Forced to retire from his career as a professional ballet dancer far too soon, Sebastian DeVille has moved to the quiet suburbs of San Francisco to figure things out and maybe get away from his poor decisions for a while. Well, one poor decision. His very married ex. An ugly argument with the man leads to an unlikely meeting with his sexy new neighbor and an unexpected Valentine’s date that neither Sebastian nor Devon will ever forget. But can one night of pretend romance really lead to a lifetime of love? *Although this is part of my Protectors universe, this short story can be read as a standalone. **Please note that this story was previously part of a promotional giveaway so it was intended to be a certain length. Although it is a complete story with an HEA, if you don’t care for short stories, Devon and Sebastian’s tale may not be for you.

    After an amicable divorce, Lincoln Huxley is ready to embrace the sexuality he repressed for more than two decades. Rush Holden is no longer willing to settle for closeted men or those who don’t share his dreams of marriage and fatherhood. A chance encounter on a lakeside pier is the second wind they both need. Or will it just be a painful reminder of all they had lost? Second chance: an opportunity to try something again that failed one time. Rush and Lincoln have shared a lot of firsts—friendship, young love, and heartbreak. Cruel reality forced the two men to choose paths that took their lives in different directions. Twenty-six years later, they get a second chance to fall in love with each all over again. Can it really be that simple, or will the same issues ruin their happiness a second time? Happily ever after: to live happily for the rest of one’s life. Rush and Lincoln know that love and life can’t be defined by words alone. Patience, commitment, and the determination to do whatever it takes will be the only way the two men achieve their happily ever after. Second Wind is a funny, sexy, and endearing standalone romance novel about love, loss, and rediscovery. It contains sexually explicit material and is intended for adults 18 and older.

    Marco had the word etched in his skin to seal their vow. He thought they’d always be together. Three weeks later Jonny dumped him.Now, after six years, Marco’s finished college and worked his way up to head chef at his family’s popular Mexican restaurant in downtown Chicago. He’s found his calling, and he finally has his life where he wants it. Then Jonny reappears, throwing Marco’s emotions into chaos.Jonny demands a chance to explain. Marco doesn’t want to hear excuses, not from the man who left him without a backward glance. Yet Jonny claims to still love him, and he won’t be denied. Marco wants to believe him, but will the truth be enough to mend the damage Jonny did when he broke Marco’s heart and walked away?~*~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. Dear Author,He told me it’d be forever, a forever I had permanently inked into my skin. I thought I’d always want the reminder of a love as incredibly perfect as we had together. The passion and our connection was overpowering, but apparently his idea of forever and mine were two different things. Yet, no matter how painful it is I haven’t been able to let go of the memory of him in my heart. I’m trying to live my life again, trying to find a rhythm in a world that doesn’t seem to balance for me anymore. I’ve covered more and more of my body in the tattoos of a life lived, but somehow even though I’ve surrounded it with other images, I can’t quite make myself cover up and paint over that one word.Photo Description: A muscular man sits on his haunches, his lower back and buttocks braced against a stone wall. He’s bare-chested, wearing sports pants and running shoes. His entire left side is covered in tattoos, the most visible one being the word “forever” on his rib cage.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.

    Liam is tired, worn out, and in desperate need of a vacation, but instead of sun, sea, sand, and hot cabana boys, he gets a rickety old train, revolting kids, and no Ewan MacGregor.Liam would have done anything for his friend, but fulfilling Alex's final wish means letting go of the only family Liam had left. Lost, he freezes on the pier... until Sam Owens comes to his rescue.Sam's family has vacationed on the Isle of Wight every year for as long as he can remember, but he's never met anyone like Liam. Determined to make Liam's vacation one to remember, Sam looks after him-in and out of the bedroom. He even introduces Liam to his entire family. But as Sam helps Liam let go, he's forced to admit that he wants Liam to hang on-not to his old life, but to Sam and what they have together.

    He built his business from the ground up using common sense and logic. He believed in things that were tangible, not fanciful notions like love at first sight. At least that was the case until he walked into a new coffee shop one morning and came face to face with the man he knew was his future. As an artist, Sean was creative to the bones, but even he knew fairy tales weren’t real, and rich businessmen didn’t fall in love with would be artist/baristas. But when Carter insists that Sean give them a chance, he gives in to the handsome man. As they get to know each other, it becomes obvious they were meant to be. But can two intelligent men who don’t believe in fairy tales forget about the rules and find their happy ever after?A Free Read through Insta-Freebie from August 28th to September 4th together with other authors ->https://claims.instafreebie.com/gg/FC...

    When he turned one, he fell face-down into his birthday cake. When he turned seven, he broke his arm. At his twelfth birthday, his house caught fire. Now Sam is about to turn sixteen and he is dreading the day.The only birthday wish he has is for Jake Timbers, the Mr. Popular of Arcadia High, to acknowledge his existence, or better yet give him a happy-birthday kiss. But that's unlikely to happen. Or is it?Disclaimer: The plot of the book substantially varies from the movie and all the references are made as a tribute to its awesomeness.

    Figuratively speaking, at least.Enter Sonny Valentine, a go-go dancer at Blue's sister club, Silver's. Levi has secretly admired Sonny from afar for years, but there's one problem–he can't stand Sonny and the feeling is entirely mutual. When Levi learns Sonny is to play the third part in a scene he considers his worst nightmare, he figures things can't get any worse.But when preparations for the scene from hell collide with tragic events in his personal life, he finds his fast growing, red hot attraction to Sonny the one thing left between him and a bullet.

    So when Joe says Adam is straight—and Joe’s not—and they’re just best friends and roommates, Adam is more than a little confused. But as Adam starts to fill in the gaps, the one thing that becomes apparent is that Joe is the missing piece that can’t be replaced.

    But this time, it’s Reed’s partner who throws him for a loop, using him as bait to get a drunk Midwesterner safely back to his hotel. Reed goes along with his partner’s plan only because he’s too tired to argue, not because the attractive lawbreaker is easy on his weary eyes.After waking up hung-over and ashamed of his behavior (the little that he remembers), Grant Carroll wants to make amends. Partying until he literally drops just to forget his no-good ex is not who he is at all. Treating the gruff officer that escorted him home to an apology lunch, Grant soon realizes Reed has everything his ex doesn’t―compassion, intelligence, and gigantic biceps.Gambling has never been either of their strong suits, but taking a risk on each other may come with the best payoff yet.Part of "Summer Bigger Than Others - A Summer Anthology" from Beaten Track Publishing.

    He doesn’t have time to date, but that’s not to say he doesn’t have needs.Instead of trying to find a date, Jordan makes an appointment with a prostitute—something he’s never done before—and his companion turns out to be his high school crush, Gabe! Panic would ruin everything, including the chance at something real that Jordan suddenly craves.

    All he wants besides a passing grade is a chance to make amends with the man he loved and hurt while they were deployed together three years ago.Pain, guilt, and bitterness aren’t the only lingering feelings, though, and even if three years is enough to melt the ice between them, they’ve already risked their careers for each other once. Can Justin convince Chris that what they once had is worth putting careers and hearts on the line again?

    When he loses a bet to her and the penalty is to go out on five dates with men she’s chosen from Guys4Guys.com, he thinks that’s bad enough. Finding out she used a thirteen-year-old picture of him to score a date with a young guy who looks like a rock star? Epically bad.Jay thought he wanted to fall for an older man. But his last boyfriend left him feeling humiliated and determined to stick to guys his own age. When he realizes he’s been conned into a date with exactly the kind of man he’s sworn to avoid, he’s ready to walk away on the spot. Only Devin’s swift apologies convince Jay to accept dinner to make up for the deception.“The date doesn’t count for the bet unless you get a goodnight kiss.” After one not-a-date dinner with Jay, Devin isn’t worried about his sister’s rules. He just wishes he could convince Jay to go out with him for real. Jay wants no part of Devin, but Devin wants every part of Jay . . . so he asks Jay to help update his look for the rest of his dates. But once Jay’s made Devin over into the perfect date, will he be able to let him go?------------Dear Author,I lost a bet with my sister. I was so sure the Broncos would win. Now it is time for me to pay up. She has decided I need a man in my life. She submitted a profile for me at Guys4Guys.com and set up five dates. I haven’t been on five dates in the past five years. And if the thought of five first dates isn’t scary enough, check out the photo she put in my profile.Yes, that hot, young, guy really is me… thirteen years ago! To be twenty-two again. I miss my thirty-two-inch waist and six-pack.Photo Description: A good-looking, young blond man leans back against exposed pipework. He is shirtless and his jeans look a little old-fashioned with their light wash. His arms are huge and he sports a six-pack, although he’s already looking the tiniest bit soft around the waistline. As if that six-pack might not quite be there in ten years…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.

    An adventure in picking up his prescriptions puts him in the path of his geeky, brownie-baking neighbor, Spencer Morgan. Spencer sweeps into Quinn’s life like a tropical storm of sunshine and rainbows. Not surprisingly, it’s chaos at first sight. Quinn’s in need of a little tender loving care, and Spencer decides he’s just the man for the job. Their very different lives might clash, but they might also find some common ground—and maybe more.

    One of those promises was to stay in touch and keep seeing each other. But Chad never called, and Jeff remained behind to finish high school. Chad broke Jeff’s heart, but both men suffered. Chad couldn’t forgive himself for being a coward and not standing up to his parents, and Jeff wouldn’t let anyone into his heart again to hurt him. A year after Katrina and ten years after that fateful summer, Chad and Jeff meet again, only this time it’s in the ER of a local hospital. Chad is the attending doctor and Jeff is an assault victim, on the brink of death. Chad is once again swept into the past by the only man he’s ever loved, and like before, Chad makes promises to Jeff—promises he will keep, or else. When Jeff awakes from a coma, he finds the man who broke his heart sitting in his hospital room. Angry, confused and scared, Jeff has no defense against this man. And he also has no one else to care for him, only Chad. After all these years, Jeff’s dream has finally come true, Chad is back in his life. But for how long? And is Jeff willing to open his heart to the man who broke it?

    Every penny he makes as a welder goes to care for his dying father, an abusive, controlling man who’s the only family Jake has left. Because of a promise to his dead mother, Jake resists his desire for other men, but it leaves him consumed by darkness. It takes all of Dallas Yates’s imagination to see the possibilities in the fatigued Art Deco building on the WeHo’s outskirts, but what seals the deal is a shy smile from the handsome metal worker across the street. Their friendship deepens while Dallas peels back the hardened layers strangling Jake’s soul. It’s easy to love the artistic, sweet man hidden behind Jake’s shattered exterior, but Dallas knows Jake needs to first learn to love himself.When Jake’s world crumbles, he reaches for Dallas, the man he’s learned to lean on. It’s only a matter of time before he’s left to drift in a life he never wanted to lead and while he wants more, Jake’s past haunts him, making him doubt he’s worth the love Dallas is so desperate to give him.