However, before she can start a new life in California, she has one important step left to take. Somehow she has to tell her childhood friend Marissa that a life without her wouldn't be a life worth living at all.

    She has spent most of her life bouncing from job to job in an effort to avoid taking her place running her family's restaurant. Nothing has ever kept her attention for very long. Nothing, that is, until she meets shy pastry chef, Jori Diamantina.

    The trauma of Sydney's dark childhood is something she would do anything to forget. Now only nineteen, she's trying to start over with a new life and a new name, but you can't escape the past...Caroline is the most stunning woman Sydney has ever seen. Every night, Sydney hears her singing from her apartment window, and every night, Sydney's heart aches with something indescribable. When Caroline offers singing lessons, Sydney jumps at the chance to be in the captivating woman's presence...but her desire for Caroline can't be hidden. And Caroline is over twice her age. Through Caroline's gentle instruction, Sydney finds her voice again. The broken girl feels like she's starting to mend. But her infatuation with Caroline is reaching a fevered pitch...Will Sydney lose everything if Caroline finds out the girl is in love with her?Provocative, passionate and achingly raw, THE LONGING, the latest romance from best-selling author Bridget Essex, explores the unbreakable human heart in a love story that you'll never forget.59,500 words

    His apartment is always a wreck, he works at a sewage plant, and he’s an abrasive jerk to just about everyone. When he's not out drinking and hooking up with strangers, he trolls people on the Internet for lulz. His life changes when he finds out a victim of his trolling lives right next door. Noah is super hot and disarmingly nice. In spite of himself, Oscar starts to fall for him. All he has to do is make sure Noah never discovers the truth behind his trollish ways. This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love is an Open Road" event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story. Photo Description: Photo 1: A macho guy with black hair and a scruffy face stares derisively into the camera. He’s wearing a tank top that shows off a couple of tattoos and a nice body. His mirrored sunglasses make it hard to tell if the expression on his face is a malicious sneer or a mischievous smirk.Photo 2: A nice-looking young man wearing a jean jacket. He has soft brown hair and soulful brown eyes, which are directed bashfully away from the camera.This story may contain sexually explicit content and is intended for adult readers. It may contain content that is disagreeable or distressing to some readers. The M/M Romance Group strongly recommends that each reader review the General Information section before each story for story tags as well as for content warnings.

    Even the cat was perfect. When his partner of eight years decides he wants something else—something that doesn’t involve Skip or the apartment or even the cat—Skip decides it’s time to go home to the other side of the country.However, Skip’s hometown doesn’t just hold a loving meddling mother but also the memories of his awkward crush on a boy he met his senior year in high school. A boy he humiliated himself in front of just when it looked as if his fantasies might become reality. Finding out Paul Miller is now working at the same high school where Skip has just been hired flips his world upside down. After a heated night together, Skip is happy being friends with benefits. Paul will have to convince him love is worth the risk.

    Shane is the opposite of Mason in every way, he's beautiful, athletic, and lives his life to the fullest.Sparks fly when the polar opposites come together, but it will be up to the bookworm to shut down his e-reader and go after the beauty if he wants to love someone outside the pages of a book.

    Gorgeous silver fox, Evan Paige, is way out of Stevie's league, however, not to mention the chief has always been a ladies' man, but when Stevie turns twenty-one, he decides he's tired of only daydreaming about Evan. He wants a real taste of that sugar daddy, even if it means turning the flirt factor up a notch or ten to make it happen. This 36k word novella has pee-in-your-pants humor, peel-the-paint-off-the-walls steam, and a smidgie-poo of hand-on-chest swooning.

    All of that takes a backseat when her lover beckons. Lonnie is blond, beautiful, and willing. She’s also married and a lifelong friend of KC’s mama.KC knows the affair is a bad idea, but she just can’t help herself. When presented with the lush landscape of Lonnie’s body, KC subscribes to the philosophy of “orgasm first, think later.” Unfortunately, a secret that big is impossible to keep in a close-knit community where everybody knows everybody else’s business. The scandal would hurt her entire family.Emma is KC’s exception, the one woman she loves enough to not have sex with. When Emma confesses that she’s loved KC since high school, KC is terrified. One wrong move and she could lose Emma completely.Is she willing to let her family pay the price for her good time? Or will she turn to Emma to discover the true meaning of love and devotion?

    Twenty-something Meg McTiernan is all about her career when her house hunt unexpectedly lands her at Bay West—a lesbian mecca tucked away in the suburbs of NYC—and her social life is given a turbo boost. There’s a pool, a softball league, even a nightclub practically in her backyard. In this loaded environment, finding the right girl just got a lot more interesting. Case in point: law student Lexi Russo grew up at Bay West and is about to start an internship at the law firm of another local, self-assured, sexy Jesse Ducane. Lexi’s had a crush on Jesse forever, but Jesse’s the one Bay West woman she can’t possibly have. And not just because she’s her boss. Together, new friends Meg and Lexi navigate romances, fun flirtations, juicy gossip, tons of drama, and maybe just the right amount of true love.

    The life she had, the woman she loved, the future she was planning for, were stolen from her the day she and her lover were shot. The only survivor, Brie has "recovered" two years later, at least that's how it seems to others. She is dedicated to her work, volunteering in the community, and researching her next historical novel. Yet she hasn't laughed since the tragedy. Until the day she meets Jordan.Skateboarding to show her two kids how an expert does it, Jordan Carter can’t believe her bad luck when she collides with beautiful blond Brie and meets her later at the hospital. A carpenter and partner in the family business, Jordan has also struggled to pull her life together after a tragedy.Neither woman is looking for or expects a second chance at love but each must make a decision about the past that will open a door to the future.

    But Corey's life is turned upside down when a car accident tragically claims Judy's life. Two years later, still broken and reeling from her painful loss, Corey moves from her home in Lansing, Michigan, to Grand Lake, Colorado. There, she hopes to begin healing.Erin Flannery and her Aunt Tess are co-owners of Grand Lake's Rainbow Lodge. Erin questions Tess's immediate hiring of Corey as the lodge's new maintenance worker-but then it takes a lot for a woman to earn Erin's trust. Afraid to put her heart on the line after her partner's betrayal five years before, Erin is not ready for any long-term commitment and covers her pain with meaningless one-night stands.Although Corey and Erin start out on shaky ground, as the summer months go by their friendship slowly grows into something more. Will Corey take a leap of faith and allow love to enter her heart again? And will Erin stop running long enough to trust a woman who seems almost too good to be true?Against the backdrop of the magnificent Rocky Mountains, Corey and Erin must decide: will they let fear rule their lives-or will they simply let go and dance another dance with love.

    Her job as a reporter at a small Boston news station and her love life are going nowhere, but the thing that worries her most is the fact that Erin has started seeing things. Specifically, a tall, winged shadow following her wherever she goes. Afraid that she might be losing her mind, Erin ignores the shadow—until she's nearly hit by a car. It's then that she realizes it's not simply a shadow but her guardian angel, a beautiful female angel named Gabrielle, with turquoise eyes and a teasing smile that makes Erin's heart race. Gabrielle reveals herself to Erin in order to protect her from an unknown, impending danger, and since it might happen at any moment, Gabrielle never leaves Erin's side. As the two women become closer, love begins to grow... But relationships between angels and humans are forbidden. Will Gabrielle risk falling from grace in order to experience the depths of her feelings for Erin? Or will an unseen celestial force drive the two women apart? The Guardian Angel is a lighthearted, heartwarming romance about trust, fate, and new beginnings. It is approximately 58,000 words.

    Along with the half dozen or so novels he's started, only to abandon mid-way through, his love life could be best described as a series of drive-bys. Boone has spent the past week staying at a ski lodge in the tiny mountain town of Summit City. He's been using his time alone to write while waiting for his boyfriend to join him for their anniversary. What happens to Boone when he winds up dumped on the eve of his one-year anniversary and ends up at a bar having one too many cocktails? Wade Walker.previously published in the anthology Melting the Slopes

    Yes, he’s still too tall, too skinny, too dorky, too gay, and has that unfortunate addiction to romance novels, but he’s wised up. His One True Love is certainly still out there, but he knows now that real life is nothing like fiction. He’s cultivated the necessary fortitude to say “no” to the next Mr. Wrong, no matter how hot, exciting, and/or erotic-novel-worthy he may be.Until he meets Ian.Ian’s a new man. He’s pain-free, has escaped the job he hated and the family who stifled him, and is now—possibly—ready to dip his toe into the sea of relationships. He’s going to be cautious, though, maybe start with someone who knows the score and isn’t looking for anything too complicated. Someone with experience and simple needs that largely revolve around the bedroom.Until he meets Sam.Sam’s convinced that Ian is no one’s Mr. Right. Ian’s sure that Sam isn’t his type. They can’t both be wrong . . . can they?

    Her sometimes-costar Robyn Ward is magnetic, glamorous, and devastatingly beautiful, the quintessential A-List celebrity on the fast-track to super-stardom. When the two meet on the set of 9th Precinct, Caid is instantly infatuated but settles for friendship, positive that Robyn is both unavailable and uninterested. Soon Caid sees that all is not as it appears, but can she take a chance and risk her heart when the outcome is so uncertain?