playful - Stories

Matt has spent most of his life going wherever the road takes him. Considering how long he's been alive, that's a lot of road. A chance encounter in the Nevada desert puts Andrew in his path. Their meeting is accidental, but what follows may not be. As three ordinary days unravel everything Matt thought he knew about his place in the world, he considers something he never has before: stopping. But some lives are easier to walk away from than others, and his family has waited a very long time for him to understand why. Sometimes a Fool needs to get lost before he can discover where he belongs.

Marcus Reed came to Snow Pine to disappear. Then he meets the Calloway brothers. Ryan is kind, steady, and gentle in a way Marcus has never experienced before. But Cameron Calloway is the exact opposite. Wild. Reckless. Infuriatingly magnetic. The older brother carries anger like a second skin, pushing everyone away before they can leave him first. Falling for both of them was never supposed to happen. But in a town like Snow Pine, secrets don't stay buried for long. And choosing one brother could mean losing them both.

Eighteen-year-old neurodivergent graphic design student Arun likes his world orderly, predictable and comfortably quiet. University life pushes him beyond his usual routines - a loud new roommate, educational challenges and a residential dormitory full of people who seem to understand social rules he can only approximate.

His refuge is the university library, where he can work on assignments and freelance illustrations without anybody demanding his attention... or maybe he could consider an exception for the handsome stranger at the neighbouring desk.

Meet the Harding boys: Matt and his big brother Justin, their hunky dad Richard, and their fun-loving uncle Patrick.

When Matt gives his father a lavish vacation, it's meant to bring them closer -- but a secret plan to indulge a forbidden curiosity unsettles everything. An old passion reawakens in Richard, soon ensnaring Justin and Patrick too.

Sons collide with fathers, uncles with nephews, and brothers with each other. As the Harding men circle the same questions, the past simmers beneath the surface, threatening to redraw the boundaries of family, loyalty, and lust.

To his family, Matt is just the dorky, mustached dad. The men he meets see the body underneath, and the switch that flips behind closed doors. Three days, five encounters, one Parents Weekend.

A story to be published in whole in five parts.

Jesse King is fit, forty and frustrated. His midlife crisis and his wife's dare sparks a journey into uncharted territory. One bold night leads him into the arms of another man—and a new solution to his desires.

Woken four hundred years off course. Crew: vanished. Company: an AI who refuses to stay just a computer.

James Carson signed up to clean toilets on a one-way trip to the stars. He got centuries of lost time, an empty ship, and a mystery no one's left to explain.

The way home is long. He won't be making it alone.

Caden is chasing a dream one failed recipe at a time.

Beneath a tree in Golden Gate Park, Caden finds Kai—a sharp-eyed fifteen-year-old who somehow knows exactly what's missing from his recipe, despite having no idea why. One impromptu cooking session later, impossible things start happening. Now Caden has a glowing sauce pot, a very confused roommate, far too many questions, and a growing suspicion that Kai has forgotten something important.

Two work-from-home dads try to carve out a little time for themselves—a rare, much-anticipated sex date. But between kids, Zoom calls, and the chaos of daily life, even the best-laid plans to get laid get derailed.

This story is a stand-alone follow up to A Charmed Life, but you don’t need to have read that one to jump in. Everything you need is right here.