Stocking Stuffers

Thinking with his head and not his heart is an occupational hazard for Professor Leland Hansen. He does fine as a researcher dealing with statistics and experimental designs and guiding doctoral students through the dissertation process. But affairs of the heart are another matter. Leland teaches at a small, religious college in New England, and the anxiety of losing his position over his lifestyle eventually causes a painful breakup with the one true love of his life, Cliff Emerson. When Cliff calls a few weeks before Christmas to announce he's getting married, Leland accuses him of dredging up the past and their conversation ends badly. As time grows short, Leland sets out to win Cliff back, though he fears he may already be too late. Will they reunite at Christmas or will Cliff be lost to him forever?

Six months on from meeting in Heat Wave: Newark, Ben Knight and Aaron Jones face a totally different type of weather as they prepare for their first Christmas together in small town Maine. All Aaron wants for Christmas is Ben home safe and sound from a long haul ride along I-95, as well as to hear the words "I love you" from his man's lips. But when the snow starts to fall and Ben is still one day away from home, Aaron's hopes begin to fade. Can Ben make it home safely? And what's with the gifts under the tree, each with a different hand-drawn image? It promises to be a Christmas neither man will soon forget.

Samir is a lot closer to forty than he is to fourteen. For all the good it does him -- when he's around cutie-pie Kerry, a waiter at his favorite happy hour hotspot, he feels more like a tween girl backstage with a boyband than any kind of upstanding professional. Especially when he's drunkenly inspired to write a letter to Santa Claus, in which he asks to find Kerry under his tree on Christmas morning. A wish that verges on coming true, even, until Kerry breaks their Christmas Eve date for the worst reason Samir has ever been called upon to pretend to believe. But Santa works in mysterious ways...

Michael Stein has been with Chris Bolster -- his Mr. Muscles -- for over a year. His dream man come to life, Michael is happy enough with their relationship. Except he and Chris only see each other once a month due to Chris's busy schedule, and Michael misses him desperately when he's away. And now, with Christmas right around the corner, Michael is pouting. Unofficially. Early on Christmas Eve morning, Chris informs Michael via Skype that he might not make it home in time for the holiday. As if that isn't bad enough, Chris teases him with a special surprise he'll be bringing with him. Not knowing what's coming, Michael prepares for the holiday and hopes for the best. When Chris manages to make it home on December 25th with the Best. Gift. Ever! , Michael knows this Christmas Day will be one to remember, for always.

Young Roy Shuster served five years in the Yuma, Arizona, prison, and when he's released on December 24, 1889, he revels in freedom at last. A local man, an ex-convict, takes him in and teaches him lovemaking. But Ray can't abide the prison's proximity and moves on to Tombstone where, despite a growing interest in a rancher named Clay Bowman, he causes more trouble than good. Can Clay see past Roy's youthful impulsiveness, even when it lands him in jail?

What's the best gift a young, single man could receive for Christmas? Mohawked punk Liam wouldn't have picked the hideous collection of homemade knitwear he's presented with by his well-meaning mum and aunties. He'd much rather have the gorgeous older man he sees every day while busking at King's Cross station. Liam's been doing his best to seduce the guy with his saxophone playing -- the trouble is, with the holidays coming up, he's beginning to despair of his message getting through. But with a little Christmas magic in the air, maybe those garish garments will be just the thing for attracting the attention of a silver fox...

My new boss is the most perfect woman I'd ever seen. Wisdom dictates one doesn't get involved with a colleague, but surely taking along a six-pack of her favorite beer when I deliver a report to her home after work won't be misconstrued? She invites me to stay for dinner. One thing leads to another, and we start doing things together outside the office. But as the weather cools and the holidays approach, she decides she wants to take our relationship to the next level. Do I?

Don't let the fashionable skirt and flawless make-up fool you -- Kellan is the straightest man in his drag troupe. By contrast, his favorite co-star, Casey, is one of the most effeminate gay men Kellan has ever met. Despite their differences, Kellan feels closer to him than anyone else outside his family. At their troupe's "Crossmas" party, where everyone and their partners have to attend in drag, a run-in with a carful of bigots gives Kellan and Casey a reason to get even closer. With the lines of sexuality already blurred, will Kellan be the same man by the end of the night, or will he get a gift from Casey that changes everything?

Due to an unexpected snowstorm, Joe finds himself stranded in New York City on Christmas Eve. After a lonely day, he returns to his hotel room to find a box of truffles and a note from Alan, a sexy and flirtatious barista. The note sends Joe on a once in a lifetime scavenger hunt touring some of the best pastry shops and chocolatiers in the city. The hunt ends in Alan's apartment, and when the two finally find themselves alone, things heat up. They awake on Christmas morning in each other's arms, but there's a problem. The storm has passed and Joe must catch his train back to Boston. Will their one-day romance be enough to keep them together, or will the demands of life pull them apart?

The men from Wild Ride are back! The holiday season has rolled around and, with fond memories, Mica Kettrick retrieves his little fake tree from the attic. But his husband of only a few months, Forrest, refuses to have such an unnatural thing decorating their house, insisting their tree be real. With a little outside help, the boys soon discover love is about more than the branches of a tree.

Ivan Tykovsky is a security guard at Hinkleman's Department store and has come to despise the shopping element of Christmas. The holiday season means his workload of apprehending shoplifters and breaking up fights over merchandise increases. When the Santa the store has booked shows up drunk, the six foot six, 240 pound, red-bearded Jewish giant is forced to stand in. Ivan isn't happy about the idea, but there's one compensation -- the diminutive Skip Mueller, an out-of-work actor who's been hired as one of Santa's elves. Skip comes to Ivan's rescue, coaching the big man through his dealings with the children. Ivan becomes an instant celebrity, and when a permanent replacement Santa is found, the store's customers demand Ivan's return. Will there be a special Christmas gift this year for a certain Jewish Santa and his special elf?

This New Year's Eve, parapsychology student Roxy Silverstein has signed up for a ghost watch in an old gothic church. It's supposed to be haunted by the restless spirit of Veronica Parker, a young socialite who died in mysterious circumstances at a millennium party sixteen years earlier. But soon after she arrives, Roxy is swept off her feet by a leather-clad adventuress named Eris King, a psychic detective who's convinced Veronica's death was murder, not the accident everyone believes it to be. There's a problem, though. Eris only has psychic visions when she's in the throes of orgasm, and she needs an assistant to help her with that. Scarcely believing her luck, Roxy jumps at the job. The pair make a great team, and soon discover the sinister truth behind Veronica's death. Will they live to tell anyone about it... or end up victims of the same cold-hearted killer?