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 was supposed to be just one night in town to close the deal, and sleeping with one of the local men, no matter how gorgeous, meant nothing more than a few hours of fun.Andrew Kelly is perfectly content with the life he has in his hometown. So much so that the only thing missing is someone to share it with. Going to bed with a tourist was never meant to be the answer to his dreams, just a beautiful distraction. He could get back to looking for Mr. Right the next day.Both Andrew’s and Joel’s worlds are turned upside down when a few hours of pleasure get extended to a couple of days. Even that shouldn’t have been a big deal. You can’t fall in love in that amount of time. That isn’t how it works. However, if destinies collide, a few short days may be all it takes to find your soul mate. Even so, when secrets and motivations get tangled, fate may do nothing more than leave two hearts in pieces.

    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 A previously unpublished Christmas book by Charles Dickens has turned up in the hands of an English chemistry professor by the name of Sedgwick Crisparkle.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.

    Literally half the team is queer and it’s ok, you can be jealous. One of the reasons I was hella excited to come here, ha! But I don’t care about the rest of the team right now, because all I can think about is this new freshman with the mad skills. Zev.He has this gorgeous lob shot and makes our intense practices seem effortless. I swear if I hadn’t just played an entire game, I would have gotten hard at the backhanded skip shot he scored last week. Seriously. It was amazing. And why does Zev have to be just as stunning out of the water? He’s all dark hair and heavy brows and these hazel eyes that make me stutter like a fool.I don’t know why he’s warmed up to everyone on the team but me. I’m the main driver, and he’s a leftie, so we should clearly work together… I mean, aside from the fact I want into his pants.Fuck it.This is California, and it’s college— it’s pretty much the definition of fun. So what happens when we’re assigned roommates for the three-day tournament in Long Beach?Photo Description: Two fierce competitors lunge up out of a pool of placid water, only their bare torsos showing. Their athletic bodies are bronzed and toned, and each of them wears a swim cap. They face each other, reaching up with arms extended aggressively. One player holds a ball in his left hand while the other, facing him, moves to block with his right hand. Their actions send sprays of water, foaming about them.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.

    Scandal has shredded his LGBT soccer team’s history-making season, and now the once-unflappable striker is lashing out. Only one person can tame Duncan’s rage and make him feel like himself again…Bullied by schoolmates in his wee village, Brodie Campbell lurked deep in the closet before coming to the city of Glasgow. Here at university he’s out and proud, but the years of abuse have left him emotionally paralyzed. Can flatmate Duncan help Brodie escape his past and heal his wounded heart?As the two lads grow closer, Brodie can’t forget how athletes like Duncan once tortured him. When Duncan attacks an opponent who threatens Brodie, the situation escalates. Soon Brodie doesn’t feel safe anywhere—especially in Duncan’s arms.To defeat the bullies who’ve wrecked his life, his mind, and his ability to love, Brodie must find the strength to fight his own battles. And Duncan must find the strength to let him.

    Women gush. Men applaud his techniques. And everybody wishes they could be his next partner. Thanks to one little video uploaded by an ex, he’s become famous. His family might disapprove of his methods, but Aiden embraces this notoriety and revels in the reviews. In typical Scott fashion, Aiden’s made a f**king career—out of f**king. Aiden has rules in place to protect himself. He doesn’t date. He won’t do sleepovers. He's never been interested in someone longer than it takes to reach a mutual climax. The rules work. They always have. Until he meets one nerdy film major, with big brown eyes and it has him questioning everything. Skyler C. Bailey is a film major and twenty-one years old. It’s his junior year of college at Vanderbilt. He lives to capture people's raw emotions and life stories through a lens camera. A true introvert at heart, one night out and his whole world is turned upside down. He tries to ignore the growing feelings inside, he’s been there and done that. Been stomped on and pushed to the side. He doesn’t want to go through that again, but he can’t ignore his heart even if he’s afraid he’s about to learn the hardest lesson of all: never trust a p*rn star.

    . . a faggot? A queer? A sissy? About a dozen more words meandered through my brain, every word I’d ever heard from my friends, from adults, from TV. Was that who I was now? Were those words me now?"While most gay men grow up living in the closet until they are brave enough to step out and be themselves, Adam Shepherd experiences the opposite. After living almost all of his young life out and gay, he goes into the closet, willingly, in order to have the career and life he wants and needs. He thinks he can handle it, but he soon discovers how much he has truly given up.Chase Michaels was always there for Adam, a substitute “big-brother” and true friend in his growing up years. Adam has always harbored a secret involving Chase, but it conflicts with the closet he now lives in as an adult. When the pressure becomes too much, Adam chooses to stay in his closet . . . but at what cost? And can he change things before it’s too late?Original Prompt:Dear Author,I've missed him so much and I'd hoped he be there when I came home. I just didn't want to expect too much. After so many years of being just friends, we became more and then I got my orders. Before we could start anything, it felt like everything was over. But he came, he's here! I just couldn't contain myself and ran right into his arms.Can someone please tell me how these two began, how they survived apart and what's next? :)Photo Description: Military homecoming: Marine dressed in fatigues greets his civilian lover with a passionate embrace, arms and legs wrapped around him, as they kiss passionately, framed by a large, vibrant American Flag behind them.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.

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

    Becca has bid on and won an auction and she's handing her winnings over to Ben. The highest bidder gets the privilege of sharing lunch with Mitch DeSantis, star of wildly popular television show, Case Files.Though he's a huge fan of the show and not above entertaining a steamy fantasy or two starring Mitch, Ben's not particularly thrilled with the idea. After all, how do you make conversation with someone you see on television every week? As it turns out, he needn't have worried. While Mitch is as gorgeous in person as he is on screen, he's also rude, arrogant, and a complete ass. Ben leaves before the main course is served, hoping never to see Mitch DeSantis again.Fate has other plans. A completely changed and contrite Mitch shows up with an apology, a heart-stopping smile, and an invitation to dinner. It's a combo Ben finds hard to resist. This new Mitch is someone Ben could lose his heart to, but it's a one-time thing, right? No danger of that happening.If he'd only known. Mitch has an ulterior motive that could lead to something neither one of them expected.

    Witt comes the re-release of three hot contemporary novellas -- Getting off the Ground, Infinity Pools, and On The List.After being stood up at the altar, compulsive over-planner Elliott Chandler decides to turn his honeymoon on Oahu into a vacation for one. Fate puts a hitch in his plans, however, when the airport is snowed in and his flight is delayed.In the terminal, the jilted groom catches the eye of another stranded traveler: the laidback and very sexy Derek Windsor. Derek breaks the ice and strikes up a conversation, and as the temperature drops outside, the heat between them rises. Pity they’re both going to different islands, but if their flight doesn’t get off the ground fast, Mr. Calm-and-Cool may just tempt Mr. Play-It-Safe into doing something reckless.And that plane isn’t going anywhere any time soon…

     “You helped me find what I’d forgotten I wanted.” 

Different worlds... 
Ethan Parker has his whole life planned out for him -- and it’s a life he doesn’t want. But saying no to his family is too hard, so he buries his dreams and goes through the motions. Being on the swim team at Dalton University is his only escape from the constant pressure to be someone he’s not.

 Sexy, mysterious Orlando Nolan seems to be Ethan’s polar opposite. Tall, toned, and tattooed, he looks more like a rugged rock star than an Ivy League student — but with one of the highest GPA's at Dalton, he's guaranteed a job at one of Silicon Valley’s best once he graduates. “I’m not brave like you. No matter how much I wish I could be.” 

Shared secrets...
 When Ethan needs help studying, Orlando can’t resist the chance to spend more time with the blond, blue-eyed, all-American boy from his dorm. Neither one expects the bond that forms between them, or how easy they find it to open up to each other. Then Ethan spends Thanksgiving with Orlando and his family … and their unlikely friendship catches fire. “He doesn’t fix me, he makes me realize that I can fix myself.”

 And wrenching choices...
 But family disapproval causes unhealed wounds to surface. Orlando doesn't know how long he can wait for someone who's afraid to love him back. But can Ethan sacrifice everything for the one person who makes him feel alive? Finding Orlando is a steamy stand-alone New Adult MM romance novel. It depicts a first time gay, friends to lovers relationship resulting in a satisfying HEA and no cliffhanger.

     His sex life has been nonexistent for some time, though. After a particularly bad hookup, he keeps mostly to himself. That leaves chocolate. Luckily, he works surrounded by the most delicious, extravagant produce in Gothenburg. Beside his job at the chocolaterie, his main source of excitement is his online friend, Magnus, whom he stubbornly refuses to meet in person. A customer turns up at the chocolaterie one day—tall, shy, and charming. He could be just the right man. If Michał can step out of his overly safe shell, there might be not only chocolate, but sex, too. Maybe chocolate-flavored sex. And if he’s lucky, maybe even love. Warning: This book contains explicit scenes, adult language, and obscene amounts of chocolate.

    It's a 10k word short story about two men who run into each other, literally, thanks to a very special canine intervention Nathan Sterling just lost his best friend and companion, a chocolate lab named Mocha. After mourning her loss for over a month, Nathan decides to honor Mocha's memory by going out for a run alone−his first since losing her. The run proves to be just what Nathan needs, when he meets David Rogers whose dog, coincidentally also named Mocha, escapes her leash and tumbles Nathan to the ground.Sparks fly, lust builds, and love blooms...and it's all because of Mocha's Help.

    His every desire is within arm's reach, except the one person Devin has always wished would be his in the end. All it takes is one conversation to open his eyes to a new possibility, one moment to change what Devin believes about friendship and love and one person to change the rules of the game.Sam Marshall has been fighting his feelings for his friend and roommate for two years. When an opportunity presents itself, he makes his move, only to be faced with the very real fear that what he sees in Devin, the potential waiting to be realized, may be more than their friendship can handle.

    For Jackson Roanoke, the greatest consequence of his parents’ divorce was watching his mother drive away with his twin brother Ben, putting thousands of miles between them. Eight years later and with college looming, Jackson is tasked with reroofing his father’s house. After a tempting offer of help from a young man, Jackson finds himself caught up in a growing attraction he’s hesitant to embrace. But when his brother Ben reappears at the front door, Jackson is confronted by more than he’s prepared for. Brought together by circumstance, the estranged brothers are forced to navigate a relationship that persists only in their memories. Marked by the heat of a Midwest summer and rolling wheat fields, the short months are punctuated by scattered moments of closeness between the two brothers, hinting at the possibility of rekindling the connection they once shared.