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

“You want out.” It wasn’t a question. I could see and hear it even if he didn’t voice it. “What will you do instead?”


“I’ve been talking to Marlon at Monique’s Bakery. He said if I can give him six months or a year, he’ll teach me how to become a baker, or at least a baker’s assistant. I have some ideas about new things they can make for sale.” His face was eager, his body taut like he was excited to break out of the blocks. Then he got a mischievous look in his eyes, a glint I remember seeing there when he was a child. “I’ll even let you taste everything first.”


How could I say no to him? I smiled, even though it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.


Surprise and excitement radiated off him. “Now? Tomorrow?” he asked quickly as if I might change my mind.


“Okay. There’s only one condition,” I said, suddenly realizing what a great deal this was.


Chapter 25