The Map Home by Elle Keaton

Stolen toys and a naughty St. Nick. Will a holiday crime spree bring two hearts together?

Ask Dakota and he’ll say the wall around his heart is high and the moat deep for a reason. Love is a lie.
If Tad knows one single truth, it’s that Dakota is his personal North Star. Dakota, the boy Tad bonded with at fourteen, has grown into Dakota, the man he loves. The second, more frustrating truth, is that Dakota is one of the most stubborn people on the planet.
Dakota craves a simple existence. Work. Sleep. Eat. Hang out with his best friend. Keep things platonic. No one knows him better than Tad.
The holidays have arrived, and it’s supposed to be a time of celebration, but some blackhearted person steals the donations to the town toy box. Dakota finds himself working the case of the purloined toys, while Tad fills in at the town newspaper. It’s inevitable their paths will cross.
Tad is fine with crossing paths–and more. Is it going too far adding Dakota Green to the top of his Christmas wish list?

And what will it take for Dakota to realize that he deserves happiness? That Tad, the person who knows him best, is the one for him?