Keir Moreau, a middle school teacher living a solitary life, is excited to welcome a handsome new neighbor. But after their first meeting goes alarmingly wrong, Keir decides it's safer to keep his distance. Besides, he has to focus all his attention on finding help for a student who is being forced into conversion therapy.<br><br>Riley Quinn used to be an award-winning photojournalist, roaming the world and exposing corruption. An injury put an end to all that. Now he's frustrated with his new aimless life, wondering if he'll ever do anything again that really matters. When he first meets Keir, a case of mistaken identity leads him to mistreat his intriguing new neighbor. Riley tries again and again to redeem himself, but everything he does seems to push Keir farther away.<br><br>Keir, obsessing about his failure to help his student and fighting his stubborn attraction to Riley, takes a reckless gamble that goes dreadfully wrong. Or does it? Can an act of desperation open the door to romance?

The Chartreuse Door

In the silence, Keir stared at the phone, puzzled. Look out my window? He slid out of bed, ran down the stairs, and opened the living room blinds.


Across the street, in the full blazing sun, the door of the condo glowed brilliant, searing chartreuse.The glare off the neon blast of color actually made his eyes water and the image waver. But there was something hypnotic about it. Keir couldn’t stop staring.


He tried hard to share Mrs. P.’s outrage. Very hard. But the bubbling amusement rising in his chest refused to be ignored. A moment later, he doubled over, clutching his sides as gales of laughter rolled through him. Oh, that man—that horrid, horrid man! And if Keir ever stopped laughing, it would be his job to confront Riley and try to rein him in.


Now that was a sobering thought. Just how did one go about approaching a man whose invitations and giftsand overtures of friendship had all been flatly ignored?


Chapter 15