Contemporary Romance books

A Work Out Story

Determined not to end up like his seventy-year-old diabetic father, Holton knows he needs to make a change. His quest to improve his health drives him to the gym, where he meets Marcus, a trainer with the body of a demigod. For three months Holton works hard, watches what he eats, drops a few pounds—and catches Marcus's eye not only for his slimmer body but for his dedication.

Holton can barely believe it when Marcus asks him out, but he isn’t about to say no. Despite several common interests, though, Marcus and Holton have some roadblocks to overcome. A harrowing event from Holton’s past has made him gun-shy, and Marcus has insecurities of his own. If their relationship is going to work, they’ll have to get past their hang-ups and prove that what really matters is the man inside.

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The Male Room: Book Two

Attorney Sam Solomon is the most desired trick in the back room of the Music Box, his town's most notorious gay club—and very possibly the loneliest.  Sam is tired of one-night stands, and although he likes the world to think he’s too tough for such romantic notions, he secretly longs for the love his friends Jeff and Craig seem to have found. Fortunately for him, he’s just helped set his friends up in business. They run The Male Room, a local Internet dating service for gay men, and Jeff has just the guy in mind for Sam.

Chris Kelly is the last person Sam expected. From his profile, Sam knows that Chris is strong, opinionated, and dominant... in fact, he’s a lot like Sam! Sam may very well have met his match; he just needs to concede that the man he’s falling in love with needs to be his partner in every sense of the word.

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Columnist Drew Walsh made his career by publicly criticizing conservative, anti-gay politician Richard Granger. So when a rumor surfaces that Granger’s son Jonathan might be gay, Drew finds himself in the middle of a potential scandal. Under the guise of an interview about Jonathan's new job teaching in an inner-city school, Drew's job is to find out if the rumors are true. Drew's best friend Rey is also Jonathan's cousin, and he arranges the meeting between Jonathan and Drew that changes everything.

After just one interview, it's obvious to Drew that the rumors are true, but he carefully neglects to mention that in his article. It's also obvious that he’s falling for Jonathan, and he can't stay away after the article is published. Still, Jonathan is too afraid to step out of the closet, and Drew thinks the smartest thing might be to let him go—until Jonathan  shows up drunk one night at his apartment. The slow burn of their attraction doesn’t fade with Jonathan's buzz, but navigating a relationship is never easy—especially in the shadow of right-wing politics.

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When Bobby Kincaid is walking the slackline—a narrow, flat webbed rope stretched between two anchor points—he offers a silent gift of beauty to the air and sky.  Making peace with the world is one reason he’s drawn to the seastacks off Scotland’s Orkney Islands.  Colin Rose, the Olympic skier who pushed Bobby away after a horrific accident two years earlier, is another.  But Bobby and Colin will each need to heal before they can return to that space between earth and heaven where they both can fly.

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When Michael accepts a company assignment overseas, he doesn't count on being dumped by his boyfriend on the way to the airport. The breakup is a bad omen—Michael's time in Europe would be one long misery of loneliness and corporate backbiting if it weren’t for his friendship with his coworker, Stephan.

When he finds out Stephan wants more than friendship, Michael is torn. Even if he chooses to risk his one bright relationship in Europe for a chance at love, when this project is over, isn't his only choice to say goodbye?

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Offered a yearlong medical research fellowship in France, Shane Johnson has many hopes for the experience: a chance to improve his French, an opportunity to hone his research skills before starting his PhD at Baylor, and the freedom to live life as an openly gay man for the first time. He’ll chronicle his year abroad with its challenges, victories, and setbacks as he struggles to balance his faith with his sexuality.

As he navigates the shoals of a first kiss, a first relationship, and perhaps even lasting love, Shane will have to balance his newfound emotions with his long-term plans, and he’ll face the decision of how his once-in-a-lifetime experience will fit into the life he wants to lead.

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Keeping Promise Rock: Book Three

Six years ago, Jeff Beachum comforted a frightened teenager outside an HIV treatment clinic, and Collin Waters has remembered his kindness ever since. Now, after six years of crushing on the kind, brown-eyed sweetheart of his dreams, Collin is feeling adult and together enough to make his move. Too bad fate, which has never been kind to Jeff, has something else in mind.

Jeff's life had fallen completely apart before that long-ago day, and it isn’t much better now. Jeff has toughened up, become self-reliant, been the funny guy his friends turn to, the one who gives advice and comfort when needed. But every phantom from Jeff’s past is about to come out to haunt him, and the family Jeff has staked his future on isn’t in such great shape either. Collin is more than a starry-eyed kid, and it’s a good thing, because Jeff’s going to need all the help he can get. No one knows better than Jeff that life can be too short to turn your back on honest love, and that living happily is the best promise of all.

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The Male Room: Book One

Craig just got fired from his dead-end job, and Jeff just got kicked out of his dead-end relationship. Frustrated with their unhappy lives, the two friends decide to let off some steam by going out to the Music Box, the town’s most notorious gay club. But after an unsatisfying night in the back room, Jeff decides there has to be something better for them out there, and he drags a reluctant Craig into starting a fledgling business called The Male Room, an online alternative for the gay dating scene in their area.

Jeff has another motive: Craig has picked up the pieces of Jeff's broken heart more times than he can count, and Jeff has loved him forever. The Male Room is Jeff’s last hope that helping others find love might lead Craig to the one perfect match right in front of him.

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Where there’s smoke, there’s fire...

Since 9/11, Brooklyn firefighter Griff Muir has wrestled with impossible feelings for his best friend and partner at Ladder 181, Dante Anastagio. Unfortunately, Dante is strictly a ladies’ man, and the FDNY isn’t exactly gay-friendly. For ten years, Griff has hidden his heart in a half-life of public heroics and private anguish.

Griff’s caution and Dante’s cockiness make them an unbeatable team. To protect his buddy, there’s nothing Griff wouldn’t do… until a nearly bankrupt Dante proposes the worst possible solution: HotHead.com, a gay porn website where uniformed hunks get down and dirty. And Dante wants them to appear there—together. Griff may have to guard his heart and live out his darkest fantasies on camera. Can he rescue the man he loves without wrecking their careers, their families, or their friendship?

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A Work Out Story

Blobby Bobby and Lane the Pain. A thousand years ago, Lane spent his time in high school tormenting Robert Stephen Phillips to the point of tears. Stephen thought he’d left all of that behind, including his extra weight and his horrid nickname, when he came out to his parents. But now Stephen’s been transferred back to his hometown and will once again have to face his disapproving parents and childhood nemesis.

Imagine Stephen’s surprise when Lane turns out to have changed from school bully to persistent, attentive suitor. If Lane the Pain can hear Stephen’s most painful of intimate details and still want to pursue a relationship, is it possible that Stephen can reconnect with the family that turned on him years ago?

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Six months after the end of an abusive relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Craig finally finds someone he’s attracted to. It doesn’t bother him that Doug is a man, much less a player. What matters is that he’s a perfect candidate for a no-strings-attached night that just might help Craig prove to himself that he’s not as broken as he fears.

One night—that’s all it was supposed to be. But one night turns into yearning, turns into e-mailing, turns into communicating, turns into Doug hoping against hope that Craig might feel the same frightening attachment that he feels, pretty please? With cherries on top?

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After an accidental brush with fame while working a high-profile serial murder case, forensic anthropologist Dr. David Holt is sent on a lecture junket to pass the time until media interest in his work dies down. More tired and grouchy than a true misanthrope, his patience is stretched to the breaking point by the end of the circuit. Then David meets Matthew Carter, who stumbles into his lecture both late and disheveled.  However, the young man’s determination to befriend his idol and his enthusiasm for the subject reminds David that sometimes life sends good things your way when you least expect them.

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As a teenage boy, Clay finds love for the first time with his best friend, Matthew—a love shattered by Matthew’s guilt and religious dogma. Later, as a young man, Clay is blessed with the love of a woman, a close companion who accepts him for who he is even though he can never give her the devotion she deserves in return. But Clay might be able to put his guilt and disappointment behind him—if he can learn to accept love from an unexpected source.

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Judson Heart, like all of us, has some regrets. Not his job: he writes for a daily newspaper. Maybe his introspection: he eats lunch alone. Definitely his timing: he hasn’t had much luck in the love department. With his ten-year reunion approaching, those regrets intensify as he begins to recall a turbulent final year of high school. But with the help of three elderly, mystical strangers and a surprising assignment to interview a prison inmate, Jud may get the chance to make some changes. All he needs to do is find out what happened to Larry Alan.

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Wildlife photographer Grey Morisette is living a half-life, quietly mourning his lover, Saya Khin, who disappeared twelve years earlier into the infamous Insein Prison in Rangoon.

Grey takes a picture of Sal Sanchez falling into an Alaska river with a sockeye salmon in his arms. Sal’s a law student, and his passion for the environment and love for the native tribes, his beautiful young face and eager hands, cannot be ignored. But there isn’t room in Grey’s heart for two lovers. How can he bear to let Saya Khin go, after loving him so long, and reach out for the love Sal is offering him?

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A Taste of Love Story

Sebastian Franklin has waited a long time to prove himself as front of the house manager at Cafe Belgie, but his first night in charge while Darryl, his boss, is on vacation is less than a success.  The restaurant is robbed at closing time, and the Good Samaritan who foiled the robber comes with his own complications.

Robert Fortier is the county’s newest judge, and a reluctant one at that. He is well aware that a public life is not always easy, especially when your personal life makes you the target of a media frenzy. Still, Robert enjoys Sebastian’s company, and Sebastian is never without a serving of happiness and flair for his favorite public figure. But Sebastian is not without his issues either—family chaos and an ex in trouble will put the pressure on as they struggle for even footing in this new romance.

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When Derek surprises his partner Bram with an authentic kilt in his family’s tartan pattern as an anniversary present, the results are even better than he expected. Bram looks fantastic in the full dress outfit, and the special dinner Derek has planned becomes only the prelude to an incredible evening with his Highland lover.

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Jaramie loves good music in all its forms, and that’s the lure Tommy uses to tempt his shy roommate to the city’s hottest new dance club. Tommy just conveniently forgets to mention the club rule that everyone has to dance during their first visit, and it can’t be with whoever brought them. Jaramie’s ready to cut and run until the club’s equally hot doorman, Smoky, convinces him to take a chance and follow his lead—on and off the dance floor.

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