An elf costume, a pair of lacy knickers, and a Christmas charity auction might make Sam’s Christmas wish come true.
When sweet barista, Sam, agrees to be a ‘slave’ in a Christmas charity auction, he’s thrilled to be bought by the man he’s had a crush on for the last three months.
Theodore is everything Sam is looking for in a man: older, authoritative, and caring. Unfortunately, Sam isn’t the most forward person when it comes to telling men he likes them. Wearing a sexy costume allows him to be a much flirtier version of himself, but can a naughty elf tempt Theodore into bed?
As their relationship intensifies, Sam finds something in Theodore he didn’t realise he needed: a man he wants to call his Daddy.
But Theodore isn’t out of the closet, and whilst Sam is happy existing in a bubble over Christmas, he knows that can’t last forever.
Can Sam risk giving his heart to a Daddy who might not ever be able to hold his hand in public, let alone commit to him?
What Works For Us is a Christmas romance with an age-gap relationship, lacy underwear, role-play, Daddy kink, and a guaranteed happy ending.
Release Date: December 17, 2019
Genre/s: Contemporary M/M Romance
Trope/s: Age-gap, role-playing, Daddy kink, out for you
Themes: Self-discovery; sexual awakening
Heat Rating: 4 flames
Length: 57 000 words
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Goodreads
He stood and opened the door, and his heart leapt into his throat. His whole body tingled as he found himself unable to tear his gaze away from what the young man was wearing.
Sam didn’t have the boxer shorts on. Instead, he wore a woman’s elf costume, which comprised of a short dress with a green lace-up bodice and bright red skirt. Due to Sam’s height, the skirt barely covered the top third of his thighs. The skirt was filled out with netting, like a tutu, making it even shorter. Sam was wearing candy cane-striped stockings. Theodore knew they were stockings because he could see the top of the suspenders peeking out beneath the white fake fur trim on the hem of the skirt. In his head, Sam wore a floppy hat—like the Santa ones that had been flooding the shops for the last three months—but in green to match the bodice. Theodore managed to drag his gaze down to Sam’s feet long enough to note that he was wearing black pumps.
“I didn’t think I’d be able to clean in high heels,” Sam said in a confidential whisper. He sounded and looked more confident than he had minutes before.
Theodore’s mind had turned to goo. He’d seen men in drag before, but this was different. Sam’s festive costume was tapping into desires that Theodore hadn’t realised he had. He could feel his blood pumping through his veins, racing to get to his dick rather than his heart. He had a sudden desire to pull Sam into his arms and kiss him. Hard.
Dear God, don’t let me get an erection.
Just when he thought things couldn’t get any worse, Sam did a slow twirl. At the back, the skirt barely covered his bottom, giving Theodore the tiniest glimpse of white lace. A shiver ran through him, and he let out a little gasp of desire.
“Do you like it?” Sam asked.
Wow, I was not expecting this story…
We first meet Sam, who works at a barista at a café, who has a crush on one of his morning patrons. For the last several months, he’s noticed the older gentleman and admired him in his fancy suits, expensive watch and lovely eyes…even if they don’t connect with him very often because the guy is always looking at his phone… still, he’s exactly Sam’s type, even though there’s no way possible that the man could return the attraction, because let’s be real… Sam’s much too young, works at a café serving coffee and still a full-time student. So, he admires from afar each morning and that’s all he gets…
Until Abigal, Sam’s co-worker hatches a plan for Sam to put himself out there…and maybe a little more. She surprised me with the depth of her scheming, but it came from a good place, I loved her personality and her friendship with Sam…. And because of that friendship, when Abigal’s sister is putting on a charity auction for “slaves for a day”, although inappropriate sounding, it was all in good fun and went to a good cause, Sam never dreamed that the handsome latte guy would not only bid on him, but actually outbid everyone else and win him for the day!
Theodore gutted me from beginning to end.
At forty-three, he was firmly in the closet and had no plans to come out, ever. The way he was raised by the worst kind of extremist parents, he was not only taught that being gay was wrong and sinful, he actually believed it. He felt guilty for being attracted to Sam not only because he’s also a man but because he’s so much younger than himself. He felt shame for being who he is, can you even imagine that? For forty-three years, living that way? My heart broke for him so much seeing him struggle.
Then, a scheme from a co-worker has him bidding on a naughty elf at a charity auction his company was at and he gets the shy little barista he’s been mooning over, but trying not to be noticeable with, and Sam comes to collect.
It’s awkward at first, but the two use role-playing, both of them shedding the things/reasons that hold them back from going for what they want and lemme tell ya… it’s steamy. Its light, as far as a lot of roll play goes and I’ll admit I had a tiny problem with them jumping into something so quickly and being like, yes, this is what we’re doing, this is our lable… but, I mean, they had open communication and they both liked the different “kinks”, so why not? It worked for them and even though it was new and fun and they were with each other so much, I had to remind myself that they’d only known each other for such a short time. So, when Sam went home for Christmas, I could understand his family’s reluctance to see Theodore as Sam did. They didn’t know him, they didn’t know their relationship, so I thought it was a little unfair, though, as a parent…. I would’ve had the same reservations.
Now, in saying that…. I do think that with as much communication the two had, Sam and Theodore, I wish they would’ve talked a bit about this before they did because though I saw where Sam was coming from, I thought he pulled the rug out from under Theodore and he kept saying that he wasn’t pushing, but he kind of was. He wanted promises, he wanted assurances and dude, you’ve been together five minutes. He was so reassuring and supportive in the beginning and was everything Theodore needed because let’s be real… after forty-three years of being ashamed of who you are, even accepting that you’re gay and being willing to be in a relationship would be insane…. And he just expected him to be okay with it and be willing to promise to come out someday? I just didn’t think it was fair. Theodore needed to work on himself, to accept himself and be okay with who he is and though he get there, I just didn’t think it was fair of Sam to put that on him just then….
It wasn’t fair to either of them, honestly, but Sam knew that going in. So, that was my only problem. I adored the rest of it. I loved how fast and intense their relationship was and they had some very serious steamy time that was also fun to read. And, I would’ve liked to have seen how Sam’s family treated Theodore by the end, but maybe there’ll be another book? Fingers crossed, I’d love to read more about these two! And Lain as well, I bet he’d be a fun one
4 pieces of eye candy
Colette’s personal love story began at university, where she met her future husband. An evening of flirting, in the shadow of Lancaster castle, eventually led to a fairytale wedding. She’s enjoying her own ‘happy ever after’ in the north of England with her husband, two beautiful children and her writing.
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