Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    One Nightstand
    One Nightstand
    One Nightstand
    Ebook42 pages34 minutes

    One Nightstand

    By Rick Bettencourt

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    A story from Boughs of Evergreen: A Holiday Anthology

    ONE NIGHTSTAND
    by RICK BETTENCOURT

    Doug’s not good with one-night stands, yet in the early hours of Christmas Eve, he returns home with Kirk—a good-looking guy he met at the club. Nestled together in the kitchen of his New England cottage, sipping hot chocolate and watching the snow fall, Doug wishes there could be more to this casual encounter. It’s a feeling that stays with him as he heads off to a frantic day of work at the mall, swamped with last-minute holiday shoppers...the last place he expects to find something magical.

    * * * * *

    ABOUT BOUGHS OF EVERGREEN

    Boughs of Evergreen is a two-volume collection of short stories celebrating the holiday season in all its diversity. Penned by authors from the UK, the USA, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, these are tales of the young and the not-so-young from many different walks of life.

    Themes of family, friendship and romance take readers on a journey through some of the major holidays, both past and present, including Thanksgiving, Advent, St. Lucia Day, Hanukkah, Eid, Saturnalia, Winter Solstice, Yule, Christmas and New Year. In each we find at the very least hope, and often love, peace and happiness.

    Proceeds from sales of this anthology will be donated to The Trevor Project. The Trevor Project is the leading national organization [USA] providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people ages 13-24.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBeaten Track Publishing
    Release dateDec 1, 2014
    ISBN9781909192041
    One Nightstand
    Author

    Rick Bettencourt

    Rick Bettencourt is the author of Not Sure Boys, Painting with Wine and Tim on Broadway. Rick hates to cook, and can often be seen eating out. He lives in the Tampa Bay area, with his husband and their dog, Bandit.You can follow Rick on Twitter @rbettenc, and you should also subscribe to his mailing list at rickbettencourt.com. You’ll receive all sorts of good stuff, but never any spam.

    Related to One Nightstand

    Related ebooks

    General Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      With Open Arms

      Aug 12, 2021

      With Open Arms
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Dividual

      Aug 10, 2021

      The first dividual I saw I was six, holding my uncle’s hand in immigrations. Ahead of us was a group of seven men and women, blue masks covering their heads and shoulders. They carried between them a pale violet tree trunk, its roots bundled in a bur

      22 min read

    • Article

      Dustin Lance Black.

      Jun 4, 2019

      Dustin Lance Black.
      8 min read

    • Article

      A Wolf On The Bus

      May 10, 2021

      Exhaustion flooded my body, leaving a dull ache pulsating just behind my eyes. With my right thumb and index finger, I squeezed the bridge of my nose, exhaling deeply, trying to soothe the pain. This tactic worked temporarily; at least until the bus

      17 min read

    • Article

      The People’s Chris

      Jun 30, 2022

      The People’s Chris
      14 min read

    • Article

      Movie Novels Are Still Around, And They Aren't All Trash — Just Ask The Chicagoans Who Wrote Them

      Apr 1, 2020

      CHICAGO - Recently, during C2E2 at McCormick Place, the Random House imprint Del Rey, which publishes Lucasfilm-licensed "Star Wars" books, made an unusual choice and offered the novelization of "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" three weeks early. A

      9 min read

    • Article

      Getting Out of Prison Meant Leaving Dear Friends Behind

      Jun 1, 2018

      I have spent countless nights like this, lying awake, anticipating life, trying to escape imprisonment through my mind’s eye. I imagine the things I will do once I’m free. Flashes of me laughing with family and friends at a cookout or enjoying the co

      5 min read

    • Article

      Free Styling

      Aug 3, 2021

      Free Styling
      7 min read

    • Article

      Christmas Carol

      Nov 26, 2021

      Christmas Carol
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Out Oscars

      Jan 23, 2024

      The Out Oscars
      5 min read

    • Article

      Lech

      Feb 8, 2022

      Lech
      4 min read

    • Article

      Oat Grass

      Jun 25, 2020

      Oat Grass
      4 min read

    • Article

      Country Road

      May 18, 2021

      Country Road
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Duplex

      Jun 9, 2020

      I moved to Los Angeles to sing. When was this? August? June? I was twenty-nine, and those were shapeless months, when the days blended together and I refused to pull them apart. My landlord was unusually close to her adult son. His name was Jeffrey,

      21 min read

    • Article

      Righteous

      Jan 22, 2019

      Righteous
      8 min read

    • Article

      Yellowstone

      Dec 1, 2022

      Yellowstone
      14 min read

    • Article

      The Devil You Know

      Jul 10, 2021

      I met the Devil today. He was walking down main street, right by the undertaker in B____, which is a little town near here, and which, for obvious reasons, I’d better not name. I recognized him straight away because he had furry legs with hooves for

      8 min read

    • Article

      Christmas Comes to Norwalk

      Oct 25, 2019

      Christmas Comes to Norwalk
      4 min read

    • Article

      Above Santa Cruz

      Jul 2, 2019

      Above Santa Cruz
      5 min read

    • Article

      Festival

      Sep 15, 2018

      My husband, who loved festivals, who was a great fan of festivals, wanted to get to the square in time for the first band at eleven o’clock. From bed, the dog and I watched him dress. He tried on various T-shirts, declaring some of them too tight and

      13 min read

    • Article

      ‘Cygnet’: Featured Fiction from Season Butler

      Jun 25, 2019

      A excerpt from Butler's debut coming-of-age novel, set in an appealingly rich world with quirky, flawed characters and a dramatic oceanfront landscape. The post ‘Cygnet’: Featured Fiction from Season Butler appeared first on The Millions.

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Man I Should Have Married

      Dec 29, 2019

      The Man I Should Have Married
      11 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for One Nightstand

    4/5

    1 rating0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      One Nightstand - Rick Bettencourt

      Boughs of Evergreen

      A Holiday Anthology

      ONE NIGHTSTAND

      by

      Rick Bettencourt

      SMASHWORDS EDITION

      * * * * *

      Copyright 2014 Rick Bettencourt.

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Cover Design by Noah Homes

      * * * * *

      This novel is a work of fiction and the characters and events in it exist only in its pages and in the author’s imagination.

      * * * * *

      Doug’s not good with one-night stands, yet in the early hours of Christmas Eve, he returns home with Kirk—a good-looking guy he met at the club. Nestled together in the kitchen of his New England cottage, sipping hot chocolate and watching the snow fall, Doug wishes there could be more to this casual encounter. It’s a feeling that stays with him as he heads off to a frantic day of work at the mall, swamped with last-minute holiday shoppers…the last place he expects to find something magical.

      * * * * *

      Table of Contents

      One Nightstand

      About the Author

      Boughs of Evergreen – A Holiday Anthology

      * * * * *

      One Nightstand

      He rolled off me and onto his back, breathing in rapid staccatos, which I hoped was a good sign—testimony to my skill in bed. The backdrop of my bedroom window lit his chiseled features, and I pretended I had just been with a movie star.

      The sweat on my chest, damp from having been pressed next to his, cooled in the stale air as the ceiling fan above us thumped in time, piercing the silence between his sighs.

      I looked to my right, away from my casual encounter. Something about our new acquaintance made me feel as if I needed to give him time alone to recompose in the rawness of our afterglow. Or maybe I needed to gain some self-control. To the right of my closet, a Native American painting hung—a gift my grandfather had given to me for my thirteenth birthday several years ago. I could barely see it in the dark. The furnace whirred on, and I pulled the blanket up over my torso.

      The metal headboard rattled, like it does whenever I move alone. Just a few minutes ago it clanged like the set of bells from that Salvation Army collector in front of the mall. The heat of our passion had my old bed banging against the wall louder than a Christmas hoedown. I looked over to him, sitting up, his back to me.

      Through the window, the streetlight

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1