and I found this picture:How does one get tied up like this by a hunky cowboy?Photo Description: In sunlit black and white, two dark-haired men play out a scene of restraint. One, naked and lightly muscled, lies face-down on a wooden frame, hands roped high, ankles spread and bound. At his left ankle, the other man kneels, tightening ropes. He wears cuffed jeans, boots, holster and Stetson but his muscled upper body is bare.]This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Hot Summer Days" 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.Read the story here or find it in Don't Read in the Closet, Volume 2 or Don't Read in the Closet: GayRomLit Retreat 2011 Special Edition.__________Genre: western, BDSMTags: gay m/m, cowboys, BDSM, contemporary, fluffWord Count: 5,687

    Dan. His hot, beefy, bad-ass cop boyfriend, with protective instincts galore and an inexplicable weakness for a certain flighty – and flexible - dance major. Things are getting hot and heavy and Niall is realizing exactly how cherished and wanted and safe he is in Dan’s hands. And he thinks he just may have met the one man he can trust with his secret. But he hesitates, and the decision is taken out of his hands. Dan knows. Will he run? Or will Niall have the nerve to stick around long enough to find out? Originally published as part of the M/M Romance Group’s “Love's Landscapes” event on Goodreads. Content advisory: This story contains sexually explicit content in the form of kinky man-sex and is intended for adult readers. It may contain content that is distressing or triggering to some readers: abduction, references to past abuse.

    It’s a good thing that Celyn is engaged to Sjurd’s brother, not him, because Sjurd loathes the brat, and it’s quite mutual. When an elopement and the threat of invasion force the two princes together, however, they have no choice but to marry and fake true love to keep their countries safe. Can warrior Sjurd and diplomat Celyn find any common ground?

    When Trask Maitland comes out to Lee, are they doomed from the start or is it possible that "three strikes and you're out" could turn into "third time's the charm?"Original Prompt:Dear Author,The first look between them had been innocent, or so he'd thought. I'd love to see exactly how things changed and where they'll end up.Photo Description: A black/white photo of two naked teens on a sofa. The tanned blonde on the bottom has his legs bent, splayed open, his right hand on his lover's butt. The pale brunette is on his knees, straddled over the blonde's right leg, hands on his lover's neck as he leans down for a kiss.This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Hot Summer Days" 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.Read the story here or find it in Don't Read in the Closet, Volume 3 or Don't Read in the Closet: GayRomLit Retreat 2011 Special Edition.__________Genre: contemporaryTags: gay m/m, college, coming out, first time, roommatesWord Count: 4,647

    The kind of day he loves, even if the looming New Year's Eve leaves him feeling nostalgic and a little lonely. But then the last person he ever expected to see walks through the door of his shop, and Sherlock realizes that some things don't fade with time, but grow stronger.

    P. Barnaby – END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT (First Love )*Sarah Black – SUCKER-PUNCH (Athlete/Hurt-Comfort )Scarlet Blackwell – BREAKING WAVES (Surfing/Angst )Penny Brandon – FINDING JACK (Cowboys/Mild BDSM )Lee Brazil – BE A BAD BOY (First-Time/Family Drama )Cardeno C. – WOMAN WITH A DILDO (Friends to Lovers )L.C. Chase – OPEN TACKLE (Friends to Lovers )*Kim Dare – MASOCHISM 101 (BDSM/Friends to Lovers )S.J. Frost – A LITTLE BIT COUNTRY (Musicians/Rivals to Lovers )Jeanette Grey – HEART AND SOUL (Friends to Lovers )Jambrea Jo Jones – WILD BLUE YONDER (Military )*Pender Mackie by DOG DAYS OF SUMMER (Blue Collar/First Date )JL Merrow – BEAR NAKED (First-time/Bears )M.J. O'Shea – BRIDGES (First Love )*Neil S. Plakcy – PHOTO BOOTH (Cowboys/FBI )Dustin Adrian Rhodes – STORM OF PASSION (Friends to Lovers )Jaime Samms – MOURNING (Hurt/Comfort )*Justin South – REFLECTIONS (First Love/Hurt-Comfort )Zach Sweets – LUSCIOUS LOVE (Coming out/Food Kinky )Piper Vaughn – WANTING (First Love )*Silvia Violet – TIME TO TELL (Military/Friends to Lover)Deanna Wadsworth – UNSCHEDULED MAINTENANCE (Office Sex )Stuart Wakefield – THE ELEMENTS OF LOVE (Sci-Fi/Ménage )Alex Whitehall – HOLD ME TIGHT (Hurt-Comfort/BDSM Light )Lisa Worrall – JUST ONE KISS (Gay-for-You/Cops )Connor Wright – GONE TO PIECES (Sci-Fi/Mild BDSM )

    With time to reconnect, Max shows him a new way to love. Now at a crossroads and facing a new life, Jed must listen to his friends and family to learn how to move forward.

    Well thank god then that I didn’t meet Patrick in high school; that’s just the time I fell in love with him. We actually met the day we were born, our mothers going in labour the exact same day and us being born just minutes apart from each other. We grew up together, always being at each other’s side, no matter what. So why are people so shocked about us falling in love? Why are they telling us that for us to be close is great but for us to love each other is wrong?But all this doesn’t matter, because no matter what our families may think, I am never letting him go. I simply cannot live without him and I certainly don’t want to. So even if everybody will turn on us, we’ll be good, because we have each other.Photo Description: Two teenage boys cuddle outside. One is leaning back against the other’s chest and they’re smiling at each other like nothing else exists in the world.This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love Has No Boundaries" 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.

    It’s been nine months since we found our surrogate. So much has happened in so little time. It should be happening anytime now; our baby coming into the world. I hated leaving him to handle this alone. I should be home in three months. The baby will be here and I can finally meet him/her. Please tell our story?Photo Description: A man, his broad, bare, and tattooed back facing the photographer, holds a small, sleeping newborn baby. Tiny hands and fingers stretch out across the man’s shoulders, almost clutching a set of dog tags that rest over the scripted, Old-English style inked word of “Family”.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.

    He's intelligent, quiet, made good grades and went on to become a celebrated civil rights attorney. But the one thing he has always wanted was the one man he should not.Mark Riley realized at 33 that his life was not what it should have been. He'd been in a marriage of responsibility, raising his son that was a teenage mistake, taken the job his father had pushed on him on the police force and had been miserably drifting along, until one night his teenage son's friend was visiting from college and woke him from his miserable slumber. Tyler Marcus changed Mark's life with a simple act of kindness and with one chance meeting 5 years later may also end up giving him the world

    The real trigger for his decision is losing his best friend, Mauricio, who died of AIDS, and whose last letter stirs forbidden desires, besides asking Esteban to look out for Mauricio’s widower, Javier Lozano.Without Mauricio's love Javier collapses, and the only thing which keeps him going on is to fulfill Mauricio's last wish. Javier has to personally return twenty years of letters to Mauricio's pen pal and best friend, Esteban. Someone Javier hasn’t meet, but whose voice over the phone, helps Javier cope with his ignorant family that doesn’t even understand the difference between being HIV positive and having AIDS. The meeting between Javier and Esteban changes their lives, but standing between them is a lethal virus, Esteban family’ prejudice, an age gap, and the memories of the man—both once loved.Original PromptDear Author,I gave you years of my life, my love, and my trust. All you gave me was "I'm sorry" before you died and left me with a crumbling house, a failing business, and your STD. Is there any hope that there is someone out there who will truly love me and take the mess that I have become?Obviously an HEA is required here :)Photo Description: A black and white photo depicts a lonely man sitting with his knees drawn to his chest on a desolated area of shoreline. He sits a few feet away from a leafless tree which is bending in the wind. 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.Read the story here or find it in Love Is Always Write: Volume 6.

    He can’t understand why people should care about that, but they do. He longs for a man who is willing to accept him, someone who can love him for who he is and not think that he is weak because of what he wears underneath his clothes. But where to find such a man?Alex is managing his sister’s lingerie shop when he sees a man worshipping a pair of panties, and it pisses him off. He wants the man to look at him in the same way he looks at that flimsy lingerie. But why would a proper-looking man ever see him as anything other than a failure?Dear Author,So I’m a man and I like to wear lace. Sometimes I like to wear leather and lace. Is that such a crime? I don’t want to be dominated, I don’t want to submit, I just want a partner who will look at me and think I’m hotter than the sun. I just want a man who won’t see me as weak because of what I wear under my clothes. But it’s hard enough to find a partner as a gay man; how am I ever going to find one who will enjoy my kink as much as I do? God, I’m so tired of hiding who I am. Please, no BDSM. The rest is up to you.Photo Description: A man is standing with his back to the camera. He is shielding his face with his arm, displaying muscles and strength, but hiding. He is wearing a black garter belt in lace with matching stockings, gloves and a harness in black leather, and nothing else. He is a beautiful contrast of strength and delicacy.This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love’s Landscapes" 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.

    Flynn has a job he can no longer hide behind. A simple proposition in an effort to solve both of their problems leads two young men to confront the heartbreaks of their pasts in order to make a future together.What starts as an innocent bit of voyeurism turns into a public display of…everything.You know you like to watch.

    Can you share a peek into their triumphant story and let us see who they are and who is watching over them in the world they can finally share?Photo Description: Two naked sandy men kiss on the beach as men stand near. The crew-cut top cradles his dark-haired partner and almost blocks him from view. The other hooks his leg and arms around the first. He wears a ring on his pinky finger.This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Hot Summer Days" 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.Read the story here or find it in Don't Read in the Closet, Volume 4.__________Genre: contemporaryTags: gay m/m, military men, business men-lawyers, in-the-closet, over age 40, reunion, long lost love, childhood sweethearts, coming out, don't ask don't tellWarnings: implied het, infidelity (involving a main character)Word Count: 9,322

    Did they always know one wanted to submit and the other to dominate? Did it grow out of an established relationship? Is this the "coming out of the closet" for their Dom/Sub relationship?Could you please settle my curiosity about these two men and how they "discovered" this beautiful aspect of their love?Photo Description: Bondage on a bridge in slanted sunlight. The nearer man kneels, ass exposed in black chaps and boots, muscular arms braced on the rails, his close-cropped head bowed. Of his lover, only a pair of lean legs can be seen, ankles roped outward. This man must be on his back, ass open to his lover.This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Hot Summer Days" 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.Read the story here or find it in Don't Read in the Closet, Volume 3 or Don't Read in the Closet: GayRomLit Retreat 2011 Special Edition.__________Genre: BDSM contemporaryTags: gay m/m, established couples, leather, lawyer, culinary, family drama Word Count: 6,555