GENRE: Gay Erotic Romance
LENGTH: 12,731 words
RATING:

Jonah Lyons is looking forward to spending a weekend at a cabin with his sister, Ellie. So the last thing he expects is for his ex-boyfriend to show up.

Captain Adrian Cooper was once the love of his life, but Jonah thinks he’s moved past it. Getting trapped together because of a snowstorm wasn’t on the agenda, but it means they either have to talk or murder each other.

When Cooper admits the reason he left, Jonah doesn’t know how to react. The depth of Cooper’s love has never waned, and Jonah realizes he still loves Cooper, too. Now he needs to decide if he can forgive Cooper. Can he give them both the second chance they deserve?

EXCERPT:
Note: may contain sexually explicit scenes of a homoerotic nature.

I really did try to work. First I had to leave the safety of the bedroom because I didn't have a place to set up my laptop and the reception was spotty. But even after I set up in the kitchen, my focus was shot. Cooper was being a good boy, sticking to the living room and letting me work. But the downside of the open floorplan was that I could still see him.

He'd stretched out on the couch with his e-reader propped up on his stomach, one arm bent behind his head so his biceps bulged enticingly. I caught myself staring more than once. Not just at the beautiful picture he made, but also because of the memories. How many times had we spent evenings just like this? Whenever he didn't have to be on base, he'd been at my house, reading while I worked until it was time for us to crawl into bed.

After that morning, I was assailed with memories. We'd had a lot of good years together. At first, we'd had to keep things quiet because DADT was still in effect. But we'd been together for almost a year when it had been repealed, and Cooper had come blazing out of the closet. He even had the bi flag tattooed next to the eagle on his back. He'd proudly shown me off, taking shit from his fellow soldiers, but never letting them go too far. Adrian Cooper, then a first lieutenant, hadn't shied away from his sexuality. He even insisted I attend his promotion ceremony when he made captain. It was still one of the proudest moments of my life.

We'd been really and truly happy. And that day, when he told me we had to talk, I'd been foolish enough to think we were finally going to talk about marriage. Instead, he told me his regiment was being deployed and that we were through.

But now he was here. And I owed it to both of us to stop hiding and have the conversation.

I closed my laptop with a snap loud enough to make him look up. He watched me over the top of his tablet as I crossed to the fridge and pulled out two bottles. I left the caps on the counter, and walked over to him. He sat up, making room for me, and took the beer I held out. And kept staring, not speaking as I sat down.

"Okay, Cooper. Let's talk."

"Finally," he whispered.