college graduate – Pat Henshaw

Editors:

Lourenza Adlem

Cover Artists:

Genres:

Tags:

college graduate, community college, contemporary, earthquake, future, gay romance, LGBTQ+, MM, non-series title, Olympics, renewing old friendships, runner, second chance, second chance at love, second chance love, small town romance, track and field

Excerpt:

“I have no idea.”

Foothills Pride Box Set

Part of the Foothills Pride series:

The tiny Sierra Nevada community of Stone Acres looks benign on the outside, but it’s been a hive of activity since gay men from Silicon Valley began moving in. The Old Town establishment is up in arms as newcomers challenge the conservative community to move into the new millennium. Along the way, gay couples find true love and a new home.

Contains the stories:

What’s in a Name?: When barista Jimmy is dumped and gets drunk on his 30th birthday, a handsome, hunky bartender takes care of him, but is mum about his real name. When Jimmy presses him, the bartender makes the quest a game, giving him seven guesses and promising romance each night. For every wrong guess, Jimmy has to forfeit a hot, sexy kiss. Sounds good, but what’s the catch?

Redesigning Max: Out and proud award-winning designer Fredi Zimmer takes on straight outdoorsman Max Greene’s cabin renovation. When he finds out Max is closeted and wants to come out, Fredi helps Max remodel not only his cabin but his life. Angered that Fredi has turned him, Max’s former friends intervene. Will Fredi and Max win the fight for their happiness?

Behr Facts: After CEO Abe Behr discovers discrepancies in his construction company accounts, he hires CPA Jeff Mason to help him find the embezzler. Searching for the culprit, they become closer, and Abe realizes he’s gay. However, coming out to a hostile family and community may break up the couple before they cement their happiness. With so much strife, will love prevail?

When Adam Fell: Jason’s drug addiction ripped them apart. Does Adam want to get back together now that his former lover says he’s clean?

Relative Best: When hotel owner Zeke Bandy meets Vic Longbow, he sees stars. But Vic is in town to attend a wedding and to open an office, not to fall in love. Are they doomed as lovers because they’re both too busy for happily ever after?

Frank at Heart: What will it take to make hardware store owner Frank update himself and his store? Could the new man in town be the key to unlock Frank’s life and future happiness?

Waking the Behr: Ladies’ man and small town contractor Ben Behr is blindsided by his lustful feelings for San Francisco entrepreneur Mitch O’Shea. Can a country mouse and a city mouse bridge the gap in their upbringing and expectations to find love?

Short Order: Amid the happiness of the Christmas season, horticulturist Fen Miller and his landlord sous chef John Barton have some serious decisions to make. Fen must decide on a career and John on eluding his grim past. Together can they support each other enough to discover their happily ever after?

Published: July 31, 2021

Editors:

Cover Artists:

Genres:

Excerpt:

EXCERPT FROM "What's in a Name?"

Slowly I sat up and then stood. My knees protested, so I sat back down and then tried again. This time my knees cooperated.

When Heart Becomes Home

Part of the Non-series series:

Is there a time limit on love and forgiveness?

Fifteen years ago, Manny didn’t show up to take Wes to the Shelby High School prom as he promised. Instead, Wes found Manny’s letter jacket at their meeting spot without a note or any explanation.

From college to his current job in Monterey, California, Wes has carted the jacket around as a memento of his teenage love and rejection. This year he decides enough is enough. He’s attending the high school class reunion, returning Manny’s jacket, and going home free to find the real love of his life.

When Manny sees Wes at the reunion tour of the new high school facilities, he’s determined not to let his teenage lover leave without them clearing the air and possibly getting back together.

Through reunion activities such as a quiz bowl, meet-and-greet meals, and a formal banquet with a prom-like ball as well as outside activities like the quinceañera of Manny’s niece, Wes and Manny work through the lies and misunderstandings of the past.

With so much to reconcile and forgive on both sides, will they end up together? Or go their separate ways with only memories of the past?

Published: March 20, 2021

Editors:

Cover Artists:

Genres:

Excerpt:

Manny stopped where we usually parked way back when. He cut the engine after rolling down the windows. A cool breeze ambled in, looked around, and exited on my side.

“So here we are.” Manny was whispering like he always did when we got here.

His arm rested on top of the backrest. But he didn’t play with my hair like he had then.

I clicked off my seat belt and turned to him.

“You promised me a look at the night sky.”

“So I did.” His seat belt made a decisive click just as mine had. “I’m not sure we can still see the sky from here though. I haven’t been out here in a while.”

“In a while?”

“In fifteen years. Not since the last time we came out here together.”

He spoke softly as if he was embarrassed to admit it. My dick heard his words as did my heart. My dick stiffened, even more than it already was. My heart pounded loud enough Manny should have been able to march to its beat.

I opened my door and got out. The ground was uneven, lumpy with rocks and roots and branches. I held onto the side of the truck while I tried to make it back to the tailgate.

We nearly collided when we got there.

Manny cleared his throat. I stepped back, unsure what to do.

“Um, yeah, let me get a few things out first.” He lowered the tailgate, hopped up onto the bed, opened the tool box, and got out a couple of exercise mats. He unrolled them one on top of the other. “Here, give me your hand.”

Lying on the mats wasn’t quite like it had been when we were eighteen. Our thirty-three-year-old bodies were less fluid and unforgiving in the confines of the truck bed.

We also didn’t seem to be as slender and compact as we’d been back then. There seemed to be a lot more of him and me as we lay side by side. Or were we pulled away, trying not to touch? Maybe I was just turning into the princess of princess-and-the-pea fame and was being overly picky.

As I gazed up, even the view of the sky was different. Either the trees had grown and filled in above us or we really couldn’t have seen the sky while we were pawing each other underneath their branches.

I slapped at a mosquito or fly or gnat or something. Then Manny slapped at something on his side. Suddenly, all I could hear was soft buzzing around me, and it was game on. The word was out that fresh meat had arrived.

“You got any DEET in your tool box?” I sat up waving my hands around my face, warding off the attack.

“Condoms, lube. Nope, no bug spray. The yoga mats took up too much space with my emergency road kit. I couldn’t even get a six-pack inside it.” He’d jumped out of the truck bed and was doing some sort of primitive bug repellent dance.

After I joined him on the ground, he closed the tailgate, and we ran to get into the cab. It wasn’t much better inside since we’d left the windows down. The bugs just followed us.

“Okay, we’re outta here.” He started the engine. “You want to come to my place? We can talk there.”

Reviews:Fay on MM Bookworm Reviews wrote:

4.5 stars.

A great start and yah once I started reading I forgot about taking notes for my review as I do. Wes was on a mission to return a jacket. I loved the first meeting for Wes and Manny again setting eyes on each other again. What happens things kinda go wrong and Manny needed to make his apologies. They both find out their past prom had interference that stopped them from enjoying the night. I felt for them both when they finally get to talk about what happened.
A second chance romance with past hurts and feelings to work through. Different living locations for each to work out in the communications. A few scenes of forgiveness as life deals, poor John I was conflicted with this part.. Yah things ain't easy especially with Flippy and Manny's mother but they get through with a few dramas. Includes homophobia and bigotry.
Written with Wes POV and includes much more into the story and finishes with a HEA.

Wes 33 yrs was attending his high school reunion to return a jacket. Manny was once a high school boyfriend but it ended badly at prom night.

Jay on Kimmer's Erotic Book Banter wrote:

The past is not always as it appears. Rash decisions, the innocence of youth, and bigotry create a fifteen-year separation that subconsciously holds on to those years. When Heart Becomes Home, by Pat Henshaw, addresses aged hurt and reveals truths, providing a second chance that transcends time.

The love Gordon Westerhouse (Wes) and Manuel Garcia (Manny) held for one another was shattered the night of their senior prom. Homophobia and bigotry prevented them from experiencing their rite of passage, resulting in years of heartbreak and stagnant living.

The class reunion reaffirms that the years after high school change the dynamics of a group and the lives of inexperienced youth.

The Fifteenth Shelby High School Reunion, for Wes, is a time to break the cycle and move on. He will return Manny’s letterman jacket that he took that fateful night and let go of Manny once and for all. However, Manny has a different plan. He needs to explain that night, make his apologies, and get his man back.

The weeklong get together provides an opportunity for Wes and Manny to talk out their past and reconnect with old friends and foes. The class reunion reaffirms that the years after high school change the dynamics of a group and the lives of inexperienced youth. The clicks that existed during those days have gained real life experience and closely guarded secrets are now out in the open. Albeit there is a small contingent who hang on to the “glory days” of their youth, for the most part there is a sense remorse and regret for past actions.

There is hurt, comfort, drama, and a slew of realities bestowed on the Shelby High School Reunion attendees that mimic life in general, with its good and not so good realities. A situation with Manny’s mother is tough to swallow, but then again bigotry always is. And “Flip” needs to just stop… you will find out what this is all about.

There is hurt, comfort, drama, and a slew of realities bestowed on the Shelby High School Reunion attendees that mimic life in general, with its good and not so good realities.

When Heart Becomes Home is Wes and Manny’s journey to happiness told from Wes’ perspective. Fifteen years of torment come full circle for Wes and Manny as they finally get the prom they should have had so many years ago. With trepidation they work through the events of their past to bring themselves to their happily-ever-after.

Jen on Dog-Eared Daydreams wrote:

Henshaw did a notable job with this story about first loves and second chances, and how love truly does win in the end. When Heart Becomes Homes receives four stars.

(See Dog-Eared Daydreams for the rest of the review!)

Kat on Love Bytes wrote:

Do you ever wonder about the one that got away?

Manny has been on Wes’s mind for the last fifteen years. Every since Gordo, now called Wes, found Manny’s mud soaked letterman’s jacket when he got stood up for their date to the prom. Wes left the very next morning for college and never looked back. But here he is is at his High School reunion to finally give the boy his jacket back so he can finally get on with his life! But what happens when your high school love is standing right in front of you and trying to tell you what you thought was reality of that night isn’t the truth?

I loved this misfit group. I love how varied they all were but how fiercely protective of their band of nerds they each were. Wes had all his friends on his side as he moves forward with his plans to get rid of the old baggage of his life and move forward.

I can’t imagine what it would be like to meet up, discover the last 15 years had been a lie and then realize there was something still there that never died in either men. I did appreciate that the author didn’t have Wes immediately fall at Manny’s feet in mad love but that they had to learn to trust each other again. But, when the truths start emerging my heart hurt for all the wrongs that had happened to both boys at the hands of those that were suppose to love them completely.

I did have one part that bugged me. When Cee-Cee kept thanking her uncle it didn’t make sense. Manny was an only child. It would make more sense that she was a cousin or possibly second cousin but not her uncle.

Also, it was obvious that Teddy, Zack’s husband, didn’t go to high school with the rest of the team so how come he got to be a member of the team when actual alumni were set as alternates by the reunion trivia board? And what school anywhere in this country wouldn’t have ADA accommodations mandatory, especially in California?

All in all, even with these blunders, I liked this sweet story of second chance romance.

Making the Holidays Happy Again

Part of the Holiday Stories series:

Blacksmith Butch has secretly loved his best friend, science nerd Jimmy, since grade school. Now their shops in Old Town Seven Winds, California, are only doors from each other.

They’re about to turn thirty, and Butch refuses to wait another day to make a decision: propose to Jimmy and start the family he’s always wanted or forget his dream to avoid risking their friendship. Why can’t the choice be as easy as creating decorative ironwork in his forge?

Published: December 16, 2020

Editors:

Cover Artists:

Genres:

contemporary, holiday, MM, romance

Tags:

apothecary, blacksmith, college graduate, contemporary, gay romance, MM, non-series title, novella, Sierra Nevada foothills

Excerpt:

“OKAY, WHAT’S up?” I sat on the bench with my back against the bricks at Joe’s Pub. “You’ve been pissed since last week.”

My best friend and secret love of my life, Jimmy, glared but didn’t answer. We’d known each other for so long that I waited him out like usual. I crossed my pumped arms and sat back, smelling my sweat-soaked T-shirt in the AC blowing around us.

The past summer in Seven Winds, once a gold rush town in California’s northern Sierra Nevada mountains and now a tourist trap, had been brutal. A record number of days over one hundred degrees had turned a lot of the shop owners into snarling dogs.

As the resident blacksmith, I took the heat as business as usual. So I was hot and sweaty? I was always hot and sweaty. The day I ain’t I’m either sick or dead.

I figured Jimmy’s problem was more than the heat, though. He’d been acting funny lately. Like he had something caught in his craw but he couldn’t spit it out.

Reviews:Sammie on Joyfully Jay wrote:

Butch has known he’s loved his best friend, Jimmy, since he was twelve years old. As the years have passed and now with them both on the cusp of thirty, Butch may still be in love, but he also knows he will never be good enough for his pal. First off, Jimmy is brilliant—college educated whereas Butch never even graduated high school. Secondly, Jimmy is gorgeous and deserves someone just as beautiful as he is and Butch thinks he’s not much to look at since he’s often covered in dirt and sweat as a byproduct of the forge he runs in his shop. Still, Butch dreams of telling Jimmy that he loves him, but is so afraid that the news may end their friendship, particularly since Butch can’t be sure Jimmy feels the same. So with Christmas approaching Butch must decide—stay silent and try to find someone who is more like him to make a life with or tell Jimmy everything and pray it doesn’t ruin the one good thing in his life.

Pat Henshaw delivers up a sweet love from afar holiday story in Making the Holidays Happy Again. With some definite lack of communication preventing our two main characters from realizing they both feel exactly the same, the story focuses on more of the business aspect of their relationship. Butch is so torn about whether to confess to Jimmy he loves him. And since Butch is just about the sweetest guy one could ever meet, that meant my heart really went out to him as he grapples with the idea of never having Jimmy for his own or, even worse, watching him fall in love with someone else. From the tender way Butch treats a young shy boy who comes into his shop, to the declaration that he will always be there to protect Jimmy no matter what, it is so easy to fall in love with this guy.

Making the Holidays Happy Again is a simple story and one that made me smile. The end is surprising, but lovely, and I definitely could stand to read more about these two and the people they interact with in their small town. It’s a great little holiday story sure to make the romantic in us all give a happy sigh.

Jessie on Jessie G Books wrote:

As Butch and Jimmy stare down the dreaded 3-0 they are both thinking the same thing: time to settle down, pitch that picket fence, and build a family. Both are successful businessmen, have a good group of friends, and only want each other to be happy. Between Butch’s belief that he’s not good enough for the more cerebral Jimmy and a possible romance between Jimmy and Butch’s new employee, it just doesn’t seem that they’ll find it together.

I do love a good friends-to-lovers romance, especially long-time friends who are oblivious to each other’s unrequited feelings. As a novella, I needed a little more focus on Butch and Jimmy together and less on the hectic holiday sales season which had taken over both their lives and this book. Also, the set up of the little boy who visits the forge had me thinking in one direction and while his outcome was adorable, I was kind of disappointed that he wasn’t rounding out that family picture.

Overall, another cute story from an author who never fails to bring the sweet feels.

Dan on Love Bytes wrote:

I’m a huge fan of anything ‘Henshaw’, and this short story continued that fandom.

My only complaint, as with all the stories I read every December in these Advent Calendars, is the length. I wanted more! Fitting the story into this short of a format seemed to rush the events just a little. I would have loved more filler in the middle!

The story had some interesting side characters going on that I would love to see in a future story. There is a young gay boy and his first boyfriend, there is the boy’s gay uncle and mean old homophobic grandmother for example. And don’t forget the new hot blacksmith that Butch hired. Story lines pop into my head with all of them. Let’s hope Ms. Henshaw gives them to us!

I recommend the story. If you’re a fan of Ms. Henshaw, or even if you don’t know her writing, give it a shot. Then immediately head on over to her Foothills Pride books. I’ll be waiting for more stories Henshaw.

The Thaw

Part of the Non-series series:

A winter chill might stifle estranged friends, but spring seems to be peeking around the corner for them as former buddies weather a late season blizzard in a rural Nebraska cabin.

Thirty-three-year-old gay farmer, Vladimir Wozniak IV, lives for his crops and the hard work that makes them profitable every year. Five miles up the road, former rodeo bull rider and rancher, Thomas Sullivan, is just as committed to his corn-fed beef. Once best friends until VJ kissed Tommy during freshman year in college, they stopped speaking when Tommy rejected VJ.

Ten years later, after the country doctor who helped bring them into the world dies and his will names them as co-owners of property, they decide to check out their inheritance to see which one wants to buy out the other. As they travel down memory lane through the Doc’s correspondence and visit familiar sites on the land, they work their way back to friendship—and beyond.

Published: November 25, 2020

Editors:

Cover Artists:

Genres:

Tags:

cabin, college graduate, contemporary, farmer, gay romance, Nebraska, non-series title, rancher, second chance, second chance at love

Excerpt:

I don’t know why I was so nervous sitting across from VJ. We’d been close friends growing up. Hell, until he decided to kiss me, we’d been really tight. I’d told him my hopes and dreams. I shared every thought and idea I had. I’d even let him tutor me in literature class, and I‘d written a poem to him when it was assigned. I’d only kept a couple things back.

Now we were a few years past our thirtieth birthdays and shared a border between our spreads, but we hadn’t really talked to each other for a little over a decade.

“Heard you were thinking about going all organic last year,” I said, breaking the silence that had settled over us. Greta’s Café on a Wednesday morning before noon was nearly empty. The farmers and ranchers who’d come into town earlier in the day were either back home or on their way there.

“Yeah. You looking for organic corn and grain for your cattle?” VJ gave me a quick over-the-top-of-the-menu glance.

I sighed. “Look, I’m sorry about freshman year. I coulda been smoother, you know….” I wasn’t about to say the word “kiss” out loud. Not here. Not never.

“Yes, you could have been.” VJ kept reading the menu as if it were a particularly difficult Russian novel. “You don’t need to apologize. It was both of us.”

“You don’t seem to be over it, though.”

“I’m over it. Are you? Do you want to talk about it?”

“Nope.” I picked up my menu and hid behind it. So we were just going to let the whole thing drop? Guess it was what we shoulda done in the first place.

The waitress, an older woman who was the aunt of a kid we’d gone to school with, waddled up, took our order and the menus, and then waddled back to the kitchen, returning with two full mugs of coffee.

Without the menus to shelter us, we looked like a snapshot of what we were: two rural Plains guys with nothing much to say for themselves. The silence grew louder between us.

“Okay, we agreed to check out the property. When’s good for you?” I blurted out the question. I was hoping I looked at ease, but I could feel tightness in my jaw. Damn, VJ still looked good. Too damned good.

He sat up straight and tall, making my slouch seem maybe a little too forced. His dark eyes sparkled as if he was reading me and could see that the façade was just window dressing. I still felt the connection between us like a lasso pulling us together. It had bound us as kids and seemed to have kicked in again now we were adults. Why was I always so drawn to him?

“I can take off a few days next week.” VJ’s pause lasted little under a lifetime. “The week after if I needed to.”

“Sounds doable to me,” I answered a little too quick. His eyes widened. He’d caught me, and his answering smile made me feel like I was coming home, which was stupid since my lifestyle was so completely different from his. “We could stay at the cabin. Go out and look at the land during the day. Maybe sleep out under the stars, if it’s not too cold.”

Reviews:Lena on Rainbow Book Reviews wrote:

“Thawing the frozen heart doesn’t happen in a single instant. It happens by degrees and with intention. Let spring into your heart, bit by bit, so that beauty and love can begin to grow once again.” ~ Ashley Davis Bush, LICSW

This is an endearing love story between two friends who, after many trials and tribulations, become what they were meant to be – lifetime partners, as well as friends. Thanks, Pat, for finding a way to bring VJ and Thomas back together where they belonged.

Sammy on Joyfully Jay wrote:

The story is told in alternating points of view with a bit more soul-searching from Tommy. In fact, I felt as though I got to know him quite well in this novella as opposed to VJ who remained more of an obscure character for me. Tommy’s emotions and his worries definitely pull at the heart strings making this an emotional coming out story, plus a friends to lovers tome. We get a real clear picture of how Tommy sought his dad’s approval over being honest with himself or VJ—to the danger of never seeing his best friend again, even though they lived so close to one another.

The Thaw relates one man’s struggle to be all things to all people and losing himself in the process. He falls victim to relying on other’s opinions to shape his life and ends up finds it empty and lacking in anything that can remotely make him happy. When he finally realizes that, he begins really living and that is a beautiful thing to see.

Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention

Short Order

Part of the Foothills Pride series:

When recent horticulture graduate Dr. Fenton Miller arrives in Stone Acres, California, he thinks his only concern is which job offer to accept after spending the holidays working at his cousin’s plant nursery. But after he rents a room from another shorter-than-average man, sous-chef John Barton, Fen falls in lust.

While he’s attracted to Fen, John’s got bigger concerns when two men from his past arrive in town and pressure him to return to San Francisco. Although John tries to stop Fen from getting involved, Fen realizes his lover is in trouble and is determined to protect him.

As the holidays get closer and Fen makes his own enemy, the joy of the season gets lost in the ill will around them. To ensure love triumphs, Fen and John must stand tall to show that short, dark, and handsome is a recipe for love.

Published: October 14, 2020

Cover Artists:

Genres:

contemporary, holiday, MM, romance

Tags:

college graduate, contemporary, Foothills Pride series, gay romance, MM, short men, Sierra Nevada foothills, sous chef

Excerpt:

After a hectic morning, I’d finally gotten a chance to phone Blue Cottage’s owner a little before lunch. He’d answered almost on the first ring. His last name, a one-word greeting, rolled over me and nearly brought me to my knees, it sounded so beautiful. God, I love baritones. His deep, husky voice soothed me. I could live under this landlord. I refused to giggle at my joke.

“Uh, hi. This is, uh, Fen Miller.”

“You want to see the apartment.” His tone said not to waste his time. I could hear the sounds of pots and pans rattling around in the background.

So I launched into my schedule.

“I’m off at five Tuesdays through Fridays, work half days on Saturday morning and Monday afternoon. Are any of those times good for you?” He wanted serious, I could do serious.

“Tonight at five thirty,” he growled.

“Okay. See you then.”

On my way to work, I’d driven by the house, paused in front of it, and taken a picture with my phone, then sent it to Mom in Davis.

Hey, Ma, what do you think?

Oh, honey, it’s you. All yours or sharing?

Renter if it’s not too expensive. Taking a look tonight.

Good luck. Call me afterward. Love you.

Mom taught English composition at a community college and was just as organized as I was unorganized. When I was growing up, she’d been tough, never wasting the sporadic childcare payments that my virile, sports-mad dad sent. I never doubted her love. In fact, she’d made my coming out the most anticlimactic in the history of gay mankind.

I had to choose which permanent, grown-up job to take. She’d put in her time and deserved more from life than parenting the “perfect” child.

That night I stood freezing at Barton’s door, admiring Blue Cottage. The snow drifts piled on the lawn made the house look greeting-card perfect. I searched for a doorbell. Instead, a lion-headed knocker snarled at me. I grinned. Every house needed an intimidating guardian, right?

A man who looked about my age and height opened the door and slipped out, shutting it behind him. I was curious to see inside, but I got that the guy wanted his privacy. No problem.

“Hi. I’m Fen.”

He looked me over, then turned to the left along the shoveled porch. As he walked, he played with the keyring, bouncing a key in his hand. Did I make him nervous? If so, was that a good thing?

“This way.”

Okay. I took a breath and followed his pert ass and brisk steps as we rounded the porch to a steep staircase. From my brief glance at his face, he seemed okay. I was still slightly put off by his brusque manner. But hey, I reminded myself, I was renting from him, not fucking him.

In silence I followed him up to a small porch and a solid-looking back door, which he opened after only a little fumbling.

I was greeted by the stuffy, closed-up odor of a place long left undisturbed.

“You’d be my first renter. It’s furnished, but I can store anything you don’t want.” He made quick eye contact with me. The words erupted from him like I made him uncomfortable or something. Maybe it was my piercing and the tattoo, or maybe the hair color. I tried a smile, but he blushed and turned away, gesturing to the rooms.

Even though the air inside was chilly, I looked around and fell even more in love than I had when I’d first seen the house. The 1940s era furniture and knickknacks turned what could have been sterile rooms into my kind of home. I exhaled, letting the ambience settle in my soul as I wandered through a country kitchen, tiny dining room, sitting room, two bedrooms, and a classic bathroom, ending eventually at a circular tower room. I fell even deeper in love along the way as I touched the scratched kitchen table, a velveteen-covered parlor settee, a solid-looking four-poster bed, and the needlepoint-cushioned window seat in the tower.

If I were Barton, I’d charge thousands a month for this place. I prayed he wasn’t me and was relieved when my prayers were answered.

“You want to keep the furniture?” He still didn’t look at me as he bent over the kitchen table to fill out the rental agreement. Who needed him staring? I could live with letting his voice pour over me and seeing his kissable lips.

“I can’t imagine living here without all of it.” Or maybe even you, I thought, eyeing his pert butt wiggling at me as he wrote.

He stopped, stood, and eyed me for a few seconds before bending and going back to writing. I hadn’t said that about his butt out loud, had I?

As I was daydreaming about his ass and the scarred table, he stopped writing, looked over the form, and finally twisted it toward me. “Sign here, initial here, and date it. Then I need your rent for the month.”

I was signing before he changed his mind. The rent was ridiculously cheap. “No deposit?” There had to be a catch, right?

“No.”

I glanced up. He was gazing down at the table, or maybe at my hands. Or my groin? I signed as fast as I could and wrote a check to John Barton, the name on the rental agreement. So he had a first name, and we had a deal.