Novellas

Jake lost his Christmas spirit when his husband left him on December 26. This year, when a friend offers him her reservation at a resort in Florida, he jumps at the chance to get away. No snow, no Christmas trees, no problems.

Except the resort does a Christmas Golf Cart parade every year, and Alex, the man in the neighboring cabin, wants Jake’s help with his.
 
Jake just wants to be left alone… until he spies Alex’s design. Maybe working together won’t be so bad. Can an unexpected friendship reawaken more than Jake’s holiday spirit?

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When Mason gets caught in a blizzard on his way home for Christmas and ends up in a snowdrift, the outlook is grim—until a handsome trucker appears, offering shelter, companionship, and a tow in the morning.

Tate has never been anyone’s idea of a hero. He’s been on the road most of his adult life, with few ties to people and even fewer to any particular place. Now, after one steamy night in the cab of his truck, all that changes. Suddenly he has a sweet, intelligent guy who can’t get enough of him, who invites him to spend New Year’s with his family… who already feels like home. But Tate’s job keeps him on the road for weeks at a time. Can he really build something permanent?

Portions of this novella appeared in the short stories Weathering the Storm, Coming Home, and Tying the Knot, published by Dreamspinner Press in 2009. 

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La vie de Miki St John a été bouleversée, mais c’est la meilleure chose qui lui soit jamais arrivée.

Son meilleur ami, Damien Mitchell, est revenu d’entre les morts. Il possède un chien nommé Mec. Et plus important encore, lui et son amant, l’inspecteur de la police départementale de San Francisco, Kane Morgan, partagent désormais l’entrepôt reconverti de Miki.

Pour la toute première fois, Miki mène une vie heureuse et normale, mais lorsque la Saint-Valentin arrive, il se rend compte qu’il ne sait presque rien sur le fait d’être en couple. Rien concernant la fête traditionnelle des amoureux n’a de sens pour lui, néanmoins Miki veut offrir à Kane une Saint-Valentin que l’homme n’oubliera jamais.

Peut-il s’en sortir avec une journée de vin et de roses ? Ou son enfance gâchée reviendra-t-elle lui mordre le cul ? Encore.

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When Jay and Wallace first meet at an LGBTQ group, they have no idea they’ll be dating six years later. In fact, they quickly forget each other’s names. But although fate continues to throw them together, the timing is never quite right. Finally they’re both single and realize they want to be together... but now they can’t find each other! 

With determination and the help of mutual friends, Jay and Wallace can finally pursue the relationship they’ve both wanted for so long. It’s only the beginning of the battles they’ll face to build a life together. From disapproving family members all the way to the state legislature, Jay and Wallace’s road to happily ever after is littered with obstacles. But they’ve come too far to give up the fight.

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Special Illustrated Edition

 All Conri wanted was to drop his kid off at Changeling camp, find the nearest halfway nice hotel, and enjoy a week of uncomplicated debauchery. It should be simple. It doesn’t work out that way. When a local girl disappears, the neighborhood quickly lays blame at the well-guarded gates of the camp. With his son incriminated, a mystery to solve, and a malevolent pocket of the Otherworld to navigate, Conri will need all the help he can get—even if it does come from a distractingly pretty, tightly wound Iron Door agent who doesn’t trust Conri to be on the right side.  

Previously released as part of the anthology Bad, Dad, and Dangerous by Dreamspinner Press, October 2020

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Special Illustrated Edition

White-collar dad Hugh Whitby dotes on his adopted daughter, but she’s away at camp. Now it's time let the vampiric urges he so tightly controls run wild and take advantage of his monster hall pass to feed on criminals. But when fae prince Rykoff of Harlow interrupts Hugh feeding, he catches Hugh’s daughter’s scent and vows to avenge the fae youngling he believes Hugh has captured. Hugh had no idea his daughter wasn’t human, and it rocks the foundation of his world. He must convince Rykoff that the fae youngling in question is safe with her vampire dad and can prosper in the mortal realm—or risk losing her forever.

Previously released as part of the anthology Bad, Dad, and Dangerous by Dreamspinner Press, October 2020

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Special Illustrated Edition

SFPD Lieutenant Joseph Zanetti has spent years protecting his city, and from the looks of St. Connal’s Pub and its bad-boy owner, Levi Keller, the place is a hotspot for trouble and violence. Joe’s problem? Levi is delectably hot, with secrets Joe can’t wait to dig into. As a Peacekeeper for paranormals, wolf shifter Levi doesn’t need the complication of a hot cop sniffing around his pub when he’s just sent his teen son off to summer camp. He’s busy brokering a peace agreement between two warring factions. When Joe stumbles into Levi’s world, both plunge into a situation neither one of them was ready for—falling in love. 

Previously released as part of the anthology Bad, Dad, and Dangerous by Dreamspinner Press, October 2020

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Vor sechs Jahren begab sich Noah Wheeler zum Flughafen, um seinen Partner, Dante Cerreto, zu treffen, und seine Welt brach zusammen. Dante küsste jemand anderen und teilte ihm mit, neu verliebt zu sein. Noah nahm sein gebrochenes Herz – und auch das Ultraschallbild ihres von einer Leihmutter ausgetragenen Kindes – und schloss die Tür hinter dem, was er bisher als sein Leben angesehen hatte. Von nun an konzentrierte er sich auf den Teil seines Traumes, der ihm geblieben war: Vater zu sein.

Während eines Urlaubs in Las Vegas trifft Noah zufällig auf die Cerreto-Familie, und somit auch auf Dante. Er erfährt, dass nicht nur er betrogen worden war, sondern auch Dante. Dieser möchte nun die verlorene Zeit wieder gutmachen. Um jetzt die Chance auf sein Glück zu bekommen, braucht er Noah, den einzigen Mann, den er je geliebt hat, und Grace, die Tochter, von der er bislang nichts wusste. Dante muss alle verfügbaren Überredungs- und Verführungskünste aufbieten, denn Noah wird sich nicht erneut auf eine Liebe einlassen, nur um dann wieder mit gebrochenem Herzen da zu stehen.

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Asher Kaufman could use a miracle. But first he’ll have to believe they exist.

Ash is single, strapped for cash, and burned out from his work at a nonprofit. Everyone else’s holiday spirit leaves him feeling like he’s in the wrong movie.

Then strange, thoughtful gifts begin appearing outside his door: a rustic basket filled with pinecones and acorns, and a beautiful handmade scarf in Hannukah colors. But the most wonderful gift of all comes when he meets Clay, his secret admirer, a beautiful young man who happens to be a fairy who lives in the wooded wonderland behind the duplex where Ash lives.

Clay brings warmth and magic into Ash’s dreary life–but when the realities of the human world threaten the bridge to fairyland, it will take all Ash’s faith to bring about a happy-ever-after that will work for everyone.

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After courtship, cohabitation, and learning about love and each other, Andy and Eli face the ultimate test: being separated at Christmas.

Eli’s seen the propaganda—the country boy goes home from the city and realizes his heart is back among the snow, trees, and chickens. A big happy family is something Eli, with his demanding job running a shelter for LGBTQ youth, can’t provide. He’s been readying himself for the other shoe to drop anyway—Andy’s mother is a force of nature, and she wants her little boy home. 

Andy may be in Vermont, but his heart is back in Brooklyn with the man who’s battling basement floods and crumbling buildings to bring Christmas to sixty kids who’ve had their hearts broken too many times already. Holiday myths may say that Christmas means going back home to a happy family, but Andy knows happy endings don’t come without a little faith and a lot of hard work. He's got an army ready to put in the elbow grease. If he can get Eli to believe in him, they might just save Christmas after all.    

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Lake Copeland’s best friend Miriam is perpetually single. When she laments the idea of returning to her hometown solo for the holidays to meet her mom’s new husband, Lake has the perfect solution: he’ll tag along as her boyfriend. Fake boyfriend, that is. Some of his favorite holiday romances have fake boyfriends that lead to true love—and complications. But since he’s gay, there'll be no complications. Right?

Unfortunately Lake’s foolproof plan didn’t account for Miriam’s new stepbrother Spencer, who sets Lake’s heart aglow….

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Cassidy Hancock déteste être en retard, c’est même pathologique chez lui. Par un frais matin d’automne, il s’arrête sur le trottoir pour regarder le si beau fils de sa voisine courir derrière son chien… et voilà qu’un arbre lui tombe dessus.

Mark Taylor, interne en chirurgie orthopédique, assiste à la scène et prodigue les premiers soins au jeune homme. Malgré lui, il est fasciné par son voisin et peu à peu, tandis qu’il s’efforce d’aider Cassidy à se remettre de sa fracture, il comprend ce que cache cette obsession pour la ponctualité : l’histoire d’un garçon solitaire qui pense qu’il doit être parfait pour être aimé.

Les Taylor sont loin d’être parfaits, mais pour Cassidy, ils pourraient représenter la parfaite solution. Alors que les deux hommes apprennent à se connaître, Cassidy se met à fantasmer sur un avenir heureux en famille, ce qu’il n’aurait jamais pensé avoir un jour. Quant à Mark, il s’attache de plus en plus à Cassidy, à sa gentillesse, à ses grands yeux écarquillés et à sa surprenante créativité. Mais pour avancer, le couple doit surmonter les peurs de Cassidy. La période de Noël offre des joies infiniment plus riches que la ponctualité. 

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Alex goes to a dog rescue with one mission: overcoming one of his fears. But he gets more than he bargained for when he unexpectedly bonds with a Jack Russell terrier named Rudolph and decides to take him home.

When shelter volunteer Luther offers to show Alex the ropes of dog ownership, their time together proves they have more in common than just Rudolph’s affection. But if they’re going to have a happy holiday, Alex needs to come to terms with his issues. Can Luther help him see that love really can be unconditional?

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Hockey’s started, holidays are looming, and NHL player Dante Baltierra’s husband is keeping secrets.

Of course, secrets aren’t unusual this time of year, but Dante is pretty sure Gabe isn’t being squirrelly about a new flat-screen or tickets for a second honeymoon. Whatever is eating Gabe is more serious than a surprise under the tree. But as much as Dante wants to help, asking about it would be fruitless. Besides, he has a theory about the problem—and the solution.

He’s just not sure Santa has the power to deliver what Gabe really wants this Christmas.

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Conner MacKay is the last of the TV cowboys, but he’s withdrawn from society—even before a global pandemic forces the world into quarantine. When he meets activist Dante Burke, though, Conner takes a chance. He can’t leave a young Black man on the street in the face of a public health crisis. What kind of cowboy would he be then?

On the surface, Conner and Dante live in opposing realities: midlife versus youth, flush versus flat broke. But their politics, attraction, and close quarters bring them together until the heat between them grows into a burn almost too hot to handle.

Then old dangers breach their safeguards and threaten not their love, but their very lives.

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Lucas Arrowood is walking to school on his first day of kindergarten when he meets Dalton Churchill—a boy who stops and helps him tie his shoe. He knows from that moment he is going to marry that boy one day. “Boys can’t marry other boys,” his mother explains, but that doesn’t stop Lucas. He knows what he wants.

He and Dalton become best friends. And then, no matter how much he resists, Dalton falls in love with Lucas. Dalton’s very conservative family can’t accept that their boy loves another boy, but finally Dalton stands up for love and for Lucas. Still, he declares he won’t marry Lucas until it is legal everywhere. He hates the “commitment ceremonies” gay men have. They aren’t the real thing. Why bother?

So Lucas waits for his day. The day same-sex marriage finally becomes legal and he can be joined forever with the love of his life. 


Originally published in the anthology A More Perfect Union, Dreamspinner Press, June 2016

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For Javi Navarro, Detroit will become another blood-splattered city in his rearview mirror after he puts its dead back into the ground. Expecting an easy hunting job, Javi instead finds a kiss of ancient vampires on the hunt for a descendant of their long-dead creator. 
 
Reclusive Ciarnan Mac Gerailt abandoned his family legacy of blood and death magic after it nearly destroyed him. Unfortunately for Ciarnan, the Motor City can only be saved if he resumes his dark arts and joins forces with Javi Navarro, the hunter who brought the vampire apocalypse—and hope for the future—straight to Ciarnan’s front door.

Previously published as "Legacy of Blood and Death" in the anthology Creature Feature 2.

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A chance meeting. A one-night stand. And then a pattern of them.

For Nigerian-born professional football linebacker Arikawe “Ade” Adeloyebe and Chicago newspaper reporter Rex Palmieri, not-so-casual sex is all they can have. Ade is closeted to protect his career, and Rex has to toe the line between his own job and his secret relationship with a sports celebrity.

Both men fall deeply in love, but misunderstandings, miscommunication, and outside pressure threaten to implode the relationship. Then a bounty-hunting scandal followed by a bloody gay bashing force Rex and Ade to face some hard choices. Can they tackle the opposition and cross the goal line to happiness together?

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