Anónimo

I'm a gay preacher with more tattoos than sense and more notches on my bedpost than years in the ministry. You've heard of those romances where the priest is seduced by the worldly outsider? Yeah, this isn't that. I'm also not totally settled on the existence of God. Call me a skeptic, but when you work with abandoned and abused teenagers, you tend to have a few questions for anyone calling themselves divine.

Spoiler alert: This isn't some sad exploration of my tragic past. I have a list of the people who bought and sold me. And they aren't getting a redemption arc.

There’s not much I miss about prison, save for the buttoned-up therapist who doled out subtle commands and generous praise in equal measure. We never spoke of the crackling tension between us, but every time he straightened my posture or called me a good boy, we knew what was going on.

I understand that sleeping with the boss is a bad idea. To be fair, I was already sleeping with my co-worker. And yeah, we all live in the same bunkhouse on a ranch in the middle of the Central Texas Hill Country, but we’re professionals. We can handle it.

So many close calls, drunken flirtations, exchanged glances…and then his unfailing sense of duty would kick in. He has always outranked me and was never going to cross that line. Even though we’re no longer in the service, he insists he’s not good enough for me. And sure, he’s still the boss…of our highly illegal mercenary organization. But that’s not the only thing holding him back. He’s scarred and in pain and believes his physical limitations should deter me. What he doesn’t seem to get is that I would sacrifice a limb for him. Major organs. My entire heart.

Dr. Vail Mifflin has been emotionally knocked out by his father’s murder. He can’t prove a thing, but hitmen from one of the mob families he dug up info about are the suspected culprits. They wanted Vail dead, not his father, who was caught in the crossfire. In a struggle with his grief and ADHD, which is worse with the additional stress, Vail isn’t himself. He leans heavily on Aspen, Fallon, Rowen, and Cillian to keep him safe while he tries to cope.

The charming yet clueless professor: Dr. Vail Mifflin loves the history of organized crime. Teaching and writing about the adventures of mobsters are his life’s work. To Vail, the stories he tells are just that - fun accounts he doesn’t think of as real. When Dr. Mifflin gets too close to the modern-day mob truth while researching a book he’s writing, his life begins to fall apart. The Irish mob killers: Rowen, Cillian, Aspen, and Fallon work for the Killough Company, the Irish mob that controls the Eastern Seaboard of the US.

I’m not a fan of Christmas. I’m happy to stay up in my mountain cabin and let the silly season pass me by. But when a friend asks for a favor, I can’t say no. Now I’m stuck in my cabin during a snowstorm, trapped with the most beautiful man I’ve ever met - who can’t wait to get away. He just might break my heart when he goes.

Arlo Wright’s introduction to his sexuality came when he saw his older brother’s best friend, Jack Cooper, in his sweaty football kit. Unfortunately, he didn’t have long to enjoy the revelation because he promptly knocked himself out on a table. Relations between them have never really moved on from that auspicious beginning. Arlo is still clumsy, and Jack is still as handsome and unobtainable as ever. However, things look like they’re starting to change when Arlo finds himself sharing a room with Jack while on holiday in Amsterdam at Christmas.

Merman Jack is a terrible virgin sacrifice. Mostly because he isn’t virginal. At all. Hopefully the Sea King won’t notice. For Jack, the human world has too many wonderful temptations, and too many alphas to resist. He only has two months left before he has to give himself to the Sea King, and he doesn’t want to spend them in the cold, dark catacombs where the Mermen of Rixton live. It may be forbidden for Jack to go to shore, but when did that ever stop him?