Whenever Luis entered Lapp's Dutch Country Market on Saturday mornings in the fall, his heart felt lighter and his mind raced with all the wonderful possibilities the world possessed. The market's front porch was lined with shiny white Adirondack chairs, and the chairs were all filled with bright orange pumpkins and yellow and green gourds set in hay. On the floorboards beside the chairs were hardy mums in purple, yellow, orange, and pink. Life suddenly became so wonderful Luis couldn't contain his emotions. He wanted to hug everyone he passed.

Fall was the season that gave Luis the most energy and the widest smiles. Cool, crisp weather made him feel centered and balanced to the universe. This adorable market was to Luis what Xanax was to his Botox-loving, jetsetter gay friends in New York who spent drunken summer weekends on Fire Island and lost winter weekends in South Beach.

Though Luis considered himself a typical New York weekender in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and knew virtually no facts or details about the Amish way of life, anything that even remotely resembled the Pennsylvania Dutch took him away from his fast-paced existence as a model in New York. The sheer simplicity of what little he did know about Amish life warmed his heart. The modest setting they'd created at the country market not far from Cider Mill Farm made him breathe easier and wish he could one day live full time in Bucks County--at least part of the year.

Luis and Jase had arrived at Cider Mill Farm late that Friday night with Hunter, Camp, and Jase's grandmother from Alaska, Isabelle. It was such a busy fall season that it felt as if only days had passed between their return from Alaska in late August and Thanksgiving. Jase had made special plans the week before Thanksgiving that year, and Luis had to shop earlier than he normally would have so he'd be prepared. Luis had already stocked up on everything he needed in New York earlier that week and he'd carted it out to Cider Mill Farm in the car. But he still had to do some last-minute shopping for those little odds and ends at Lapp's Market on Saturday morning.

Luis had never been a one-stop shopper. He tended to travel from store to store, picking up individual items he thought each store specialized in.

This didn't make his life easier. Since Labor Day, Luis had had one modeling job after the other. He didn't complain; he was thrilled to have the work. In addition to that, he'd been taking cooking--or, as he and Isabelle liked to put it, cookery--classes with his friend Hillary three times a week, working hard on a winter ball for his favorite charity, The Angel Association, and managing to get his regular blog posts in on time for Elena's Romantic Treasures and Tidbits. All this combined with running two homes and raising a child who had just started kindergarten left Luis so exhausted he fell into bed each night and passed out until the alarm went off the next morning.

Jase, Luis's husband, had been just as busy. Aside from his regular duties of running his billion-dollar empire, he'd been working on a new invention that hadn't been going well. In fact, this was the first time Jase had started a new project and he'd refused so far to tell Luis what it was all about. It drove Luis out of his mind to watch Jase disappear into his home office off the living room in their New York home on 95th Street every night after dinner to work on the invention, especially when he knew nothing about what Jase was doing. It was all so top secret it made Luis clench his back teeth. Whenever Luis asked Jase about the new invention, Jase would kiss him and tell him he wasn't ready to talk about it yet.

At least Isabelle, bless her soul, had given Luis a short break. Jase, Hunter, and Luis had gone to Alaska for Halloween to spend a long weekend in their new dream home, and Isabelle had flown back to New York with them in early November. At first Luis had begged Isabelle to come out because he wanted to make sure she wasn't depressed about losing her son the previous summer. Jase's father, Barry Nicholas, had passed away so suddenly that summer he'd left them all in a state of shock. But when Isabelle finally arrived in New York and started devoting all her time to taking care of Hunter and the house while Luis and Jase went back to work, Luis realized they needed Isabelle around far more than she needed them.

Jase's mother, Mary Nicholas, wouldn't be arriving until Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. She was flying in with Preston, Isabelle's new boyfriend, who was twenty years younger than Isabelle. When summer ended, Mary had plunged into taking over the family business in Alaska, which Luis knew was partly because there was no one else to take over now that Jase's father was gone, and partly because she was grieving so hard she needed the distraction of work to keep her from falling apart. Luis and Jase spoke with Mary at least three times a week on the phone. She always put up a good front and told them she was fine and that she was getting along okay on her own. But they'd hang up, exchange glances, and Jase would say, "She's hurting so badly right now. I heard it in her voice." The hardest part was no one could do anything to make it better for her. They were planning on spending Christmas and New Year's in Alaska. But right now they just wanted to get through Thanksgiving, the first holiday without Jase's father.

Luis knew Jase had been mourning the death of his father in his own way, too. It tugged at Luis's heart to see the man he loved grieve so deeply and with so much intensity. But Luis also knew how difficult it was because he'd lost close family members himself, and he left Jase alone so he could work it all out on his own. They'd all been grieving over Barry's death, including Hunter. Poor Hunter had covered the dresser top in his bedroom with photos of his grandfather lined up in neat rows, and the last thing he did before he went to bed every night was say goodnight to Barry up in heaven.

But Luis's work load was lightening up for a while, at least until after Christmas. He only had two modeling jobs in December, and both were for clothing companies located in New York and would only take two or three days to shoot. Luis needed the break. He needed time to focus on Hunter and Jase, and time to focus on his cookery classes with Hillary and his blog posts for Elena. Luis and Hillary were planning to begin writing a cookbook, but they'd been putting it off until Luis wasn't so busy.

When Luis entered Lapp's Market that Saturday morning, he pulled his small shopping list out of his pocket and grabbed a small cart near the entrance. When he stepped inside and his shoes touched the wide barn planks and he gazed down at the large wooden display crate filled with Cinderella pumpkins, he took a deep breath and sighed. He'd already filled the walkways, the kitchen, and entrances at Cider Mill Farm with bright orange pumpkins and colorful mums that he'd been collecting at farm stands between Pennsylvania and New York since early October. He'd arranged corn stalks and bales of hay from the back door to the barn. He'd even put up a scarecrow with Hunter near the pool. He didn't need one more thing as far as fall decorations went. But Luis couldn't resist a Cinderella pumpkin when he saw one, especially not the ones in the pale peachy beige with light green stripes.

So he picked up four big pumpkins and placed them gently in his shopping cart. They would be perfect for his Thanksgiving table. He'd use them in large rectangular baskets, with small gourds and dried corn he'd found at a market in New York. He wanted to keep everything organic that year: just the things that grew naturally in the fall and could go back to nature when it was all over. Even the wreaths on all the doors in Cider Mill Farm were made out of corn husks that could be tossed into the woodlands behind Cider Mill Farm without harming the environment.

On his way to the produce section, Luis passed a display of homemade Pennsylvania Dutch apple butter and he put four jars into his cart. He'd never had apple butter; he wasn't even sure what it was. It didn't look like a dairy product. But the little bell-shaped jars with checkered lids and bright green bows looked so festive he couldn't resist. He would line them up on the kitchen window sill over the sink, along with the miniature pumpkins and gourds. His handyman, Cory, would think he'd lost his mind. Cory had already said there was so much Thanksgiving stuff around the house it was hard to move without something getting in the way. But Luis knew what he was doing. This Thanksgiving was the first holiday that Barry wouldn't be with them and it wasn't going to be easy for anyone. Luis figured that if he made Cider Mill Farm look as festive and cheerful as possible, it might make things easier on everyone. He especially wanted it easier for Jase, Mary, and Isabelle.

When he noticed the tall display of Pennsylvania Dutch spice cookies, he grabbed a few boxes of them, too. He also picked up two large wet bottom shoo-fly pies and set them in his cart. He wouldn't eat them himself, but he knew Jase and Hunter would smile and fill their bellies. Though Luis usually frowned upon sugary snacks for Hunter, he'd already decided to let his rules slide a little over the Thanksgiving holiday. Hunter's private school had off the whole week before Thanksgiving, and Luis and Jase had cleared their calendars. Though they went out to Cider Mill Farm every weekend, this was the first full week they would actually spent in the country since last year and Luis wanted it to be a relaxed time, without any pressure.

By the time Luis glanced down at his shopping list, he realized his cart was almost full and he still hadn't picked up the three things on his list he'd come in for. He had to get fresh cranberries, those cute little watermelon radishes Jase loved so much, and about eight loaves of this special Pennsylvania Dutch corn bread made with yeast that was only sold at Lapp's Market. The corn bread was for the turkey stuffing that Isabelle was going to make, and Luis wanted to buy it early so he could put it in a large basket and let it get stale before Wednesday.

After Luis found the three things on his list, he had to go to the butcher's counter to double check that the free-range organic turkey he'd ordered would be ready on time. This year he'd ordered a twenty-eight-pound bird. They were having a lot of people at Cider Mill Farm and Luis didn't want to take any chances. Aside from Luis, Jase, Hunter, and Isabelle, Mary and Preston were flying in. Luis's identical twin brother, Gage, was driving out from New York on Wednesday. Gage had started nursing school in New York and Luis hadn't seen much of him since last summer. Then there was Cory the handyman, who was Gage's boyfriend now. They'd been seeing each other since summer and they seemed to be getting along very well.

Luis also had to invite his two neighbors at the end of the easement road, The Reverend von Klingensmith and Ted Barker. Even though Ted Barker had slept with Gage one time, they'd worked it all out and there would be no awkwardness. Luis had also invited their good friends, Josh and Roland, their son Justin, and his mother Hillary. Besides them, Luis had invited Ben and Percy from New York, too. They weren't the best of friends anymore, but Luis didn't want them spending Thanksgiving alone in New York. On top of all this, Rand and Rob, their good friends from California, were arriving on Wednesday morning. Altogether, this was one of the largest crowds Luis had ever cooked for and he didn't want any mistakes.

As Luis rounded the produce aisle, he smiled at a nice middle-aged gay couple who were filling their cart with cans of pumpkin puree they'd been picking out of a large straw-lined bin with an orange gingham ribbon border. It was the fifth gay couple Luis had noticed since he'd entered the market. Another reason why Luis loved Lapp's Market so much was because it catered to a lot of the gay couples in Bucks County. Many were weekenders from New York or Philadelphia just like him. Though the prices were slightly higher than the local supermarkets, the festive country atmosphere drew a more refined crowd that seemed to crave and appreciate a slower pace. There were no coupons or blue-light special deals, but there was peace of mind, which to Luis was worth far more than fifty cents off a can of tomatoes. Luis worked so hard sometimes his body twitched at night when he climbed into bed, and he liked that kind of relaxation when he wasn't working. At Lapp's Market, shopping became more of an event to look forward to than a chore. And it was hard to beat the fresh organic fruits and veggies, not the mention the quality of the meats and baked goods.

When Luis reached the meat counter, he glanced into the back room where the butchers worked and smiled at one of the humpy Lapp sons. This market was a family-owned business and every single member of the Lapp family worked there in one capacity or another. The mother and sisters baked pies and bread and cakes. The father and brothers did everything from meat to produce. There were aunts, uncles, and cousins; grandparents and great aunts.

But Luis's favorite Lapp was the cute young guy at the meat counter. He was about six feet tall, with short dark hair and deep brown eyes. Although he always wore a white apron, it was evident he had a muscular, stocky body, with a nice, firm bubble ass. He also had large hands and thick fingers, two traits in a man Luis that made Luis's knees weak. When he smiled at Luis, he had two dimples that made him look sweet and innocent.

Luis wasn't sure if the Lapp family was true Amish or not, and there was no way he could ask without coming off as obnoxious. He'd never seen any of the Lapps ride buggies or horses. They seemed to embrace electricity and modern conveniences fairly well. But the women did wear those cute little white caps and long cotton dresses, and some of the men did have those sexy, thick Abe Lincoln beards without mustaches. Luis knew this was kinky; he knew it was wrong and he'd probably go to hell for thinking it. But there was something about the Amish men with those beards that made him want to pull down his pants, wrap his legs around them, and go for a horse-and-buggy ride while he gorged on wet bottom shoo-fly pie.

The Lapp boy at the meat counter, Bobby, didn't have a beard, though. His handsome face was clean shaven and his haircut looked more expensive than Luis's. Luis noticed his watch was a Movado and he wore an expensive gold ring on his right pinkie with a stone that looked like a yellow diamond. There was a white diamond in his left ear. When Bobby spotted Luis peering over the glass meat counter, he set down the raw chicken he was dismembering and wiped his large hands on a rag. He crossed to the counter and smiled. "What can I do for you today, Mr. Fortune? I'm all yours."

Bobby had the cutest Pennsylvania Dutch accent, almost European, but not quite. When he used words like "back," it sounded like "bee-ack." It always made Luis smile. "I'd like to pick up a few steaks or something we can throw on the grill for dinner tonight, and I'd also like to double check my turkey order. I just want to make sure it's going to be ready on time. I won't be picking it up. Jase's grandmother will be getting it, and I don't want any surprises." Jase's big surprise was that Luis and Jase were going away to a cabin in Pennsylvania Dutch Country for a few days before Thanksgiving and they wouldn't be returning until late Wednesday afternoon. Isabelle would be picking up the turkey on Wednesday afternoon and said she'd be fine getting things ready for Thanksgiving Day on her own.

Luis and Jase needed to get away. They'd had been so busy their love life had come down to a Luis giving Jase a quick blow job in the shower, or Jase bending Luis over in front of the bathroom mirror for a quick boink on his way to work once a week. So Jase thought it would be nice to get away for a few days at a cabin in the woods that belonged to a new employee of Jase's, and Luis couldn't have agreed more. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. With Isabelle around to take care of Hunter and Camp and help with Thanksgiving, they didn't have a thing to worry about.

Adorable Bobby opened a notebook behind the counter and checked a list of turkey orders. From what Luis could see, it was a long list, too. "I have you down for a twenty-eight-pound bird. Pickup on Wednesday afternoon," he said. Then he closed the book and gazed at Luis's lips for a second. "Looks like you're going to get a really big, fat bird this year."

Luis knew Bobby was flirting with him. He always did this when Luis came around. There was something so fascinating about Bobby's Pennsylvania Dutch heritage Luis couldn't explain, so he usually flirted right back. "I'm going to need the biggest one I can get. The bigger, the better." Bobby seemed so wholesome and clean. Luis wouldn't have cheated on Jase for anything, but he couldn't help himself from flirting once in a while.

"Then you'll get the biggest one I have. Now let's get you something for dinner tonight." Bobby reached down into the meat counter and pulled out a long, thick Polish sausage. He lifted it and said, "I'll bet you'd like some of this. It's fresh and very tasty." He wiggled his eyebrows and laughed.

Luis laughed and shook his head at the obnoxious sausage in Bobby's hands. He couldn't help laughing. "I was going to get a few steaks. But that does look very tempting. I haven't had one like that in a long time." Oh, Luis knew he was being just as bad. But the smile on Bobby's face was too adorable to resist. Besides, if Jase had been there he would have been cheering Luis on and loving every minute of it. Though Luis didn't agree, Jase had the impression the whole Pennsylvania Dutch thing with the Lapp family was just a gimmick to get them customers. Jase said they were about as Amish as he was, driving around in their Cadillac Escalades they kept hidden behind the market. And ever since Jase and Luis had had sex with Rand and Rob on that camping trip to California, they'd joked around a lot about getting together with other guys. They hadn't yet. Rand and Rob had been the only guys they'd shared sex with so far. But they both agreed that if an opportunity came along and they both felt comfortable about it, they'd do it again with the right guy.

Bobby ran his fingers up and down the length of the sausage very slowly. He squeezed it a few times and smirked. "How much would you like today? Looks like I've at least got about twelve inches for you."

Luis sent him a big smile. "I'll take all you've got in your hand."

"Are you sure you can handle all this? That's about four pounds. It's a lot of meat."

"Just wrap it up, Bobby," Luis said. He laughed. "I can handle anything you have, trust me."

Bobby smiled and said, "I'll bet you can. And let me know when you're ready to check out. I'll take care of you myself and help you load the bags into your car." Then he wrapped the big sausage up in brown paper and set it on top of the counter with a thud and a great big smile.

About fifteen minutes later, Luis glanced at the meat counter and nodded at Bobby. Luis had been picking up a few more things for salad that night and Bobby must have been watching him the entire time. The minute Luis nodded, Bobby practically jumped over the meat counter and ran across the store. There was a lull at the checkout counter, so Bobby guided Luis to one of the closed counters at the very end and said he would ring him up there. After that, he bagged Luis's groceries, closed the checkout counter again, and escorted Luis out to his car.

Luis pointed the key at the car and opened the trunk. "It's nice of you to help me out this way, Bobby. I appreciate it." Luis could have carried those bags out himself, but he liked the way Bobby seemed to so eager to help him.

Bobby smiled and walked up to the open trunk. "It's no problem at all, Mr. Fortune. It gives me a chance to get another look at this hot car. I love it."

Luis had been driving the new Porsche Panamera Jase had given him early last summer. The car had looked silly in Alaska, but in Bucks County, where it wasn't unusual to see Rolls Royces or Bentleys, no one gave the Panamera a second glance. "Why don't you call me Luis instead of Mr. Fortune? You make me sound like an old man." Although Bobby couldn't have been more than twenty, Luis wasn't even thirty yet. He was close, but not quite.

"Okay, Luis," said Bobby. He set the groceries and the Cinderella pumpkins in the trunk and closed the lid with a gentle, cautious snap, as if slamming too hard might harm the car. Then he turned, set his palm on the small of Luis's back, and guided Luis to the driver's side of the car.

When Bobby opened the door, Luis tilted his head sideways and said, "Well. I have to admit that's service I don't get all the time." The hand on Luis's back had left Luis's mouth wide open. Bobby had flirted and joked around before. But he'd never actually touched him with this kind of aggression.

Bobby's hand went a little lower and he rested it on the top of Luis's ass. "This isn't the kind of service I give all the time either. You're special. I look forward to seeing you every week on Saturday mornings."

This was one of those times Luis wished he knew more about the Amish. He didn't think they were allowed to be gay. As far as he knew, the straight Amish weren't even allowed to have premarital sex. But Luis wasn't the one coming on to Bobby, and Luis's hand wasn't on Bobby's backside. So Luis reached up and squeezed Bobby's bicep. "Thank you. It's nice to have a big, strong guy like you helping out."

Bobby squeezed Luis's ass harder, and not once--three or four times.

Luis blinked. He hadn't expected this. Good thing he'd parked on the end where no one could see them.

"If you ever need anything," Bobby said. "You know where to find me."

Then Bobby slapped Luis's ass so hard Luis lurched forward. Bobby jogged back to the market and left Luis standing there with his eyes wide open and his lips parted.

Luis couldn't wait to get home and tell Jase all about this little event. The last time Luis had mentioned to Jase that he thought the Amish guy named Bobby at the Dutch market was flirting with him Jase just laughed it off, waved his arm, and said Luis was imagining things again. But there was no way he could have imagined what had just happened with Bobby Lapp.