Jason Townsend has issues with the older men in his life. His current boyfriend Jared is also his boss and, while the two get along wonderfully in the bedroom, their relationship at the office is tense and uncomfortable. Jason’s relationship with his father is also strained -- they grew apart when Jason came out shortly after his parents divorced. The only person Jason has ever been able to rely on is his mother. So when she announces she’s met Mr. Right, Jason is skeptical. When he meets her new boyfriend, handsome professor Paul Everett, he quickly realizes he and Paul have more in common than their connection to his mother. The two men had slept together the previous summer. Paul refuses to break things off with Jill, claiming he enjoys being with women and telling Jason their hook-up was a one-time thing that didn’t mean much to him. Unwilling to tell his mother about his past with Paul, Jason stews in silence as he watches his mother and Paul grow closer. At the same time, he finds himself becoming more and more attracted to Paul. When he can’t stand it any longer, Jason makes a pass at his mother’s boyfriend and is surprised his affections aren’t spurned. Even though Jason finds himself falling in love with Paul, he knows he’s betraying his mother and he hates himself for it. She’s always been his staunchest ally, and sleeping with her boyfriend abuses the trust between them. Can Jason love a man who’s also deceiving his mother? When he’s forced to choose between Paul and his mother, the decision isn’t as easy as it seems.

Daddy Issues

“You don’t think you’re hot and sexy?”


“But you are, Carmen. That’s why you’ve got to get back out there and find yourself a man. Strike now while the iron is hot.”


She laughed. “You are the worst motivational speaker ever.”


I shrugged. “I do the best I can with what I have.”


She sighed. “That’s all any of us can do, I guess.”


Carmen and I drank ourselves into a stupor that night before passing out in the master bedroom. She tried to get up and go to the guest room where she’d left her stuff, but I pleaded with her to stay with me.


“I don’t want to sleep alone,” I told her. And I didn’t. No, sleeping with her didn’t exactly compare to sleeping with Paul or Jared, for that matter, but just having a warm body beside my own made me feel better.


Chapter 42