Then I was a hermit. For so long—for years that seemed to go on forever—I couldn't bear to be touched. I put up not just walls but whole stone bunkers to keep everyone out, emotionally, and physically as well. I was protected from people, from ghosts, from specters real and imagined. Sure, I was alone. But I felt safe. Only, after a while, I wasn't sure any longer whether a totally "safe" empty life was really worth living.Then Tobin came along. Out of the blue, out of my past, with a summons from the king that he wouldn't let me ignore. I tried to cling to my isolation, but he wouldn't give up on me. Tobin never believed in walls.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.http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

    Then the new guy on the block, the enigmatic Leonard Nachman, turns his head, and over the summer Billy discovers a new world of romance and lovein a mans arms. But when Kit OReilly, Billys best friend and shadow, comes home after spending the summer with relatives, he finds Billy acting] differently. Soon enough, it becomes obvious that this change is related to Len, and Kit will have to decide if hell accept the relationship Billy and Len have forged, or if hell push Billy and their longtime friendship away.

    After the death of his son, his life shattered, Raphael regrets that he didn’t lie about some perfect paradise, and he pushes away everything that once mattered to him—his lover, his job, his reputation as a top architect. Then he meets Brian, a homeless, maybe hopeless kid. A Second Chance Brian’s a street kid. When he disappears, Raphael realizes that he cannot fail another person, and he launches a full-out search. What he finds both breaks his heart and begins to heal it. A Little Magic The price of saving Brian is high, maybe too high. But Raphael is no stranger to sacrifice, and he’ll risk everything to save Brian and reunite with the man Raphael now loves. The question is—How? Like the architecture of the opera house Raphael designs, the steps to regaining his life will depend not just on careful planning, but faith, hope, and maybe just the magic of love.“The Opera House, is a moving and emotional story about about gay men and their children, all struggling with big issues — from leukemia to abandonment, devastating loss to unbridled joy — in a way that’s remarkably touching, sometimes funny, and often unexpected. Remarkable, must-read novel from an emerging master storyteller.” Diane Anderson-Minshall, editor at large, Advocate magazine

    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.

    Getting a call to list a house while parading as a hot dog for a few bucks seems like my lucky break. Then things go sideways. My apartment is burglarized, and getting caught half-naked while squatting in my own listing is a low point. Meeting the sexy-voiced stranger who is now my client and realizing he has a gorgeous, cold boyfriend? Major bummer. But hey! I might sell a house ... if all the odd questions about my client don't get in the way.ReidI'm a washed up US marshal turned bodyguard, and even that's lost its appeal. A leave of absence to deal with a house I inherited in Kansas seems like a good opportunity to get my head straight -- but when my boss asks me to help a witness being targeted by a gang, I decide to take him with me. The guy is a criminal, but he's young and gay, so we set up a cover as a couple. Of course, I wasn't counting on the gorgeous real estate agent who makes me want something more in my life. When he starts asking questions, do I set him straight or risk losing him for good? And then there's still those gang members to think about ...

    Jason, the man taking care of him, tries to fill in some of the blanks: they’re in a cabin in Colorado on vacation, and Noah slipped on ice and hit his head. But even with amnesia, Noah knows Jason is leaving out something important.Jason O’Reilly is sexy as hell, treats Noah like he’s precious, and seems determined to make this the romantic getaway they’d apparently dreamed of together. But Noah’s more concerned that he’s trapped alone with Jason in the middle of a blizzard while his slowly returning memories bring hints of secrets and betrayal.Noah’s not sure what’s the truth and what’s a lie. But as he learns who he is — and who Jason is to him — he’s forced to reevaluate everything he believes about himself, about loyalty . . . and about love.

    Having broken up with his boyfriend the day before his flight, he’s ready to face Europe with no attachments… and no desire for any.But as Ethan gets to know Daniel — one of his three German roommates — his resolve starts to soften. Though Daniel is initially standoffish, unpleasant, and sometimes downright hostile, the two are undeniably drawn to one another. Even Ethan’s conviction that Daniel is actually straight begins to erode as they grow closer, gradually revealing a buried part of Daniel’s past that will threaten to tear them apart. Not to be outdone, the town of Freiburg guards its own secret, a thread of forgotten history unraveling into something far greater than Ethan is prepared for.The Race for Second is a coming of age story that delves into the depths of the young heart and its search for intimacy and acceptance. Charmingly woven into the German university town of Freiburg, Ethan’s story is one of finding the courage to pursue what we truly desire, even at the risk of losing everything.

    Conflicted and unable to maintain the charade, he separates from his wife and takes a job as caretaker at a former mental hospital. Jelley’s Valley State Insane Asylum was the largest mental hospital in California for well over a century, but it now stands empty. William thinks the decrepit institution is the perfect place to finish his dissertation and wait for his divorce to become final. In town, William meets Colby Anderson, who minds the local store and post office. Unlike William, Colby is cute, upbeat, and flamboyantly out. Although initially put off by Colby’s mannerisms, William comes to value their new friendship, and even accepts Colby's offer to ease him into the world of gay sex.William’s self-image begins to change when he discovers a tin box, hidden in an asylum wall since the 1940s. It contains letters secretly written by Bill, a patient who was sent to the asylum for being homosexual. The letters hit close to home, and William comes to care about Bill and his fate. With Colby’s help, he hopes the words written seventy years ago will give him courage to be his true self.

    But when a phone call from an attorney back home informs me that my sister passed away, leaving me custody of her newborn baby, I’m shocked out of the steady life I’ve built for myself running a tattoo shop in San Francisco. The thing is: I don’t do babies. And I don’t do small towns. Or commitment. And I especially don’t do family. My plan is to go back to Hobie just long enough to sign adoption papers, giving my niece the kind of stable, loving family I could never provide. But the moment I meet my niece in the arms of Weston Wilde, my sister’s best friend and the town’s handsome doctor, my plans begin to change. Because suddenly, I see a different future. One with the very thing I thought I never deserved: a family. If only I can convince West that I’m not the same good-for-nothing kid ready to bolt when things get tough. Weston: There’s one thing I know for sure about Nico Salerno: he was a good-for-nothing as a kid and judging by the purple-haired, tattoo’d punk who shows up at his sister’s funeral, he hasn’t changed. There’s no way I’m letting him take custody of my best friend’s baby. But the more time I spend around him, the more I realize that his rough exterior is just a shell and that beneath all the tattoos is a scared, insecure man searching for a place to belong. And pretty soon I know exactly where he belongs: in my bed and by my side. The problem is, he abandoned his family once before, how do I know that if we become a family he won’t do it again? Facing West is the first in the new Forever Wilde series about the huge Wilde family from Hobie, Texas, whose patriarchs aren’t above a little meddling if that’s what it takes to help their grandkids find true love.

    But at thirty-six, he wonders how committed Mosko will be to an aging lover.He finds out when a rival gang kidnaps him in a turf war everyone's sure to lose. Mosko unleashes deadly force, leaving no one alive except for a young man whose dark eyes tug at Dylan's heart and the conscience he thought he'd excised long ago.Though he tried to stop the kidnapping, William Memo Escobar knows Mosko will use what's left of him to send a powerful message to his rivals. When Mosko's pampered pretty boy risks everything to help him escape, he can't believe his luck.William figures he's better suited to life off the grid, but as the days go by he begins to realize Dylan's beauty is more than skin deep. And as Dylan coaxes more and more beguiling smiles from William, he yearns for things like family ties he'd thought were best forgotten.Yet behind their newfound happiness lurks the certain knowledge that no matter how careful they are, Mosko will come for what's his.Warning: This book contains a mob boss, a kept man, and a reluctant kidnapper who will never have to hear the words, Size doesn't matter.

    Cobbler has not had an easy life. It’s bad enough people say he looks like Donkey from Shrek, but he’s also suffered the death of his policeman father and his mother’s remarriage to a professional swindler, who cost them everything. Now dirt poor, they live in the barrio of San Antonio, Texas. When Tru transfers to an inner-city high school halfway through his senior year, he meets Javi Castillo, a popular and hot high school jock. Javi takes an immediate liking to Tru, and the two become friends. The odd pairing, however, rocks the school and sets the cliquish social circles askew. No one knows how to act or what to think when Mr. Popular takes a stand for Mr. Donkey. Will the cliques rise up to maintain status quo and lead Tru and Javi to heartbreak and disaster or will being true to who they are rule the day?

    Protector. Lover.Dashiell acts first and thinks second when he uses his fists to stop a vicious assault. The victim’s young, blond and beautiful — and the bratty kept boy of a gangland thug. Dashiell’s not offered thanks. Instead, he’s offered a job as the boy's bodyguard. Out of work and short of cash, it’s tempting to say yes. But there are strings attached, and Dashiell’s not sure he wants to get entangled.Billy knows his place. He’s the property of a violent criminal, and just one wrong word means a beating, or worse. He yearns for a man who will love and protect him, keep him safe, and catch him when he falls. Dashiell could be that man — but only if Billy has the courage to follow his heart. Their love is forbidden, and danger stalks their every move. Escape is the only option but as the walls close in, is time running out for Dashiell and Billy?Captive Hearts is the first in the Deviant Hearts MM Romantic Suspense series. Expect a hard fought for HEA. No cliff hangers.Note: this book was previously published under the name of A E Ryecart. The cover and description may (or may not) have changed, but the book title and contents remain the same as before.

    Mutual attraction and small-town ties hold them together, yet they’re haunted by a shared tragedy that still hangs between them.Their tenuous, on-again off-again relationship takes a hard right cross with the arrival of Tom Delaney, a teen on the run from his punch-happy father. In no time, the kid shows himself to be a boxing prodigy.But Tom’s politically influential father isn’t yet down for the count. When his mother shows up at Eddie’s diner with a shiner and a haunted look in her eyes, Tom is hopeful for her future. But when that hope is snuffed out, Tom’s rage has him ready to turn his new fighting skills to a deadly purpose. Revenge, or die trying.Unless his surrogate big brothers can put their painful past behind them to keep history from rising up for another round.This book has been previously published.Warning: Tough guys with a long history beating the crap out of each other to avoid saying “I love you”. Heaps of sexual tension. More angst and emotion than deemed safe by the Surgeon General. Proceed with caution!

    He goes out drinking with his colleagues, gets along well with his players, and dates all the prettiest women in town-he has the life most straight men dream of. But lately none of the women he dates seem to be igniting any passion in him. Then he meets the new school chaplain, Foster Lewis. Romantic attraction to another man is new and terrifying, and Chip just can't put his finger on why he's drawn to Foster, but it's stronger than anything he's felt for anyone in his life. Never one to back down from a challenge, Chip decides to go for it. But love is never simple, and sometimes it's a downright mess!

    So when his sister Elsie became pregnant eight years ago and then ditched by her boyfriend, he stepped up to the plate. Since then, he's been his sister's support system and father figure to his niece. Allan's world is turned upside down when Elsie becomes engaged, and he meets her fiancé's older brother, Davinder -- a beautiful, brooding artist with a thousand secrets breathing in his eyes. But Davinder is a married man and father of two young boys. From the moment they meet, and for over four decades, Allan and Davinder will walk along the edge of their secret lives, never allowed to push open the gates. And though their love is a head-on collision, a meeting of the minds, a fusing of two lost souls, both men know that it is also, and above all ... impossible.