by
Theater professor Byron didn’t expect to meet a Broadway legend, much less to be saved from a fall off a curb, while his date walked on with a group of friends. By the time Byron and Cole were properly introduced, JoJo was halfway down the block with his gang, heading to another club. Byron sent a text and went to dinner with Cole instead. The next morning, it was clear that something needed to change.
Cole was fascinated by his new man’s not-quite-previous relationship, and not at all averse to meeting the much-younger actor. Cole was new to LA, but he had a lot of connections in the industry; if JoJo needed a hand, why not offer one? Especially when it became clear that Byron wasn’t ready to pull the plug completely.
Byron’s mild case of breakup guilt got serious when he and Cole learned exactly how JoJo was getting by. Between the two of them, they could make up for some of the ways Byron had failed the younger man. And along the way, they discovered that JoJo was just what the two of them needed. The only question was, did he need them the same way?
- 1 To Be Read list
Publisher: JMS Books, LLC
Genres:
Pairings: M-M-M
Heat Level: 3
Romantic Content: 4
Ending: Click here to reveal
Character Identities: Gay
Protagonist 1 Age: 46-65
Protagonist 2 Age: 46-65
Protagonist 3 Age: 26-35
Tropes: Age Difference, Menage
Word Count: 34,100
Setting: Los Angeles
Languages Available: English
This was not one of the LA streets with big, impressive, gated homes. It was mostly mid-century houses, interspersed with duplexes. Within sight of our bungalows, without looking at me, Byron said, “You want to come in for coffee or something? I mean, since you live right next door.”
“I’d love coffee,” I said, throwing the ragged shreds of my paper-thin caution to the wind. “And anything else you’re in the mood for.”
He stopped walking. I stopped too. We stared at each other in the flattering diagonal light from someone’s porch. “Is Black your real last name?”
READ MOREIf you can tell me why that didn’t sound like a complete non sequitur, let me know. “Black is in fact my real last name. My real first name is Nicholas. But there was already a Nick Black in the union, so I started going by Cole in homage to Cole Porter. Since I had black hair, when I had hair, everybody assumed the whole thing was a punny stage name, and it was memorable, which was advantageous.”
He nodded. “I can see how it would be.” Then he kissed me.
“Jesus Christ,” I said about ten minutes later, from my position up against a tree. “Maybe we skip the coffee.”
He laughed against my mouth, rocking his hips, rubbing his erection against mine to delicious effect. “I usually need a little chemical assistance this time of day.”
“Uh, not noticeably so, pal.”
“Come on.”
“Yeah, any second now, if you keep doing that.” He kissed me again, open-mouthed, deep and a little toothy. I made a hungry sound, briefly chasing his mouth when he stood away. Licked my lips, enjoying the burn from late-in-the-day stubble. Put up absolutely zero resistance when he let the hand planted on the tree slide over my shoulder and down my arm to my wrist, closing his fingers around it for a very hot second before linking them with mine. God, that was sexy. Then he tugged, ever so lightly. I fell into step beside him.
My house was dark, because I kept forgetting it was now my responsibility to turn on a light before I went out. Byron’s house had a porch light, and some of those stake lights outlining the paver path from sidewalk to porch, and a lamp on behind the drapery over the big picture window. Drapery that shivered as two triangular ears appeared above the windowsill. “Is that a cat?”
“My dog Katzenjammer,” he said. “Half Pomeranian, half Schipperke. I could have called her Pom Pom or Skipper, either would have been very descriptive, but within two hours it was clear that this tiny evil genius floof needed a warning label.”
“Tiny evil genius floof,” I said yearningly, already seduced. I’ve always liked dogs and never had one of my own, so I was a sucker for other people’s pets. “I can’t wait to meet her. Does she try to run out the door when you open it?”
“No, though she will try to swarm up your leg and kiss you half to death, then hypnotize you into locating and delivering treats.”
I laughed. “Does she need to be walked or whatever? Because I was hoping we could continue that conversation we were having up against the tree.”
Byron was unlocking his front door. “She takes herself out to the backyard through her doggie door. Once she’s satisfied that I’m in for the night, she’ll settle down.”
I followed him through the door. We were duly swarmed (and, in my case, inspected) by an adorable pitch-black floof. Within ten minutes, we were up the stairs, out of our clothes, and getting much better acquainted on Byron’s king-size bed.
COLLAPSEThe Review
Byron Hartley is a fifty-six-year-old professor at UCLA. He is out with his much younger sometime lover, JoJo. Their relationship is based on spending some time together with JoJo’s young friends. One night Byron trips and falls into the street, with a car coming right at him – until a hand pulls him to safety.
Cole Black is sixty-four, a Broadway choreographer who Byron recognizes immediately, since he teaches drama. Cole has recently moved to LA and is working on a show, but when Byron asks him to join him for dinner, he doesn’t hesitate to say yes.
After dinner, the two men find themselves walking in the same direction, and discover they are next door neighbors. It doesn’t take more than an offer of coffee for them to end up in bed together, both realizing that they want to see each other more.
When the discussion turns to talk about JoJo – and Byron’s relationship with him – Cole has no problem with it, but they try to come up with an easy way to end it. Byron has helped JoJo with his career as an actor, and Cole wants to meet him because he is in a position to help him even more.
Byron and Cole decide to keep their relationship as boyfriends, and they invite JoJo over to meet Cole and offer him help. That’s when they learn about the troubles JoJo is going through. He lives in his car, his adoptive father threw him out when he was eighteen because he was gay and finding a place to sleep is why JoJo surrounds himself with the young men he meets. Unfortunately, many times his payment for the favors is sexual, and he’s come to expect that.
Byron’s guilt over not realizing what JoJo was going through, and the realization that that the times he spent at Byron’s home ensured that he had a place to sleep, make him anxious to help. He wants to make up for the year they were together that he was ignorant of JoJo’s situation.
He offers Jojo the opportunity to live with Cole, since he has a big apartment paid for by the production company he is presently working for. Cole spends many nights at Byron’s, since sex is not something he or Byron want from JoJo for their help.
I don’t want to go into anything else about the three men for fear of giving away spoilers, but I will say that this is a beautiful story full of surprises about two older men and one younger one just trying to find happiness.
Four stars.
