Mundane routine helps keep his anxiety and obsessive tendencies under control. Socializing—especially dating—isn’t on his list of strong skills either, and, made worse with the echoes of his disapproving mother. So he’s content to stay at home with his lists and cleaning and wildlife documentaries, until a one-night stand goes unexpectedly right.History has taught Devon DuCaine that dating can be uncomfortable, but there’s just something about Scott. He may be the opposite of Devon’s own long-haired, tattooed, free-wheeling spirit but he brings out the nurturer in Devon. Maybe it’s Scott’s surprising fascination with Devon’s motorcycle, or his shy surprise in moments of affection, but there’s more under those sensible suits than meets the eye. The most important person in Devon’s life, his mom, taught him love and compassion and that’s all he wants to share that with Scott. Their one-night stand turns into a regular thing, but Scott doesn’t trust it to last. He’s pretty sure Devon is hiding something. He’s even more sure that once Devon gets to know him, the attraction will fade. And then there’s his mother. However many sparks fly between them, Devon will have his work cut out to convince Scott they can have their happily ever after.(This book was originally published as 2 short stories. They’re combined here with massive edits and double the content from the originals.)

    But it’s what happened to me.When I bump into my cheating ex and catch sight of the moon-sized rock on her finger, there’s only one option to save face: pretend to be dating my gay best friend, Declan.And when she outs me on Facebook and everyone I know sees it, there’s still only one option: keep pretending to be dating Declan. And when Declan and I have to kiss to keep up the ruse and it turns out there’s actually a spark between us (more like a blazing inferno, if truth be told) there’s once again only one option… Warning: this book is not appropriate for anyone who doesn’t like laughing, anyone who doesn’t like dogs, or anyone who doesn’t like hot men having a lot of sex…with each other.*Happily Ever After included

    His life is perfect until he gets a phone call that brings it all crashing down: a car accident takes his parents, and now he must return to Austin to raise three teenage brothers he barely knows.During the funeral, Ben meets Travis Atwood, the redneck neighbor with a huge heart. Their relationship initially runs hot and cold, from contentious to flirtatious, but when the weight of responsibility starts wearing on Ben, he turns to Travis, and the pressure shapes their friendship into something that feels a lot like love. Ben thinks he’s found a way to have his old life, his new life, and Travis too, but love isn’t always easy. Will he learn to recognize that sometimes the worst thing imaginable can lead him to the place he was meant to be?

    Slaving away at his father’s construction company all week and partying every weekend leaves him little time for introspection, but he knows it’s time for a change. When his best friend, Mac, drags him to a college party, Bo catches sight of a girl. But not just any girl—the girl of his dreams: a delicate blonde-haired beauty with a pink scarf and a smile that promises warmth and humor. There’s just one problem: she isn’t a girl. Even after Bo discovers the truth, he keeps seeing Erick, and the choice to follow his heart despite the obstacles has profound repercussions on not only his sense of self but his relationship with his family and even his job. Being with Erick makes him all the more determined to be his own man and claw his way out from under his father’s thumb. But Erick faces choices of his own: the choice to get involved with someone redefining his sexuality, the choice to trust again, and even the choice to believe love can last beyond the temporary.

    Then his parents were killed in a tragic accident, leaving him to raise his two siblings. Determined to hold on to what remained of his family, Cassidy settled into an ordinary life, his dreams of fame reduced to occasional nights of singing at karaoke dives. But his careful, ordinary life began to fray with his new job, and the beautiful, charming boss who reminds him of all the things he tried to stop wanting.Malcolm Osborne is a classic rags to riches story, a foster child who wound up with the perfect family and more money than he knows what to do with. He's wealthy, beautiful, successful, and completely miserable. Then he hires a new worker for his office, a young, hard-working man with a sadness in his eyes that Malcolm aches to banish, hoping that in doing so he will be rid of his own loneliness as well.

    He's got his own web business, a fat cat for a pet and his own house, which he shares with his sister -- oh well, nothing's perfect. Also not perfect is not having someone special to share his life with. His sister Rebecca believes it's because he's too picky and too unapproachable, but Jordan just wants someone to do the Sunday crossword with, take walks with, someone who'll be his mate for life. Is that really too much to ask?One night Rebecca drags Jordan to a Tyler Curtis concert. Tyler is a notorious bad boy who treats his audience with contempt and sleeps with a different groupie every night, and Rebecca is determined to be tonight's groupie. Jordan is there under protest. At least he is until he meets the man beneath the crass, bad boy image. Will Jordan get to know the true Tyler or will Tyler's manager and a world wanting the man to match the image conspire against them?

    Crew. His cocky attitude and good looks got him what he wanted, including samples off the man meat buffet. Then he found his favorite dessert, Brandon. But Brandon wasn’t sending out a rainbow vibe so Ryan was sent to the land that crushes dread, the friend zone.Brandon Ford was buried so deep down in the closet that clothes from the seventies had a better chance of coming out. His anxieties of acting on his desires could keep a therapist entertained for hours. Even though he did his best to build his emotions out of bricks, it was no use against Ryan’s charms.Follow Ryan and Brandon’s relationship from high school, to college and beyond to find out if they will be Tied Together.Warning: No Anaconda Turtles have been harmed in the making of this book.

    The camera is an extension of himself where he exposes his passion for the intersect of pleasure and pain. However, the lens also acts as a barrier, protecting his subjects from the shameful mistakes of his past, and Greg is left isolated and lonely.Emyr stands on the cusp of fame, but adulation and abuse are both eroding his confidence, and one night, at the river’s edge, he seeks solace in the rain, hoping to hide his tears.The photographer and the virgin rock star share an accidental connection on that dark, drizzly night. When Greg invites Emyr back to his hotel room, no strings attached, the young man should have bolted. Instead, an odd sense of trust allows him to follow Greg’s lead.When the camera comes out, Emyr learns the stage isn’t the only place he loves to perform as Greg touches something inside him that rarely awakens. Faced with a beautiful, talented boy whose soul is as lonely as his own, will Greg be able to face his past and come to terms with it, or will he run from the connection he so desperately desires?

    One night at a frat party, Danny meets Lance Lenard, football jock and apparent straight guy. Lance is shocked when he's immediately attracted to Danny's feminine side. Danny is happy to be the subject of Lance's first man-on-man experiment—until Lance begins to struggle with the fact that despite his appearance, Danny is indeed a man.Lance's whole life has been focused on his goal of playing in the NFL, and he knows those dreams will be smashed if anyone finds out about his little secret. Although Lance has come to hunger for Danny's touch, he's not willing to give Danny what he's grown to crave: a boyfriend who's proud to love him for every flamboyant and snarky cell in his body.Life sends Danny and Lance in different directions, each of them focused on his respective Plan A. But the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

    It’s easier not to try anymore…Ten years after leaving his small Minnesota hometown in his rearview mirror for what Nolan Grainger was sure would be the last time, life has decided to throw the talented musician a curveball and send him back to the town he lived in but was never really home.At twenty-eight, Nolan has traveled the world as a successful concert violinist with some of the best symphonies in the country. But success breeds envy, and when Nolan’s benefactor and lover decides Nolan has flown high enough, he cruelly clips Nolan’s wings. The betrayal and ensuing scandal leaves the violinist’s career in shambles and with barely enough money to start fresh somewhere beyond his vindictive ex’s powerful reach. But just as he’s ready to get his life back on track, Nolan gets the call he’s been dreading.After a stroke leaves his father a partial invalid, duty-bound Nolan returns to Pelican Bay and a life he’s spent years trying to forget. When he’s forced to use the last of his own money to keep from losing the family home, desperation has him turning to the one man he’d hoped never to see again…Even if I could speak, there wouldn’t be anyone there to listen…Pelican Bay’s golden boy, Dallas Kent, had the quintessential perfect life. Smart, gorgeous, and popular, the baseball phenom was well on his way to a life filled with fame and fortune. But more importantly, he had a one-way ticket out of Pelican Bay and far away from the family who used love as currency and whose high expectations were the law of the land. But a stormy night, sharp highway curve and one bad decision changed everything, leaving Dallas with nothing.Because the accident that took his parents, his future and his crown as the boy who could do no wrong, also stole his voice.Despised for the horrific wreck that ended the lives of two of Pelican Bay’s most respected residents, Dallas has retreated to a secluded stretch of land where he’s found refuge in a menagerie of unwanted animals that don’t care that he once had the world at his feet or that he’ll never speak again.But when the quiet, bookish boy he wasn’t allowed to notice in school suddenly reappears ten years later at Dallas’s wildlife rehab center in desperate need of a job, Dallas is thrust back into a world he’s worked hard to escape.Dallas’s silence was supposed to send Nolan scurrying, but what if Nolan ends up being the one person who finally hears him?Will two men who’ve been fleeing from the past finally come home to Pelican Bay for good or will the silence drive them apart forever?

    Which led to another. And another. And then to a mind-blowing night of intimacy Jeremy Reynolds can’t forget. He can’t stop thinking about the gorgeous, smart, compassionate man who tilted his world. Can’t stop seeing warm, sexy eyes gazing at him with breath-stealing intensity. Jeremy tries to tell himself to let the incident go, move on, and chalk it up to a life experience. After all, what transpired between him and his best friend and roommate, Ben Cross, can never happen again. Ben is gay, and Jeremy…isn’t. At least he’s never thought he was before. But now he’s torn and confused and not sure what the night with Ben meant—for either of them. Already stressed about final exams before the holidays and his difficult family situation, Jeremy doesn’t know how to deal with the conflicting feelings he’s having. And the one person he’s always been able to talk to about everything is the very person he’s been avoiding for the past week because he doesn’t know how to face him after waking up in his bed. Afraid he might have already screwed up his and Ben’s friendship beyond repair, what haunts Jeremy even more is the backlash he could face if he admits to Ben, or even to himself, how much the night they spent together really meant to him. And how much he still wants Ben even now… This novella has been previously published and has been revised since its original release.

    He’s on the corporate fast track as an executive problem solver, yet he can’t help feeling hollow. Yearning for a life spent outdoors makes no sense if he wants to flourish in this city, nor does losing his cool with clients when they make bad decisions. Only leaving the East Coast behind for three months can save his business reputation. His exile in Seattle has unexpected upsides. Jon’s rented home has a garden where his true passions blossom. It’s overgrown yet idyllic—perfect if he didn’t have to share it with another tenant. Tyler might be as cute as hell, and their landlady adores him, but Jon can’t let himself fall for someone who seems lazy. Three months could be enough time to see Tyler clearly, but choosing which to nurture long-term—love or a business career—might take Jon longer than one summer.

    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.

    Jack's only known Tadd for two weeks, so whatever Jack feels for Tadd couldn't possibly compare to what he shared with Davis. There's no way in hell Davis can stand by and watch the life he always expected to get back slip away to some guy Jack barely knows. Tadd Austin, indeed...more like Toad Ass-ton, Davis thinks. With his best friend, fashion designer Deseree Wildwood in tow, Davis has to shed his sweet, guy-next-door persona, and re-vamp his image into a self-confident, hot piece of eye candy. He's going to the wedding with only one goal in mind: to do whatever it takes to win back Jack. The Toad is toast! Once in Chicago, Davis discovers it isn't going to be as easy as he thought. Not only is Tadd very un-Toad-like, but a mysterious British playboy named Alex Parker manages to interject himself into the mix. Only true love will survive as the tug of war ensues in this Bermuda love triangle from hell. Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: Anal play/intercourse, male/male sexual practices.

    I came back in pieces to find out who I really was...It took me nearly ten years, two tours in Afghanistan and losing a leg to come to terms with who I really am.Two years after coming back from war, I can say that I’m finally content. I’m as fit as ever, my prosthetic leg allowing me the freedom to move and exercise as if nothing has changed. I own a small bakery in the centre of Cambridge, and I have a loyal circle of friends that I can always count on.And yet...Yet, there’s something missing. A part of me craves the intimacy, the deep connection to another human being. But another – bigger – part of me is terrified of letting anyone in.My internal conflict didn't stand a chance when I met Jay. He stormed through my defence walls like a hurricane, wrapping around me with gentle force until I had no choice but to surrender.Surrendering has never felt so good.Will Jay want to stay when he sees the real me? When he sees the nightmares and insecurities clawing at my soul? When he realises the burden I come with may be heavier than we both can carry?My name is Amir Gopal and this is my story.Author's Note: I did a ton of research about amputated limbs, soldiers, the military and, of course, baking. I read some heartbreaking stories, but I also read stories that inspired me and lifted my spirits when I felt stuck.I desperately wanted to do all these people justice. But at the same time, I wanted to show the softer side of the story, not focus on the initial battle to get your life back that nearly every veteran experiences coming back home.I really hope I succeeded showing the respect I feel for every single person who’s fought for their country.Cookies is a feel-good, happy book. It's a curl-on-the-sofa-on-a-rainy-Sunday-afternoon kinda book.I wanted to make people smile, and gush, and desperately want a brownie or five. Hopefully, I succeeded. Enjoy! xx