Sloane Kennedy

But what I felt most was the perfection of what these two men were giving me. And I knew in that moment that I would do anything to keep it. Anything. --ColeAfter four years abroad, artist Jonas Davenport has come home to start building his dream of owning his own art studio and gallery. But just as he's ready to put the darkness of his past behind him forever, it comes roaring back with a vengeance.The only thing keeping ex-cop Mace Calhoun from eating his own gun after an unthinkable loss is his role in an underground syndicate that seeks to get justice for the innocent by taking the lives of the guilty. Ending the life of the young artist who committed unspeakable crimes against the most vulnerable of victims should have been the easiest thing in the world. So why can't he bring himself to pull the trigger?After years of fighting in an endless, soul-sucking war, Navy SEAL Cole Bridgerton has come home to fight another battle - dealing with the discovery that the younger sister who ran away from home eight years earlier is lost to him forever. He needs answers and the only person who can give them to him is a young man struggling to put his life back together. But he never expected to feel something more for the haunted artist.Cole and Mace. One lives by the rules, the other makes his own. One seeks justice through the law while the other seeks it with his gun. Two men, one light, one dark, will find themselves and each other when they're forced to stand side by side to protect Jonas from an unseen evil that will stop at nothing to silence the young artist forever.But each man's scars run deep and even the strength of three may not be enough to save them...Note: This book contains M/M/M sexual content and is intended for mature audiences.Trigger Warning: This book contains references to childhood sexual abuse.***This is Book 1 in the series, but can be read as a stand-alone story - no cliffhangers.***Book 1 - Absolution (M/M/M)Book 2 - Salvation (M/M)Book 3 - Retribution (M/M)Book 4 - Forsaken (M/M)

I had one reason for never going back to the small town I once called home, but I never guessed it would be the same one that made me want to stay… Brooks I grew up in the small town of Eden, Wyoming, but never really felt like I fit in. Until I met the one boy who changed all that. When we were kids, Xavier Price understood horses, but somehow, he got me too. He’d made me feel like I wasn’t just the overdressed, too sensitive fifteen-year-old geek who loved math and didn’t always say the right thing. But all that changed the night he threw my trust back in my face and betrayed my family in the worst kind of way. And while I’m back in Eden to make sure my uncle’s horse ranch is operating in the black, the one thing I know I won’t have to deal with is the man who’d been on the verge of stealing my heart ten years ago. Because Xavier Price is still in prison for what he did and even if he weren’t, he wouldn’t be foolish enough to show his face in Eden ever again. Right? Xavier Wrong. That’s what returning to Eden after ten years behind bars feels like. But it wasn’t like I had a whole lot of choices. And it wasn’t like I was going to be handed any decent job offers, let alone my dream one of working with horses. But that’s exactly what happened and now that I’m foreman of Black Hills Ranch, I’m not letting this job go for anything. Not even the spoiled little rich kid I’d thought was different when he’d glommed onto me ten years ago. I have no doubt Brooks Cunningham didn’t wait long to move on to bigger and better things the second my jail cell was locked behind me, and that’s just fine by me. I’d been wrong about the sweet, emotional boy who’d had a habit of wearing his heart on his sleeve anyway. Except fate has decided to have another go at me by tossing Brooks right back into my sometimes too small world. Gone is the scrawny, stars-in-his-eyes nerd who used to do math problems just for fun. In his place is a gorgeous specimen of a man who thinks he can go toe to toe with me and once again destroy everything I’ve worked for. Not happening.

Free read with Salvation and Retribution couples.

It’s the holidays for a group of very special men who’ve managed to become a family in the last year and while all the guys are coming together to celebrate Hawke and Tate’s upcoming wedding, a few of them have big plans of their own… A change of plans… Newlyweds Ronan and Seth are settling into married life as Ronan considers his return to medicine and Seth starts dreaming of a future that may include the pitter patter of little feet a lot sooner rather than later. Building a future… Knee deep in wedding preparations, Hawke and Tate are celebrating something even more important – Matty’s final round of chemotherapy treatment. As they anxiously await confirmation that their son is finally in remission, both men strive to give their little boy a normal life including a new house, playdates with Matty’s new best friend, Leo, and a new support system of men and women who are starting to seem a lot like family. An important question to ask… Meanwhile, Mav is looking to make things official with Eli despite the young man’s busy schedule with medical school. But before he can ask the man of his dreams that very important question, he has to get past Eli’s family first, including a posse of two overprotective fathers, several intrusive uncles and a little girl who just wants to brush Mav’s hair! Figuring it all out… With Memphis, Brennan and Tristan settling into their newfound relationship and our favorite threesome from New York visiting for the wedding, there are plenty of chances for old friends to connect and new bonds to be formed. The best kind of chaos… And of course, what wedding wouldn’t be complete without a little drama including some white hot sexual tension between a not so old grandfather and a certain cocky bodyguard? Add in some more Barrettis, a couple of precocious kids, several dogs, one spoiled cat and a gaggle of new, hot alpha men and you’ve got the perfect storm for a holiday that only the Protectors could pull off! *Includes a special bonus scene at the end of the book! **NOTE: THIS IS NOT A STANDALONE STORY - It features previous characters from all of the "Protectors" series books.*** Book 1 - Absolution (M/M/M) Book 2 - Salvation (M/M) Book 3 - Retribution (M/M) Book 4 - Forsaken (M/M) Book 5 - Vengeance (M/M/M)

“Once a fuck up, always a fuck up.” Words twenty-six-year-old Dante Thorne has had to live with for more years than he can count and a title he finally earned at the tender age of sixteen when one careless decision led to tragedy. And since he can’t deny the truth of the words, why not live by them instead? Fucking up, fucking, it doesn’t matter; as long as it feels good and makes him forget the day he failed the one person he’d always sworn to protect. A good philosophy to live by until Dante meets the one man who might actually having him wishing he was something more… At forty-one and with a distinguished twenty-year career as a Texas Ranger under his belt, Magnus DuCane should have been in the prime of his life. Instead, he’s mourning the loss of the daughter he couldn’t save and contemplating a future that looks nothing like the one he had planned. The only bright spot in his life is the young grandson whose suddenly been returned to him after going missing two years earlier and the new family of men that he’s been welcomed in to with open arms. But with his iron will, unfailing self-control and unflappable discipline, Magnus knows he can start a new chapter and get his life back on track…if he can just get past the disturbing, unexpected feelings one young man stirs in him. Because everything about Dante Thorne is wrong for Magnus. His arrogance, his cocky attitude, every single unfiltered word that falls unchecked out of his mouth and, of course, the fact that he’s a man. But when his well-meaning friends send Dante with him as a bodyguard when he returns to Texas to testify in a high-profile case, Magnus begins to see beyond the brash words and endless sexual innuendo. And when he starts to discover that what he sees isn’t all that bad, suddenly the fact that that Dante is a man instead of a woman no longer seems like such a big sticking point anymore…

***PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS PART OF AN ANTHOLOGY*** This SHORT STORY (15k words) was previously published as part of the Heart2Heart Anthology but is now being offered as a single title since the anthology is no longer available. Please make sure you haven't already purchased this story as part of that anthology unless your intent is to own two copies of the story. There is no new content. When Nate signs up with a matchmaking app, the sparkly, colorful, always-fashionable florist is hoping to find the guy who will finally see him as more than just a one-night stand. In fact, he’s hoping he’ll find “the one” who wants the same things he does – white picket fence, kids, minivan, dog – and doesn’t mind having them with a man others might think shines just a little too bright sometimes. Enter Harrison Garrison. The uptight lawyer is all wrong for Nate. He’s rigid, distant, controlling, emotionally closed off, and content to live his life in black and white…with maybe a little gray thrown in here and there. But when a misunderstanding leads to an encounter that is all kinds of white-hot, Nate starts to think maybe the matchmaking app got it right after all. Until he finds out the real reason Harrison signed up for the app… Will Nate be the one to finally add a touch of color to the staid Harrison’s life, or did the app completely miss the mark? Please note that this story was previously part of an anthology so it was intended (and required) to be a certain length. Although it is a complete story with an HEA, if you don’t care for short stories, Nate and Harrison’s tale may not be for you. This story was formerly titled “The Florist and the Lawyer” and was part of the Heart 2 Heart Charity Anthology. There have been no changes to the content of the story.

Lincoln I was just there to do my job and then he arrived, and I knew in my gut everything was about to change. Everything… For former soldier turned nurse practitioner Lincoln Arden, Pelican Bay was supposed to be just another dot on a map, and the crotchety old man he’d been hired to assist in his physical rehabilitation was supposed to be just another patient whose body was slowly giving in to the harsh reality of time. It was just another job… one in a long list of many. One that lasted only long enough that Lincoln could do what he needed to do and then keep moving. Always moving. But nothing about the live-in job was like all the others. Not the chaotic group of men who’d made themselves into a family, not the charming old farmhouse that sat in the middle of nowhere, and most certainly not the endless acres of trees, streams, and every other one of Mother Nature’s miracles that reminded him of the beauty of life after being witness to so much death. He'd done it, though. He’d remained on the outskirts of that family despite the warm welcome they’d offered him from day one, and he hadn’t let his surroundings make him forget that it would be time to move on soon enough. But then he arrived… Theo Returning to Pelican Bay and the past that came with it was the last thing I wanted to do, but “visiting” my former best friend would give me the time I needed to figure out where to disappear to next... Even though Theo Lancaster had only lived a few towns over from Pelican Bay, returning to the hometown of his one-time best friend in northern Minnesota was like walking through a doorway to the past and the exact moment his life had changed forever. Simply put, the small, picture-perfect town was the last place he wanted to be, but with no home, no friends or family to lean on, and no money, his choices had been pretty limited. Fortunately, the past that haunted his dreams night after night had prepared him for the moment by turning him into something he’d never thought he would be. A liar. A fake. A fraud. A man who knew what mask to wear and what words to say to keep the truth at bay. Hiding his scars, both the ones covering his body and the ones ripping his soul to shreds with each day that passed, was easy. Telling everyone he was okay spilled from his lips as effortlessly as the fake smile that he’d been perfecting for years. Lying about what had happened to him after that fateful day—when the truth about who he really was had been discovered—had been so well rehearsed that sometimes he even managed to fool himself into believing it had all been a terrible dream. It had been a good plan. Hide out for a few days, come up with a plan of what to do next, and disappear before anyone figured out the truth. But nowhere in his plans had he even given thought to meeting a gorgeous-as-hell nurse who saw past his lies with ease. A man who knew Theo wasn’t okay and was intent on healing as many of Theo’s scars as he could, both inside and out. A man who wanted the same thing for Theo that he needed for himself. To stop running. While this book can be read as a standalone, reading it before the others in the series will cause spoilers for previous books. Please note this book comes with several triggers... they are listed at the beginning of the book so you can download the sample if you wish to read what those triggers are prior to downloading entire book

DaltonSome scars run deeper than others…I understood pain and I’d learned to live with it. My little house and my cabin cruiser that faithfully let me explore every part of Chesapeake Bay were enough for me and had been for a long time. I liked being alone and I was good at it. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.I should have driven past him like everyone else. It shouldn’t have mattered that there was something familiar about him or that the torrential rain made it incredibly dangerous for him to be walking along the interstate at all. His drenched clothes clinging to his slim body and his slow but determined pace as he put one foot in front of the other called out to me in a way I never would have expected.The plan was to pick him up and hand him back over to the friend we had in common, nothing more.That was the plan, but the funny thing about plans is they rarely go the way they’re supposed to…SilverNever looking at the past is the key to surviving it…After a lifetime of captivity with a cruel owner who’d purchased me for a bag of drugs and then stolen everything from me, I was finally free. I didn’t care that I didn’t have a penny to my name. I knew how to earn money. It didn’t matter if I was on my knees or bent over whatever was convenient, I just needed to get enough so I could know what it was like to truly be free.And then he appeared. A familiar face among the harsh torrents of rain and cruel asphalt beneath my feet. He was the last thing my exhausted, battered body needed, and yet somehow I knew he wasn’t.The ride was only supposed to get me to the closest bus station so I could start earning some cash, but by the time we’d gotten to his house after he’d purchased my “services” for the entire night, I’d already started to see the man beneath the scars.Scars like mine.One night. That was all it should have been before beginning my life of freedom. So then why did I feel like a captive again after just a few hours with him? A very willing captive whose freedom didn’t seem quite as important as before…Although this is book 14 in the series, it should be read after book #11, Shattered. It can also be read as a standalone.*Trigger Warning can be viewed by opening the sample provided on the product page*

All I ever wanted was to serve and protect my country. It ended up costing me everything...At 49, Vincent St. James has learned to live with the choices he's made, even if he isn't always proud of them. After the military he was practically born into decided his sexuality was more important than his impeccable service record, Vincent lost everything, including the man he'd planned to spend the rest of his life with.And a man with nothing to live for has nothing to lose.With a bone deep hatred of all things government, Vincent found another way to serve his country, but it too came at a steep cost that he never could have foreseen. Dealing in secrets and death means there's always someone waiting around the next corner trying to either take his place or bury their secrets along with his body. Even if he wanted out, it's far too late for that.When he's given the chance to help out a friend who once had his back when others didn't, he jumps at the chance to repay the favor. Even if it means protecting the kind of man he despises most...a power-hungry politician looking to push his own agenda on an unsuspecting public.I made a terrible choice three years ago and it cost me the only person who ever really mattered to me. But maybe there's another way I can make things right...30-year-old Nathan Wilder can't take back the moment he betrayed his twin brother, but he can try to make sure that the legacy of hate that drove him to turn on Brody never has a chance to rear its ugly head again. And if that means going against his powerful father's right-wing political constituency in a down and dirty race for a seat in the U.S. Senate, then so be it. But when the threats that had been limited to harmless emails start taking an uglier turn, culminating in a violent attack that leaves no doubt as to the assailant's intent, Nathan is thrown into the direct path of a mysterious and dangerous man who may end up forcing Nathan to confront truths he just isn't ready to face yet.Protecting him was supposed to be a favor for a friend and nothing more. Once he's safe, I'll let him go. I have to...Protecting Nathan was supposed to be a walk in the park for a guy like Vincent. But nothing about the younger man is what he'd been expecting, especially the long-dead feelings Nathan stirs in him.The feelings that aren't just about protection.Which is a problem, because while the threat against Nathan is temporary, the danger that's become a way of life for Vincent is just waiting for the next thing it can take from him. Caring about someone means painting a target on their back and Vincent is done losing people he loves.But letting Nathan go may not be as easy at seems...especially when Nathan decides to finally stand up and fight for what...and who he truly wants.Can be read as a standalone novel.The Protectors series crosses over with some of my other series, so for the most enjoyment, they should be read in order, but it is not required. You can find the correct reading order at the beginning of each book. I've also bundled all my series in the correct reading order under the title of A Family Chosen: The Protectors and Barrettis.

At nearly forty years old, Cash Malloy has accepted that the lifestyle he and Sage, his partner both in life and on the job, live isn’t normal but is what both men need to escape the darkness of their pasts. But he also knows that Sage’s wounds run much deeper than his own and that there will come a day where what Cash can give Sage isn’t enough anymore. And after meeting the young woman Sage has become enamored with, Cash knows that day is closer than ever. At twenty-one, Daisy Washburne has found a new life working for an underground vigilante group. To the men she works with, she’s Daisy, IT girl extraordinaire, but in the silence of her apartment she’s just awkward, quiet, weird Daisy whose computer is her best friend and whose only link to the outside world are the voices of the men she’s trying really hard not to think of as family. But it’s one voice on the other end of the phone in particular that calls to her like no other and eases just a little bit of the loneliness that has consumed her since losing her mother to a brutal act of violence. In order to survive, Sage Brighton has had to learn how to be two different people. To most of the world, he’s happy-go-lucky, flirty, easy-going Sage. But to the one man who knows him better than anyone else, and yet still doesn’t really know who he is, Sage sees himself as nothing more than a fucked-up mess who takes more than he gives. Life without Cash isn’t even a possibility for Sage, but he can’t deny the pull young Daisy Washburne has had on him from the moment he hears her voice for the first time. Only in the deepest recesses of his mind does Sage allow for a world in which he can have both Cash and Daisy at the same time. Fortunately for Sage, the lines between fantasy and reality are miles apart – almost a thousand miles to be exact, since Daisy doesn’t live anywhere near Cash and Sage’s home in the Ozarks. But when a chance encounter between Daisy, Cash and Sage in a motel just outside Seattle changes everything, the demons from Sage’s past threaten to derail the life he and Cash have built together. When circumstances bring the trio back together, Cash sees an opportunity to give Sage what he needs, even if it costs Cash everything he’s ever wanted. Only, he soon finds that Sage isn’t the only one drawn to the quiet young woman who’s good at being invisible. And he can’t help but wonder if maybe the key to saving Sage isn’t about Sage choosing who can give him a normal life. Because maybe normal isn’t enough. Just like maybe one love isn’t enough… for any of them.

Alternate cover edition of ASIN B010MOJ89W “I’ve done everything wrong, Finn. From day one. It was the only way I knew how to be with you and still be worthy of you. But I see now that I never really was.” --Callan Vengeance. It’s the one thing on ex-cop Rhys Tellar’s mind and he’s spent every day of his two year prison sentence planning how he’ll bring down the former lover and partner who sold him out and cost four people their lives. A six month parole stint working at the CB Bar Ranch in Southwestern Montana should be the easiest thing he’s ever done. But the last thing he expects is to feel something for both the charismatic ranch hand who befriends him and the enigmatic foreman who’s pretending to be something he’s not. A future. That’s what Finn Stewart wants, but to have it he must leave behind the man he wants above all others, his very straight boss and best friend, Callan Bale. As the only openly gay man in a small, homophobic community, Finn has to fight every day to be who he is and walking away is starting to seem like the easier path. Until Rhys Tellar shows up and changes everything. A Lie. Callan Bale’s entire life has been about hiding the man he really is and it’s about to cost him the one person who’s managed to worm his way past the walls he’s spent years putting up. But choosing Finn would mean giving up everything he’s worked for and breaking the promises he’s made. At least losing the younger man to Rhys means Finn can have the life he deserves. Three men. Three choices. One chance at finding home. Note: This book contains M/M/M sexual content and is intended for mature audiences ***This is Book 1 in the series, but can be read as a stand-alone story - no cliffhangers.***

At 19, Beck Barretti is living two lives. To his family, he’s a young man trying to find his way after years of battling a mental illness that nearly cost him everything. But to the rest of the world he’s just another privileged kid with problems. The truth doesn’t even lie somewhere in between because Beck’s entire life is actually about keeping secrets. From the people he loves. From the ones he doesn’t. From himself. Spending a summer in Dare, Montana with family friends isn’t about starting fresh – it’s about escaping the crippling darkness that threatens to consume him. Until one encounter that was supposed to mean nothing ends up changing everything… Quinn Donovan had the life he’d always dreamed of until a brutal act of violence ripped it all away. Even though he’s found a new future working at the CB Bar Ranch in Dare, Montana, he’s not interested in trying to get back what he once had. All he wants is a quiet life that includes a job that’s worth getting up for each morning and hanging out with his best friend, a black and white Paint stallion named Koda. But nothing prepares him for the strange twist of fate that brings not one, but two men into his life… Brody Wilder is done hiding in the closet. As the son of a political scion, he’s spent his entire life hiding the truth about who he is just so he could inherit a legacy he never wanted. But those days are behind him and he’s starting a new life in rural Montana where he’s saving lives as a paramedic and building a successful construction business that would surely horrify his old-money, society-loving family. After years of denying himself, he’s taking advantage of his newfound freedom by indulging in random, meaningless sexual encounters that are about pleasure, not emotion. So no one is more surprised than him when one night in the back room of a sordid gay club leads to something more… Can three men who came together by chance find the hope they need to build a future with each other, or will they end up letting their fears tear them apart? Trigger Warning: This book contains multiple triggers. To review what they are, please take a look at the sample or use the "Look Inside" feature and scroll to right before the table of contents. Reviewing the triggers may cause spoilers. ***This book is part of a series but can be read as a standalone...no cliffhangers. However, there will be additional enjoyment if the series is read in order: Book 1 - Finding Home (M/M/M) Book 2 - Finding Trust (M/M) Book 3 - Finding Peace (M/M) Book 4 - Finding Forgiveness (M/M) Book 5 - Finding Hope (M/M/M) Many of my series cross over one another. One of the MC's from Finding Hope was briefly introduced in books from my other series so if you want to check them out, this is the recommended reading order: 1 - Logan's Need (Escort Series #3) (M/M) 2 - Finding Home (Finding Series, #1) (M/M/M) 3 - Finding Trust (Finding Series, #2) (M/M) 4 - Finding Peace (Finding Series, #3) (M/M) 5 - Finding Forgiveness (Finding Series, #4) (M/M) 6 - Redeeming Rafe (Barretti Security Series #2) (M/M) 7 - Saving Ren (Barretti Security Series #3) (M/M/M) 8 - Freeing Zane (Barretti Security Series #4) (M/M) 9 - Absolution (The Protectors #1) (M/M/M) 10 - Salvation (The Protectors #2) (M/M) 11 - Retribution (The Protectors #3) (M/M) 12 - Forsaken (The Protectors #4) (M/M) 13 - Vengeance (The Prote

LEX Even if I wasn’t losing my sight, I never would have seen him coming… I’ve known my fate for years, but I wasn’t willing to accept it. But as the light in my eyes dims a little more each day, I have no choice but to adapt. Or not. The secluded cabin in the north woods of Maine is supposed to be an escape… a place where I can figure out how to move forward with my life… to find out if I even can. But then he shows up and suddenly I’m facing a new fight… GIDEON He wants to be left alone? Fine by me. But I’m not going to watch him just give up… Wanting to be left alone, that’s something the guy and I have in common. But that’s about it. As far as I’m concerned, he’s just another rich city boy playing at living off the grid for a while. He’s got no idea what it really means to be alone. My job is to take care of the cabin he’s staying in and that’s it. It doesn’t matter that I can’t stop thinking about why he looks so damn broken or wondering why he stirs something inside of me I thought long dead. But try as I might, I can’t stay away from him, just like I can’t watch him give up on himself. He may be losing his sight, but I won’t let him lose himself. I won’t let him become like me… ***Although this book is part of a series, it can be read as a stand-alone***

Con I have everything I’ve ever wanted… so why do I still feel like the kid who came from nothing? Please help him … Three little words that have haunted me for years. Three little words that I know I’ll take to my grave. It was supposed to be just another fight. Another few minutes of using my fists and my so-called natural “gift” for fighting to raise the cash I needed to save my little brother’s life. But it wasn’t just another fight. Yes, I had walked away with the prize money and yes, I had saved my brother, but I’d also destroyed not one, but two lives. I’d left my opponent broken on the ground with his eight-year-old brother begging the onlookers around him for help. Begging me for help. But I’d walked away… Fifteen years later and that little boy is now a bitter, broken young man standing over his brother’s grave; the grave I might as well have put him in. I want nothing more than to help Micah Fox escape the hell his life has become, the life I condemned him to, but he wants nothing to do with me. But I can’t walk away this time. I won’t. Micah I’m so close to escaping my ugly little world that I can practically taste it. No way in hell am I letting the man who put me there try to play hero now. That night was supposed to change my life. It did. Just not in any way I could have ever conceived of. Fifteen years ago, the man known only as Zeus to his fans left my brother a broken man who wanted nothing to do with the world around him. I couldn’t save my brother, but I sure as hell can make sure my niece and nephew have a future… the one their father should have had. Zeus or Con or whatever the hell his name is wants to help me now? Not happening. He might know how to turn on the charm and play to his legions of adoring fans, but he and I both know what kind of monster lurks inside him. Okay, so what if strange things happen in my belly when he touches me? What if I feel a little stronger when he wraps his arms around me and promises me that everything will be okay? It’s not real. It can’t be. Because hate is all I have right now. If I let Con take that from me… Like I said… it can’t be real. I won’t let it be.

Luca I left him behind because I had no choice… That’s what I keep telling myself, but it doesn’t make it any easier to sleep at night… or to drown out the words he kept repeating over and over the day we’d met: I just want to go home. That was eight long years ago and I’d only known him as Billy, a terrified fourteen-year-old I’d had to leave behind to save someone else. But his name wasn’t Billy and he’s no longer a frightened kid lost in a world where he was nothing more than a possession. His name is Remy, and while I didn’t recognize him upon meeting him again, he sure as hell remembers me. It would be easier just to turn my back on him a second time, especially since that’s exactly what he wants, but there’s no way I can let the tormented young man go. At least not without trying to make things right first. The problem is, even if I can make up for leaving Remy behind so long ago, I’m not sure I’ll be able to walk away from him twice. I don’t know what that means, but I do know that it scares the hell out of me. Because needing in my world comes at a heavy price… one that not even I can afford to pay. Remy He gave me hope when I’d had none left, but he forgot about me just like all the others… I fight. That’s what I do. It’s who I am. But when Luca Covello walked into the dark, dirty room my captors were keeping me in so long ago, I’d already decided to do the one thing I hadn’t in the three years since I’d been taken from my home and family. Give up. Then he’d been there, like a bright light in a sea of darkness, and I’d had something new to fight for, to stay alive for… the day Luca came back to get me like he’d promised. Except he never came. And now, eight years later, he’s decided he wants to play the hero and save me. Well, I don’t need saving. Not anymore… not ever. Along with two years of sobriety under my belt, I’ve got a good job, a decent apartment, and I’ve managed to put my past where it belongs… in the past. No one, not even the gorgeous, mysterious businessman, is going to mess things up for me. If he’s come seeking forgiveness, I’m fresh out. And if he’s come seeking something else… well, let’s just say that when I’m done with him, there’s no way he’ll forget me this time around. Trigger Warning: For those who would like to see the trigger warnings associated with this book, please either download the sample or use the "look inside" feature and go to Trigger Warning page for more information.

I didn’t know how to tell him how afraid I’d been that I’d never have this moment with him. This moment where it was just the two of us. This moment where he made me feel whole without even trying. --Eli Abandoned. Abused. Betrayed. Ex-cop Maverick “Mav” James needs only three things. His Harley, an open road and his work in an underground organization that delivers justice when the law can’t. Family? They left him long before he left them. Friends? A liability. A place to call home? Doesn’t exist. Mav’s motto is simple: Get done and get out. Work, sex, doesn’t matter. No emotional connections. Simple. Until he meets him. Alone. Hiding. Broken. At fifteen years old, Eli Galvez had nothing. No family, no friends and only his body as a means to make enough money to survive. But a chance meeting changed all that and eight years later, he’s well on his way to having the life he could once only dream of. He’s been accepted into medical school and he’s finally returned home to Seattle to be closer to the men and women who don’t share his blood, but are the only family he’s ever really known. Only things aren’t what they seem and the secrets Eli has been hiding are about to come to the surface with dangerous consequences. One final chance at a real future. Guys like Eli just aren’t Mav’s type, period. Yet he can’t deny his intense attraction to the younger man who only looks at him with fear in his eyes. Until the day there’s something else in those eyes too. Something that draws Mav in and refuses to let go. Something that makes him want to forget his rules. But Mav’s learned the hard way what happens when you get too close to something. And while he vows to protect Eli after a violent attack leaves the younger man shaken, protection is all he’ll offer. Because anything else would just cost too much. Trigger Warning: This book does contain a possible trigger for some readers. Specifics can be found by utilizing the "Look Inside" feature or downloading a sample and scrolling to the page right before the table of contents. Please note that reading the trigger that is included may cause spoilers. **Full length novel (86k words) ***This is Book 4 in the series, but can be read as a stand-alone story - no cliffhangers.*** Book 1 - Absolution (M/M/M) Book 2 - Salvation (M/M) Book 3 - Retribution (M/M) Book 4 - Forsaken (M/M) Note: This book contains M/M sexual content and is intended for mature audiences

Surrounded by a group of devoted four-footed and two-winged family members, Zak and Killian have built what should have been a dream life in their countryside farmhouse. But a cruel twist of fate and the re-emergence of old demons has frayed the edges of the men’s seven-year relationship until just one wrong move could end up severing their bond for good. Seemingly content to walk on eggshells around one another, things come to a head when ER nurse Zak brings his work home with him… literally. After being forced to leave their posh Southern California lives, homeless stepbrothers Liam and Noah are slowly losing themselves to the streets they can’t seem to escape. When twenty-one-year-old Liam is beaten up while protecting his younger “brother,” the pair find themselves being welcomed into a home where being a stray is considered a good thing. But Liam and nineteen-year-old Noah have learned the hard way that nothing is given for free and there’s no such thing as the kindness of strangers. Survival means only counting on and trusting in each other. Will Zak and Killian’s offer of a no-strings-attached place to heal end up being more than any of the four men bargained for? Especially when feelings between Liam and Noah begin to crawl to the surface and the truth of what Zak and Killian’s relationship has turned into becomes harder to deny? And what happens when lines begin to blur and needs start to change? Will Zak, Killian, Liam, and Noah end up going their separate ways? Or will they learn that love doesn’t always come in twos? *This is a novel about a foursome relationship, not just a story of two separate couples in physical relationships with one another. Thus, there is no “cheating” in this story. This is a standalone novel. Trigger Warning: The trigger warnings in this book may be considered "spoilerish" so they can be found by using the "Look Inside" feature or by downloading the sample and going to the section entitled "Trigger Warning."

"You said you wanted normal, Gabe. Riley is your normal." After nearly ten years of moonlighting as a professional escort, Gabriel Maddox is good at giving women the forbidden pleasures they crave. They don’t need to know that something inside of him dies a little each time he does it or that his desperate need for cash is the only reason he can’t walk away. They just need to know that to get what they want, they have to play by his rules. Riley Sinclair is starting over. She’s left dry, dusty Texas and her ultra conservative, fanatically religious parents and cheating, mean-spirited fiancé behind for a new life in Seattle. But one look at her stunningly gorgeous new neighbor Gabe brings back all the insecurities she’s trying to escape. Gabe can only offer Riley pleasure but when she discovers that his perfect outside hides something terribly broken on the inside, will she risk her heart to give him what he needs?

JulesI wasn’t sure what to expect when I entered the small town of Eden, Wyoming, but I can easily say that being accosted by a few thugs in a dirty alley because I had a modicum of fashion sense hadn’t been high on the list of possibilities. Growing up in Manhattan probably should have prepared me better, but it wasn’t like there was a sign posted outside of Eden warning me to ditch my Mongolian wool wrap and dark nail polish. Sure, I knew I’d get some looks of disgust, but I’d always had a snarky remark at the ready. Unfortunately, snarky only worked when you weren’t having the crap kicked out of you.Enter the kind of hot cowboy I’d been fantasizing about since, well, forever, and within seconds the ignorant bigots were stumbling out of the alley, and I was alone with my gorgeous savior. Only problem was that said savior was under the assumption that he’d been rescuing a damsel in distress.And I was definitely no damsel. A fact that Hot Cowboy didn’t realize until after he’d kissed me.FlynnEden was supposed to be another small town just like all the others. A place to do some temporary work on one of the local ranches before moving on. It wasn’t a life for most people, but it’d been working for me. With the exception of my horse, I liked being alone.A dusty, garbage-filled alley changed all of that. Helping someone who was the victim of a serious beating wasn’t a big deal for me. The victim was a big deal. As soon as I locked eyes with the person I assumed was a woman based on the clothes and nail polish, I was a goner. As confused as I was about my attraction to her since I played for the other team, she kissed like a dream. Only she wasn’t a she at all.The young man in my arms did something to me with that kiss. I was both relieved and disappointed when the guy took off. In the long run, it would be good because the last thing I needed was an intense attraction to someone who clearly didn’t belong in Eden.Enter Black Hills Ranch and a familiar stranger who wasn’t very happy to see me.At all.Jules, a New York city boy, was an enigma but that didn’t matter. I wanted him. Even though we were like night and day, arguing with Jules was just as much fun as kissing him.It was also very dangerous. For him. For me. The last thing I could afford was to fall for a guy who’d never truly be mine. I had to let him go. It was the right thing to do.Then why did it feel so wrong?

After years of running from her brutal past, Casey Wilkes has finally managed to carve out a quiet life running an animal shelter with her best friend in a small Northern Wisconsin town. And even though her menagerie of unwanted animals can’t keep the nightmares at bay she can at least finally breathe again. But everything changes when a mysterious stranger walks into the shelter with news of her sister’s death and a plan to get custody of the niece Casey never knew she had. Multi-millionaire Devlin Prescott made a promise to protect the child of the woman who saved his son’s life and if keeping that promise means dragging Casey back into her past kicking and screaming then so be it. After all, it’s just another business deal. But what he finds is a damaged woman struggling to put the pieces of her life back together and her quiet strength, steely determination and gentle heart have him questioning his methods and his feelings. Can he find a way to keep his promise to a little girl and still prevent Casey from slipping back into a life that may end up destroying her for good?

I’ve spent years hoping someone would finally hear me. It’s easier not to try anymore… Ten years after leaving his small Minnesota hometown in his rearview mirror for what Nolan Grainger was sure would be the last time, life has decided to throw the talented musician a curveball and send him back to the town he lived in but was never really home. At twenty-eight, Nolan has traveled the world as a successful concert violinist with some of the best symphonies in the country. But success breeds envy, and when Nolan’s benefactor and lover decides Nolan has flown high enough, he cruelly clips Nolan’s wings. The betrayal and ensuing scandal leaves the violinist’s career in shambles and with barely enough money to start fresh somewhere beyond his vindictive ex’s powerful reach. But just as he’s ready to get his life back on track, Nolan gets the call he’s been dreading. After a stroke leaves his father a partial invalid, duty-bound Nolan returns to Pelican Bay and a life he’s spent years trying to forget. When he’s forced to use the last of his own money to keep from losing the family home, desperation has him turning to the one man he’d hoped never to see again… Even if I could speak, there wouldn’t be anyone there to listen… Pelican Bay’s golden boy, Dallas Kent, had the quintessential perfect life. Smart, gorgeous, and popular, the baseball phenom was well on his way to a life filled with fame and fortune. But more importantly, he had a one-way ticket out of Pelican Bay and far away from the family who used love as currency and whose high expectations were the law of the land. But a stormy night, sharp highway curve and one bad decision changed everything, leaving Dallas with nothing. Because the accident that took his parents, his future and his crown as the boy who could do no wrong, also stole his voice. Despised for the horrific wreck that ended the lives of two of Pelican Bay’s most respected residents, Dallas has retreated to a secluded stretch of land where he’s found refuge in a menagerie of unwanted animals that don’t care that he once had the world at his feet or that he’ll never speak again. But when the quiet, bookish boy he wasn’t allowed to notice in school suddenly reappears ten years later at Dallas’s wildlife rehab center in desperate need of a job, Dallas is thrust back into a world he’s worked hard to escape. Dallas’s silence was supposed to send Nolan scurrying, but what if Nolan ends up being the one person who finally hears him? Will two men who’ve been fleeing from the past finally come home to Pelican Bay for good or will the silence drive them apart forever?

What happens when a group of tough vigilantes meets up with a big-hearted family with boundary issues?Reese:It's supposed to be an easy job. You know, the kind you get after you've been gone a while and the boss is unsure of how capable you still are? But then there's a mugging, an abduction, two thugs, and a blackmail scheme.And smack-dab in the middle of it is a beautiful lost soul who needs me. The scared, young gamer-geek pushes all my protective buttons and awakens something inside me that's ready to dive right in and inhale the man.But how could I have anything to offer someone like Ben? I'm a mess. Injured, scarred, practically closeted, the recognizable son of a famous man... There's no way I can ask him to give me a shot at forever. Right?Ben:It seems like I've been looking out for myself my entire life. Heck, I was even given away the day I was born. And, yeah, maybe if my adoptive parents had survived, I would have had a nice life. But they didn't. And I don't. Instead, I'm forced to put up with a hateful, scheming foster parent for the sake of sticking around to care for my little sister.Only, when a blackmail plan lands little Georgie in the hands of thugs, it's clear I'm her only hope. At least... until I meet the big, strong bodyguard someone sends to watch over me.Reese is everything I've ever daydreamed about: protective, attentive, affectionate, and dedicated. But he's hiding something, and I don't have the time or energy to figure out what. Because time is running out, and Georgie is the only family I have left.Until the biological brother who never wanted me shows up and turns everything on its head.After having finally accepted it's just Georgie and me, suddenly falling for my protector and being surrounded by Griff and the Marian clan makes me question everything I've ever known about myself and what defines a family.Can a guy with a broken past ever build a family with someone who seems too good to be true?***Reading Order Note***CAN BE READ AS A STAND-ALONE.While the authors recommend reading both the Made Marian series by Lucy Lennox and the Protectors series by Sloane Kennedy, it isn't required in order to understand the story. At the least, you may want to consider Grounding Griffin (Book 4, Made Marian series by Lucy Lennox) and Unexpected (Book 10, The from the Protectors series by Sloane Kennedy) to get a little bit of background. However, this novel, despite being a crossover, has been written in a way that it can be read on its own.

Sawyer Hiding and running, that’s what I’m good at. It’s who I am. It’s who I have to be... For Sawyer Brower, the picture-perfect town of Pelican Bay was just supposed to be another place to take refuge for a few months before moving on. One year later finds the seemingly unflappable wildlife veterinarian settling into what’s supposed to be the quiet life of contentment he’s always wanted. But there’s nothing quiet about the arrival of the gorgeous but very bitter ex-soldier who seems intent on destroying what’s left of his life after losing his legs to an IED. Jett I didn’t just lose my legs in that godforsaken desert, I lost the man I used to be… the man I should’ve been. How the hell am I supposed to come back from that? I can’t. I won’t… While it took years of hard work and determination for Jett Sharpe to prove he deserved a spot in a prestigious military academy followed by an illustrious career in the army, it took just seconds for it to all be over. With nearly all of his brothers-in-arms lost to a roadside bomb and his own future irrevocably changed, Jett’s got little left to live for. So when his best friend shows up in Oklahoma with an ultimatum—go freely with him to Minnesota or by court order— Jett knows he has little choice in the matter. But hell if he’s going to make it easy on any of the men who keep trying to convince him he’s family. Two men running, one from the past, the other from the future… Nothing about Sawyer and Jett makes sense. Not after their disastrous first meeting and most certainly not the white-hot chemistry that keeps pulling them together. Scarred minds and wounded souls are forgotten when desire takes over, but masks have a way of settling back into place for two men who have nothing real to hang on to. Can Sawyer and Jett let the walls that are keeping them safe within themselves fall or will they miss out not only on each other, but the very thing the town of Pelican Bay is offering them? A place to call home.

Landscape architect Devon Rhodes doesn’t know what to think when he overhears a heated conversation in his new next-door neighbor’s back yard, but when he decides to intervene, he definitely isn’t expecting the encounter to change his life forever. Forced to retire from his career as a professional ballet dancer far too soon, Sebastian DeVille has moved to the quiet suburbs of San Francisco to figure things out and maybe get away from his poor decisions for a while. Well, one poor decision. His very married ex. An ugly argument with the man leads to an unlikely meeting with his sexy new neighbor and an unexpected Valentine’s date that neither Sebastian nor Devon will ever forget. But can one night of pretend romance really lead to a lifetime of love? *Although this is part of my Protectors universe, this short story can be read as a standalone. **Please note that this story was previously part of a promotional giveaway so it was intended to be a certain length. Although it is a complete story with an HEA, if you don’t care for short stories, Devon and Sebastian’s tale may not be for you.


One night, one bullet, two lives changed forever.CassA legal technicality might be the reason I’m out of prison after serving only two years of what should have been multiple life sentences, but all I care about now is finding the man who put me behind bars in the first place. JJ Ferguson needs to see firsthand what his lies have turned me into.Two years ago, JJ and I should have been talking about how we’d break it to his older brother that not only was JJ gay but he was also dating me, the guy who’d been his brother’s best friend since childhood.Our lives had changed that night, just not in the way they should have. I saw JJ fall when the bullet tore through his brain, and I begged him to stay with me as his blood stained my shirt and ran down my arms. My own life ended the moment his did.I’d been sitting in jail when my piece-of-crap public defense attorney had told me of JJ’s survival. I’d waited for days, then weeks for JJ to tell the cops the truth about that night, even if was still from his hospital bed. Dreams of being reunited with him and being at his side for every step of his recovery had made the nights easier, but waking up every morning and seeing the iron bars that stood between me and freedom had been a unique form of torture.That was two years ago.JJ hadn’t come for me. No one had. There’d been no alibi or admission that I hadn’t shot him and murdered three innocent people. The coward never showed, not for my farce of a trial, not for the guilty verdicts, not even for the reading of my sentence.It doesn’t matter what got me out of prison. All that matters now is teaching JJ what he taught me so well…The true meaning of suffering.JJCassius “Cass” Ashby is a free man.Apparently, two years behind bars is the going rate for murdering three innocent people and attempting to take the life of an LAPD officer. I’m that officer and Cass, a guy who’d been more a part of my family than his own, is the one who put a bullet through my head and left me to die.Everyone calls me a “medical miracle” because I survived the shooting. If they only knew the things I’m doing with my so-called second chance at life. I spend my days trying to prove to my older brother that I’m back to normal by working for his executive protection company as a bodyguard to the stars.Nights, though, those are all mine, and I never waste them because they’re my only escape from my “God-given” second chance at life.Now Cass is out and he’s coming for me. I can feel it in my bones.I’m looking forward to it. I might have crushed hard on him as a teenager and maybe those feelings had intensified over the years every time the former Marine had come home to visit, but a bullet to the brain makes those feelings go away fast.When Cass finally does come, he’ll be expecting a naive, complacent, terrified man who’ll beg for his life. There will be begging, but I’m not the one who’s going to be doing it. The second Cass and I finally do meet face to face, he’s going to learn that the tables have turned.This time, I’m the one who will be doing the hunting and by the time I’m done with my prey, he’ll wish he was still safely cowering behind bars because all the wealth, power, and influence that comes with the Ashby name won’

My job is to save lives. But what if the one that needs saving is the one I was sent to take? At 33 years old, Phoenix Jones once had a stellar military career ahead of him. But when tragedy struck his family, he walked away from the path he’d chosen to be there for the one who needed him most. Except fate is a bitch and when she once again takes Phoenix’s future in the cruelest of ways, he must find a new path. When a former army buddy introduces him to Ronan Grisham, the leader of an underground vigilante group, Phoenix knows he’s found a new family and nothing and no one is going to take that from him again. So when Ronan asks him to shadow a young man who participated in a brutal crime against Ronan’s husband, Seth, when he was a child and appears to be targeting him again, Phoenix doesn’t even hesitate for a second. Even knowing what he must do if the young man proves to have gone back to his old ways. Because family is everything… I can’t come back from what I did. I’m not sure I even want to… An ugly childhood left Levi Deming with little to do but dream of a day when he’d be free of his tormenters so he could carve out a simple life for himself, preferably somewhere far away from the family who never let him forget he was less than human. But one terrible choice at the tender age of 16 changed everything… Wracked with guilt for the role he played during a home invasion gone horribly wrong, a now 24-year-old Levi is trying to piece together a life where he can maybe do a little bit of good, even knowing it won’t make up for the lives he helped take and it definitely won’t give back the future he stole from the young man whose agonized screams still haunt him night after night. If it were only about him, he’d walk into the nearest police station and happily tell them to lock him up and throw away the key. But it isn’t just about him anymore… I expected to find a hardened criminal. What I found was something else entirely… With Ronan’s orders to terminate young Levi if he so much as even jaywalks, Phoenix expects an easy job with one clear outcome. But when a violent encounter forces Phoenix to interact with Levi, he quickly realizes the case might not be as black and white as he thought. Instead of finding a criminal with no conscience, Phoenix discovers a young man battling impossible odds and near crippling guilt. When his feelings of disgust and anger begin to fade and turn into something else, the would-be hitman is forced to make a terrible decision between the family he needs and the young man more intent on seeking judgement than redemption.

Ex Special Forces soldier Michael “Hawke” Hawkins has spent every day of the last ten years waiting for the moment he would get to watch the life fade from the eyes of the men who brutally murdered his wife, but when he finally gets the break he’s been waiting for, the trail leads him to someone he wasn’t expecting. After nearly two years of running, 24-year-old Tate Travers has become an expert at hiding…until the day a dangerous stranger shows up looking for vengeance and threatens to destroy the fragile life Tate has managed to build for himself and his five-year-old son. Except the life Tate has been struggling to hold on to started unraveling long before Hawke showed up looking for the same men Tate has been running from…his own father and older brother. Retribution – it’s all Hawke has wanted since the day he held his wife’s hand as she took her last breath. And he won’t give that up for anything or anyone…not even the tormented young man trying to give his little boy a better life. Because Tate is the only one who can lead Hawke to the men he’s been searching for. And if it means forcing the young man to confront the past that nearly destroyed him, then so be it. Only the last thing Hawke expects to feel is something besides the hatred that has driven him. And he definitely never expected to feel it for a man. But when it comes down to choosing between the unwanted feelings Tate stirs in him and the revenge he’s finally close enough to taste, will Hawke be able to give up the one thing that has kept him going for a second chance at a future he gave up on ever having?

"I trusted once. I won't make that mistake again..."An ugly childhood and devastating betrayal have left 25-year-old Cain Jensen scarred inside and out. Protecting himself means keeping everyone at arm's length and protecting others means never getting emotionally involved. In the three years since he's joined an underground vigilante group, every life he saves helps ease the guilt of the ones that were lost to him so long ago. So when he's sent to a remote cabin in the Cascade Mountains just north of Seattle to follow up on the disappearance of his boss's co-worker, his only thought is to see that justice is served, no matter what the circumstances.But nothing he's ever experienced has prepared the cold-hearted and very straight Cain for who he finds on that mountain...or the intense need to suddenly offer more than just protection."I've finally managed to break free, but I've never felt more trapped in my entire life..."Ethan Rhodes has been running for six months, but it's never fast enough, it's never far enough. At 30 years old, the talented ER Doctor should be spending his days saving other people's lives, not worrying about his own. But he knows that the four years of physical and emotional abuse he's suffered at the hands of his volatile ex are nothing compared to what will happen when Ethan runs out of places to hide, especially after taking something from the man he once was sure would be the love of his life.A violent episode that has Ethan narrowly escaping death leads to a quiet cabin in the mountains where his battered body will have time to heal before he and the young girl relying on him need to run again. But everything changes with the arrival of a mysterious stranger who threatens to give Ethan something he'd finally accepted was gone forever...hope."I didn't see this coming. I don't think he did either..."To get to the truth, Cain must first get through Ethan's defenses, but watching the other man's walls start to come down forces Cain to face his own past. And as the tremulous connection between the two men grows and gives way to something more, both will need to decide if they're willing to risk giving each other the one thing that has cost them so much in the past...trust.Will two men who've vowed never to let someone close again let down their guard long enough to find each other, or will they let their pasts determine their future?Trigger Warning: This book includes references to physical, emotional and sexual abuse so please proceed with cautionNote: This book contains M/M sexual content and is intended for mature audiences.***This is Book 7 in the series, but can be read as a stand-alone story - no cliffhangers.***The Protectors series crosses over with some of my other series, so for the most enjoyment, they should be read in this order, but it is not required:Book 1 - Absolution (M/M/M)Book 2 - Salvation (M/M)Book 3 - Retribution (M/M)Logan's Need (Escort Series #3) (M/M)Redeeming Rafe (Barretti Security Series #2) (M/M)Saving Ren (Barretti Security Series #3) (M/M/M)Freeing Zane (Barretti Security Series #4) (M/M)Book 4 - Forsaken (M/M)Book 5 - Vengeance (M/M/M)Book 5.5 - A Protectors Family ChristmasBook 6 - Atonement (M/M)Book 7 - Revelation (M/M)

Trauma surgeon Ronan Grisham lost everything the day the man he loved was stolen from him in a brutal attack. Driven by a thirst for vengeance, he turns his hatred into building an underground group that can do what he couldn’t that fateful day…take the lives of the guilty to save the lives of the innocent. But years later, he’s forced to confront the one link to his past that he can’t sever. Seven years after the loss of his parents in a violent home invasion that left him permanently scarred both inside and out, 21-year-old Seth Nichols is trying to put his life back together so he can take over the reins of his father’s global shipping empire. But the last person he expects to come back into his life is the man he drove away with one innocent, stolen kiss. With one brush of his lips, Seth managed to do to Ronan what no other had since the day Ronan watched the light in his fiancé’s eyes go out forever. He made him need again. But Ronan can’t need anyone, least of all his dead fiancé’s younger brother. Because even one touch from Seth could shatter Ronan’s carefully constructed world and Ronan knows there’s no coming back from that a second time. But when a series of escalating attacks against Seth forces Ronan back into his life, Seth knows it’s his last chance to show Ronan he can be the man the broken surgeon needs. Only the Ronan who returns isn’t the Ronan Seth fell in love with so long ago… Can Seth be Ronan’s salvation or will he end up destroying them both?

Coming home should be the easiest thing in the world, but I've never felt more lost... When his stellar military career comes to an abrupt and terrible end, thirty-two-year-old Maddox Kent returns to the town he never planned to step foot into again, hoping to mend the rift he himself caused with the brother he left behind. But coming home means facing some hard truths about himself and his actions. When he has the chance to start making amends by helping his brother with the wildlife sanctuary he runs, Maddox is thrown another curveball when a stranger appears... As long as we keep moving, everything will be okay. That's what I keep telling myself, anyway... For twenty-one-year-old Isaac, Pelican Bay is only supposed to be a stopping point on the trek from San Francisco to New York. With his little brother, Newt, in tow, Isaac is just looking to make things right by returning something of value to a person he wronged. But "getting lost" in the next big city proves to be a problem when the brutal Minnesota winter claims Isaac's car and strands him and Newt at the animal sanctuary. When the owners of the place offer him a job, a desperate Isaac agrees, despite the presence of a man Isaac instinctively knows could be his downfall... It should be so easy to let him go, but I can't. And not just because I want to protect him... Nothing about Isaac makes sense to Maddox. Not his piercings or makeup or flashy clothes. And most certainly not the snarky mouth that doesn't match the vulnerability Maddox sees in the younger man's eyes. But one thing does make sense to the hardened former soldier. Isaac is running from something, and Maddox's gut is telling him not to let Isaac and little Newt go until he can ferret out the truth. But having Isaac around means trying to make sense of something else Maddox isn't expecting... his own body's response to the beautiful younger man. Aside from their explosive chemistry, nothing about the straitlaced soldier and the secretive misfit works. But maybe that's exactly why it does... NOTE: Can be read as a standalone (no cliffhangers) but more enjoyment may be had by reading book 1, Locked in Silence, first.

Three men brought together by circumstance who found something none of them knew they needed...Ren Barretti has finally come home after a year of being held captive by the terrorists who slaughtered his entire Special Forces team. But he can't escape the nightmares that torment him or the guilt that he was the only one to walk away. The life his older brothers have brought him home to doesn't exist for him anymore and to keep them and their loved ones safe from the rage and pain that consume him, Ren needs to disappear.Police Detective Declan Hale has felt an undeniable pull towards the very straight Ren Barretti since the day Ren's brother married Declan's younger sister almost a dozen years earlier. But even though the Ren who has come home isn't the one who left, all of Declan's feelings come rushing back to the surface and he steps in to help the only man he's ever truly wanted. And even though there's no future for them, keeping Ren safe is all that matters and Declan will risk anything to make that happen.Tough as nails former soldier and mercenary Jagger Varos has returned to Seattle after years of running from his past and he's hoping that joining Barretti Security Group will help him finally call the city he left behind home. But within weeks, his new beginning is tested after multiple run-ins with the gruff, infuriating Detective Hale. When he inadvertently discovers that Declan is hiding Ren from the very brothers offering Jagger a new start, Jagger finds himself torn between his newfound loyalty to Vin and Dom Barretti and the need to protect the young man he himself helped rescue from his captors.For Declan and Jagger, it's hate at first sight but they soon realize that they will need each other if they have any hope of saving Ren from himself. And neither of them expects their mutual distrust in one another to grow into something else entirely or that Ren himself will find in both of them what he needs to rebuild his life and come to terms with who he really is.Can the fierce attraction between three men become something more or will the demands of the real world tear them apart?Note: This book contains explicit M/M/M content and is intended for mature audiencesAlthough this book is part of a series, it can be read as a stand-alone. No cliffhangers.Barretti Security SeriesBook 1 - Loving Vin (M/F)Book 2 - Redeeming Rafe (M/M)Book 3 - Saving Ren (M/M/M)The Barretti Security Series is a spin-off of The Escort Series and some of the characters from that series appear in this one so if you want to read the books in order, start with this series:The Escort SeriesBook 1 - Gabriel's Rule (M/F) Gabe & RileyBook 2 - Shane's Fall (M/F) Shane & SavannahBook 3 - Logan's Need (M/M) Logan & Dom

"You know what it's like, don't you? When the pain goes so deep inside that you need to try and find a way to let some of it out? But you don't actually let it out, do you? You become someone else - someone who doesn't hurt, someone who doesn't have to hide." --Savannah Shane Matthews loves women, sex and money and as a professional escort, he gets to have all three whenever he wants. So what if he’s not the same, naive person he was when he started – it’s what he’s good at. But life is catching up with Shane and he’s losing the battle against an addiction that has haunted him for years. He’s managed to keep the truth from his friends and family, but the pressure of pretending to be perfect may just be too much. Savannah Bradshaw needs to get her life back under control before the fear and pain consume her. A brutal assault from someone she trusted has left her fearing sex and men and the dangerous method she uses to cope is stealing her life. She needs Shane to show her how to escape the pain, but as his best friend’s little sister, he’s keeping her at arm’s length. Savannah’s desperate plan to bring them together for one night has Shane agreeing to show her the pleasure her body can experience, but she has to agree to his terms. Giving her what she needs should be easy, as long as he doesn’t do something stupid like fall in love with her… ***This is Book 2 in the series but can be read as a stand-alone story - no cliffhangers. However, more enjoyment can be gained by reading the series in order starting with Book 1, Gabriel's Rule. (Note: Shane's Fall DOES contain spoilers for events first presented in Gabriel's Rule)*** ^^^For a limited time, get Book 1, Gabriel's Rule (Kindle version) for 99 cents.^^^

I failed Caleb once because I was a coward. And he ended up paying the price. Never again... Ten years of war and the loss of nearly his entire family have left thirty-four-year-old former sniper, Jace Christenson, with nothing to come home to. And he prefers it that way. Life consists of his work in an underground vigilante group, the near-constant search for the last remaining link to who he used to be, and a string of meaningless sexual encounters that serve only one purpose... to make it easier to not feel anything anymore. But when Jace gets the call that the young man he saved two years earlier has gone missing, he's forced to deal with the truth he's been trying to deny from the moment he laid eyes on Caleb Cortano. That the young man is so very much more than just the exception to all his rules... You know how if something shatters when it breaks, there's no way to find all the pieces to put it back like it once was? Maybe sometimes it's better not to even try... Nineteen-year-old Caleb Cortano has been barely hanging onto his sanity in the two years since the truth about his father's depravities came to light. A victim of the man's crimes himself, Caleb has only managed to find any semblance of peace when he's in the presence of the man who saved him once before. But when he finally comes to accept that Jace Christenson wants nothing to do with someone who's shattered beyond repair, Caleb finds another way to seek solace from the pain inside. As the fear of being reunited with the father he both fears and misses becomes more and more likely, desperation has Caleb doing something foolish that brings him face to face with the only man he's ever wanted... but who doesn't want him back. Caleb stays with me until we get some answers... just me... When Caleb's life is threatened, Jace refuses to walk away a second time. Even if protecting Caleb means he's risking his own heart, Jace isn't going anywhere. At least not until he can put some of the missing pieces of Caleb's life back together. But will Caleb be able to do the same for the equally broken Jace? Will two shattered men be able to find all the missing pieces to be who they were truly meant to, or is Caleb right? Some things just aren't worth trying to fix... NOTE: While this book has all the elements of my romances including plenty of steamy times, some lighter moments and the ever-important HEA, IT IS A VERY INTENSE READ, so PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION. While I've done my best to find a balance between sensitivity and realism in relation to dealing with the issue of sexual assault against a minor, this book does not gloss over the subject and some readers may find it difficult to read. Trigger Warning: Sexual Assault Against a Minor, Other triggers may be considered "spoilerish" so they can be found by using the "Look Inside" feature or by downloading the sample and going to the section entitled "Trigger Warning." *Can be read as a standalone novel. The Protectors series crosses over with some of my other series, so for the most enjoyment, they should be read in order, but it is not required. You can find the correct reading order at the beginning of each book. I've also bundled all my series in the correct reading order under the title of A Family Chosen: The Protectors and Barrettis.

JacksonEveryone says what a lucky guy I am. I've got a great kid, an amicable relationship with my ex, and a job working cattle on one of the largest ranches in Eden, Wyoming. Only problem is that "everyone" has no clue that I'm living a half-life.Because the other half is a closeted gay man who's got it bad for the young ranch hand he works with day in and day out.But the very straight Travis isn't an option. And even if he were, my sexy co-worker isn't exactly committed to commitment.So it's time for a change and since gay guys aren't exactly falling off trees in Eden, I'm going to need a little help...TravisIt was supposed to be a Friday night like any other. Me and my best friend heading into town to find some female company for a few hours. And even though Jackson usually goes home alone, he's still a great wingman.Unfortunately, between my impatience to get the night started and my bad habit of snooping, I've learned two things about Jackson in the space of five minutes that have left me all kinds of confused.Jackson's gay.And he's placed a classified ad to try and hook up with some guy he can't get his mind off after a brief run-in at a hardware store in the city.Now I can't get my mind off Jackson.Don't get me wrong, I like the ladies, but why can't I stop thinking about my good-looking best friend and the faceless stranger he's ready to start something new with? Jackson doesn't need some random guy right now. Not when he has me...Oh hell. Author's Note: Please note that this story was previously published as part of a charity anthology (Heart2Heart: A Charity Anthology, Volume 3) so it was intended to be a certain length. Although it is a complete story with an HEA, if you don’t care for short stories, Jackson and Travis’s tale may not be for you.

I’m not a fighter. I never was. So how do I make the one man who might just be worth fighting for see that? At twenty-five years old, Ford Cornell should have his whole life ahead of him but instead, the would-be artist is drowning in denial and just trying to get through each day. And the boy who once believed life was about following impossible dreams has finally come to accept that it’s really only about surviving a living nightmare… one of his own making. But the bruises are becoming harder to hide. So is the truth… I refuse to fall for a guy who won’t accept the truth about who he is or what he wants. Not again… They say bad things happen in threes. For Sherriff Camden Wells, it’s more like fours… or fives… or dozens. After an ugly lie destroys his career and the man he’d planned to spend the rest of his life with cuts him to the core with the ultimate betrayal, forty-year-old Cam is counting on his new job as sheriff of the quiet town of Pelican Bay to be the fresh start he needs. What he isn’t counting on is meeting a young man who makes him want to break all his own rules. He wants me to accept something that will cause me to lose everything. I may not have much but it’s something and something is better than nothing… right? Ford’s gotten used to his role as his older brother’s punching bag and being his mother’s never-ending disappointment. They may not be the Cleavers but family is family and Ford’s seen up close and personal what happens when you don’t have anyone in your corner… or when you go against family. And there’s just no way he’s strong enough to survive that… Nothing about us should make sense but maybe that’s why it does… Two men… one living a lie and one knocking down the walls of the closet he was forced to live in for so long. When one white-hot encounter leads to another and then another, Ford and Cam are forced to accept that their need for each other isn’t going away anytime soon. But being together means one will need to go against everything he believes in. So which man will bend and which will break? And what will the truth ultimately reveal? **This book CAN be read as a standalone, but you may want to consider checking out books 1 and 2 in the series to fully enjoy all the secondary characters you'll meet in this story. Book 1 - Locked in Silence Book 2 - Sanctuary Found

Everything was supposed to go back to normal when I was rescued. It hasn't. And I'm starting to think it never will because I don't even know what normal is anymore...It's been two years since Aleks Silva was rescued by his older brother from the dark underworld of sex trafficking and every day since then has been a battle. Leaving the house, interacting with people, even doing something as boring as deciding what clothes to wear or what to eat for breakfast are tasks that most people take for granted. But for Aleks, they're torture. Because freedom and choice are things that once came at a steep price and survival meant submitting to the whims of those who only saw him as a possession and plaything.Until there was one man who saw him as something more...I knew from the moment I saw him that I was going to get him out. But I also knew once I did, I'd need to let him go...He's known as Vaughn and nothing more. His job is to make sure secrets don't get out and the possessions he's been tasked with guarding never escape and tell their story. After eight years in a world where innocent kids are used to feed the darkest of depravities, Vaughn has seen things that would break even the strongest man. But he's played it smart and built up a wall between himself and the darkness that threatens to consume him.It wasn't until he met a young man who had to be a thousand times stronger to survive the life he was forced into as a child that the first crack appeared in his carefully constructed wall.Vaughn's only job was to make sure young Aleks Silva remained the ugly little secret of one of the most powerful men in Chicago. It was one job he was more than happy to fail at, and when he eliminated the threat against Aleks and set him free, he was sure their paths would never cross again.But fate has other plans...Vaughn is the only man from my other life who never had a starring role in my nightmares... but he's been in every one of my dreams. And I don't know why...When Aleks is suddenly abducted after leaving work one quiet spring evening, he's certain he'll never see his brother and family again. But terror quickly turns to relief when a familiar face once again comes to his rescue, along with all the feelings he's always had but never quite understood around the dangerous, older Vaughn. Certain that Vaughn will make everything okay again like he did once before, Aleks knows he doesn't even need to ask Vaughn to take him home. But when he does anyway, nothing he's ever experienced prepares him for Vaughn's answer... or the brutal betrayal that comes along with it.I'm sorry, Aleks, I can't do that.Trigger Warning: Sexual Assault Against a Minor*Can be read as a standalone novel but if you have not read any books in this series, you may want to at least read Book 6, Atonement, first. Atonement is the story of Aleks's brother, Dante, and both brothers appear in each other's books so it is helpful to know their backstories.The Protectors series crosses over with some of my other series, so for the most enjoyment, they should be read in order, but it is not required. You can find the correct reading order at the beginning of each book. I've also bundled all my series in the correct reading order under the title of A Family Chosen: The Protectors and Barrettis.

I finally had the chance at a perfect life when I met the man I was supposed to be with. But he’s gone and chances like that don’t come along twice in one lifetime. Right? Former president Everett Shaw had his whole life laid out for him from the time he was a child and he lived out every expectation to complete and utter perfection… until he met the one man who changed everything. With plans to leave public life behind after finishing his term in office, Everett was looking forward to a quiet life with the man of his dreams at his side. But one brutal act of violence stole that bright future away, leaving Everett struggling just to get through each day. A decade later finds Everett nearing the age of sixty and living a shell of a life. Haunted by his loss, he finds solace in his roses and evenings sitting in front of the television. But when his estranged son is horribly injured while saving the life of another, Everett leaves everything behind in the hopes of mending the broken relationship and helping his son heal in more ways than one. My job is to protect and there are rules that have to be followed. Even if there weren’t, I wouldn’t risk letting anyone close… not again. Special Agent Jonathan Nash’s job is to keep the former president safe, not be his friend. Even if something about the lonely older man draws him in, he’s not about to risk what’s left of his career for anything. And it’s not like a guy like Everett Shaw would really see him anyway. Nor would he want him to, considering the ugly past Nash left behind to pursue his dream. No, he’s better off following protocol and doing his job. Let someone else deal with the broken man. It’s not his problem… it can’t be. I learned a long time ago to live life on my terms and that sometimes you have to take that leap of faith to get what you want. But wanting two men at the same time? That’s new, even for me. At forty-five years old, former Navy SEAL Gage Fortier has experienced success and loss in equal measure, and while his life has taken a direction he never planned, he wouldn’t have it any other way. When Reese, the young man he’s partnered with in the underground vigilante group they both work for, is injured on the job, he sees an opportunity to build on the friendship with the bitter former soldier while giving him a place to recover. But when he discovers that the young man is actually the estranged son of a former U.S. president, Gage realizes he has the chance to give both father and son so much more. There’s only one problem with his plan… how to ignore his growing attraction for the devishly handsome Everett Shaw. And Everett’s perpetual shadow, Agent Nash. Three men on very separate courses. Until something unexpected happens and three become one… *TRIGGER WARNING: This book as a couple of triggers. You can check out what they are by downloading the sample or using the "Look Inside" feature and scrolling to the appropriate page. Note that reading the trigger warnings could cause spoilers. Can be read as a standalone novel. The Protectors series crosses over with some of my other series, so for the most enjoyment, they should be read in order, but it is not required. You can find the correct reading order at the beginning of each book. I've also bundled all my series in the correct reading order under the title of A Family Chosen: The Protectors and Barrettis.

Memphis At thirty-four years old, ex-DEA agent Memphis Wheland has lived, loved and lost…everything. The ultimate betrayal by the man he gave everything to has left Memphis with no family, no career and a bone deep bitterness that refuses to release him from its icy grip. His work with an underground vigilante organization is the only light in his otherwise bleak existence. That and the occasional no-strings hookup with men whose only focus in that moment, and for as long as Memphis wants them, is him and only him. No clingy exes, no unrequited love, no relationship drama. Period. Because Memphis has one rule that he won’t break for anyone or anything. He doesn’t share. Ever. Now if only someone had told that to the young man who would come into his life in the most unexpected way… Brennan With his entire life ahead of him, graduate student Brennan Devereaux wasn’t expecting it to change in the blink of an eye. But when a case of mistaken identity nearly costs Brennan his life, it isn’t just his future that’s about to change, but his past too. Because for years he’s been in love with a young man who only sees him as a friend and nothing more. And while he was content to love Tristan Barretti from afar, he hadn’t expected to be drawn to the mysterious stranger who saved his life and changed it with a simple promise. I’m not letting you go. They were words spoken in the heat of the moment as the darkness of death had threatened to claim him, but even as Brennan’s love for Tristan refuses to wane, his need for the intriguing Memphis Wheland continues to grow. But any relationship with Memphis means he has to let go of the one thing in his life he’s always valued above everything else… Tristan At nineteen, Tristan Barretti should have had the world at his feet. His musical gifts have garnered him prestige as well as admission to the famed Julliard School in New York and he has a family that most people would kill for. But the protective bubble his fathers have kept him in has burst and he’s discovered that life outside his unconditionally loving family isn’t as accepting of a kid born with HIV. A poor decision to find answers to questions better left unasked, along with the complications of living with his disease, have Tristan returning to Seattle and the solace of his family. And to the young man he’s wanted from the time he was barely old enough to even understand what that meant. But with an uncertain future that leaves him nothing to offer the gorgeous and successful Brennan Devereaux, Tristan knows the best he can hope for is to keep building on the friendship they’ve shared for years and not get his hopes up that Brennan will be the one man who sees him and not his disease. Except all bets are off when danger follows him home… Choices Even though a physical relationship with Brennan was supposed to be just that, Memphis finds himself unable to refuse his young lover’s request to help put a stop to the threat against Tristan. Even knowing full well that Brennan’s heart lies with the man he claims is nothing more than a friend, Memphis accepts the challenge of ensuring Tristan’s safety. But when the quiet music student stops being a “job” and starts being something much more, Memphis is torn between his growing feelings for both young men and the fear that he’ll be facing an even greater betrayal that he’ll never be able to come back from. Except none of that matters when the threat that Memphis never saw coming puts Brennan and Tristan in the crosshairs. And the cost of the vengeance he once craved suddenly comes at too high a price…

Nikolai My rules when it comes to my job in personal protection are pretty simple: 1. Protect the client’s life, not their feelings. 2. Don’t put hands on a client unless you’re getting them out of harm’s way. 3. For God’s sake, don’t do something stupid like fall in love. Twenty-four hours after meeting Jude Archer, rules 1 and 2 are already out the window. Thankfully there’s no chance of falling for the callous businessman who cares more about his next deal than he does his own safety. Jude may have managed to make fools of all the guys his wealthy boss and rumored lover has hired to watch him, but he’s playing in the big leagues now. The son of a bitch might not value his life, but I’m pretty fond of mine. Time to teach the clueless Jude Archer a few hard lessons… Jude My rules for success aren’t for everyone, but they should be. 1. Work hard. 2. When you’re on the verge of giving up, work harder. Life owes you nothing. You have to take what you want. 3. For God’s sake, don’t do something stupid like get distracted by feelings. With just weeks between me and the closing of the deal that will give me everything I want, I don’t have time to worry about a supposed stalker who hasn’t had the balls to do anything more than send a few threatening letters to my wealthy boss. Sure, I sent a few so-called bodyguards packing. Even if I thought I was in serious danger, I can’t have someone watching me 24/7. My life works the way it does for a reason and no one, not even the gorgeous Russian ex-soldier who thinks he can scare me into submission, is going to change that. Nikolai Falkov thinks he has something to teach me? Yeah, good luck with that.