What he got was a hero.When an accident burns down Jesse’s apartment, he’s left broke and homeless, with a giant dog and a college schedule he can’t afford to maintain. And no family who’s willing to take him in.Lucky for him, a sexy fireman offers him a place to stay. The drawback? The fireman’s big Latino family lives next door, and they don’t know their son is gay.Tomas’s parents made their way in America with hard work and by accepting help when it was offered, so he won’t let Jesse drop out of school just so he can afford a place to live. Besides, Jesse’s the perfect roommate—funny, sweet and breathtakingly cute. He climbs into Tomas’s bed and tugs at his heart. Until Jesse starts pushing for more.Their passion enflames their bodies but threatens to crush Tomas’s family. Tomas is willing to fight for Jesse, but after losing everything, Jesse isn’t sure he can bear to risk his one remaining possession—his heart.Warning: Contains an angry older brother, judgmental best friends, a slobbering bull mastiff, and enough red-hot gay loving to make a porn star blush.

    However being a nerd can have its downsides, particularly when you're constantly being targeted by the school bully Taylor Raven and his cronies. As Scotty tries to navigate his final college years with the aid of his best friend Olive, he also finds himself on the radar of the mysterious and intimidating Vincent Hunter, toughest guy in the Sixth Form. Is Vincent really as bad as he seems? Will Scotty's darkest secret ever be revealed? Can he ever just finish his last few college years in peace? But most importantly... will any guy ever find the reasons to love a nerd like him?

    Small, small town. There are ways out of even the smallest town, if you can find the hand to guide you out.Original link: http://s2b2.livejournal.com/176784.htmlWords: 12,720 Complete

    So after doing hard time, Sage Redding heads to his family’s northeast Texas ranch to help his ailing daddy with the cutting horses. Adam (Win) Winchester is a county deputy and the cousin of one of the men killed in the incident that sent Sage to prison for almost a decade. While Win's uncles, Jim and Teddy, are determined to make Sage and the entire Redding family pay for their loss, Win just figures Sage has paid his dues and maybe needs a friend. Maybe he needs more than a friend. In fact, Win’s counting on it. No one’s denying Sage is an ex-con who went to prison for manslaughter. Regardless of the love he has for his father, he’s returned knowing things will likely go badly for him. Maybe a man can always come home, but he may not be able to stay.

     “You play pool?” Daniel asks the stranger, eyeing him. “Uh, yeah. I do,” the man says in a clipped, cocky way. “Do you play pool?” But when an intriguing stranger flirts with Daniel, he’s desperate not to lose the man’s attention. The man is smooth, older, and funny — dark and handsome with a physical presence that has Daniel’s blood running hot. Without thinking about it, Daniel starts hustling him. “A little,” Daniel lies. “You up for a game?” “You’re damned right I am.” What starts as a simple con changes as their chemistry crackles. Daniel wants this tattooed stranger, and he’s willing to bend the rules to get him on his knees. The young hustler makes the bet of a lifetime — getting him exactly what he wants. But the anonymous fun becomes a nightmare when Daniel meets the stranger in his hometown days later, thrown into a situation that leaves them no choice but to work together. . . . On the advice of his friends, perpetual loner Wilson Morrow has quit his job at a state university to accept an offer in the small town of Chewelah. The university is all he’s known since he escaped a turbulent childhood in Alabama, and Will spent his twenties forgetting the memories of what happened there. But his fresh start in a new town is a disaster from the start... Because staring at him on the first day of his promising new job is the biggest mistake of his entire life: Daniel Rhodes. They both know that with a single word, Daniel could ruin Will’s whole career. . . . They want to hate each other for what they are and the dishonest way they met. But as they’re forced to work together, Daniel finds that Will is changing the way he views himself, literature, and the future before him. In the gregarious and hot-tempered Daniel, Will finds someone he cannot help but care about — but he knows that the best thing he can do for Daniel Rhodes is to leave him alone. Try as they might, something bigger than themselves always pushes the two of them together. Nothing stays the same for either man as they navigate the minefield of a love they must keep secret. For the first time in either man’s life, they begin to build rather than repair, to forge their own future instead of treading in a wake, and to create something more important than simple survival in the aftermath of a chance encounter. (The Aftermath is an erotically-charged emotional romance with hurt/comfort, no cheating, and a happily ever after ending.)

    His hardscrabble days are brightened by the arrival of a new stepbrother, Rylan Mahoney, who quickly becomes the friend Scott so desperately needs. Their relationship has just started to deepen into more, when during the course of one terrible night, what Scott overhears sends him fleeing from his home, never to return.Flash forward six years, and Scott is now the hottest club host on the Phoenix gay scene. He takes what he wants, does what he wants, and does whom he wants. It’s a good life, but the journey to local popularity and fame wasn’t an easy one. For all that Scott’s looks are a blessing, at the same time they’re a curse—the source of his alcoholic mother’s inexplicable hatred.Rylan dreams of photojournalistic glory. He’s in Phoenix looking for the story of a lifetime, but the project isn’t coming to fruition. Needing rent money, he accepts a gig at Phoenix Pride hawking lewd lollipops and edible condoms…all while wearing gold lamé hot pants and a matching bow tie. When Rylan’s house keys and street clothes go missing after his shift, he’s desperate, until a stranger in a convertible stops to help.The man is absolute sex on legs, and Rylan is jolted when he recognizes him—his stepbrother Scott Ashworth, long missing but suddenly larger than life. Reunited after six years apart, Scott and Rylan are determined to put their past behind them, but fate intervenes and leaves their future in jeopardy once again.

    Seventeen-year-old Luke Savage jumps at the chance, envisioning endless hours of sunbathing on the private beach and riding the waves on his beloved surfboard. He isn’t interested in love. Though his rugged good looks and lazy charm mean he can have his pick of girls, he has no intention of falling for anyone.Nothing prepares Luke for his reaction to Theo, the sensitive Oxford undergraduate who is Zara’s cousin and closest friend. All at once, he is plunged along a path of desire and discovery that has him questioning everything he thought he knew about himself. No one, especially Zara, must find out; what he and Theo have is too new, too fragile. But as the deceit spirals beyond their control, people are bound to get hurt, Luke most of all.

    He owns the restaurant of his dreams and he’s determined to meet new people, find new passions, and experience life to its fullest. Easier said than done—that is until he meets his new neighbor, Bryce Tanner… Bryce is all about a good time. He plans to show Nick how it’s done, help him meet a few women, and enjoy the gift of the single life he’s been given. But things don’t go as planned, and soon they realize they’d rather be together than with anyone else. Neither man has ever wanted another guy, but there’s a connection between them from the start—a spark they can’t deny. They find themselves navigating an unfamiliar new world and dealing with unforeseen obstacles. Physical desire isn’t enough, and now Nick and Bryce are at a crossroads. They have to decide which way to go: the easy path they’ve always followed, or the one that's determined to trip them up at every turn.

    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.

    He's powerful, popular, and he has a plan. But his plan for fame and glory is disrupted when the Oracle sticks him with Landyn Glendower for Senior Trial. This is an act unprecedented in their school's history. Landyn is a water mage, and everyone knows mages with opposing elements can’t work magic together.Connor is left with a choice: work alone and fail or swallow his pride and work with Landyn to find a way to combine their magic in a display the Archmages will never forget—if they don't get kicked out of school in the process.

    Although not related to him by blood, Cody has always been annoying background noise in Ryan’s life. It doesn’t help that Cody’s a high achieving musician, while Ryan’s life ambition doesn’t extend past catching the next wave.One summer changes everything. It’s the summer when circumstances collide, and Cody and Ryan end up spending time together at Cody’s family’s beach house. It’s the summer Ryan teaches Cody to surf and Cody teaches Ryan to play guitar. It’s the summer when they become friends.And then more than friends.But when summer ends, Cody and Ryan are forced back to reality, where they must hide their relationship from their warring family members. And as tragedy strikes and family secrets buried deep in the past worm their way to the surface, their relationship is threatened. Can their feelings, which began in the summer sun, survive the winter ahead?

    Who knew?"Russel Middlebrook is twenty-three years old, gay, and living in trendy Seattle, but life isn't keeping up with the hype. Most of his friends have a direction in life—either ruthlessly pursuing their careers or passionately embracing their own aimlessness. But Russel is stuck in place. All he knows is that crappy jobs, horrible dates, and pointless hook-ups just aren't cutting it anymore.What's the secret? What does everyone else know that he doesn't?Enter Kevin, Russel's perfect high school boyfriend. Could rekindling an old flame be the thing Russel needs to get his life back on track? Or maybe the answer lies in a new friend, an eccentric screenwriter named Vernie Rose, who seems plenty wise. Or what the hell? Maybe Russel will find some answers by joining his best friend Gunnar's crazy search for the legendary Bigfoot!One way or another, Russel is determined to learn the all-important secret to life, even if it's a thing he doesn't even know he doesn't know.

    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.

    Now in his forties, he’s an urban park ranger who does his best to rescue runaways and other street people. His ex-boyfriend, Donny—lost to drinking and drugs six years earlier—appears on his doorstep and inadvertently drags Jeremy into danger. As if dealing with Donny’s issues doesn’t cause enough turmoil, Jeremy meets a fascinating but enigmatic man who carries more than his fair share of problems.Qayin Hill has almost nothing but skeletons in his closet and demons in his head. A former addict who struggles with anxiety and depression, Qay doesn’t know which of his secrets to reveal to Jeremy—or how to react when Jeremy wants to save him from himself.Despite the pasts that continue to haunt them, Jeremy and Qay find passion, friendship, and a tentative hope for the future. Now they need to decide whether love is truly a powerful thing or if, despite the old adage, love can’t conquer all.

     Cody’s dad wants to see Cody start the professional football career he’s been grooming him for all his life. Cody’s friends all want him to hurry up and ask Jessica Edmonds to be his Homecoming date. Some days, it feels like everyone in the state of Ohio wants to chime in with an opinion about which college he should play for. Just about the only one who doesn’t seem to want anything from Cody is Simon Andrews, the transfer student who’s been tutoring him in biology. Cody’s pretty sure he wants something from Simon, though. Not something he can ever admit to, of course. Not something he’d ever do anything about. And definitely not something he expects Simon to want, too. It’s 2007, and Simon has no plans to come out any time soon… …especially not before he graduates. Hamilton is the sixth school that Simon Andrews has attended during his high school career, and all he wants to do is keep his head down, his grades up, and make it through graduation without attracting any attention. Of course, that doesn’t mean there aren’t things at Hamilton that attract Simon’s attention. Well, just one thing, really: Cody McPherson, the too-nice, too-hot, too-straight jock who Simon’s been crushing on—er, tutoring, ever since the start of the school year. Simon has started looking forward to his study dates with Cody more than he should, but he’s smart enough to know nothing will ever come of it. He can’t imagine ever letting Cody know he’s interested—or letting anyone else at school know, either. Not after he’s already experienced firsthand just how ugly coming out at the wrong time, to the wrong people, can be. Besides, Simon doesn’t expect to be at Hamilton for long enough to matter. Sure, his mother has promised that this time, she’ll hold down a job long enough for them to stick around, but Simon’s too smart to trust that, either. There’s a first time for everything though, and in 2007 at Hamilton High School, there are going to be a lot of firsts. First Time is a coming-of-age gay romance novella of approximately 34,000 words that contains an unruly set of butterflies who take up residence in Simon Andrews’ stomach, biology tutoring that comes with a heaping side of sizzling chemistry, a quarterback with two left feet, a first date with far too many participants, and two boys who are each terrified of coming out… right up until the moment that they finally manage to do it. Every Stella Starling romance takes place in the same interconnected, contemporary world. First Time is a prequel to Cody and Simon’s present-day love story, which will be told in the novel Second Chance, scheduled for release in 2019.