From the farms of Tennessee, Beau Watkins had it all in high school: the cute girl, the popular jock lifestyle, a loving family. As a rising freshman at an out-of-state college, he's determined to find out who he really is behind the fake it 'til you make it attitude. He joins Rainbow Connection, the gay student alliance, hoping to find himself. Instead, he meets Vin Reyes. Raised by his grandparents and the heir to a prosperous company, Vin has been out of the closet since he figured out what that meant. He has it all: fashionable clothing, fancy cars, huge houses, and a real party lifestyle, even a bodyguard. Most of all, he has a secret. Uncomfortable with Vin's generosity, Beau fights his growing attraction for the president of Rainbow Connection, instead chasing a series of shallow affairs. Vin's never been denied anything he wants, though, and now he wants Beau. But it isn’t until an old rival puts Beau in the hospital that Vin realizes Beau means more to him than a simple affair. Can the two of them bridge the gap between their worlds and roll with the all the punches life throws at them?

On a Roll

“What? Oh, this one is only four bedrooms. You should see—well, maybe you shouldn’t,” Vin said. “Come on, I’ll show you your room. You’ve got the best view in the house. Well, second best. But I don’t think my grandparents are going to give up their bed for you. Not even if I ask really nicely.”


Beau followed along, trying not to touch anything; everything looked horrendously expensive and he was beginning to entertain nightmares of breaking something that would cost him three years of the annual salary he only hoped he might someday earn. Paintings, on actual canvas—not just posters in frames—decorated the walls. Graceful statuary dotted nooks and corners, along with antiquities of the sort he never saw at local garage sales. What the hell was he doing here? He did not belong here and it didn’t matter what he did, the likelihood that he was going to fit in here was rapidly approaching a negative percentile.


Chapter 40