Four years ago I met the college professor of my nightmares... and my deepest fantasies. Arrogant, demanding, uncompromising, he's relentless when it comes to driving a student he believes in, and he's gorgeous. I wanted him from the moment I saw him, but I didn't dare act on it. His chiseled body, commanding demeanor, piercing eyes, and strong hands all had me dreaming of hopping on the desk for some extracurricular activities, but I didn't dare try, no matter how much I wanted to. Then... I found out I'm working for him, assigned to be his assistant. Now I have to survive a semester under him without falling for him, and it's already too late. When a chance encounter leads to a night of passion, our secret story begins... if I dare.

    And Dominic Ballard wants to gag. A hard break-up made Dominic disgusted with love and relationships. So, when that stupid holiday called Valentine’s Day rolls around, he’d rather do anything but join the masses celebrating. When a fellow co-worker dressed as Cupid delivers a Valentine from a secret admirer, Dominic announces to the entire office what he thinks about all that lovey-dovey stuff. Casper Marello has a crush. On his boss. There is no way he’d ever act on it because dating your boss? That’s a big fat no-no in the employee handbook. But what harm could it be to invite Dominic out to dinner with Cas and his best friend on Valentine’s Day? Even if that boss just proclaimed his undying hatred for the emotion called love. It’s only a friend thing, right? When dawn arrives, the two men wake-up, cuddled in the same bed. Naked. Swearing it was a one-time thing thanks to too much wine, they go their separate ways, with Dominic determined the relationship remain strictly friend zoned. Except, they can’t keep their hands off each other and the office heats up behind closed doors. Dominic finds himself unable to walk away from Casper as the walls around his heart melt. And Casper’s crush blooms into something much deeper than he ever expected. Will Dominic and Casper fall to Cupid’s arrow or will they miss their chance to discover a love that can last for always?

    But, as Derek never hesitates to point out, Wiley is straight.When Wiley has a falling out with his roommate and winds up crashing on David and Derek's couch for a month, he's a 24/7 reminder of what David wants but fears he'll never have. Until one afternoon when David has a major art project to finish and a model who's a no-show. Wiley offers to pose for him---and it sure feels like the heat between them is mutual.Could Derek have been wrong about his best friend for all these years? Would David's dreams about Wiley finally come true? The only thing David knows is that one way or another he'll find out for sure...tonight. 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. Here is the letter and a description of the photo that accompanied this prompt:Dear Author,See the hot jock sitting on top of me? He’s my older brother’s team mate and I’ve lusted after him— and loved him— since forever. I never thought I’d have a chance though. That dumbass brother of mine always said he was straight. But look at the way he’s giving the phrase “He takes my breath away” a whole new meaning! My brother must be wrong. Please, dear author, let him be wrong and make my dream come true.Photo Description: Two sexy, shirtless, dark-haired young men are making out on a couch. The muscular, tattooed man on top is holding the other guy’s wrists above his head with one strong hand as they kiss.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 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.

    Patrick McCloud wake up married. A quickie divorce is the most obvious way out—unless you’re the heir of a staunchly Catholic mafia boss with a draconian position on the sanctity of marriage.Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Will and Patrick don't like it, or each other, but they have to make the best of it until they can find another way out of their marriage. To ensure the trust fund Will's charitable foundation relies on isn't revoked by his mobster grandfather, he and Patrick travel to Will’s hometown of Healing, South Dakota, posing as a newlywed couple in the throes of true love at first sight.Complicating their scheme are Will’s unresolved feelings for his all-too-recent ex-boyfriend Ryan, and Patrick’s desire to get back to the only thing that really matters to him in life: neurosurgery. Will they fool everyone? Or will the mafia get wind that their marriage is a fake? Throw their simmering attraction into the mix and all bets are off!Approx. word count: 34KEpisode 1 of 6 in the Wake Up Married serial.

    But now the rich and unscrupulous Mr. Stephanopoulos has a proposition. A previously unpublished Christmas book by Charles Dickens has turned up in the hands of an English chemistry professor by the name of Sedgwick Crisparkle. Mr. S. wants that book at any price, and he needs James to get it for him. There’s just one catch. James can’t tell the nutty professor who the buyer is. Actually, two catches. The nutty Professor Crisparkle turns out to be totally gorgeous—and on the prowl. Faster than you can say, “Old Saint Nick,” James is mixing business with pleasure…and in real danger of forgetting that this is just a holiday romance. Just as they’re well on the way to having their peppermint sticks and eating them too, Sedgwick discovers the truth. James has been a very bad boy. And any chance Santa will bring him what he wants most is disappearing quicker than the Jolly Old Elf’s sleigh.

    The series follows a group of friends in the lake-side small town of Maple Springs as they uncover secrets, reconnect with old flames, and find love in the most unexpected of places…Billion Dollar BetKian: He’s a self-made billionaire. He wants to destroy my town. And he’s straight up told me he’s bad at relationships. There’s no reason for this to work, and every reason for it not to. So why can’t I stop falling for him?Beneath OrionColin: I don’t date. Period. And I definitely don’t date single dads. Or straight guys. Or men who give me butterflies and make me feel things. I’m supposed to be protecting my heart. But it’s so hard to remember that when I’m in his arms.Sugar SeasonGraham: What do you do when your random hook-up turns out to be your dead husband’s estranged brother? You feel guilty as sin. You swear it’ll never happen again. And you definitely don’t wake up with him in your bed… over and over again.Strawberry MoonJosh: How the hell do you survive a summer stuck in a tiny cabin with a guy who hates your guts? A guy who just happens to be your deliciously hot, but total mistake of a one-night-stand from a week ago. And more importantly--how do you keep yourself from repeating that delicious mistake all summer long?

    I was told not to send you another text, but I never was any good at listening. I love and miss you. I always will.When I lost my partner of eight years, I felt like my world was crashing down around me. In order to feel some relief from the overwhelming emptiness, I’ve found myself sending him texts every year on his birthday, even though I know he will never answer. It makes me feel like there’s a piece of him still alive, at least in my heart.I’m sorry, you must have the wrong number. I apologize for not responding sooner, but I was at work.That is, until someone responds to my text. Jace is charming, sweet, and everything I could ever want. But how can I accept someone new in my life when Daniel’s only been gone two years? Even so, Jace starts to consume my world. It feels like I can finally breathe as he helps me understand that my life doesn’t have to revolve around my grief.Soon, I find myself laughing again as he pulls me away from the hopeless cycle I’ve been caught in, and I love spending time with him, whether it’s playing video games together or discussing our comic book alter egos. But I still need to let go of this guilt and allow Jace to show me that I can love another without replacing what I’ve lost. Jace rewrites my entire world with every word and smile he gives me, and it’s becoming harder to not give in and hand him my heart. Maybe Daniel did respond after all.The Last Text is a 37k word novella about overcoming loss, finding hope, and friendship that leads to new love.

    Taken to the manor house to recover from his injuries, Danny meets the reclusive owner, Philip Luccombe. Village gossip has it Luccombe went mad during the war, but Danny soon realizes he’s simply still mourning his late lover. As friendship grows between them, Danny starts to fall for handsome, shy Philip.Danny’s lively nature, roguish good looks, and ready laughter enchant Philip, and he finds himself being drawn out of his shell whether he will it or not. But when Danny tries to move beyond friendship, Philip panics—and his rejection threatens not only their happiness, but Danny’s health. This is a revised and expanded version of the story previously published under the title of Pleasures with Rough Strife. Everyone who has purchased a stand-alone copy of Pleasures with Rough Strife from the Dreamspinner website (ie not as part of the Mistletoe Madness set) will be able to download Poacher's Fall free!

    For Joey, he didn't care if it ever came at all. He was much too busy adding notches to his bedpost and preparing for life as an adult. But when a casual fling waxes nostalgic about the one that got away, Joey starts to wonder if he isn't missing something after all, if there really is something to be learned from the language of love.

    Reprint.

    Yeah, I knew that he was reluctant to make our partnership legal but I thought that he would eventually be as happy to be my husband as I was going to be his. Nick tried to warn me, though I didn’t listen. It’s funny how my best friend Nick seems to be right about a lot of things lately... like how I should go on the honeymoon that I spent forever planning even though Mark and I aren’t together anymore. Taking Nick with me so that the extra ticket wouldn’t go to waste was another great idea. Just wish I knew how we ended up in bed like this...Photo Description:Two men are in bed with an empty champagne bottle and two glasses.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.

    Liam almost feels guilty setting up hunky mechanic Paul Parisi -- but then he's always been a sucker for a tall, muscular stud in an oil-stained jumpsuit. There's only one problem: straight guy Paul seems more interested in screwing Liam some other way. With a promotion on the line, can Liam resist Paul's curious flirting and obtain the footage he needs? "Thanks to my past, I'm stuck here." For a guy who stands behind quality service, cutting corners is causing all sorts of stressors in Paul's life -- including an embarrassing failure to ignite with women. But when Paul takes a private test drive with a handsome customer, his engine doesn't just fire right up ... he throws a rod. And he's pretty sure Liam saw it, too. If anyone at the shop found out what they were up to, Paul knows he'd be out of a job. But Liam won't take his car elsewhere -- it's almost like the guy wants to get ripped off. What's his deal, anyway? Screwed is a 45,000 word first time gay romance! A light-hearted novel featuring a jacked and bi-curious mechanic, a terrible disguise, two men playing doctor, sex on Miami beach, and more! No cliffhanger, no cheating, but the HEA is guaranteed.

    Twice divorced and not long from the closet, he's found his way into a fulfilling relationship at last, but he can't quite escape the sense that he's left his manhood behind in the process.When Kyle's latest DIY project slides into predictable disaster, his lover, Eric Mulholland, wants him to retire his Allen wrench and accept that he isn't less of a man for loving Eric.Then the fault lines of their relationship meet the fault lines of the 2011 Northeast earthquake, and the two lovers learn not just to stay on their feet when the ground shakes, but to actually treasure the tremble."All author royalties on sales of this title are being donated to the Trevor Project, which provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ youth."

     He broke my heart ten years ago. Back in high school, Baxter pretended he didn't know me. I was a skinny, plaid-shirt-wearing nobody. I was openly gay, but nobody even cared — except Baxter, when he wanted a hookup. That was all a nerd like me could expect from the star quarterback and prom king. He treated me as his shameful secret. I’ve stayed away from Baxter for a decade now, even when he came back to visit Honey Bay. I’m older now. Wiser. I know I deserve better. But I can't stop thinking about those fleeting moments in Baxter's arms. Andy Silver: my one weakness. Every time Andy smiled at me from under his floppy hair, I couldn’t help myself. How could a nerd in wire-rimmed glasses be so hot? It was a high school fling. I spent ten years running away from it. My parents never would have understood who I really was. Disappointing my father was out of the question. I couldn't live the life I wanted, even if I loved Andy more than he ever knew. Bumping into Andy ten years later was the shock of my life. That shy nerd is a celebrity now? And he works out? I shouldn’t dwell on how much I miss being with him, even if every sight of him sends me there. My parents sent me to Honey Bay for business. I might just stick around for a second chance at love. Remember Him is a 42,000-word small-town second-chances gay romance. On their way to a feel-good happy ever after, a jock and a nerd dodge windmill blades, fog up the windows, and discuss the fine points of timber, lumber, and plain old wood.