Eli Bell is the only son of a police chief inspector and a forensic scientist. He's grown up wonky in a world that only deals with the straight and narrow -- and his new boyfriend isn't helping. Rob Hawkes is six feet of muscle, tattoos, and arrest warrants. A career criminal and a former guest of Her Majesty's Prison Service, he'd rather hit Eli's parents than sit down to dinner with them. One wrong move, and Rob could destroy Eli -- and his family -- without a second thought. But this isn't what it looks like. Rob's not in control here -- and Eli's the one to blame.

What It Looks Like

Eli didn’t back up, and ended up draped over Rob’s front.


“Mm, no.” He kissed Rob’s stubbled jaw before stepping away and shrugging on a T-shirt. “Okay, okay. Come on, then, out the door.”


Rob cut a huge and rough-edged figure in Eli’s family home. The house was all white carpets, white walls, and expensive decorations of no use but a lot of worth scattered on various shelves. They had doilies, for goodness’ sake—a man wearing yesterday’s clothes, hair on end, and smelling like the floor of a dive bar didn’t fit in.


Especially not under the glower of the man standing at the bottom of the stairs, in full, gleaming uniform.


“Dad,” Eli said warningly. Then, as an afterthought: “Rob.”


Chief Inspector Samuel Bell’s lips tightened.


“Your…car…is blocking the end of my driveway,” he said coldly.


“Musta been when I drunk-parked it,” Rob returned flippantly.


Eli huffed and gave Rob a shove in the back towards the front door.


Chapter 4