. .
I fled my hometown seven years ago. I never planned to come back. I never planned to give up my city life for a small town. And I definitely never planned to fall for another man.
Henry
Tripp Lake, the place I love the most. Working at a cat café on Main Street gives me a chance to get some deserving cats their forever homes.
But when a blast from the past walks into my café, I’m not sure what to feel. Alex was always hot and popular in high school – and straight.
So it’s a shock when he keeps accepting my invitations to hang out. I don’t think I’m imagining the spark between us, but is Alex actually interested in me, or am I letting this straight boy break my heart?
Alex
Tripp Lake, the place I hate the most. I’m only here because of my father’s heart attack. But the second I return home, I remember all the reasons I ran away.
My parents are overbearing. This town is small and boring. And I want nothing more than to flee back to my new life in San Francisco – a life that doesn’t come packed with any surprising new feelings about a guy I went to high school with.
Henry is a ray of sunshine amid this bleak journey home. But I’ve never been interested in a guy before. When a relaxing hike results in my first timid kiss with another man, I start questioning a lot more than just my decision to leave Tripp Lake. Is Henry worth staying in this crappy town for?
Stray Awakening is a small-town MM romance with first-time gay experiences, a sweet ray of sunshine winning over a jaded grumpy, spicy open-door scenes, and, of course, lots of cats. Go to linktr.ee/faraywrites for CWs.
Title: Stray Awakening
Authors: F.A. Ray
Length: 68k
Series: Rainbow Rescue Cat Café, Book 1
Genre: Contemporary.
Amazon – Kindle Unlimited – All Regions
Goodreads
Henry said the door would be open, but I knock anyway before turning the knob. I find Henry bustling toward me as I open the door to let myself in. I have only a second to drop my laptop bag on the ground.
Is he that excited to see me?
Shit, I’m that excited to see him, especially when I spot that easy smile of his. All of the stress from work and my family vanishes like a puff of smoke blown away by the wind.
I didn’t have a plan when I asked if I could come over here. My thought process was simple: Away. Away from work. Away from my family. Away from all of it. But seeing Henry, seeing him in his slim jeans and casual T-shirt, smiling at me, blue eyes bright with eagerness, changes my plan on the spot.
I bundle him into my arms the moment he reaches me and kiss him hard.
Henry murmurs in surprise before his arms slide around my neck. I hug his body against me and tilt my head to kiss him more deeply. The taste of his lips has become a familiar balm in the weeks I’ve spent in Tripp Lake. I melt against him, tension draining out of me as the warmth of his mouth eases my worries. Merely touching him makes all the nonsense drift away. It’s like I’m rising in a hot air balloon, my worries becoming smaller and smaller as I float away.
Eventually, I need air, but I don’t let Henry out of my arms.
“It’s good to see you,” I say.
His smile widens, joy crinkling the corners of his eyes. My chest tightens with the knowledge that it’s me pressing that happiness into his face. Maybe twenty years from now those little lines will be permanent, and I’ll have had a hand in placing them there.
F. A. Ray started writing fiction as a child and has never stopped. When they aren’t writing, they enjoy rock climbing and hiking in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, where they live with their partner and cat.
Visit linktr.ee/faraywrites to find out more. You can also sign up for my Patreon, where I post WIPs, updates, bonus scenes, deleted scenes and short stories that don’t appear anywhere else.
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