Ten years ago, Maxwell you-can-just-call-me Clark thought he would spend his life as a military man. But his world turned into a nightmare when a suicide bomber destroyed Clark's career. It's been a long road to recovery, but now Clark finally has peace. His bar, Glow, is the place to be in the city of New Amsterdam; Lucian Gray, the son of the mayor, employs Clark as a confidential information man; and Clark’s side venture as part-owner of a BDSM club is quite the profitable release. Clark’s life is a good one, so long as no one gets too close.<br><br>Then a man walks into Glow who will forever change Clark’s rules and reality. Thinking Professor Daniel Germain is just another handsome face ripe for Clark’s kind of good time, Clark puts on his smoothest moves. When the professor turns him down, Clark goes on the hunt, and what he discovers shows him that even the deepest wounds can be healed by submitting to love.

Hearts Under Fire

And the crush made no sense. It would never work, and Clark felt like an exposed teenager with a bad case of fucking puppy love.


Get it together, damn it. Emotions cannot interfere with a job, and you’re neck-deep in your own trap. Push on, man. Push on.


Quickly calculating that he’d only been lost in this particular thought for a split second, Clark compartmentalized and organized. He’d already talked to Lucian, and involving others made escape a non-option. He found center, took a deep breath through his nose, and the sound of the restaurant came back to his ears.


“Mindreading again?” Daniel asked with an attentive gaze. “All right…show me how good you are.”


Clark reached for his drink, focusing on keeping the motion smooth. He took a long sip and thought about the color blue. It was a focal point, a way to still himself, given that part of him was in utter shock and the other part was screaming like a drill sergeant.


Chapter 15