Mark Dauphin loves his nephews, Sam and Logan, and he'll do anything his brother-in-law Cole asks, but when Cole wants Mark to play nice with Stefano Magnussi, Mark isn't sure he can comply. Stefano is hotter than fire, but Mark can't see past the fact that Stefano is one of those guys, the type of men who date guys half their age, the type of guys who made Mark give up on dating.<br><br>Of course, a little wine and several cocktails later, Mark finds himself dropping more than his defenses with Stefano. But when Logan and the rest of Mark's family surprise them in the morning, Mark and Stefano are suddenly at odds.<br><br>When Logan's ego is wounded, not only does Mark find himself desperate to fix his relationship with his nephew, but he also questions whether his night with this beautiful man meant anything to either of them. Mark isn't given much time to reflect though, as the war that's been brewing between the shivers comes to a violent head, and he soon learns that sometimes you just have to trust in those around you.

Mark's Midlife

“Interesting,” he said, but there was a tiny smirk to his smile. He knew? Didn’t he?


“Ah, you will be my star pupil then,” Dr. Kamara said. Her accent was beautiful, and I could tell that French was her language of choice.


“I don’t know that I can do much more than anyone else,” I told her.


“He can do a lot,” Cole, or Captain White as I called him then, said. “Dauphin, you are now her personal assistant as well as a student here. Anything Dr. Kamara needs, you handle it. If you need assistance, just let me know. Now everyone, we’re going scuba diving.”


Within an hour, our whole group was suited up with SCUBA gear and wetsuits.


“Today, we are going to swim with dolphins and listen to them,” Dr. Kamara announced. “You will be recording their sounds, and soon we will begin to see if we can make out a language. I have studied these beautiful creatures for years, and I believe that we can learn much from them.”


Chapter 16