Thomas Durling escaped his small-town upbringing for over ten years, until a single phone call drew him back. Told his mother has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s, he returns to the small northern Michigan town he once called home to find a mute stranger taking care of her in his stead.<br><br>On the surface, Andre seems harmless enough, but Thomas has enough problems trying to deal with his mother’s illness. He doesn’t need a gorgeous young man to distract him, especially in a town that drove him away once already with its homophobia.<br><br>But Andre has nowhere else to go. A wolf without a pack, he’s been on the run since witnessing his father’s murder, always looking over his shoulder, never looking ahead. Taking care of Thomas’s mother has given him a welcome sanctuary, as well as a place he can call home for a couple months. He wants to stay, but more importantly, he wants to help, even if Thomas isn’t ready to accept that they could actually be friends ...

Moon-Touched

“I got it yesterday from the library,” Thomas said when he realized Andre had noticed. “You sign, right? That’s what Pastor told me. I thought it might make it easier for you if you didn’t have to carry that notepad around everywhere.”


The revelation stunned him into immobility. Thomas wanted to learn sign language? Why would he go to such lengths? Because theywere lengths, he’d gone out on his own and found the material for it without even asking, something nobody else had ever done.


When Andre didn’t respond, Thomas cleared his throat and sat up. Color had crept into his cheeks, staining them to pink Andre knew would be warm to the touch. “I’m not making any promises I’ll be any good at it, though.” He tried to smile, and the attempt came off as both embarrassed and endearing. Andre took an unconscious step forward so he could see it better. “But at least I don’t have to worry about having a shitty accent.”


Chapter 15