Stories

Website designer Scottie Ness is taking a well-deserved vacation from the grindstone, and he plans to spend it in the solitude of Washington’s Gifford Pinchot National Forest around Mt. Adams. He’s prepared for everything—except the lightning storm that traps him in a wildfire. Or meeting Jax Quintero, an abrasive firefighter whose bulky uniform couldn't hide a jawline chiseled from stone and intense eyes that burned him with scorn. Or was that the flames surrounding them?

Maybe Scottie should have gone to Hawaii on vacation instead.

For Ted and his collie, Sal, life secluded in the wilds of Yorkshire appears perfect. That is until one day when everything changes. What direction will Ted's life take now and how does Jase fit in?

Cezar Cozman is resigned with the fate drawn for him by his parents. Pulled from his never-ending abroad studies in which he has never excelled, duels, gambling, and scandalous affairs aside, he is to be married within a few months’ time to a woman he has no feelings for.

There is little comfort in knowing what the future holds. Cezar also knows well that he will never have what his heart truly desires, but he sees no other way. That, until one unbearably hot day, a beautiful horse thief enters his life, impetuous and unexpected like a summer storm, and powerful like a force of nature, bent on stealing his heart away.

Arad Ansari is a homeless street slug in the Grey District A-5 colony. Work is hard to come by and he has to compete with the animal/human hybrids called DemiShou, forcing him to make his way in less than savory methods. Getting off-planet sounds like a godsend, but fate has a way of complicating the best opportunities of a man with little luck.

Ayden worked hard to make a better life for his son; he was so close to being done with school, then he could get one good job instead of working two jobs and studying at night. Then they could move out of their tiny apartment, into a nicer place, and have a decent schedule. He just wants to give Anthony a better life, all the things a little boy wants and needs, and spend quality time with his son. Of course he'd ask Santa for a dog for Christmas.

A thirty-six year-old man’s reconnection with his estranged family has an unexpected consequence.

Introverted teenager Remy just wants a quiet summer where he can read, play video games, and avoid his extroverted, popular twin sister. Unfortunately, he ends up sharing his house with two German exchange students visiting for the summer. If that wasn't bad enough, he also starts being haunted by the ghost of a woman who died after falling from a lighthouse decades ago. And he develops a crush on Loren, one of the exchange students, who starts to reciprocate his feelings.

Remy is not going to get the quiet summer he wanted.

Devon fled Wyoming as soon as he turned eighteen, leaving behind his high school love, Levi. After six years, Devon returns to his hometown. Not much has changed, except that Levi is no longer in the closet. He’s also single and living his dream—managing the local wild horse population. Both of them are interested in picking up where they left off, but Devon is no more ready to reveal his orientation than he was as a teenager. No one is going to shove Levi back in the closet—not even Devon. For a relationship to work, they’ll have to put the past behind them and find the courage to face the future as who they really are—a couple in love.

Cory read tons about coming out, that one friend who's "more", and those stupid "He's straight, but can I turn him gay?" posts. His life was about as cliche as they came, but sometimes romance stories had to be true... right? Or they were all false advertising. All he had to do was risk telling Elliot he was gay and how he felt about him. Bam! Love!

Two teenagers, lifelong buddies, in college just outside of Bible Belt Southern USA could totally end up both gay, in love, and just not say anything to each other for two years of being roommates. Sure....

Cory might just stay in the closet and keep his best friend instead.

Lucas never thought much about his 'deal' until someone special helps him find an answer he never considered.

After many years of University and Army training, 21-year-old Struan Kenrick is given two weeks leave before being transferred to a new position in Darwin. On arrival at the airport close to the family properties, Struan learns from his oldest brother, Euan, that their youngest brother Sawney is being ostracised by their grandparents, making him isolated and depressed. Determined to improve the situation for his baby brother, Struan organised for Sawney and him to go on a short holiday, firstly on the Indian Pacific train, and then a stay on Rottnest Island, but things take a dramatic change once on the train.

The journey of a lifetime starts with one train ticket.

Owen, nineteen and single, is finally making his journey to coming out, but this is far more difficult and complicated than the train journey he has to take from his small home town to London, the only place where he feels he can come out. What has led him to such an extreme move and what will he find when he arrives?

Jamie's sick of being single and decides to try online dating. After all, he can't meet his one true love unless he puts himself out there. Fate will make sure his future husband and father of his children is on the same site. That's how it works. Right?

Ashton is exiled to the middle of nowhere when his stepdad gets a promotion. Boring, small town life is not how he expected his senior year of high school to go. He's got plans though. His eighteenth birthday means the release of the trust his dad set up before he died. As soon as he gets his diploma, he's gonna split. Just him, his car, and his camera. He'll take pictures of everything, everywhere. Make a life on his terms and no one else's.

Make a name for himself.

He just has to make it through six more months.

I had never kissed anybody before tonight.

Something about it was so electric. So surreal. I kept trying to use enough of my practiced sense of teenage 'cool' to determine whether or not this whole experience was really happening to me...but my mind kept drifting off, mid thought. Carried away by the powerful current of untapped hormones and unexplored feelings within me. Dizzy. Lost. Swept up in the undertow of a moment for which I had no previous precedent.