by Deirdre O'Dare
Mike Dufrane fled a traumatic youth, hard years haunted by an abusive biker father, poverty and degradation, by escaping into the military. There he found only more savage violence. Then a chance encounter with an animal rescue group showed him another way. On an Indian reservation in the southwest, he finds a place to make a difference. Rez Dogs Rescue Shelter will be his route to build a positive life. Then a handsome Native American rides up on a Harley and throws Mike’s plans for a loop.<br>…
by Deirdre O’Dare
Bobby Estrada is tired of school, rules, and boredom. He wants to have adventures. Eventually he arrives in southwestern New Mexico on foot, tired, and hungry. Orr and Jase, the mule men, give him a job mucking corrals. Six months later he has grown up, learned a lot, and bought a young mule to train. That’s when some exotic visitors show up.<br><br>Doyle O’Brien, an Irish aristocrat, is dedicated to caring for his young niece for whom he became guardian after her parents were killed in a tragic…
by Deirdre O’Dare
As head of the Border Patrol’s Paranormal Operations Unit, Clay Chiles has found a place where he can function and a surrogate family to replace the one he never truly had. He keeps hidden a lot of secrets, and both fears and longs for the day he may be able to take that one long step out of solitude and darkness into love and light.<br><br>Before he can do that, however, he has to face some surprising facts about himself and deal with some horrific enemies. Although not a weak man, he’ll never …
by Deirdre O'Dare
Jest has been on his own since his mid-teens and still blesses the chance that let him realize his dream of playing percussion in a band that has become his substitute family. Although he misses the close sharing, he doesn't expect to find a partner and certainly not one as clearly out of his element as the man who one night wanders into the club where Jest's band plays, looking totally lost and friendless.<br><br>Greene has struggled to build himself a life far from the undisciplined communal c…
by Pepper Espinoza
It's June 1972, and the Vietnam War overshadows Ed Sorenson's life. He's barely out of high school, and there's nothing ahead of him except war and death. On a whim, he packs up his old station wagon with California in mind. He invites his friend Sammy to join him on his journey, never expecting the other man to jump at the chance.<br><br>The station wagon barely makes it as far as Nevada. It dies on the shoulder during a freak summer thunderstorm, trapping the two young men and giving them no c…
by J.D. Walker
Bennett "Ben" Pachowski is a bouncer at Throwbacks. He likes his job, though he gets tired of being thought of as more brawn than brain. He loves books, prefers to be romanced before sleeping with a man, and has a crazy feline companion named Bessie.<br><br>Ben's favorite band, Rebel's Ultimatum, plays at the club on weekends, giving him an eyeful of sexy bass player, Monty Mabuse. Ben is content to flirt -- nothing more. He knows the kind of person Monty is, and commitment is not something the …
by J.D. Walker
Austin Murray is fifty years old, owns a bookstore, and loves to walk on the beach at sun-up. He's a beachcomber, too, always in search of something unique to add to his collection. One such winter morning, an unkempt, sad-looking stranger roars into his life on a motorbike and his heart turns over for the first time, ever.<br><br>Murphy Vickers is world-weary, hurting, and unable to connect with anyone. He travels from place to place looking for work, but never stays anywhere very long. He's tr…
by Eva Hore
Cassie has found the woman of her dreams. When she tells her best friend -- and former lover -- Sophie, Cassie recounts several escapades with Lessie, including one that nearly gets her into serious trouble.<br><br>Once Cassie confides her secret to Sophie, though, her ex is turned on and can't seem to keep her hands to herself. And it has Cassie wondering if she should come clean with Lessie, or give into Sophie's advances in order to keep secret the little interlude that just might ruin the be…
by Kassandra Lea
Bartholomew Jay Westwood, or simply Jay, is a suit fanatic. They're easily his one indulgence. He owns one in every color, which makes it nearly impossible to pick one for an upcoming holiday party. The only one that seems suitable is white, and he originally bought it for a Halloween costume three years ago. But he can't quite bring himself to wear it and settles for another number from his vast collection.<br><br>Unfortunately, tragedy strikes after he stops to pick up a last-minute gift. But …
by T.A. Creech
Chris wasn't surprised to find Will on his doorstep on a Friday evening. Standard operating procedure and all that. But going to Tucson Raceway Park in the middle of August was not something he wanted to do after a long day at work. Still, how could he resist spending the evening with the secret love of his life, even if it was just to watch cars go around in a circle?<br><br>But when they’re together, fast cars aren’t the only thing that can make a heart thunder on a hot summer night. Will's go…
by Deirdre O’Dare
With his life torn apart by tragedy, Garrett finds a true lifesaver in the Golden Retriever pup, Mandy, that he rescues from a local shelter. Inspired by the heroic search and rescue teams he sees on television, he and Mandy become a trained SAR team. Their first big challenge comes when a series of violent storms with vicious tornadoes rip through the high plains.<br><br>Dan has come home from Iraq shattered by the horrors he witnessed. Like his father and grandfather before him, he takes off …
by Gareth Vaughn
With winter holidays approaching, it's supposed to be a time for romance and togetherness for Colton and Ben. Except climate change has erased the chance for a white Christmas, their rent is going up, and neither of them have energy after working all day and barely getting to see each other. As their frustrations mount and finances dwindle, it almost seems more likely they'll be single for the new year rather than doing anything special for each other.<br><br>Colton isn't willing to give up with…
by Leaf123
Ling Mingyu, young master of the powerful Ling family, was cursed at birth. Since then, where ever he went, misfortune would not only befall him, but also greatly affect those around him. People resented and despised him due to a fate he had no power of changing. After twenty one miserable years of burdening those around him, Mingyu decided to take matters in his own hands. In order to finally set an end to the spread of the bad luck caused by him, he took his own life. However, who would have t…
by E.F. Mulder
A seemingly lost little girl leads Bart to the scene of a horrible accident. As he consoles Sawyer, who crashed his bike into a New York City bus, he finds himself comforted instead when Sawyer offers him a pendant to keep him safe as he heads off to boot camp and eventually war.<br><br>More than a decade later, the pair are reunited on Thanksgiving Day, one on one side of a soup kitchen serving table, one on the other. They nearly miss each other, but fate -- or something else -- seems to want …
by J.P. Garland
Beth Jenkins, raised in an Irish Catholic family outside Chicago, with her father a retired Chicago cop, would not acknowledge to her family that she was gay, fearing how they would react. She moved to New York, visiting her home occasionally. At Christmas just over three years before the story begins, and against her better judgment, she responds to the when-I-you-going-to-find-a-man question by coming out.<br><br>Any hopes of staying are shattered when her father says he will not sit at the sa…
by Hilary Walker
This short anthology contains three true stories about an old mare who becomes a superstar and her son who takes over where she leaves off. Contains the stories:<br><br><strong>Kelly: The Horse I Didn’t Want:</strong> Kelly was already eighteen years old when she arrived at my barn as a thin, nervous Thoroughbred ex-racehorse with a host of bad habits and behavioral problems. Little did I know she would become my equine soul-mate within six months of being given to me for free. She won numerous …
by flame_Bombs
basically a diary read if u want it just for fun it to show who I am and to show me I can be dorky but have fun
by J.M. Snyder
It's hard to understand why some people feel the need to hurt themselves, especially when they seem to have everything they need or want out of life. So how do you help someone bent on a path of self-destruction?<br><br>And what can you possibly do when it's someone you love?<br><br>This short but powerful story is about a young man who discovers his lover is a "cutter." Simply asking him to stop doesn't solve the problem. As much as he hates to do it, he lays down an ultimatum that will hopeful…
by Vivien Dean
Nothing has ever excited Tylen Merodine more than being invited by the Regent himself to celebrate the first solar eclipse in his planet’s recorded history. It’s the party of the millennium, and if he has to restrain his normal exuberant instincts to fit in, that’s what he’ll do to be a part of it. His good intentions vanish, however, the moment he’s presented to the Regent. Because there, in a gilded cage, playing music unlike anything Tylen’s ever heard, is the most beautiful alien he could im…
by Sharon Maria Bidwell
Whoever said space was cold, never found love from the stars ...<br><br>Some people never learn. This is the tune playing once again in Alex Beaumont’s head when he sees a vision in white attracting odd glances in the quiet little seaside resort of Padstow. He came to get away from it all, to bury himself in work, to forget every man he ever falls for eventually needs to get away ... from him.<br><br>Adrift in the universe, Mani searches for a place to call home. The planet he finds is cold and …