by Harper Logan
That is, until the laughter outside interrupted him. He tried to put it out of his mind, and to get back in the zone. He wrote:
That’s an excellent question. The bridge is really a symbol of Valentino’s journey, from small-town detective to why is someone laughing? Why is there anyone outside at all?
“Good grief,” he said, and closed his laptop. Was there a party outside? He realized at once that it was Serge laughing, but he was supposed to be out for his run, wasn’t he? There was nothing funny about exercise, especially when Serge did it.
He went to the window and looked into the yard. What he saw shocked him.
Serge was out there, wearing a soft old flannel shirt, unbuttoned so the entire world could see his chest and abs—vain creature!—and struggling to hold two balls of fur that kept climbing from his arms, trying to escape him.
Cam opened the French doors and joined his boyfriend outside. “What is that?”
“I told them I didn’t need a crate! What was I thinking? I carried them in my arms all the way here!”
Cam reached out and took the tiny white kitten from him, while the orange one clawed its way up to Serge’s shoulder.
“You’re kidding me,” Cam said. The kitten rolled itself upright in Cam’s hands, kneading his sleeve before looking up and telling him few, few. “Serge, care to explain?”
Serge smiled. “I didn’t adopt them, don’t worry! I just asked the shelter if they could visit…maybe for a few days? Writing has been going so well, and my agent is talking to the publisher about a third book, and I just wanted a way to celebrate.” Was he nervous? Serge, asking permission to foster a couple of kittens, and uncertain of the result?
It made Cam’s heart so warm. As energetic as the kittens were, being out here away from the computer and the phone, outside in the sun with his hot boyfriend, was so relaxing, he thought about just taking the day off and hanging out. Then he realized he wasn’t just thinking about it, he was deciding. “I’m packing it in for the day,” he said. “Let’s go play with these poor homeless kittens!”
Serge gave him that gorgeous smile. “Are you sure? You don’t want to answer another hundred emails first? Don’t want to spend six hours at a time on conference calls?”
It was too much. Cam grabbed Serge, kissing his sun-touched lips. “You know you like it when I work all day telling people how important you are.”
Serge’s arms slipped around him. The tiny orange kitten glared. “I only care about being important to you. You know that.”
“I do. I do know that.”
“I thought we might go with them down to the lake.”
“Uh, Serge. You can’t take kittens to the lake. Besides, we don’t have any supplies! We need boxes and treats and those little sticks with the feathers on the end…”
“Fine. Shopping it is. We can grab take-out on the walk back.” One more kiss, and Cam released Serge. The orange kitten had found Serge’s front pocket, and was sitting in it looking out at the world. The white kitten had gone to sleep in the crook of Cam’s elbow. But as they walked around to the front of the house, Cam realized there was a package on the doorstep. “You expecting something?”
“Nope. Present from a crazed fan?”
“We can only hope.” He handed off the kitten and picked up the package. He recognized the return address. “Uh oh.” He ripped it open, revealing a thick, thick hardback book. It was so enormous it was hard to hold. On the cover was a picture of a girl standing in the desert, the ground cracked and dry beneath her feet, a book in her hand. Upon it were emblazoned the words: Madame Xiao’s Bad Review: A Novel by Madeleine Stevens.
“There’s a note,” Cam said. “It’s from the publisher. They want to know if you’d like to review it. ‘This is a scintillating tale of a young woman trying to find her voice through writing. Her quest to speak her truth is interrupted when she receives her first review, a harshly written screed by a jealous critic.’ Um, also, there is an arranged marriage being interrupted by an earthquake.”
“How many pages is it?”
Cam struggled with the book, but managed to flip it to the end. “Two thousand thirty.”
“Huh.”
“Yeah.”
“I mean, I’d love to review another book for Madeleine—”
“It turned out so well last time!”
“But maybe we should give it a little thought first.”
Cam set the book back on the porch, and took the kitten back from Serge. They held hands as they walked downtown, their shoulders brushing, hardly saying a word.
Epilogue
Cam watched Serge squirm uncomfortably under the hot studio lights. He tried to gesture to him to sit still and quit fidgeting, but since Cam was in the shadows backstage, he wasn’t even sure whether Serge could see him. He’d tried to talk Serge into knocking back a drink or two before the interview to calm him down, but got another lecture about empty calories.
The publisher had arranged this interview as publicity for Serge’s new novel. They were on stage at the Beasley Arts Center, with a crowd of excited fans in the audience, leaning forward to catch every bit of news. Cam had been a little shocked at the turn-out. It was one thing to know Serge was back on the bestseller lists; it was another to understand just how many eager fans that implied.
The interviewer, Laura West, was poised and professional. “Visions in Venice was a surprising departure from Pistols in Pisa. Readers expected another intellectual whodunit featuring your womanizing Detective Valentino. But what they got…”
Cam tried to send psychic messages to Serge. She’s prompting you to say something! Smile! Laugh! Stop looking so nervous!
Finally Serge chuckled, and showed a little of that winning smile. “What they got was me coming out of the closet for five hundred pages.”
Laura laughed politely. “For the viewers who have not yet read Visions in Venice, Detective Valentino realizes that he is gay, halfway into the novel. As he phrases it, ‘The greatest mystery of all is uncovering our true identities.’”
“It still amazes me that I could fight so hard against something inside myself. That I could deny an attraction that consumed me. It’s almost like you think, if you pretend hard enough, it’ll go away and you won’t have to worry about it anymore.”
“And what prompted all this?” she asked.
“What brought it into focus for me was a man. A particular man, my boyfriend, Cam.” Serge glanced beyond the camera, and Cam was shocked when he said, “Can he come out here? Cam?”
“Of course he can,” said Laura.
If Serge had looked uncomfortable, Cam felt absolutely petrified. He stepped into the view of the camera, and sat on the couch next to Serge, listening to the audience cheer. The lights were so hot! But Serge’s hand found his, and that was a comfort.
“You’re a beautiful couple,” said Laura. “Cam, what do you think about your boyfriend coming out by way of a bestselling novel?”
“It’s a big I-told-you-so moment,” said Cam. As long as he focused on Serge being right next to him, his nerves could stay calm. “He was so worried what his readers would think, if they knew he was gay. It turns out, they love him. You should see the fan mail. Everyone has been so supportive.”
More happy applause from the audience.
Laura said, “Serge, I understand there is a movie in the works, so you must be even more excited. But what’s next for Detective Valentino? Where does he go from here? And where do you go from here?”
“You know, it’s funny you should mention that,” said Serge. His hand tightened on Cam’s. “I’ve been thinking a lot about the future lately. I don’t have to worry anymore about coming out. I feel so free without that pressure.”
It was strange. Cam thought Serge was going to start talking about the third book; they’d been bouncing ideas back and forth on it. But Serge seemed to be heading in another direction entirely.
“All my life, worry has been my main companion,”
continued Serge. “But now, for the first time, that’s gone. And in its place, I have this beautiful man next to me. A man who isn’t afraid of telling me when I’m wrong, when I’m being pig-headed. I was so mean before. I can’t describe how that worry twisted me inside.”
There was a quaver in Serge’s voice.
Cam squeezed his hand. “It’s okay,” he whispered.
Serge blinked. He turned to Laura. “I have something to say. Is that okay?”
Laura smiled. “It’s an interview! That’s the way this works. You get to talk.”
To Cam’s surprise, Serge stood. He stepped to the edge of the stage, and looked out over the audience. A hush fell over the crowd.
“Cam thinks we’re here to talk about my book. And of course, we are. But it doesn’t make any sense to celebrate Visions in Venice without celebrating the man who made it possible. I’m not exaggerating when I say I owe every bit of success with this book, to Cam. Not just for listening to me gripe about how hard the writing was. Not just for encouraging me over and over again to pour even more honesty into the book. But for being my inspiration.” He glanced back at Cam; his eyes were glistening.
All Cam could do was give him a thumbs-up. He didn’t trust himself to speak right now.
“Cam, you are the inspiration for my work. The inspiration for my entire life. You taught me to be more caring. No, that’s not right. You taught me to be honest about how much I care.” He turned back to the audience. “We live together now! Isn’t that great? We have two cats. We’re the perfect couple. There’s just one thing that’s missing.”
Oh, no. Cam felt himself blushing as he saw Serge reach into his jacket pocket. He had no idea what to think, when Serge came out with a small box.
Serge came back to the couch, but didn’t sit down. Instead, he knelt on one knee.
“I don’t believe it,” Cam whispered, looking over Serge’s shoulder at the crowd of people who sat riveted by this sight.
“It’s true,” Serge whispered back. Then, more loudly, so everyone could hear, “Cam, I want you with me forever.”
Forever. This was the man who had kicked Cam out of his office, not so long ago. Things had changed so much, so wonderfully much.
The box clicked open in Serge’s hand, and inside was an engagement ring, simple but beautiful, a black tungsten band.
Serge said, “I want to hold you, to love you and protect you. I want to learn from you, and grow old with you. Will you marry me?”
The auditorium was absolutely silent. It was as though the crowd were holding its breath. Serge looked at him with those big, gorgeous eyes, until they were all Cam could see.
And somewhere, deep within those eyes, Cam thought he could see a vision of the future. He saw them getting married on the white sand of a long, beautiful beach, under an arbor of brilliant tropical flowers. They would be wearing matching tuxedos, but barefoot with their cuffs rolled up. He could feel the warm sand between his toes. He saw the kiss between them when the priest pronounced them wedded.
It was an amazing vision. He wanted it to come true, right this second.
“I will absolutely marry you,” he said to Serge. As the audience went wild, Serge slipped the ring onto his finger, and then suddenly he found himself lifted, in Serge’s arms. He squeezed Serge as hard as he could, whispering over and over, “I love you, I love you.”
“This is going to be great,” said Serge. “I promise. It’s going to be a storybook wedding. I know this place out in California, this retreat area, deep in the redwood—”
“The beach,” said Cam. “We have to get married on the beach.”
“But the redwoods—” He looked at Cam. “Okay. We’ll talk about it. No. No, we won’t talk about it. We’ll find the most beautiful island, and have our wedding on the beach.”
They laughed, and Cam pressed his face against Serge’s shoulder. “Should we bring the kittens?” he asked. “They could wear tiny tuxedos.”
“Fine, fine, bring the kittens,” said Serge. “I’ll agree to anything. Whatever it takes to make you mine forever.”
“Wow, I’m going to have to come up with some really unreasonable demands to take advantage of that.”
“Go for it,” said Serge. “It’s about time you got to be the one to make unreasonable demands.”
It was the happiest Cam had ever felt, there with the man he loved, on stage in front of hundreds of cheering fans. And he knew that he would feel this happy, forever.
Coming Soon
All of my stories can be read by themselves, but if you’d like to stay in the loop and see which characters are going to be next to get their very own happily ever after, be sure to sign up for my newsletter!
You’ll see more characters you recognize soon, along with lots of new faces, in…
Stray Hearts, coming Oct. 25
Runaway Heart, coming Nov. 8
Real Love, coming Nov. 15
Sweet Deal, coming Nov. 22
Also by Harper Logan
Our Reunion
Driven
Bromantic
Our Reunion
Originally released September 2016
“I just want someone to spend my life with”
Taylor Lyle. Everyone on the planet knows the CEO of BluTech’s name. Taylor is rich, successful and famous—but that means nothing to him. He aches to start a family, but he’s had his heart bashed to pieces once again by a commitment-phobic guy.
“I’ve been pretending so long, I’ve almost forgotten who I am.”
Eli Hail thought he’d missed his chance with his school crush ten years ago. But when fate crashes them together on a sunny beach, Eli can’t deny his feelings for Taylor, or his sexuality any longer.
“I need to take this slow.”
Taylor and Eli rediscover one another as Eli explores his sexuality for the first time, but with their shared history, neither of them can keep their promise to not get attached. When the tabloids out their relationship to the world, the pressure on their bond is only just beginning.
Will Taylor and Eli be able to figure out what they want and fight for it?
Our Reunion is a 50,000-word standalone contemporary gay romance, complete with lots of heat and a happily ever after ending.
Driven
Originally released September 2016
“You’ll know how important something is when you see how much you’re willing to sacrifice for it.”
Ben Barley is working on borrowed time. With an ultimatum—get a promotion by his 36th birthday or find a new job—and a deadline looming over his head, it’s easy to get wrapped up in his own Ivy League world.
That is, until he meets Oscar.
The last thing Oscar Nash needs is to take on a new charity case at his failing mechanic shop. But when a handsome, well-dressed art history lecturer shows up with a vintage car in need of some TLC, Oscar is too intrigued to say no.
Sure he can fix up the car… on one condition. Ben has to agree to a date.
Despite misunderstandings and clashing worlds, the two men hit it off, connecting over their deep love of art. As their connection grows, Oscar shares his greatest yearning: the car mechanic’s dream to become a sculptor and open his own gallery. But will their chemistry be enough to overcome the differences in their two worlds?
More importantly, can Oscar step up with a mechanical miracle while Ben’s career hangs in the balance?
Driven is a 50,000-word standalone contemporary gay romance, complete with lots of heat and a happily ever after ending.
Bromantic
“What do you say? You down for a nice bromantic evening?”
Roommates since starting college, Terry and Robbie are still best buds as they head into senior year. Although Terry’s a frat jock and Robbie’s the geeky captain of the Quidditch team, they even adopt a puppy together. When the power goes out one stormy evening, Terry is secure enough in his heterosexuality to suggest making a “bromantic” night out of it.
“So you want to play make-believe.”
Robbie plays along, even when the one-off joke turns into a weekly “date night.” But as Terry toes the line of what’s acceptable between two bros, Robbie begins to wonder if his growing feelings are really for pretend.
“Just a couple of straight guys dating each other.”
Will Robbie’s infatuation drive a wedge between them, sending them on different paths after they graduate? Or could their enduring friendship become something greater than either has ever dreamed?
Bromantic is a 55,000-word standalone contemporary gay romance, complete with lots of heat and a happily ever after ending.