These two men who have spent a life in love, from the very first date arranged by Henry’s sister, through the rocky times they worked to make ends meet, and into their twilight years.NOTE: This story appears in the following anthologies — Best Gay Romance 2008 (Cleis Press) and Best Gay Stories 2009 (Lethe Press).

    Chris Tucker is a cultured and sophisticated gentleman. Matt Gallagher is a pierced and tattooed wild child. Not exactly the pair you'd expect to become a couple. But the sparks fly between them from the moment they meet, and the fire never goes out. Through the first rush of attraction to falling in love, through jealousy and sexual experimentation and a life-threatening injury, the bond they share grows and deepens. Come along with Matt and Chris on their journey, and share their joys and heartaches, from their first hello to happily ever after and everything in between. Warning: This title contains the following: explicit homoerotic sex, graphic language, and M/M/M ménage a trois.

    So he hightails it to Las Vegas… where he meets the beautiful maid Ally May.There’s just one rather significant problem: Ally is actually Alessandro Macias, son of a tough Brazilian hotel magnate. But if Ally keeps pretending to be a girl for a little while longer, is there a chance they might discover this marriage is tailor-made?

    The coffee's good, but it's not the rich flavor that lures him to drive blocks out of his way each morning, and it's not an addiction to caffeine either. He's half-embarrassed to admit it, but it's the man who keeps him coming back. The long-legged, painted-on-jeans-wearing, dark-haired, edgy sex god with the teasing eyes. He's everything Riley--who has a history of geekdom and being flustered around hot men--is not. Riley knows he should put a stop to the daily forays because nothing can ever come of it. Guys like that aren't interested in men like him. Yet every time the hunk meets his gaze across the crowded shop and aims a sizzling grin at him, Riley gives in and comes back to participate in the silent, sexy flirtation another day. Needless to say, the last thing he's expecting when he goes to question a witness about a murder at a local gay strip joint is to discover the witness is his coffeehouse hottie. Dane Scott works as a stripper strictly for fun. He doesn't need the money--he's got plenty in the bank from his other career. He just likes to have something to keep him busy a few nights a week. When one of his fellow dancers turns up murdered outside the strip club, the police detective who shows up on Dane's doorstep asking questions is none other than the sexy, blond cutie he's been flirting with at the coffeehouse for weeks. Riley Ellison's a fascinating contradiction--rugged, strong, serious-eyed hero and bashful boy next door. A combination Dane finds all too appealing and a refreshing change from the selfish, shallow men he's known and dated in the past. From the moment Riley flashes his badge, Dane's determined to show the skittish cop they can make magic together. The heat between them quickly soars to the boiling point and not even a murder investigation can cool the passion they share. That is, until new information on Riley's case implies Dane may not be all he seems... Genres: Gay / Contemporary

    He never expects the gorgeous lawyer to make a move. But when Clark makes his interest shockingly clear, Thomas find himself involved in a passionate affair with the man of his dreams. Badly burned by an office romance once before, Clark knows he should keep his relationship with Thomas on a strictly business level. But there’s something disarmingly genuine about the beautiful, intelligent young man, and Clark throws caution to the wind. As Thomas spends more time in Clark’s company and bed, he realizes he is falling in love and he’s pretty sure Clark feels the same way. But when Thomas’s resume finds its way to a rival firm, Clark is livid. Just when he had started to picture a life with Thomas, complete with a house in the suburbs, the man betrays him, just like his ex-lover did. Clark cuts Thomas out of his life, and his firm. Left unemployed and reeling from a broken heart, Thomas struggles to put the pieces of his life back together. But when Clark learns the truth, can he open his heart to Thomas once again and take a chance on happiness?

    He has a few friends—okay, one real friend and his roping partner. But being the town pastor’s son isn’t easy. Not to mention he’s sure he was born askew, without the ability to experience life the way others seem to. It is the only explanation he has for why he isn’t like everyone else. However, when he rescues Zane, a misplaced city boy dressed in tattoos and leather, from a killer bumblebee, he experiences more than he expects. Zane shows Gabriel that sometimes the path you’ve chosen isn’t set in stone, and more times than not, you’ll find yourself in the last place you look.

    It’s all in a day’s work for US Federal Marshal Dean Honeybone...Honeybone is accompanying extradited child killer Richard Stance to Australia when their plane crashes off the northeast coast of the island continent. The only survivors of the packed flight are Honeybone and four-year-old Kaia Pendleton, whom Dean rescues during the crash. As Dean and Kaia recuperate in a Queensland hospital, questions swirl about what caused the accident...and what happened to Stance’s body, the only one not recovered from the wreckage.Unable to return to work due to his injuries and plagued by raging headaches and violent nightmares, Honeybone must rest. Convinced that Stance survived and is free to kill again, he’s reluctant to take the gift of a week-long dream vacation at Wilson Island, a remote, luxury resort where only ten guests at a time are allowed to visit. Honeybone gives in, pondering the prospect of rekindling his relationship with Rongo Davis, an Australian Security Intelligence operative. But then he meets Jean-Luc Sebastien, a French chef, and discovers the possibility of a different sort of life.Yet all the while, death and danger are as close as the next barrier reef...

    A huge one. The US senator he works for has run away with his latest mistress on the eve of a make-or-break fund-raising event, and it’s up to him to cover his boss’s irresponsible tracks.Stone Jackson, the senator’s new bodyguard, looks enough like the senator that, with some extensive grooming, he might pass for Senator Lacey. Christian and Stone hatch a plan to fool everyone by substituting Stone for the senator, but Miami madness and the incendiary heat between them are throwing obstacles in their way. It’s a race to find the senator and pull off the con of the century before the attraction between them spins completely out of control.

    After years of running from his past, present and the dismal future every social worker predicted for him, Karma delivers the one thing Gus could never—would never—turn his back on; a son from a one-night stand he’d had after a devastating break-up three years ago.Returning to San Francisco and to 415 Ink, his family’s tattoo shop, gave him the perfect shelter to battle his personal demons and get himself together… until the firefighter who’d broken him walked back into Gus’s life.For Rey Montenegro, tattoo artist Gus Scott was an elusive brass ring, a glittering prize he hadn’t the strength or flexibility to hold onto. Severing his relationship with the mercurial tattoo artist hurt but Gus hadn’t wanted the kind of domestic life Rey craved, leaving Rey with an aching chasm in his soul.When Gus’s life and world starts to unravel, Rey helps him pick up the pieces, and Gus wonders if that forever Rey wants is more than just a dream.

    After losing love and fighting addiction, he becomes a successful substance abuse counselor and helps people regardless of their insurance or ability to pay. It isn't the dream life he had in San Francisco, but at least he has something to be proud of. Everything seems to be getting back on the right track until Angel, a heroin-addicted male prostitute, crosses his path. Erik not only sees a lot of himself in Angel, but a lot of potential as well. He quickly realizes he's willing to sacrifice a lot to get him on the right path--but is he willing to jeopardize his career?

    His life remains a constant string of nightmares, flashbacks, and fear, but he perseveres and starts college, determined to move on. Then Aaron gets assigned to work with Spencer Thomas for his programming project. Aaron doesn’t want Spencer to think he’s a freak, but as he gets to know his new deaf friend, he figures out he doesn’t need to be “normal.” If he could just learn to control his fear, that could be enough to find his footing again. Or so Aaron thinks until his parents begin talking about institutionalizing him to give his brothers a more stable life. He searches desperately to find a way to cope or even to fake normalcy. But his new shrink’s instability makes conquering his demons that much more difficult, and his attraction to Spencer threatens to send Aaron spinning out of control. Adapted as a YA edition of the novel Aaron by J.P. Barnaby. 100% of the author's royalties are being donated to help homeless LGBT kids find safe shelter.

    His only company, the cold man who promised to keep him safe from harm, Lance. But when Lance dies, Nicky’s assurance of safety disintegrates and his world suddenly becomes a lot more real and a lot more dangerous. Scared to leave the house, Nicky longs for daylight. He employs a gardener to clear the over-grown bushes and vines that have nearly swallowed Thorn Hall whole.The last thing Nicky expects a little light to do is show him something to fight for.Eighteen months in a young offenders’ institute has taught Cai two things: he occupies the playful puppy end of the How Dangerous Are You? spectrum, and he has an unfortunate knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.Desperate for a job, he takes the first offer he gets. Even though Thorn Hall creeps the hell out of him and he barely knows one end of a pair of garden shears from the other.Things start to fall apart when Cai is drawn into Nicky’s strange world of sticky notes and secrets. Cai finds he is now a target, blamed for a crime he didn’t commit. Desperate not to go back to prison, he digs deep and risks all the good things in life to help Nicky run. But now Nicky has someone he wants to protect, he knows he can’t run any more.

    A smile across a counter at a coffee shop or video store. A secret revealed in a song from another place and time. Or in a love ballad crooned at a high school dance. In this anthology of never-before-published sweet LGBTQ+ stories, six authors explore the beginnings of love between young and new adult couples. All proceeds will support The Trevor Project's work with crisis intervention and suicide prevention for LGBTQ+ youth.

    But once he is back to being a civilian, with no family and nothing to ground him, he drifts. All he wants is a real home, a real life, and love—but that is easy to wish for and hard to make happen. When he meets Andrew Landry, a high school English teacher, Xavier thinks he has found everything he has ever wanted, maybe even someone he can trust with his scars—the ones on his mind and body. Andrew’s quick wit and outgoing personality reel Xavier in slowly but surely. But he isn’t certain which way Andrew swings, and doesn’t dare to do more than hope the friendly man is actually flirting. Then, on what Xavier idly wishes were their first date, disaster strikes in the form of Duncan McNeil, a fellow Wiccan and Andrew’s fiancé. Xavier’s hope is smashed to pieces, but Duncan and Andrew may have a different point of view. All they need is a little magic, some hope, and a lot of love to put everything back together.

    Cameron Sherwood turned his back on law enforcement the night his investigation led to the death of an innocent gay man. Now Cam spends his time running a business that caters to his favorite animal, cats. But when Cam stumbles upon the body of a friend while feeding her feline, he can’t walk away. Dealing with a sexy yet stubborn sheriff, a matchmaking sister, and a terrifying blind date, Cam must somehow track down a killer, all while keeping the cats around him fed with his gourmet cat treats.