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    The Man Trap
    The Man Trap
    The Man Trap
    Ebook87 pages1 hour

    The Man Trap

    By Lee Brazil

    ()

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    About this ebook

    When former classmate Alexi Manetas wanders into his book store, Simon Harris seizes the opportunity to rekindle a flame he'd carelessly extinguished years earlier.

    Simon Harris has proclaimed his bisexuality loudly since college, despite never having dated a man. While his family and friends laugh, he knows the truth: there is one man he's always been attracted to. Once, fear kept him from acknowledging that attraction. No more. The next time he finds himself wanting to kiss a guy, he's going for it.

    Alexi Manetas has never gotten over his schoolboy crush on Simon. When Simon graduated, Alexi moved on. He may not have pined for Simon, but he never forgot, and always, lurking at the back of his mind, buried deep in his heart there's been Simon and the hope that they would meet again.

    A little help from an old lover and a busybody sister-in-law brings Alexi and Simon together, but Simon's fears might still tear them apart...

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLee Brazil
    Release dateAug 24, 2015
    ISBN9781310032448
    The Man Trap
    Author

    Lee Brazil

    Somewhere in a small town in up-state New York are a librarian and a second grade teacher to whom I owe my life. That might be a touch dramatic, but it’s nevertheless one hundred percent true.Because they taught me the joy of reading, of escaping into worlds crafted of words.Have you ever been nine years old and sure of nothing so much as that you don’t belong? Looked at the world from behind glasses, and wondered why you don’t fit?Then turn the page and see... there you are, running from Injun Joe in a dark graveyard; there you are fencing with Athos; there you are...beneath the deep blue sea- marveling at exotic creatures with Captain Nemo.I found myself between the pages of books, and that is why I write now, it’s why I taught English and literature for so many years, and it’s why my house contains more pounds of books than furniture.If I’d had my way, I’d have been a fencer...or a starship captain, or a lawyer, or a detective solving crimes. But instead, I am a writer, and that’s the best thing in the world to be if you ask me, because as a writer, I can be all those things and more.If I hadn’t learned to value the stories between the pages, who knows what would have happened? Certainly not college...teaching...or writing.

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      Book preview

      The Man Trap - Lee Brazil

      When former classmate Alexi Manetas wanders into his book store, Simon Harris seizes the opportunity to rekindle a flame he'd carelessly extinguished years earlier.

      Simon Harris has proclaimed his bisexuality loudly since college, despite never having dated a man. While his family and friends laugh, he knows the truth: there is one man he's always been attracted to. Once, fear kept him from acknowledging that attraction. No more. The next time he finds himself wanting to kiss a guy, he's going for it.

      Alexi Manetas has never gotten over his schoolboy crush on Simon. When Simon graduated, Alexi moved on. He may not have pined for Simon, but he never forgot, and always, lurking at the back of his mind, buried deep in his heart there's been Simon and the hope that they would meet again.

      A little help from an old lover and a busybody sister-in-law brings Alexi and Simon together, but Simon's fears might still tear them apart…

      Copyright

      This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, locations and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. As such, any resemblance to any persons, living or deceased, businesses, events, or locales is coincidental.

      Cover Art by © Victoria Miller

      Editing by Olivia Ventura

      Copyright October 2011 © Lee Brazil

      First Edition by Breathless Press

      Second Edition August 2015  by Lime Time Press

      All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

      Trademark Acknowledgement

      The author and Breathless Press acknowledge the trademark status of the following:

      Levi's 501's – trademarked by Levi Strauss & Company

      Ford Mustang – trademarked by Ford Motor Company

      Happiest Place on Earth – trademarked by Disney Enterprises

      Dedication

      This story is dedicated to my fellow

      Story Orgiasts,

      Who make Monday mornings fun,

      And writing a challenge.

      Hank, Em, James, Jade, and Havan,

      I'm grateful for the friendship we've found.

      The Man Trap

      A Contemporary M/M Romance

      By

      Lee Brazil

      Second Edition

      SMASHWORDS EDITION

      The Man Trap

      Chapter One

      Try as I might, I couldn't keep my gaze from straying to the slender, dark-haired man resting on his heels on the faded green carpet in the third aisle. He kept sliding his pale fingers along the bindings of the books on the shelves, and I swear every time he did I felt the touch as a caress on my own skin. Jeannie, damn her, noticed my inattention immediately.

      Who is that, Simon? my blonde sister-in-law demanded nosily, peering intently at the man I had discreetly eyed since he crossed the threshold of my bookshop that morning. He'd actually become a Saturday morning regular at my shop during the past month. He wandered in and browsed the cookbooks, the classics, and the science fiction section. He always bought something, but never when I stood at the register. I swear he waited till I turned my back before he’d buy his books. Today was going to be different. I planned to stay at the register until he checked out or hell froze over, whichever came first.

      I jerked my gaze around to her inquiring blue eyes. Who is who?

      She snorted, par for the course. Despite her delicate blonde appearance, Jeannie made no pretense at being ladylike, or even mannerly. Her blunt attitude was both refreshing and disgusting all at once. If family pressure hadn't assured me she'd make an admirable assistant, I never would have trusted her around the customers. I needed someone to man the shop while I visited estate sales, sure, but usually shopkeepers prefer to have assistants who treat customers nicely.

      The remarkably pretty, vaguely familiar guy in the cooking section who comes here every Saturday morning. The man you're watching out the corner of your eye like a poor imitation of Mike Hammer. That's who.

      Oh yes. Thank you, Jean, for pointing out my lack of subtlety and discretion. I shuffled a stack of shipping invoices from the printer to the corner of the counter and dumped the cardboard box I'd carried from the storeroom in their place. That, Jeannie, darling, is the reason—other than an insane crush on Brad Pitt and unrequited lust for Johnny Depp—I can say with absolute certainty I am bisexual, not straight.

      Jeannie scoffed at me, as the rest of my family and friends always did when I made the claim. I'm not sure what they thought, that I was trying to be cool or something with my claim to bisexuality. Only people who aren't gay think being gay is cool. When you've thought about your sexuality and agonized over why you like men, it's enough just to accept it. They never believed me. The skepticism could, I suppose, have something to do with the fact I'd only ever dated women. Could I help it if Brad Pitt never returned my calls?

      Jeannie nodded dubiously, continuing to print shipping labels and eyeing the man in aisle three, absorbed in perusing cookbooks. I smacked her in the shoulder swiftly. Stop staring; he'll see you looking at him.

      I don't get it. Who is he? And what's all this crap doing on the counter? She waved a manicured hand at the battered brown cardboard box of high school memorabilia.

      My used bookshop, specializing in rare and antique editions, does a thriving e-business, and we reserve the front counter with its glass display cases for the books, orders, and wrapping materials comprising that business. Random stuff gets in the way, so we have an unstated rule nothing goes on the counter unless a customer makes a purchase. I had visited several estate sales that week, and a few customers brought in boxes of books for exchange value. Books lay in tottering piles on my desk, the floor, and the shelving in the area around the counter. The new material needed logging into inventory, pricing, and shelving. What this meant in the long run was there was no place else to put my crap, as Jeannie so lovingly labeled the mementos of what I cherished as the best moments of my life. Simon Harris in a box,

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