To most people who know him, Nick Fontana is the owner of a prestigious advertising agency. To a select few, he’s known as Niko, a man who deals with very sensitive problems no one else can handle. As a result, Nick has never found a man to love -- because he won't allow it to happen. Then he meets flirtatious Greg Tyson while out running. He thinks nothing of it until Greg applies for a job at Nick's ad agency. Greg is exactly what Nick is looking for in an employee. Hiring him, however, might turn out to be the biggest mistake of Nick's life ... or the beginning of something new, if Nick is willing to open himself up and let Greg in. Doing so will require an amount of trust Nick isn’t certain he can give without endangering Greg's life -- and losing his love -- in the process.

Love Was Not an Option

Turning off the TV, he went upstairs to change from his suit into jeans and a tank top. After fixing dinner, he took off for his nightly run.


It was Monday evening and two weeks had passed since the disappearance of Alderman Barlow. Nick had followed the story as it went from being in the headlines until it faded to a small item on the third page of the newspaper—and to nothing on television as other grim news took precedence. Online, conspiracy theorists had been having a field day. None of them even came close to what had actually happened to Barlow.


“They never will, if we have our way,” Nick had murmured after reading one of their more outlandish ideas.


Chapter 3