Now, during the summer between high school graduation and going away to college, Mal wants to take control of his life and make some improvements...starting with making a new friend. Wes, the boy across the street, quickly becomes both friend and a sort of mentor to Mal. With Wes's patient guidance and example, Mal's breaking free of his life-long shy shell and taking chances. Mal is also feeling free enough to start listening to the tiny voice inside him that whispers his attraction to Wes. After years of denying it, could Mal be gay after all? Self-acceptance comes easy for Mal with Wes by his side. What about telling Mal's parents? What about being out at college? Mal's about to undergo some very challenging times as he grows up fast and must decide what he'll stand for and against. (AUTHOR'S NOTE: This an extensively expanded second edition of this book.)

    Their easy camaraderie continues with no problems until David discovers an undercurrent of heat and tension flowing between them. Despite knowing his best friend is straight, David is slowly falling in love. What he doesn't know is that Trace is struggling with a similar discovery.Trace has never desired another man before. He's a ladies' man with quite the reputation, considered a top prize around town. But his close, treasured friendship with David makes the emotion and arousal growing between them irresistible. Soothing David's doubts, Trace makes it clear that he wants to know if they can make it work. Because Trace is sure he wouldn't love another man -- that's not the issue. He just loves David.

    Working Chicago's O'Hare airport, he feels pretty confident when he spots his next mark. Security expert Rhone Quinn can't believe the wiry kid who grabs his cell phone almost gets away with it. Logic says turn the teen over to the cops, but Rhone is a man who trusts his instincts, and his gut tells him to offer the young man a job and a chance to begin a new life. Little does Rhone know that when he makes that choice it will forever change his life, too. Over the years that follow a mentor relationship turns into a unique, abiding friendship. It eventually leads to true equality between Rhone and Adam when Adam becomes a full partner in Quinn Security.Unbeknownst to Rhone, as time passes by, Adam is also falling deeply in love. With Rhone. Who isn't gay. And who doesn't know that Adam is. Then, one day, Rhone discovers the truth. Will Rhone's new awareness of Adam's feelings bind the men together even more intimately, or tear them apart for good? Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable - male/male sexual practices.

    Colleagues at work and close friends, though on the surface it's an unexpected friendship between an odd couple. While Zane took the "high school to college to med school" track, medicine is Eli's second career and the best choice he ever made. He has work that he loves, an extended second family of colleagues and friends, and Zane. So why does everyone make such a big deal about the pair of them? Yes, they spend a lot of time together. It doesn't mean they're a real couple. When teased about it one too many times by their colleagues, Zane challenges Eli to set the record straight with a kiss to prove there's absolutely no chemistry between them. Neither expected a spark to ignite between them. More than a spark. Desire. Passion. Zane wants to try getting up close and personal again to see if it was a one-time fluke or something more. Eli thinks he's too old to jump the fence now, but he can't say no to Zane and he doesn't want to. Truth be told, Eli's not so sure they can set the record straight after all.

    There's only one itty bitty problem—the guy’s not exactly gay. In fact, Jordan Channing is looking for a PI to follow his fiancée. The smart thing would be to thank Jordan for his time, turn Mr. Perfect away (don’t let the door hit you on the rump, thank you very much), and forget he exists.Of course, Mackenzie has never been accused of doing the smart thing. Being smart aleck is more his MO. Relationships aren’t up his alley, never have been. So why’s he so inexplicably drawn to his new client?Jordan has always been the high achiever, a man who lives in a focused, controlled, and carefully constructed manner. But for the first time in his life, he has to admit the impossible—another man is getting his engine running on all cylinders. Despite Jordan’s denial, it’s not long before he can no longer resist the strong undercurrents pulling them together. Now Jordan must decide if he can go against everything he’s ever known to have the only love he’s ever wanted.

    But lately, Rafferty’s imagination has been creating fantasies about Nick—more specifically, about Nick and him together—that have shocked Rafferty. Detailed erotic scenarios a thirty-something, set-in-his-ways straight man shouldn’t be imagining. He’s been struggling to keep them secret, afraid that if Nick discovers the truth it will end their friendship. But with each passing day it’s getting harder and harder to pretend Nick is “just” a friend. And harder and harder for Rafferty to come to terms with the possibility he might not be as straight as he’s always believed.Nick’s always known he’s gay and he’s had deep feelings for Rafferty for years. But after a difficult experience at his former police precinct in Boston, he decided when he moved to Maine to keep his sexual orientation under wraps on the job. He wants to be acknowledged at work for what he can do, not who he’s doing. And with Rafferty being straight, there’s always been a clear-cut line that Nick’s known he can’t cross with his unsuspecting partner and best friend. And yet...for the past few months it’s become difficult to remember that line. He’s not sure why, he just knows that for the first time in four years his heart and his body are urging him to go for what he really wants...Rafferty.When a stormy weekend trip on Rafferty’s boat gives birth to an unexpected night of passion, will it be the spark they need to forge a new and deeper relationship? Or will Nick’s past and Rafferty’s fear drive a wedge between them that will destroy not only their barely-begun love affair, but their partnership and friendship as well?

    Vince is a dedicated biology student and a bit of a loner. Superstar quarterback Carson is larger than life, and he lives under a public microscope. There’s no way they should work. But Vince is learning that sometimes people just come steamrolling into your life and all you can do is hang on for the ride or lose your heart in the process. If their relationship can survive the fallout when an injury derails Carson’s future plans, maybe Vince can finally find something to believe in.

    His life is perfect until he gets a phone call that brings it all crashing down: a car accident takes his parents, and now he must return to Austin to raise three teenage brothers he barely knows.During the funeral, Ben meets Travis Atwood, the redneck neighbor with a huge heart. Their relationship initially runs hot and cold, from contentious to flirtatious, but when the weight of responsibility starts wearing on Ben, he turns to Travis, and the pressure shapes their friendship into something that feels a lot like love. Ben thinks he’s found a way to have his old life, his new life, and Travis too, but love isn’t always easy. Will he learn to recognize that sometimes the worst thing imaginable can lead him to the place he was meant to be?

    Antoine's Parish Louisiana, but he knows what he wants. He's been in love with the girl of his dreams, reclusive and mysterious artist Ran Yamane, since junior high school. And now he has the chance to meet her. He's going to chuck everything and travel 1,500 miles to Anime Expo in Long Beach to tell her, and no one and nothing is going to stand in his way. Ran Yamane is not a girl, but he gets that a lot. People come to him with teddy bears and chocolates and disappointment by the truckload. He's trusted fans in the past and been tragically wrong. So when he meets Rory he's understandably wary, but resigned. What he's not prepared for is his magnetic attraction to the young man, Rory's apparent willingness to overlook his gender, and the fact that their lives are both thrown into chaos when his number one fan (and psycho stalker) shows up to get revenge. Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: Anal play/intercourse, violence.

    Thanks to that never-back-down spirit, they're about to share more than they bargained for.The game is gay chicken. The rule: get as close as possible without kissing, and the one that pulls away first is the loser. The problem: neither of them likes to lose. It isn't long before the game becomes an excuse to touch and kiss in every possible forbidden way. And after they pose for a gay website to earn extra money, things really heat up.Suddenly Duke is talking lifetime commitment, and Mav is backpedaling as hard as he can, not sure if he's ready to accept all his best friend is offering him. Or the truth about what he is.

    He certainly doesn't expect to end up working as Jake's assistant for five frustrating, thrilling, and crazy years instead of in front of the camera.It all works until Jake realizes Aaron has become the focus of his life, a life that's threatened when Aaron actually leaves him to start a relationship with someone else. Though it breaks his heart, Jake realizes he has to set his beloved muse free to have any chance of winning Aaron back.Reprint: This short story was originally published in the Dreamspinner Press anthology Size Still Matters.

    Simple handyman. Can they find common ground? Will Spencer is a player with a reputation for using and discarding lovers as easily as he earns big money on Wall Street. Handsome, sexy and openly gay, he’s used to having whatever—and whoever—he wants at the snap of his fingers. And what he wants now is his new handyman, Jack Crawford. But Jack is skittish. One lingering touch, one stolen kiss could send the older man into full retreat. Where Will might have quickly moved on to a more ready-and-willing partner, he unexpectedly finds himself wanting to go slow. With just a little coaxing, he’s sure he can show Jack how good it could be between them. Jack, a recent widower, never thought of himself as gay. Frightened years ago by an erotic encounter with his best friend, he focused firmly on his marriage. Now that his bed is empty, however, those deep sexual longings are rising dangerously close to the surface. Their connection is deep, instant, and one that Jack tries to ignore. Yet friendship grows into an erotic journey that must cross a divide of different generations, backgrounds and worlds. The prize is the one thing neither is sure he can handle—true love.

    Until he meets a smooth talking bad boy who makes him question his entire belief system.Darcy Butler is a fish out of water (or in his case a Duck out of Oregon), and he is suffocating in the humid New Orleans' heat. Dissatisfied with his career, his life, he is homesick and heartbroken. But above all Darcy is straight. Or so he believes until he meets the drop-dead gorgeous photographer he wants to hire to revamp the art department of the e-magazine he co-owns with his former lover.Caleb Mitchell, bad boy extraordinaire lives life on the edge. He's been around the world covering murder and mayhem. Back in New Orleans to tend his dying mother, Caleb is worn down by grief and his own mortality. He seeks the diversion of playing art director of a small local e-magazine to help keep him sane. He doesn't expect the instant attraction to the bright-eyed editor/owner. That Darcy is deeply closeted and possibly straight doesn't matter to Caleb. Because when Caleb wants something, there is nothing going to stand in his way.Not even Darcy.A jealous ex, the hot summer nights, and the secrets Caleb carefully hides behind iron lace tattoos could just be Darcy's undoing.

    Eight years later, when Jace finally decides Quent is the one man he can't live without, he sees no reason for that to change.But as much as Jace believes that poker is life, no one gave Quent the same playbook. After their first passionate night, the real game of love and trust begins, and Jace has been playing alone too long to make teaching the rules easy. Jace only speaks two languages: one of them is sex, and the other one is poker. Between the two, he needs to find a way to convince himself to take a chance on love—and Quent to take a chance on him. It's a lucky thing they’re good at reading the odds, because they’re playing for keeps, and this is one high-stakes relationship that's definitely worth the gamble.

    He's trying to get on with his life, build a life for his children. Former Homicide Detective Matt Haight is a ladies’ man, all sex/no commitment. He's depressed, having a midlife crisis, and not sure where his life is headed.The two find friendship in the bottom of a shared bottle. When the friendship turns to love, it shakes two straight men to the core and flips their lives inside out. Kids, families, careers that are not gay-friendly -- can all the love in the world overcome the obstacles to faith and fidelity?