The year is 1883. Eduard van De Lier is a Dutchman overseeing a spice plantation on the island of Java, in the South Pacific. His obsessive attraction to dark-skinned men is just one of his many secrets. His wife Marien knows of his indiscretions, but as she's content with their Colonial lifestyle, she stays silent. Until a former lover of Eduard's shows up in their parlor with thoughts of blackmail. Reza was a crewman on the ship that brought the van De Liers to Java. During the passage, Eduard spent many a night in the younger man's arms. Two years have passed, and the last person Eduard expects to find in his drawing room is Reza, a letter in hand that could destroy the life he and Marien lead. Seeing him again ignites Eduard's lust for his first dark lover. He hopes to retrieve the letter, either through seduction or subterfuge, and the longer Reza eludes him, the more his desire grows. But they're on shaky ground, and before things can heat up between them, their world explodes -- literally -- when the unstable island of Krakatoa erupts.

All Shook Up

“I didn’t know—I mean…” My brother laughs. “I didn’t know it’d feel so good to have a guy behind me. Like all up on me and stuff. I don’t know what I’m trying to say. And your hands. God…” He giggles, a boyish sound reminding me that I’ve known him, loved him, all my life. “Maybe I’m just too drunk to think straight. Get it? Straight. Like I’m not—”


“I get it,” I say, cutting him off. I don’t need a lecture on it. I know.


But Joey won’t shut up. “I get talkative when I’m shit-faced. Like the Energizer Bunny, just keep going and going and going. I won’t even remember what I’m saying in the morning, watch.”


Maybe you won’t,I think, staring at the dark road unraveling ahead of us, but God knows, now I’ll never forget.


Chapter 44