2004 “Tim, I can’t believe we’re finally back here.” It was all I could say as I waded through the waters. Knee-high, they lapped coolly against my bare thighs, fresh and anchoring me in the stark reality of this moment. It was every bit as sunny and picturesque as the last time we had made the mile-long crossing, several years before. Weaving through the reeds and willows as I finally hit dry land again, I climbed the hu...

To state that news of Katie’s marriage—to say nothing of her pregnancy—spread across town like wildfire would be an understatement of singular enormity. As she and Kieran drove to the large, luxurious house the Petersens called home, the scandalous announcement followed them like a bow wave following the wake of a sailing ship. It took social media by storm, and Katie’s phone was silent for only a few minutes before it be...

When she woke the next morning, he was already getting dressed, and alarm seared through her. Was he leaving? Where was he going? Jason turned, hearing her push the sheets aside, and hurried to reassure her. "I need to get to class," he said, miming opening a book. "Class. Okay? I will be back soon." He pointed at his watch. "At five o'clock tonight. I promise. Understand?" Ayana nodded. She could do nothing other than tr...

Her mesmerizing waves of dark brown hair descended down her Kelly green peacoat. The coat extended to her knees, where it met a pair of brown leather boots. Even on the image captured by a ceiling-mounted camera, the arresting color of her lipstick–a vibrant green–sparkled from her luscious lips like a beacon. The color was a perfect match for her emerald eyes. As usual, Cooper Deering looked absolutely incredible. The mo...

Katie's prediction was right on the money. The next three weeks after the first night she and Kieran shared together were, in a word, magical. The phrase might sound childish, but that's how it seemed to them, especially Kieran. Each day with Katie was a brand- new adventure. She always seemed to have something exciting and fun planned for them to do, and he wondered more than once just how long she'd been planning to sed...

On the way up the mountain last month, I stopped in the little town at the base that had the only gas for a hundred miles. The building dates to the 1890s and serves coffee and sells a few groceries and tourist items. It's the only store in a town of forty people. The gas pump still has the rotating dials, no digital. One side doesn't work. To get the other side to work often requires tapping your heels together and turni...

Jason Welles stared at his phone, his thumb hovering over the 'Skip Ad' button, but something made him pause. The commercial playing on YouTube was for Big-E-Mart, the behemoth of shopping. But this wasn't the usual spiel about bulk discounts or the latest tech gadgets. It was a smiling, fresh-faced young woman dressed in a white wedding gown, holding a bouquet of roses. The background was a pastel dreamscape, and the wor...

Chapter 5 I woke up early and felt Sandy’s warm body pressed against me. I smiled and turned to face her. She looked so peaceful, her soft features relaxed in sleep. I leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips. Her eyes fluttered open. "Morning," she murmured, smiling at me. I kissed her again, deeper this time, as my desire stirred. Her arms wrapped around my neck as she returned my passion. We made out for a while, ou...

Kieran was, in fact, more than ready for round two. No sooner had the words left Katie’s mouth than his cock once again became ramrod-straight. Katie stroked it lightly, tickling and enticing him, before placing her hands on his naked chest and gently pushed him away. Surprise and even a little bit of hurt registered on Kieran’s face, and he opened his mouth to ask why, or perhaps ask if he’d done something to piss her of...

Jim pulled into the campground around noon on a warm, sunny fall Sunday. Cool, crisp nights had started color changes turning the desert landscape into a vivid array of golds and reds. It was his favorite time to be here for nature photography. The campground at the base of the mountain range was at 3200 ft. and the peak was 10,000 ft. The elevation and weather changes provided varied photo opportunities. He spent at leas...

The room was dark, the kind of darkness that swallowed sound and left only the faint hum of silence. Claire lay in bed, her breath shallow, her body still save for the gentle rise and fall of her chest. She had been asleep—or at least, she thought she had, her mind had been circling over and over again about issues at work, making sleep difficult—when the sound of soft footsteps stirring reached her ears. Her eyelids flut...

When Amy walked into the room, everything changed, just like every other time in the last year. You'd think I'd be used to it by now, but each time is fresh, new, a surprise. Light seems brighter, lines seem sharper, everything is more clear. There is a very subtle vibration in the air, an expectation of something magical about to occur. The first time she walked into my office I sensed it, but it was covered over by a th...

Kieran’s first thought when he saw the Grand Floridian Hotel was that it didn’t look like a hotel at all. In fact, with its vaulted red roof and conical spires, it reminded him much more of a castle, or perhaps some sort of old-timey mansion. Everything about it, from its soaring towers to its huge bay windows to the literal red carpet laid outside its front entrance, screamed of elegance and luxury. Kieran couldn’t help...

Chapter 1 The summer after my sixteenth birthday started off like any other. Grandpa Jean, as always, was up at the crack of dawn, puttering around his hardware store in town. Me? I liked to sleep in, especially on the weekends. But when I finally dragged myself out of bed that Saturday morning, I found a note on the kitchen table from Sandy, my aunt. "Dean, I'm at the gym. Back in an hour. There's coffee." I grunted in a...