A warm-hearted rich man's son, Richard Gardener needs to overcome three obstacles: find a way the family business can run without him, help his mother cope with grief, and stop butting heads -- and other parts of his anatomy -- with the gardener.<br><br>Ethan Fields has worked for the Gardener family for many years. He’s struggling with debt and the desire to leave, and has loved Richard far longer than the man would believe. Ethan can cope with most things, but his anger with Richard’s mother won’t fade. Until that and his feelings for Richard are resolved, he feels trapped and, alas, the idea that sex will get Richard out of his system isn’t working.<br><br>To make the situation worse, both men assume too much and don’t say the right words, and Ethan’s offer of ‘just sex’ grows more complicated by the day. Can Richard and Ethan stop getting their wires crossed before their paths diverge?

Flowers for the Gardener

What should he say? As buildings went, this was far grander than anything he ever hoped to live in. Did he like it? As far as mansions were concerned…yes, if a person was into that sort of thing. He pressed on the accelerator and eased forward. “It’s an improvement.” Would Richard understand what he meant? Be offended?


Richard apparently did, and wasn’t. He laughed…a warm reverberating sound, which sent a little frisson through Ethan he both welcomed and rejected. While he wouldn’t mind more intimacy, he saw little point growing used to the feeling.


Chapter 52