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

The way Andre touched him didn’t discourage him, either.


“You don’t know me very well yet.” The weight of Andre’s hand warmed him more than the sun. A smart man would push it away, but Thomas’s common sense had checked out the second he first laid eyes on Andre. “Just give it time. I’ll find a way to disappoint you.”


Andre was less than pleased with this answer and tapped his thumb hard against the library book.


“That’s selfish. That’s me wanting to be able to talk to you more easily.” How did they get back to discussing him again? Andre was scarily good at getting him to open up. “It’s better I talk to you than Mom anyway. I don’t want her to see how worried I am about her.” There. He could give that much, anyway.


Chapter 18