment,
and then Malachi laughed quietly. “Neither is my brother. Me, I figure the more
the merrier.”
“What, like threesomes?” Bran said, then nearly
clapped his hand over his mouth.
Malachi snorted. “No, I mean I don’t care what
someone has down their pants. Attraction, for me, isn’t based on gender. But
Tris is like you: he’s gay. Although he’s also the most socially awkward dude
I’ve ever met, so if he ever gets a boyfriend, I may keel over in shock.”
“I’m not gay either,” Bran blurted. He wanted to
run, to hide and never look at the young man standing in front of him, but at
the same time a weird feeling of relief was stealing over him. Malachi was the
first person he’d told. Come what may, he’d admitted to someone what he was,
and that was a step forward, no matter how Malachi reacted.
Malachi was utterly still above him, and Bran
swallowed hard. This was it, the part where Malachi told him to have a nice
life and took off back to his normal friends.
Malachi tilted Bran’s chin up, and Bran’s eyes
widened as he met his gaze.
“Nothing to be ashamed of, kiddo. So you’re ace?”
Bran nodded jerkily.
Malachi smiled at him. “Are you aromantic too?”
“I, uh….” Bran floundered for words.
“Haven’t gotten that far in your research yet?”
Malachi winked at him. “Look it up. We can talk about it when we get together
to study tomorrow.”
Bran stared at him. When had they agreed to that?
“In the meantime, you have a coffee shop to run,
so let’s get you back to it, shall we?” He flapped his hands at him until Bran
took the hint and stood up, feeling a mile tall as he towered over the shorter
man. Malachi just tilted his head back and grinned up at him. Then he shooed
him out of the bathroom and back into the store, where he grabbed a chair from
the dining area and dragged it behind the counter.
“Sit,” he said firmly, and he cocked an eyebrow
when Bran hesitated. “You can’t serve food with an open wound, kiddo. So you’re
going to direct me and work the register, and I’m gonna run this place for
you.”
Bran just stared at him as Malachi grabbed the
dustpan and began cleaning up the coffee cake mess on the floor.
Malachi whistled as he cleaned and then opened
the front door, and Bran stayed quiet and watched him, head swimming.
Malachi hadn’t run. He hadn’t disappeared when
Bran had told him what he was. Why not? Bran was different, not normal. Malachi
couldn’t possibly be interested in Bran, so why was he still hanging around?
Malachi snapped his fingers, and Bran blinked,
looking up.
“You’ve got a customer, kid, and the oven just dinged
at me. Either it’s flirting with me, or the muffins inside are done. Could go
either way. What do you want me to do?”
Bran gathered his thoughts. “Um, get the muffins
out, put the tray on the cooling rack back there, and set the timer for five
minutes. Then you’ll take them out of the tray, but they need to set up a bit
before you do that or they’ll collapse.”
Malachi winked. “You got it.”
He disappeared, and Bran stood up to take the first
customer’s order with a smile on his face.
Michaela Grey told stories to put herself to
sleep since she was old enough to hold a conversation in her head. When she learned to write, she began putting
those stories down on paper. She and her
family reside in the Texas hill country with their cats, and she is perpetually
on the hunt for peaceful writing time, which her four children make difficult
to find.
When she’s not
writing, she’s knitting while watching TV or avoiding responsibilities on
Tumblr, where she shamelessly ogles pretty people and tries to keep her cat off
the keyboard.
Tumblr:
http://greymichaela.tumblr.com
Twitter:
@GreyMichaela
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/GreyMichaela
Email:
greymichaela@gmail.com
Get a chance to win a signed paperback copy of Coffee Cake!
Enter
the Rafflecopter NOW.
