Simon Peters and his partner Mark Smith face a number of challenging life events in the fourth and final volume of this heart-warming saga. Because of his time working on the streets after being kicked out of home by his father, Mark worries he may have contracted HIV. Despite knowing the lack of treatment options if he were to test positive -- this is the late 1980’s before the age of retro-viral drugs -- Mark is determined to know his fate. Things become complicated when Mark receives a letter from his father wanting to re-establish contact. Roy entering their lives presents further challenges, ones which ultimately threaten Simon and Mark’s continued happiness. Gay teens Sam and Billy play an increasingly important part in Simon and Mark’s lives, often regarding the older men as surrogate fathers/big brothers. Can this unconventional family pull together and become stronger, despite all the world has thrown at them?

Fireside Romance Book 4: Glowing Embers

I don’t know why, but his comment set me off giggling, and I couldn’t seem to stop. I’d prepared for a romantic encounter and here I was laughing. Mark must have seen the funny side as well. His smile morphed into a grin, and then he, too, was laughing.


“I’ve needed to pee for the last ten miles.” He jumped on the bed and pulled me into a hug, his lips finding and locking on to mine. 


After a couple of minutes of our tongues reacquainting themselves, he pulled back and said, “And for the past couple of miles I had to cross my legs.”


I smiled, trying to imagine how impossible it would be to drive with crossed legs. “Missed you,” I said, going in for another kiss.


Mark began to ghost his fingertips over my body. I did the same to him but used my whole hands, smoothing them across the planes of warm flesh. Oh, how I’d missed this man. 


Chapter 33