He’s all alone. The only thing that saves him from facing that stark reality is the fact that he isn’t really alone at all. He has a house full of pets and a refuge full of stray unwanted animals he spends every waking hour trying to place in homes. While he loves what he does with all the joy in his heart, that same poor aging heart is still missing something. And Eddie knows exactly what it is. Romance.But wait. Cue the music. Suddenly, beyond all hope, it happens. In the small desert town of Spangle, California, where Eddie lives, comes a sad young stranger with piercing gray eyes. They are the palest, most stunningly beautiful eyes Eddie has ever seen. Poor Eddie Hightower is swallowed up in their silver depths and disappears without a gurgle. The stranger’s name is Gray Grissom. Gray, like his eyes. Without hesitation Eddie opens his doors—and his heart—to the lost young man. After all, that’s what Eddie does. He finds homes for strays. But this is one stray Eddie intends to keep for himself.

    Ashamed of the bleakness and poverty she came from, Zig struggles with the assignment until an epiphany strikes the whole family—it’s time to start their own traditions.Zig and her fathers plunge into the insanity of holiday joy, exploring everything the season has to offer and learning how precious family truly is along the way.

    A tall, dark stranger may provide the solution - but maybe the complications are more than he can handle. "A Fluffy Tale" will appeal to lovers of m/m mromance and small cute ferret-shaped mammals alike.

    After nearly two centuries of life as one of Faerie Queen Titania's prized wolves and a handful of years as a Roaring Twenties mob boss's favorite enforcer, he's now exiled to New York, making rent doing dirty jobs for other fey outcasts. He used to consult on the occult for Detective James Corhagen at the NYPD, but since their highly combustible friendship burned itself out a year ago, Cole hasn't heard from him.All that changes when Corhagen summons Cole right out of his shower and into the middle of a crime scene. The NYPD is facing a rash of messy black-magic murders, complete with exploding hearts and very little forensic evidence, not to mention the sinister disappearance of several half-fey children. However hard he tries to deny it-and his inconvenient attraction to the sidhe-Corhagen needs Cole's help. A persistent police inspector rounds out the team, but when their investigation comes too close to the truth, suddenly it's their lives on the line. With a powerful killer on the loose, Cole, James, and Inspector Vallimun must race against time to stop the monster out to claim the thirteenth child.

    For years, his friend Julie has been the face of his brand, but she wants her life back now. Fast running out of ideas for his popular series, Noah wants to break out into other genres. Not that he’s writing much of anything at the moment anyway, thanks to paralyzing writer’s block. With his publisher breathing down his neck for the next installment, he hopes a change of scene will get his writer’s juices flowing again. Desperate enough to try anything, during the holidays Noah swaps his isolated cabin in the woods for a gentrified horse farm. USAF Major Connor Harrison has chosen forced retirement over facing charges for an unauthorized mission to rescue a buddy from behind enemy lines. No one expects him home for the holidays, and he certainly didn’t anticipate finding a stranger in his house, much less Noah Kinley with his acid tongue and a wry sense of humor that pierces all of Connor’s defenses. Both men need to figure out what the next chapter in their lives will be—and whether it will include each other.

    The only thing missing is a boyfriend — but Ryan’s been burned by Hollywood relationships before, and he’s not eager to try one again. Jason Santos has almost everything he's ever wanted: a fulfilling career teaching middle school, a house in a city he loves, and parents who support him in every way. Too bad he can't seem to forget the ex-boyfriend who rejected his marriage proposal.When a talk show host launches a dating contest to find Ryan a boyfriend and Jason accidentally wins, neither of them expect anything to come from it. Yet somewhere between a disastrous massage and a mud sinkhole, they both start to wonder if this date could be more than just a public relations stunt. But before they can move into the future, they'll both have to learn to let go of the past.

     It doesn’t matter how many months in the school year there are, Carter knows that cool, laid-back, college baseball star Nolan returning his feelings is hopeless. Until they’re both called in front of the Principal and given an impossible task: take over the spring musical from the MIA choir director. Carter knows all about literature and plays, but had to give up his college theater major because his shyness was too crippling. Nolan knows even less. But despite lapses in choreography, terrible acting, a complete lack of sets, and costumes from the eighteenth century, they’re going to have to hit all the right notes, together.

    One of the publisher's boxes goes missing, and when he finds it, the box is wrapped up in union red tape. Then he gets into a nasty debate with Toni, a hunk Jacob would rather stare at than argue with.Maybe his first day at the book fair couldn’t get worse, but it certainly gets weirder when, after an hour-long snarling match, Toni offers Jacob a ride to his hotel. Jacob accepts, but his day does not improve—the ride is nothing but awkward silence.Over the rest of the week, Jacob’s life disintegrates, and Toni’s repeated offers to drive him to his hotel become bright spots. Silence turns to civility turns to friendship, and though Jacob hopes for more, work keeps the two of them from spending much time together. Finally Jacob is free of obligations—but suddenly he can't find Toni anywhere, and Jacob’s time in New York is coming to a close.

    My friends and I went out to celebrate, and I must have overdone it because my memories are a little fuzzy. I know I met a guy, and evidence indicates we had a really good time.Why am I in bed with this friendly dog, and why did my friend just text me asking how Mr. Wonderful is this morning?I want this to be the start of something wonderful, after all that I have gone through and all I have achieved; I would really like a man to share it all with.Photo Description: A tattooed and pierced young man with a shaven head is asleep in a floral bed, cuddling a white bull terrier.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. 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.

    Evan is easygoing, sharp-witted, and sociable, while Adam is the gifted and cooly controlled leader of the operation. But as their team spends nine straight months in a safe house on the coast, Evan sees much more in Adam. For Adam, the sea holds bitter, shocking memories that haunt his days and nights. But despite his stubborn refusal to allow himself to live, Evan is determined to be the one to help Adam face his personal demons and the idea of a future together.

    Not only did Liam leave his career as a gay porn star, he said good-bye to Gael Torres, his costar at Woodspring Manor Entertainment. Rumors run rampant that Liam is dead. But Gael doesn’t believe the gossip. Knowing something is wrong with Liam, Gael hunts him down to get his answers. Liam is shocked when Gael turns up in Solitude and takes up residence. To Liam's chagrin, Gael is determined to stick around to help Liam through whatever spooked him enough to run away. As Gael breaks through Liam’s armor, both men begin to realize that no matter what life throws their way, they don’t have to deal with it alone.

    After graduating from Harvard, rather than accepting a job arranged by his father with a prestigious Boston firm, Tommy heads for San Francisco where he can live openly as a gay man. He has only one small piece of baggage--Thomas Wells Atherton IV, better known as Tiger--his son. Even once he gets to San Francisco, Tommy has no intention of meeting anyone important. He's never been in love and isn't about to fall. Famous last words. Then into his office walks Brian Baldwin, muscular Irish construction worker. Tommy takes one look and he's a goner. But Brian has come for a divorce, and Tommy's hopes are nearly dashed. When Brian admits he wants a divorce because he's gay, Tommy finds himself doing things and thinking things he's never thought about before, including bringing Brian home to meet Tiger. And once they "sleep over" as Tiger would say, Brian never leaves.Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: male/male sexual practices.

    First he gets his dream horse from a rival trainer. Then his brother’s Army Ranger buddy, Dane Keller, comes to work on the ranch and Josh meets his dream lover too. Dane is hot, competent, and fresh out of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Everything would be perfect—except nobody knows Josh and Dane are gay.All Dane wants is a quiet life in a less claustrophobic closet and a ranch job where he can earn a living. But when his best friend’s little brother, the one who wrote the letters that kept their spirits up in Afghanistan, turns out to have grown up in all the right ways, Dane can’t help wanting more despite his fear of commitment.While Dane and Josh are busy trying—and failing—to keep their hands to themselves, someone else is watching, biding his time. Then he strikes, first at Josh and then at the prized horse. When all of their secrets and fears are exposed, Dane is determined to protect Josh, even if it means leaving him behind.

    Aubrey Klein is in real trouble—he needs some fast money to save the family ranch. His solution? A weekend job as a stripper at a club in Dallas. For two shows each Saturday, he is the star as The Lone Rancher.It leads to at least one unexpected revelation: after a show, Garrett Lamston, an old friend from school, approaches the still-masked Aubrey to see about some extra fun… and Aubrey had no idea Garrett was gay. As the two men dodge their mothers’ attempts to set them up with girls, their friendship deepens, and one thing leads to another. Aubrey know his life stretching between the ranch and the club is a house of cards. He just hopes he can keep it standing long enough to save the ranch and launch the life—and the love—he really hopes he can have.

    Matt James has dreamed all his life of coming out west. He’s at first taciturn with Josh, afraid he’s as close minded as some other hands they encounter on their excursion, but when Josh reaches for him unconsciously in his sleep, Matt has a tough time hiding his desire for a ‘straight’ man.Reader Advisory: This book contains light hearted bondage.Publisher's Note: This book has previously been released as part of the Saddle Up N'Ride anthology by Total-E-Bound.