But ten years after high school, he’s still just as miserable and just as in love with the boy who lived down the street as he ever was. Now on a trip home for Christmas he finds out that running away from your problems isn’t always the best way to deal with them, and that for mending a broken heart, sometimes there’s no place like home.

    Very sweet.This story also available in print in the anthology Ever After: The Collected Short Works of Marie Sexton.

    They don’t realize how fragile love can be and how one moment can change everything.Dear Author,I'm so glad we're finally at this point in our relationship where we are comfortable with each other like this in public; I was an idiot for so long, trying to hide what we had. But after what happened, I'll never take him for granted again. I'm through hiding. I'm going to make sure that he knows every day just how much I love him.Photo Description: Two men are entwined on a seat while riding a subway. One of the men, in a black long-sleeved shirt, is leaning over the other, who is lying across his lap and wearing a white T-shirt. Their lips are just a breath away from touching.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.

    He dropped out of school to help run the failing family restaurant, and ever since he’s put up with his difficult business partner, who also happens to be his father. And, of course, he keeps his sexual orientation a secret from his conservative Russian family. After being closeted costs him his first serious relationship, Pasha resigns himself to one-night stands and loneliness.But after a chance encounter with lost delivery truck driver, Daniel Englewood, Pasha starts to question all of his assumptions about life. Daniel is sweet, funny, smart, drop-dead gorgeous—and for the last six years, he’s been living with HIV. Pasha worries that he won’t be strong enough to help Daniel if HIV turns to AIDS, but he can’t walk away from their deepening attraction. He also doesn’t know if he can be strong enough to face the hardest task that a relationship with Daniel demands: coming out to his family and friends, and risking losing everything else he holds dear.

    Stetson is a rancher, tied to the land he loves in Taos, New Mexico, while Curtis is a rodeo cowboy whose wanderlust never could be tamed. But now Stetson’s momma is dying of Alzheimer’s, and she can't remember that Curtis hasn't been Stetson's boyfriend for a long time. Curtis's absence makes her cry, so Stetson swallows his pride and calls his ex-lover. To Curtis, Stetson is the one who got away, the love of his life. And Momma is his friend, so he’s happy to help out. Yet returning to the ranch stirs up all sorts of feelings that, while buried, never really went away. Still, the rodeo nationals are coming up, and Curtis can’t stay—even if he’s starting to want to, especially to support Stetson when he needs it most. Stetson and Curtis want to find a place where they both fit, to be there to catch each other when they fall. But family, money problems, and the call of the rodeo circuit might end their second-chance romance before it even gets started.

    To a party animal like James, there was nothing worse than getting stuck in a nearly empty library of a Friday night. At least until he met Earnest. Earnest is a sweet Omega Chipmunk Shifter with a big problem. He's about to go into his fertile cycle, and he needs access to a safe space. Accidentally leaving his I.D. at home means that he can't use the special Omega room, but James promises that he'll keep him safe in the office. James has only dated women so far, but there's something about this Omega that's driving him crazy. Is it just lust, or is it something deeper? This is a sweet, safe standalone MPREG novella with a handsome protective Alpha Wolf Shifter and an adorable Omega Chipmunk Shifter in need of a strong mate. There are no cliffhangers and a guaranteed happy ending.

    His college and his coach are behind him, as is his best friend and fellow player, Ford. The only person who doesn't seem to support him is his boyfriend, and the other teams aren't fond of him. When his promising career is cut short, Derek has to reevaluate his whole life. Everyone gathers around to support him, but some things he has to figure out for himself, like his relationship with his boyfriend, and his friendship with Ford. Will Derek make the right choices and find a way to get everything he wants?

    When Gabe's bossy twin sister offers to be their surrogate, it's too good to turn down. But with his sister running the show, the new dads-to-be begin to wonder if they're going to survive the nine-month countdown.Originally published in 2012 - this is a total rewrite with a new cover.

    He didn’t anticipate that cleaning a dance studio would reawaken his yearning to dance—even though he is no longer capable—or that meeting the studio’s director would rouse his dormant libido. Or his sleeping heart. Conrad thinks his life is finally complete with his successful dance studio and a steady stream of students. When Dusty arrives, he rediscovers his thirst for a man who will let him hand over control and give him the undivided attention he’s never had. The trouble is, Dusty isn’t sure he’s worthy of the studio director’s submission.To make their relationship work, Dusty will have to trust his ability to dominate the powerful and beautiful dancer, and Conrad will have to stop talking long enough to hear Dusty’s promises.

    Nick’s Naughty list. Lachlan is sure Haven is just like the spoiled rich boy who broke his heart and ruined his life a year earlier. But after watching Haven help the less fortunate, Lachlan longs to offer him shelter on a lonely Christmas Eve. Maybe this year, he’ll actually get his Christmas wish.

    He’d blame his past if he wasn’t trying so hard to avoid it.When his family’s farmhouse burns to the ground, he’s summoned to identify a body found in the ashes. Jason returns to Hancock, Michigan, and reunites with a childhood friend, small town vet Henry McCavanaugh. After fifteen years apart, their rekindled friendship soon develops into much more. But Jason’s baggage threatens their blossoming romance, and he leaves town unannounced to escape his feelings—and Henry’s feelings for him. He has learned the hard way if something seems too good to be true, it’s best to run for the hills. Jason stress-bakes more confections than he knows what to do with before wondering if he’s running in the wrong direction.

    Guilt for walking away unscathed...and for secretly loving Simon's partner, Wade. Unable to bear the pain, Dylan left the Lazy G ranch to rebuild his life elsewhere.A year later he reluctantly responds to his sister's plea to come home, where he finds the Lazy G falling apart. And so is Wade. Wade has stopped caring about the ranch, about everything that should matter most to him.Though there's more ranch work than one man can possibly handle, Dylan throws himself into the task. Wondering how he's going to find the strength to pull Wade out of the fog of grief when his own is still as raw as a fresh wound. Wondering when Wade will finally see that his second chance for happiness is standing right in front of him.

    Kyle hopes returning to the familiar territory of his hometown will do him good, but meeting Emory Brenner at a club changes everything.Anything but familiar, Emory leaves Kyle breathless from the start. There’s just one problem: Kyle wants more than a one-night stand, Emory doesn’t do relationships, and neither man can resist the other. Luckily for Emory, he never has to see Kyle again. Or so Emory thinks until he runs into him while volunteering at the GLBT Center.Kyle makes Emory want things he never thought he could have and chips away at secrets Emory has kept locked away for years. On the surface, Emory’s recovered from his past: he has a job at a record store and a roof over his head. But putting his trust in another person, having a relationship, means opening himself to more pain—and that is a risk he can’t take.

    A US film crew arrives in the picturesque seaside town of Kinroe, West Ireland to record the autopsy of a beached whale. As local chief of police, Conor is angry at the desecration of wildlife and the interruption to his secluded life. But head of the project, marine biologist Eli Sanders, makes his admiration plain. Conor tries to ignore his attentions. He nearly lost his family to his first homosexual experience and isn't willing to risk it all again, no matter how much Eli has captured his imagination. But Eli enchants him, seduces him and soon Conor can't keep his mind on the job...

    As the only other technical specialist able to step in on such short notice, he takes over what seems like an average job until he runs into his old crush from high school, Jamie Hunter. Ten years after a summer fling left him with a broken heart, Tristan now has a different view of life and love but this time around, will he push away the only man he ever cared about?