When Michael Knapp brings his lover Dan Biggs home to meet his parents, he doesn't expect things to go smoothly. His mother's been trying to marry him off for years, and sometimes he isn't even sure his father knows he exists. He has always felt like the shadow son, competing with his terminally stupid older brother and smart-mouthed little sister for his parents' attention. Coming out to them over dinner seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally get noticed.<br><br>But an unexpected phone call interrupts his announcement -- Aunt Evie, the family matriarch, is dead. With Dan in tow, Michael follows his family to Sugar Creek, where he spent his summers growing up, to prepare for the funeral.<br><br>Amid an overabundance of memories and relatives, Michael's world begins to slip. His dysfunctional family, Evie's death, and an old friend's confession all threaten to smother him. Worse, in his grief and confusion he seems determined to inadvertently push everyone away, including his lover. Can he and Dan move beyond his family and his past to a new life together, before Michael's insecurities tear them apart?

It's All Relative

Straddling me again, Dan eases my boxer briefs down over my balls, exposing my erection. Like a seasoned lover, he rolls the condom on, the lubricant cool on my heated flesh. Then he lies down over me and I guide myself into him, into the hot tight center of his being, where I love him most. We take it slow because Dan likes it that way and tonight I’m not up for much, my mind is too heavy. I’m all too eager to lose myself in him like I have so many times before, his hands holding me back to the bed, his lips on my throat. I cup his ass in both hands and pull him to me, each thrust bringing a muffled moan into my neck, my name sighed in his voice. We melt together perfectly, like we always do, and he fills the hollow ache that opened in me tonight at the dinner table. He makes me whole.


Chapter 14