GENRE: Gay Spicy Romance Anthology
LENGTH: 430 pages
RATING:

Finding love isn’t easy, and holding onto it can be even harder. In this anthology, harsh words and miscommunication between men aren’t helpful, and jealous lovers with well-meaning best friends always make things worse, except when they don’t.

It could be a desperate cowboy seeking a home or a dorky associate with questionable fashion sense and self-esteem; a manager who sticks to his principles despite ridicule, or a cheating fiancé and a broken wedding. Can a jaded grocery store worker find satisfaction, or a bouncer forgive the bassist who tricked him into sex? Perhaps it’s the things we do that make our wishes and demands come true.

Contains the stories:

A Cowboy For Keeps: Slim Montagne stumbles over a bruised cowboy on his way out of town. Daniel "Danny" Crane is a world-weary drifter who has stopped believing in humanity. When Slim offers Danny a place to stay, he figures there’s nothing left to lose. Back at the ranch, Slim introduces Danny to Ret and Roscoe, his lovers. And if he’s willing, these three men would be happy to make Danny their cowboy, for keeps.

A-dork-able: Alister Redgrave hopes to find the love of his life one day, despite his dorkiness. Jaiden Greyson, the new Assistant CFO, fits the bill, except, Alister makes a fool of himself repeatedly in front of the man. That doesn’t stop Jaiden, though, who wants to get to know the klutzy guy better. A jealous coworker makes things difficult, but Jaiden is determined to get his man, no matter what.

And This Is Ed: Ed Kaehler is a laidback guy who works as a housekeeping manager by day, and takes care of the elderly in his spare time. He’s a very private person, but there’s more to Ed than meets the eye. Titus Leung, the new guy on the block, discovers this when he befriends Ed. But a stupid bet derails their relationship. Now Titus has figure how to get Ed to forgive him and maybe give him another chance.

Back at the Altar: Cole Altridge is jilted at the altar. He is hesitant to pursue any further relationships and buries himself in work until Brenda, his best friend, drags him out to do karaoke one night. There, he comes to the rescue of Jeremy Sultan, an acquaintance he now sees with new eyes. Sparks fly and the sex is hot. Will he let himself get his happily ever after?

Dream Man: Every night Michael Stein dreams of 'Mr. Muscles' -- a sex machine who pounds him into oblivion and makes his sheets wet. Who needs reality? Then he meets Christian Bolster, his dream man. Will he take a chance, or forever hide behind the facade of Mr. Muscles?

I Can't Get No Satisfaction: Georgie Baldt is dissatisfied with his life. Working dead-end jobs leaves little time to find that spark he’s lost, let alone someone to love. Then a trick from his past becomes his new produce manager. Ry Archibald remembers Georgie, but they end up arguing constantly at work, despite the sexual tension between them. Georgie decides it’s time for a change. Will Ry tag along for the ride?

Romancing the Bouncer: Ben Pachowski is a bouncer at Throwbacks. Monty Mabuse, bass player for a popular band that performs there, wants Ben, but he won’t do anything but flirt. Monty plays dirty to get in Ben’s pants, and it backfires. Having alienated Ben, Monty has to figure out how to make amends. He has his work cut out for him, but a little romance could go a long way.

The Best Man for Me: Royce Lummis' fiancé is a no-show at the rehearsal; worst of all, he sees him kissing another man. Heartbroken, Royce accepts the offer of a couch from Rodney Fanning -- his best man and ex-boyfriend. Though they have history between them, Rodney is a good friend and Royce's heart slowly heals. It's almost too late when Royce finally realizes that Rodney is the best man for him. Will he get his man?

The Things We Do: Scotty Reedville has the hots for Ryker Callen, but would never dream of approaching the man. They are total opposites, and Scotty couldn’t stand it if Ryker rejected him. Fate, however, has other ideas. When Ryker ends up staying with him for a while because of an injury, Scotty makes the best of it, thinking that’s all he’ll ever have. Thankfully, Ryker has other ideas.

Your Wish, My Demand: Clint Beck has loved Kyle Rivers for years. Kyle is naturally submissive, and has suffered a lot of abuse from overly aggressive ex-boyfriends. Clint longs to be the caring Dom that Kyle still yearns for, in spite of it all. A night out at the BDSM club Ties That Bind opens Kyle’s eyes to what Clint has to offer, and gives Clint hope that Kyle will let him be the one to make him whole again.

EXCERPT FROM "A Cowboy For Keeps"
Note: may contain sexually explicit scenes of a homoerotic nature.

“Hey, Roscoe?” I said. “Tell Danny here how you ended up at this ranch.”

“OhGod. I was a train wreck.” Roscoe placed his beer bottle on the table and leaned on his elbows, rubbing his face with his hands. Ret, who sat on his left, leaned in and pecked his cheek.

“It’s okay, honey. We’re here for you, always.”

“I know, baby. Thank you.” He grabbed Ret’s chin and gave him a quick, hard kiss on the mouth.

“So,” Roscoe continued, “a few years ago, I worked at a five star restaurant. Had a great job, boyfriend, the works. One day, I got home late -- nothing unusual about that since I always worked long hours -- and I found a note on the refrigerator from Brad. It said that he’d found somebody else who would put his needs first, and give him the attention he deserved. Guess he got tired of my work schedule, though he’d known what was up from the get go. I was real cut up about it, having given ten years of my life to that ungrateful bastard. I even hired a P.I. to find him, since he left town, and I wasn’t ready to let him go. In the end, the whole thing messed me up so bad, I lost my job, my house, and I became a drifter.

“A year ago, I happened to be hitchhiking ten miles from here, when Slim picked me up on the side of the road. Asked me where I was going. I said ‘nowhere.’ He took me back to this place, found out I could cook, and that was the end of it. He and Ret helped me through some tough times and drew me into their circle. I was real lucky he found me.” Roscoe reached out a hand to cover mine on the table. I pulled his hand to my mouth and kissed the back of it.

“Your boyfriend left you because you weren’t around to fawn over him every waking minute? Sounds like a selfish prick to me,” Danny said. I stared at him, surprised that he contributed anything at all to the conversation.

“I agree with you, but it took me a long time to believe that,” Roscoe said.

“I, on the other hand was hired by Slim to take care of the ranch some years ago.” Ret gave me a sly smile. “He looked like a stray when he came into town, wandering around the feed store, trying to figure out what to buy for horses and cows. He’d just bought this place from a couple looking to retire in Florida, and didn’t know the first thing about ranching. I thought he was earnest, clueless and cute. I needed a new place to be, and greenhorn here needed a keeper.”

“I wasn’t that bad,” I complained.

“Yeah, sweetie, you were. But we love you all the same,” Ret teased.

“I’m not feeling much love at the moment, son.”

“I’ll make it up to you soon, don’t you worry.” Ret gave me a wicked smile and licked his lips.

“Ignore him,” I said to Danny. “He’s just showing out ’cause we got company.” Danny glanced at each of us in turn, then took a deep breath.

“I ... listening to you all makes me ...” Danny just sighed and shook his head.

“Makes you what, hon?” I prodded.

“I haven’t had anything like this -- camaraderie, I guess -- ever. I’ve lived in homeless shelters and halfway houses for years, worked odd jobs when I could. The last place I stayed, I got into a fight with couple of guys over some dumb shit, and I decided I was tired of it all. I started walking. Got some rides along the way, paid with blowjobs, mostly. The last ride I got, guy tossed me out while I was sleeping as the pickup truck moved down the road near the town where Slim found me.”

“Jesus, man,” Roscoe said, aghast.

“Yup,” Danny replied, and gulped down the rest of his water.

“I know you have bruises on your face and arms. Anywhere else? Do you need a hospital?” I should have thought of that before.

“No, no. Just some down time. Once I’m feeling better, maybe I can do something around the ranch, pay you back for the kindness you’ve shown me.”

“Don’t you worry about that,” I said. “You have a safe place to heal, if you want it. Take all the time you need, right guys?”

“Absolutely!” Ret said.

“Yup,” Roscoe chimed in.

“See? We want you here.” I smiled. “And it helps that you like men, since we get real affectionate with each other, day or night, inside the house or in the barn. Just a heads up.”