Showing results by narrator "Charlie David" in All Categories

My academic career has been both successful and orderly so far, which was pleasantly predictable given that I mapped out a plan for it while still in middle school and have followed that plan ever since. Well, except for this year, my last one before graduation from Preston College. I really have no explanation for why I enrolled in Professor Grayson’s Mythology of Mating Rituals class.

After being stood up at the altar, compulsive over-planner Elliott Chandler decides to turn his honeymoon on Oahu into a vacation for one. Fate puts a hitch in his plans, however, when the airport is snowed in and his flight is delayed. In the terminal, the jilted groom catches the eye of another stranded traveler: the laid back and very sexy Derek Windsor. Derek breaks the ice and strikes up a conversation, and as the temperature drops outside, the heat between them rises.

Neil Dalton's foundation is already cracking. Grief, guilt, and PTSD have ruled his life since a terrible crime tore his world apart last year, and he's dreading a holiday visit with the family he simultaneously needs and resents. Then someone from his past shows up and rattles that shaky foundation right out from under him.

Reclusive comic book artist Trip Spector spends his life doodling super-square, straitlaced superheroes, hiding from his fans, and crushing on his unattainable boss until he meets the dork of his dreams. Silas Goolsby is a rowdy FX makeup creator with a loveless love life and a secret streak of geek who yearns for unlikely rescues and a truly creative partnership. Against their better judgment, they fall victim to chemistry, and what starts as infatuation quickly grows tender and terrifying.

What this salt-and-pepper alpha needs is a simple hookup. What he got was a complicated 20-something with a shady past.

Music. Topher Manning rarely thinks about anything else, but his day job as a mechanic doesn't exactly mesh with his rock-star ambitions. Unless he can find a way to unlock all the songs in his head, his band will soon be on the fast track to obscurity. Then the South by Southwest music festival and a broken-down car drop New York critic Stanton Porter into his life. Stanton offers Topher a ticket to the Bruce Springsteen concert, where a hesitant kiss and phantom vibrations from Topher’s cell phone kick off a love story that promises to transcend ordinary possibility.

Welcome to Preston College. A top-ranked biology program? Check. Division one football? Check. A shy genius and a hot jock both stuck on campus for the summer? Now things are heating up...I met someone last year, too. He was an alpha. Besides science, he was basically the only thing I could think about all year long. But alphas don't notice me and sports just confuse me, so now that Bryce Connors doesn't need me to tutor him anymore, I'll probably never see him again. Too bad it will probably take longer than that to stop wishing I could...

For the last year, Jay Warren has struggled to find the nerve to tell his wife he's gay. Every time he gets the chance, though, he freezes up. He's ashamed of hiding it all this time, he doesn't want to hurt her, and the guilt has been almost unbearable. When his wife dies suddenly, Jay's conscience threatens to eat him alive.

Ryder Daniels is all too familiar with rejection. His parents cut off contact because he's gay and his boyfriend left him, choosing drugs over love. When Jason Mallory's girlfriend gives him an ultimatum to get married, he shocks everyone by breaking up with her instead. Jason and Ryder build a friendship - until an unexpected kiss sparks the attraction they've been fighting.

Chase never had many friends, but at college, he meets and forms close ties with straight jock Tyler Davidson—a connection he fears he’ll lose if he tells Tyler he’s gay. Keeping his sexuality secret becomes harder for Chase as he joins Tyler and his family at their idyllic lake house for the summer. It grows more and more difficult for Chase to avoid Tyler’s attempts to set him up with girls, and he’s tired of making excuses. Chase is ready to embrace the man he is, but he’s afraid of what it will cost him.

“Working Dads and Balancing Acts” is a compilation of stories to celebrate fathers who, like you, want to be the best they can be in everything they do and be the best for their children.

Todd Burton has had enough of small-town Buckman. His abusive stepfather calls him a fag; his friend Austin makes him realize he may be gay, but Todd doesn't want to admit his stepfather is right; and he dreams of being a chef. Three good reasons to flee his hometown and pursue greener pastures. But when Todd reaches the big city, his luck runs dry. Soon he can't pay his rent and gets evicted. In the middle of a snowstorm.

There's been little love in H.D. "Hound Dog" Fisher's life since the death of his beloved mom when he was a boy. Bounced around the foster care system, he ran away as soon as he could... and took the foster dog with him. As far as he's concerned, only dogs have no ulterior motive, never hold a grudge, and offer unconditional love. Now he helps run a no-kill shelter and leaves relationships where they belong: in the back room.

Nightclub owner Marcus Feldman never met a man he didn’t love, at least for the night. Although his best friends have all found love, Marcus shuns their advice to commit to one man and settle down. His past has taught him monogamy and marriage is for fools, and Marcus is anything but a fool. Tyler Reiss’s dream of dancing professionally is unexpectedly cut short and replaced by a different kind of love. He trades in his ballet slippers for go go boots, and spends his nights dancing at the hottest gay club in the city.

Ryder Daniels and Jason Mallory seem to have it all, but even the most loving marriage takes work. Ryder's past leads him to remain silent yet resentful in the face of conflict, while Jason strives to prove he can take care of his family without Ryder's wealth, even if it costs him precious time with his husband and daughter. When a devastating illness leaves them shaken and helpless, Ryder is forced to face the one person he never thought to see again.

Joe wakes up in a barley field with no clothes, no memories, and no idea how he got there. Before he knows it, he's off on the last great journey of his life. With his soul guide Baker and a charge to have courage from a mysterious, alluring, and somehow familiar Stranger, Joe sets off through a fantastical changing landscape to confront his past. The quest is not without challenges.

Azrael and Tobias made their choice, and their choice was one another. The former angel and his mortal lover denied the very laws of Heaven set before them and took to the open road to escape judgment and prying eyes. Along the way, they will find there is plenty left in the world to gaze upon in wonder and in Tobias' case, a few demons of his own to face. Their escape will turn into a journey of discovery and adventure, leading them down a path they could never have anticipated.

On the scene of a multiple murder that's grisly even for a veteran homicide detective, Brian Clifton is stunned when one of the victims bears an uncanny resemblance to his boyfriend, James. As the similarities keep piling up, so do the bodies...and the evidence pointing to James as the killer.

Moving to Kansas City could be the best thing Austin Shelbourne has ever done. For a start he can stop living a lie and finally come out of the closet. And there's a chance, though slim, that he might be able to locate the love of his life, Todd Burton. It had seemed like a good idea when he had seduced his friend, but Todd freaked out and vanished. Austin hopes to find Todd, make things right between them, and win his love. But when he meets actor Guy Campbell, things get even more confusing.

Librarian Isaac Stein spends his lumpy, lonely days restoring forgotten books, until the night he steals an invitation to a scandalous club steeped in sin. Descending into its bowels, he accidentally discovers Scratch, a wounded demon who feeds on lust. Consorting with a mortal is a bad idea, but Scratch can't resist the man who knows how to open the portal that will free him and his kind.