Beaten by the IT recession, Justin has come back to his hometown where he’s inherited a small house from his mother. Surely Barry, his old crush and sometime nemesis, is long gone. Jobs are scarce, so impulsively Justin seeks to buy into a pet grooming business. But when he has to visit the local bank for a loan, who sits behind the big desk but Barry?<br><br>Justin’s appearance jolts Barry out of his miserable rut of a life. What if they were to pick up where a brief boyhood attraction abruptly ended? Then his mother’s sudden stroke throws his whole life into a tumbled ruin.<br><br>Juggling business and pleasure can be a complex, risky endeavor. Will Justin resist Barry’s charms and flee again, or will fate give them a new leash on life?

A New Leash on Life

Barry lifted his arms, halfway to reaching. Then, he stopped, as if waiting permission.


Justin nodded. “Yes, come here, come on.” He reached to meet Barry halfway, and they crashed together flooded with an urgency that had simmered for more than ten years. Noses bumped as they both reached in the wrong angle, sliding past that awkward move to bring their lips together. The hot, wet kiss went on and on, tongues dueling and breath coming in tortured gasps.


Barry’s words seem to come from far away, while they held immediacy and a passion Justin could not deny. Resistance fell away, shattered on the floor. He could no longer remember why he’d run so hard from this. He needed it more than air, water, and sustenance.


“Yes, yes. Where? How?” When and why had no room in his thoughts. There was only this instant and the hungry heat pouring through his being. The pressure of Barry’s embrace felt like coming home in ways nothing had since his youth.


Chapter 13