When shy bartender Elliot is approached by a handsome stranger on a park bench at midnight, their unlikely attraction unravels everything they know about themselves, and the crime-ridden city around them. *** Elliot Taylor is running out of places to hide. Trapped between a ruthless father, a dead-end job, and a future that feels just out of reach, he spends his nights on park benches clinging to one goal: get into college and get out for good. What he doesn't plan on is Noah Black. Vice President of the Stray Dogs Motorcycle Club. Infamous. Observant. Relentless. Far too charming for a man with a reputation for violence, and determined to pry into wounds Elliot would rather pretend don't exist. Through chance encounters and sleepless nights, the two can't seem to avoid each other. But Noah's life comes with complications: a motorcycle club under pressure, threats closing in, and loyalties that crumble when tested. As Elliot drifts deeper into Noah's current, he cannot help but realize how dangerously close he's falling -- even as deadly secrets threaten to unravel everything they've fought so hard for. Soon, Elliot must face a choice: keep chasing the life he's always dreamed of, or confront the truths that could shatter everything he knows... including his past, his heart, and the man who refuses to let him go.

Emmanuel, Duke of Thornton, is handsome, wealthy, and most of all, unmarried. Nicknamed the Duke of Camellias by his admirers, he seems to have the world in his hand, but harbors a secret nobody knows. Blair Millais, on the other hand, has lost it all. His sister passed away and the short stories he publishes hardly earn enough for him to live on. When Emmanuel Waterhouse invites him over to be the writer of his very own biography with a superfluous salary, it seems too good to be true. Yet soon Blair realizes how society looks upon gay men in Victorian England, and a betrayal which has made Emmanuel unable to love anymore. So when he learns who exactly the Duke of Camellias is, and the reason behind the sadness in his eyes, can he ignore the impending fate that awaits him? TRIGGER WARNINGS: child abuse, assault, rape