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

Two hours later I heard pounding on the cabin door.


My first thought was “Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin,” which was weird since I’d never read fairy tales as a kid. How do these things sneak into a person’s mind? How do they take over at weird times?


Jeff sounded insistent. “Lemme in.”


“No,” I bellowed. “I can’t think if you’re here. Go away. I need to think.”


“Okay, I’ll give you another couple of hours, but I’m coming back if you don’t give me a chance to talk to you.”


“How about we meet for dinner at the Bottom?” I asked the door.


“Okay. Six o’clock. You better be there.”


Having voiced the threat, Jeff peeked in the window at me. Shook his head. Walked away toward his truck.


Chapter 28