A catfishing prank makes a cynical author question everything he thought he knew about himself when his blind date he met online doesn’t turn out to be who he thought.

Resigned to be an eternal bachelor, horror author Zak Sinclair lives a no-nonsense life full of deadlines, all nighters, and take out. But with his sister’s constant nagging and his mother’s eternal worrying about him being alone forever, he relents and signs up for a dating app, with minimal expectations of actually meeting someone.

Robbie Bishop is a contractor by day and exotic dancer by night. When one of his regulars comes into the high end club on the Vegas Strip to let him know he’s getting married, Jake is thrilled for him. With some prodding from the customer, Robbie decides to sign up for a dating app. You’d think it would be easy for a gay single father of two to find a date in Vegas, but apparently not. And apparently he came off as desperate.

But Robbie feels like he made the right call when he starts chatting with Zak. He’s funny, a little quirky, but seems like an actual decent human being. After a couple weeks of talking, they decide to meet up at a fancy restaurant outside town, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Things don’t go according to plan though Robbie Jake shows up.

When Zac agreed to the date, he hadn’t realized the man he’d been talking to was a man. He’s angry and doesn’t want to cause a scene in the restaurant, but he’s not above confronting Robbie about his deception. In the middle of their argument, Zak got a text saying “April Fools!” He felt like an idiot, but didn't know how to salvage the night.

But in Vegas, where everything is a crapshoot, sometimes the best hands are the ones you think are a flop.

FOOL ME ONCE is an age gap m/m gay-for-you/bi-awakening romance featuring a fish out of water that only a fool wouldn’t one-click.