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

I didn’t go by Olivia’s cabin the next morning. It would have been too painful.


We said our goodbyes to Karl and his crew right after breakfast. I thought that Olivia and Karl would look sad as they said their goodbyes, but instead they were both beaming from ear to ear.


“You don’t know how much you’ve done for us,” Karl said, reaching in for a hug on his way to the boat.


“And I really don’t want to,” I said, hugging him back. “Just if there’s a problem, okay?”


Karl nodded his head and made his way to the small boat that would carry them to the larger one.


I knew that my duties as Olivia’s assistant didn’t stop just because we had slept together, but the idea of being around her, or wondering if she was with child, was an overwhelming idea. After about a week of me not showing up, she called me into her cabin after morning lectures one day. I was sure that she was going to yell at me.


“This is hard on you, isn’t it?” she asked.


Chapter 30