About Cake Walk
by CB Potts
69 pages
/ 23000 words
ISBN: 978-1-60370-825-8, 1-60370-825-1
Available file types - html. lit, pdf, prc, Sony-optimized pdf, epub
Joel and Rick were lovers once, but now they're fierce competitors in the cake-decorating world. There's a ten thousand dollar prize to be won, and both men are determined to emerge victorious. Rick uses an ancient curse to improve his chances, hoping that Joel will collapse under the pressure.
But when the curse misfires, Joel winds up with a prize he was never looking for. Everything that can go wrong does, but Joel knows it's worth it fir a chance at true love. Now he must keep Rick from destroying what he suddenly holds most dear. Can Joel break the curse and win his new love's heart?
Review
Kiernan Kelly, author of Outland, writes: Joel’s life is finally on the right track, and his heart has begun to heal after his painful breakup with former lover and partner, Rick. Although Joel still feels the ache of losing his half of the dream bakery he’d opened with Rick, his new shop is doing well.
He’s even entered an annual cake contest sponsored by the Gay Pastry Artisans Association, one that he knows Rick intends to win at all costs. Determined to win first place himself, Joel designs the ultimate cake -- a life-sized sponge cake-and-fondant recreation of Michelangelo’s sculpture, David.
Joel’s David is the ideal man, perfect in form. It is sure to win the competition, but when a curse comes into play, Joel finds out that David is as sweet and irresistible on the inside as he is on the outside.
CB Potts pens a fabulous tale of sugar, spice, and everything magical in Cake Walk. The mixture of sweetness and mouthwatering sex is just right, the story is filled with heartwarming characters, and a love that will stay with the reader long after the last page is turned.
Don’t miss this charming tale of true love found in the most unexpected of places. It’s magically delicious!
Sample
"You know, hitting refresh every two seconds isn't going to make the news get here any faster." Brandi pulled a long stretch of plastic wrap off the roll, covering a just-mixed batch of cookie dough.
"It might," Joel replied. "You never know."
"And the competitive advantage you're getting by reading the announcement a nano-second before every other baker on the coast?" She was laughing, but her laughter was kind. Brandi had only been working in Joel's Patisserie for four months, but that had been more than enough time for a genuine friendship to flower between the forty-five year old woman and her much younger boss.
"Not nearly enough. I know for a fact that Rasmussen already knows what the theme is. He's known for weeks, maybe even a month."
"That's not fair!" Brandi protested. "You're all supposed to find out at the same time!"
Joel shrugged. "Rasmussen doesn't worry about what's fair. He worries about what will help him win." The swallow of coffee he took was strong, black, and very bitter -- but it had nothing on what Joel felt about Rick Rasmussen.
Once his partner in every sense of the word -- professionally, personally, they'd had his and his life insurance policies -- now Rick was Joel's fiercest competitor. Add to that the fact that Rick was seemingly hell-bent on destroying any chance Joel had of ever having a normal social life, and bitter didn't even begin to cover it.
"It doesn't matter," Brandi said, startling Joel away from that all-too-familiar train of thought, at least momentarily. "He can work on a design for a year, it's not going to be as great as what you come up with."
"He's got the judge in his pocket."
"Then you'll just have to work that much harder." Brandi sounded very sure of herself. "Because no one can beat you when you're giving it your all."
Joel smiled. "Thanks, Bran."
"Don't thank me for the truth. Flattering lies will cost you, but the truth is always free."
Joel chuckled, and then leaned forward, tapping the mouse again.
"No, shit!"
"It's there?" Brandi asked.
"It's here." Joel's gaze flickered over the laptop's small screen, scanning the prose. "The Creative Committee of the Gay Pastry Artisans Association is pleased to announce the theme for 2010's Showpiece Competition."
"Yeah?" Brandi's hands, so practiced at kneading dough, waved in the air impatiently.
"Classic male beauty." Joel's lips thinned, clamped tightly in a thin line. "Those mother fuckers. Classic male beauty."
"What's wrong with that?"
"Rasmussen. That's what's wrong with that. He's a hellenophile. Wanted to be an architect or an archeologist, back in the day. He even spent a semester in Greece, studying the Parthenon, the Acropolis, all that shit."
"So he's got a little bit of an edge."
"A little bit? They might as well award him the prize now."
"Well, yeah, if you're going to roll over for him."