Men of Fairlake

Coming back home with my tail between my legs after a bitter divorce and a failed business venture isn’t exactly the life I’d envisioned for myself. At least there’s Bennett. Strong and steady as always, even if there is a simmering anger in him that wasn’t there when we were boys.

Isaiah Bently is everything I’m not. Rich and charismatic, with a smoking-hot body earned through years of hauling people out of burning buildings, he’s the kind of guy everyone either wants to be or wants to be with.

As a boy, I loved him like a brother. As a man, my feelings are far from brotherly. Despite the years apart, everything in me aches to hold him, touch him, taste him. Is it possible he feels the same? Right now, he’s hurting, and I swore I’d help. He needs me, but as I watch over him, I feel so helpless. Drugs have stolen so much of his life, and as they work their way out of his system, I vow never to let anyone or anything hurt him again.

After Troy died, I didn’t want to love again. I didn’t think I could. Then, Ethan explodes into my life like a firework on the Fourth of July, bringing light, laughter, and more than a bit of mischief. Dammit! I knew he was going to be trouble. I just didn’t expect my heart to be in danger.

He left me broken. He walked out of my life 10 years ago with no explanation, and I fell apart. Ian, the only man I’ve ever loved just walked back into my life...with his sassy, 11-year-old daughter, Ayla, who’s deaf. Yes, I can do the math.

Every scar tells a story. He stepped into my story, bringing his own, offering a taste of healing I never knew I craved. Secrets hurt, but comfort might be just a kiss away. I went through hell. If it hadn’t been for my brother doing…what he did, I wouldn’t have survived. He nearly didn’t. We were children, and the records are sealed, but if the truth ever gets out, I don’t think we’ll survive again. So I keep my secrets.

My scars are both visible and hidden. I’m lonely, but I do okay…I think. I’m still a bit of a disaster, but I have a job and a roof over my head, and the medication keeps my demons at bay. What I don’t need is a babysitter, but try telling my overprotective brother that. When I first saw Luke, I couldn’t stop staring—his beauty and strength captivated me. As I get to know him, I realize he’s the calm to my chaos—the light to my darkness. Of course, he’s straight, so I can’t have him.