On a bright autumn day, Flynn Marlowe lost his best friend, a beagle named Barley, while out on a hike in Seattle’s Discovery Park. On a cold winter day, Mac Bowersox found his best friend, a lost, scared, and emaciated beagle, on the streets of Seattle. Two men. One dog. When Flynn and Mac meet by chance in a park the next summer, there’s a problem -- who does Barley really belong to? Flynn wants him back, but he can see that Mac rescued him and loves him just as much as he does. Mac wants to keep the dog, and he can imagine how heartbreaking losing him would be -- but that's just what Flynn experienced. A “shared custody” compromise might be just the way to work things out. But will the arrangement be successful? Mac and Flynn are willing to try it ... and along the way, they just might fall in love.

Lost and Found

When he returned, Mac had blown out the citronella candle he’d lit earlier, and the porch was in darkness.


It took a moment for Flynn’s eyes to adjust, and when they did, he gasped. Mac was sitting on the glider, completely naked. His paleness intensified against the shadows as Flynn’s eyes adjusted even more. Flynn was both perplexed and delighted. His short burst of laughter reflected those qualities.


“We had a deal—you know, you get me chocolate ice cream, and then later, you get me.”


Flynn took a couple of steps toward him, and Mac stood up. He was fully aroused. He pressed naked against Flynn, and Flynn thought he’d never felt anything more erotic than all that naked flesh pressed up against his clothed self. There was something about the contrast that made Mac seem more naked than naked, if that made any sense.


A car passed by, and its headlight beams rode over them as it rounded a curve.


Chapter 53