When the man pretends he knows him and has a one-sided conversation that proves his suspicion correct, he almost ends the call. The fast thinking of the stranger on the other end of the line likely saves his life, but what will Dalton find when he gets there?Kannon Butler is an old soul. Working at an old folks home, his friends are his clients and he’s okay with that. Being attacked in broad daylight just doesn’t happen in their small town, except this day, it does. To him. Quick thinking and a prayer, he ends up on the line with Dalton Davis, who quite literally saves his life.Healing and living are a struggle after being attacked, but Dalton can’t seem to stay away and Kannon doesn’t want him to. With an amazing family who takes him under their wing, and a gorgeous private investigator that makes it his mission to find out who hurt Kannon, what do you think happens?

    To make ends meet, Randall does erotic photography and massage—a secret he keeps from his family so he can remain a part of his young niece’s life. But the price of that relationship is high, and Randall is once more slipping under his family’s thumb.Noah Carroll is the spokesperson for the Seattle Humane Society, and the city holds a special place in his heart. When fate intervenes during a pet adoption, Noah finds himself face-to-face with his first love—Randall.While Noah and Randall are not the teenagers they once were, the flame of a first kiss long ago draws them together. Their romance is beginning to grow, but someone is out to destroy Randall and expose all he keeps hidden.When secrets and rumors thrust Randall into the public eye, his relationship with Noah isn’t the only thing that comes under threat.

    He’s sure of his beliefs and his artistic integrity and naïve enough to think he’ll never compromise—until Iraq war veteran Jake MacLean shows up in his tattoo parlor.Overcome with anger and survivor’s guilt, Jake is locked in a struggle to atone for sins he’s sure will never be forgiven. Desperate to get his life back on track and with nowhere else to go, he moves in with his sister in Toronto. He doesn't expect to fall for Gabe.Though Jake’s refusal to talk about what happened in Iraq frustrates Gabe, accepting Jake’s claims that he's “fine” is easier than dealing with the truth. But pretty soon it’s clear Jake can’t control his panic attacks, and his condition is worsening. If Gabe can’t help him face his demons, Jake is headed for a crash—and there’s every chance he’ll take Gabriel down with him.

    The two connect through letters and phone calls for a year, falling in love and making plans to meet when Ryder finishes his tour. However, in an effort to save one of his men who steps on a mine, Ryder loses his leg. Broken and depressed, he doesn't think Dean will want him. But once Dean learns what happens, he immediately goes to Ryder, determined to help him heal and show him that he loves him no matter what. Ryder has a long road of recovery ahead of him, but with Dean's support, he realizes his life isn't over, it's just beginning if he’ll only give them a chance.

    As a teenager, it was love at first sight for Harold while tutoring football star Mario, until homophobia and bullying drove Mario deep into the closet. Now they’re both married men. Mario, a model, is miserable with his producer wife, while Harold, a teacher, is perfectly content with his businessman husband, Stuart. When the two meet again, will the old flame reignite, setting Harold’s comfortable life ablaze? How can Harold be happy with Stuart when he is still infatuated with his Adonis, his first love, Mario? Harold faces this seemingly impossible situation with inimitable wit, tenderness, and humor as he attempts to reconcile the past and the future.

    Can these college roommates fall in love without going out of bounds? Beaten and heartbroken, Jesse Cole is placed in a new dorm room after his last roommate attacked him. Just wanting to be left alone to heal in peace, he's shocked when tall, dark and dangerous-looking Nick Moretti walks in.Nick doesn't have time to tiptoe around his new roommate—he's too busy working in order to pay for school. But something about Jesse brings out his protective instincts. As their cautious friendship grows and becomes loaded with sexual tension, he wants to make Jesse comfortable.Enter the perfect plan: a line of tape down the center of the room. Boundaries established.But as innocent movie nights become hours-long temptation marathons, and whispered chats from across the room delve into straight-up dirty territory, crossing the line has never been so satisfying.

    Except he’s beginning to suspect that none of that is true. If he has a wife, why can’t he remember marrying her? And why does trying to remember make his head hurt?Deron knows he shouldn’t be in Seattle. Giving into his need to check on the man who once belonged to him could put a complicated cross-agency investigation at risk. All he wants is one little peek. He didn’t expect Jay to recognize him or for the two of them to get shot at on the streets of Seattle.Jay’s suffering from a case of amnesia only he can cure and is at the heart of a mystery only he can solve. Too bad he doesn’t know any of that. But there’s one thing he does know: Deron. His memory may have been removed, but his soul will never forget its mate. Can he remember everything else in time to save both their lives and possibly an entire country?Content warning: mention of suicide, gun violence

    Flying cross country to be the best man in his best friend’s wedding probably isn’t the best idea, right? Forced back into the closet after being rejected by his family, Justice has given up on the idea of finding acceptance and love. He has allowed his disorder and his troubled past to keep him from taking a chance, but love might just find him where he least expects it… in Seattle.Sailor and charter boat captain Nic Valentine is still reeling from the unexpected death of his father, when the man of his dreams—literally—falls into his lap. He thinks he’ll never see the man again, but fate has other plans. Nic tries to resist the charms of adorably quirky, nervous Justice, because he has no desire to get tangled up with another closet case. But when life keeps throwing them together, will Nic decide that Justice might be a keeper after all?

    His boyfriend just dumped him, and his business has fallen victim to the economy. But is jumping on a plane after a surprise phone call taking things too far?The promise of a new opportunity drags Henry away from the city to a tiny village in the English countryside and an enormous manor house his great-grandmother wants to bequeath him. As an experienced wedding planner, he sees the potential in renovating the dilapidated building and using it for events. All he needs is to find some local businesses to provide the essentials.That’s how Henry meets Ryan Burgess, the shy but hardworking owner of an organic farm. The spark between them sizzles slowly while work on the house continues, but Ryan is deeply in the closet and unwilling to take the last step. They finally find something that clicks in cricket, something that Henry, a former amateur baseball player, is surprisingly good at. For him, cricket helps bridge the gap between England and New York—but unless Ryan can find something to span the divide between his sexuality and his fear, their relationship doesn’t stand a chance.

    While O’Malley dreamed of numbers and kissing Garrison, Garrison’s tastes ran to home runs and hot chicks. During a family celebration the night before both young men were heading off for college, O’Malley joyously discovers that Garrison isn’t quite as straight as the star athlete had been pretending to be. Vows to return to each other quickly followed a few clumsy kisses in the old treehouse in the Rook’s backyard.O’Malley came home to Garrison. Garrison never returned to O’Malley.Four years later, the two ex-friends meet up at a summer camp where O’Malley is serving as a counselor. Garrison is desperate to make things right with his childhood friend, but can O’Malley, still nursing the pain and mistrust of Garrison’s betrayal, ever forgive or love Garrison again?

    He intends to sell the house and take off on a new path to discover what he wants out of life. Then he meets Connor. The attraction he feels to a man so different from himself is no less shocking than his change in financial circumstances, but Connor is in the closet and Jeremy wants a life lived out in the sun.Connor is a former Force Recon Marine who runs a housecleaning business. When he’s hired to get Jeremy’s house market-ready, he’s startled by how attracted he is to his client despite their many differences. But his past, especially his final mission, weighs heavily on him. He’s not certain he can be the man Jeremy needs, but no man has ever made him want to take a risk like Jeremy does.

    Everyday life, jobs and hectic schedules, constantly test those who have been lucky enough to find true love.For Carrick Masters an orthopedic surgeon and Edward Boyd a young and talented defense attorney, hectic doesn’t even begin to describe their lives. The two men struggle to find balance, but it’s going to take more than a date-night, to get them back to what is truly important.

    But that doesn’t mean he has the confidence to make a move on the gorgeous young blond who just breezed in to the Blue Dragon Bar. Fate will play its hand, anyway. Finding the same young blond beaten to the edge of death, terrified of a hospital, Sebastian has to choose - walk away, or try to save a life.This one chance encounter will lead Sebastian into a web of danger. Who is the enemy and who is a friend? Who will he trust when everyone has a reason to lie? How far will he go, and what will it cost, to do the right thing?Original Prompt:Dear Author,I'm so out of my league with this one I have no idea what the hell I'm doing. I watched him walk into that bathroom. How could I not notice him? Just look at him. He's fucking beautiful. I didn't see him come back out, but I was trying to play it cool, ya know? I thought maybe he'd left when after 30 minutes I didn't see him in the bar anywhere. Shrugging it off, figuring he's probably a good 10 years too young for me anyway, I went to the bathroom and saw him again. Only this time he was a broken, bloody heap on the floor in the last stall. Shit! I rushed over to him, felt for a pulse and tried to assess the damage. I'm just a retired Navy medic, not a doctor but when I roused him, he started screaming and pleading with me not to take him to the hospital. Said they'd kill him if they found him and they'd be sure and look there first. So I picked him up, carried him out and brought him home. He's so badly beaten. I think they kicked him half to death. I have to examine him, but he's so scared. I'm not sure if he's been raped or not but how do I get him to trust me enough to even check? Please help me put this beautiful, battered boy back together again.Photo Description: A bleached-blond young man with a sculpted body is sitting half-naked and curled over his own knees. His eyes are closed, and his head is down. He looks tired and scared.This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love is Always Write" 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.Download the story, read it online or find it in Love Is Always Write: Volume 11 - Bonus Volume.__________Genre: contemporary, thriller. Tags: medical personnel; military men; first time; hurt/comfort; slow burn; unresolved sexual tensionWarnings: descriptions of post-violent-attack first aid and medical care; non-graphic discussions of off-screen sexual assault; gun violence (non-sexual). Word count: 70,085

    Even after a decade, the memory of the foster boy I once shared a room with continues to haunt my dreams. For five years, Riley helped me laugh when there was so little in our lives to laugh about. His gentle touch and stormy gray eyes were the only thing that could calm the swirling and turbulent thoughts and emotions within me. But in the blink of an eye, the safe harbor my best friend provided was ripped from my life without warning or reason. His unexplained disappearance set sail to a lonely and hopeless journey. Now, I am no more willing to let the memory of my best friend go than I am ready to give up the search for him, as hopeless as it may seem to those around me.And then a client asks me to locate a stolen treasure box. Clues have me heading from the city of Atlanta to a small, picturesque town in South Carolina called Reedsport. There, I hope to find the missing box; what I never expected was to find something else that I’d been missing for far too long. Could I have finally found a beacon of hope that would lead Riley Tanager back to me?

    After years of homeschool and isolation, he’s a senior in high school who's put the past behind him. Mostly.In a rash moment, Taylor volunteers his artistic flair and ends up heading the decorating committee for the annual Cupid's Dance. It's behind the scene work though. What could possibly go wrong?