Big, burly CEO Abe Behr is furious to discover someone -- probably a relative -- is embezzling from Behr Construction, a family-run business in the Sierra Nevada foothills outside Lake Tahoe. To confirm his suspicions, Abe takes the unprecedented step of hiring a non-family accountant, handsome Jeff Mason, to go over the books and help find the culprit. As they talk to Behr relatives and visit construction sites, Abe and Jeff are drawn to each other, bringing out new, softer emotions in workaholic Abe. Since he has sacrificed romance all his life to build the construction business, Abe’s surprised by his feelings for the handsome Jeff. He’s even more shocked when they come face to face with homophobia in the small foothills community where generations of Behrs have called home. Abe had always thought Stone Acres was a live-and-let-live kind of town. As he and Jeff get closer, he finds out how wrong he is when he comes out to both family and a community who think he’s making a big mistake. Will being the head of a large, powerful family and a pillar of the community be enough to win Abe his happily ever after with Jeff?

Behr Facts

I explained about my father’s jealousy of his dad and about my father’s love of his family home. His eyes were huge by the time I finished.


As I looked at him over the table, it hit me how handsome he was. I again had the itchy feeling the earth had slipped a little under my feet. Something was happening.


“You know I didn’t have anything to do with your dad,” he said softly. Even in the bright light of the Rock Bottom, he looked good.


“Naw. I know.” I put my hand up to run over my face, nearly gouging myself in the eye with my fork. Sheepishly, I put down the fork and peeked at him. He wasn’t laughing at me, but looked concerned.


“The funny part,” he said even more softly as his hand crept toward mine on the tabletop, “is my dad envied yours.”


Chapter 16