Hidden Impact

Blurb

Reed Parr loves Drew Sanborn with a passion that flares bright and hot and lasting. Drew fulfills every fantasy Reed has ever imagined of the perfect lover, the perfect partner. And Drew loves him right back. So what’s the problem? Reed’s life, for one thing. Reed’s children and Drew’s parents. And their inner vulnerabilities. Age differences and past hurts...

Reed is a gifted architect, and his livelihood hinges on the career he’s built over fifteen years with the Sanborn Architectural Firm—the company owned and run by Drew’s father, a man with whom Reed and his wife had regularly socialized before Reed’s wife’s death. Reed had watched Drew grow up, watched as the young man become fast friends with his own son, Mark, never realizing how their paths would cross in later years. Their lives are so intertwined, that the impact of their relationship on both families could be devastating. Reed simply can’t take the chance on outing his love for Drew without considering the hidden impact on all their lives.

Drew, sixteen years younger than Reed, is openly gay. At some level, he understands Reed’s hesitance on outing their relationship. Yet after two years, he’s ready for their secret affair to transform into a public commitment.

Can a week in the mountains, away from the pressures and expectations surrounding them, help to cement the relationship enough for Reed to publicly admit his love for Drew? Or will everything fall apart, causing the lovers to separate forever, no matter how painful the parting?

Confrontation, revelation, and steamy nights of hot, searing sex could make all the difference in the world...

Excerpt

Drew loved listening to Reed's voice. It made him so hot to hear him relate the story about his first time with a guy. But he also loved listening to him in meetings. The man was an enigma. On the outside he looked so cool and composed. His blue eyes were quiet, reminding Drew of calm, pale winter skies. It was that quiet strength that had Drew hanging on his every word when Drew had first started working with his father's company. He hadn't been certain the job at the architectural firm was the right move, but he'd gone ahead and done it anyway. What did he have to lose? His football career was shot to hell because of the shattered kneecap he'd suffered during that last pivotal game. He already had the schooling and his love life was pretty well blown, Caleb not liking the role of nurse. In the end there'd been no reason for Drew to look back, no other options for him to consider, particularly after the downward spiral he'd taken when Caleb had walked out. But little had he known what the fates had in store for him.

Until he'd walked into Reed's office and everything seemed to fall into place. It wasn't his friend Mark's father he saw standing there. It was the most handsome, exciting man he'd met in a long time. That for his first project his father had teamed him up with Reed was almost a wet-dream come true.

He was attracted to Reed from the very start, but as far as he knew Reed was totally straight and he'd never cross that line. Not unless he was invited. And the invitation better be loud and clear. Too darn much hidden impact if Drew read the signals wrong. With a stranger he might give it a shot, but especially with Reed Parr he had to be careful. Reed was not only his best friend's father, but Drew's father's employee. It was a tightrope of twisty, sensitive and slender wire he tried to navigate. Every day it was harder and harder to deny his attraction to Reed. From that first moment it had been unrequited love.

Until the afternoon they found out the project they'd worked on together so hard had been enthusiastically approved by the client. It was his own first success with the company and he was flying high.

For Reed it had obviously just been another project completed, because he was back at his desk already eyes deep in another commercial design. But Drew hadn't been able to come down to earth yet. He wanted to celebrate and he wanted to celebrate with Reed.

Drew had ended up going to dinner alone. Yet something had drawn him back to the office. After stopping off to buy a bottle of champagne, he went back to the building planning to have his own private party, maybe with a little self-pity thrown in on the side since he had to do the celebrating alone. It was when the elevator doors slid open on the sixteenth floor long past when everyone should have been gone, and he found Reed still hard at work in his office, that a strange sensation began to flood through his veins. Drew had come back here for a reason. He'd felt fate close around him like a tailor-made coat designed especially for him. His heart had drummed in his chest. He realized he still had the bottle of champagne and a couple of plastic glasses. Maybe there was someone he'd be able to celebrate with--who he'd been meant to celebrate with all along.