A quiet, emotionally charged age gap romance about legacy, longing, and what it means to finally exhale.
I’ve spent my whole life doing what was expected. I gave up football, gave up the only version of myself that ever felt free, and stepped into the Devereaux legacy like it was the only path left. Now I run a company I never wanted and answer to a father who can’t lift a glass anymore but still somehow holds me by the throat.
Thanksgiving at a lakeside house in Twisted Oak Valley wasn’t supposed to mean anything. I only came because my brother, Luca, asked. Because it was one week away from boardrooms and deadlines and the pressure to never slip.
I didn’t expect Aspen Blackwell.
He’s everything I’m not—calm, kind, at ease in his own skin. A man who walked away from a billion-dollar dynasty and still built something real. His name is on every award-season film that matters, but here he’s barefoot on the porch at midnight, watching stars and making me forget how to breathe.
I shouldn’t want him. Not like this.
But the longer I stay in this house, the harder it is to remember who I’m supposed to be.
This short companion novella is set in the Blackthorne U universe, expanding the world of Bitter When He Begs through the eyes of Luca’s older brother, Jaxon.
You don’t need to read Bitter When He Begs to enjoy this quiet, emotional standalone. But if you’ve ever wondered where Luca Devereaux came from, or who taught Sage how to love without fear, this is the story behind the family that shaped them.
Genre: Gay Romance
I’ve spent my whole life doing what was expected. I gave up football, gave up the only version of myself that ever felt free, and stepped into the Devereaux legacy like it was the only path left. Now I run a company I never wanted and answer to a father who can’t lift a glass anymore but still somehow holds me by the throat.
Thanksgiving at a lakeside house in Twisted Oak Valley wasn’t supposed to mean anything. I only came because my brother, Luca, asked. Because it was one week away from boardrooms and deadlines and the pressure to never slip.
I didn’t expect Aspen Blackwell.
He’s everything I’m not—calm, kind, at ease in his own skin. A man who walked away from a billion-dollar dynasty and still built something real. His name is on every award-season film that matters, but here he’s barefoot on the porch at midnight, watching stars and making me forget how to breathe.
I shouldn’t want him. Not like this.
But the longer I stay in this house, the harder it is to remember who I’m supposed to be.
This short companion novella is set in the Blackthorne U universe, expanding the world of Bitter When He Begs through the eyes of Luca’s older brother, Jaxon.
You don’t need to read Bitter When He Begs to enjoy this quiet, emotional standalone. But if you’ve ever wondered where Luca Devereaux came from, or who taught Sage how to love without fear, this is the story behind the family that shaped them.
Genre: Gay Romance