Off the Menu

At Sanctuary Lake, the menu includes flirting, passion, and jam. So much jam.

As the head chef at Sanctuary Lake Retreat, it's my job to feed hungry guests my particular brand of medicine-home-cooked food from local ingredients, done my way.

The best way, obviously.

When my assistant goes on maternity leave, my boss forces me to hire a local to fill the opening. Nick Riopelle is easygoing, talented, and hardworking, with a passion for jam, of all things. He's also so charming I'm tempted to break my one firm rule: no kitchen hookups. I broke it once, with disastrous results. Good thing I'm strong enough to resist Nick's kind blueberry-colored eyes, fascinating tattoos, and sexy bald head.

Until one frozen winter day when all my resolve melts like marshmallows in hot chocolate.

Suddenly, Nick and I are turning up the heat-strictly after hours, of course. It turns out we make a pretty good team both in and out of the kitchen.

But when my entire family-including my celebrity-chef mom-shows up at the retreat for a week of content creation, all my sensible reasons for not getting involved with Nick are thrown back in my face, and our relationship suddenly seems as fragile as spun sugar.

We won't make it, unless Nick and I can write a new recipe for our future. Together.

Take a trip to Sanctuary Lake, where you can fall off the grid and fall in love. Off The Menu is a steamy, cozy gay workplace romance, with low angst, comfort food, and lots of jam.