Sometimes, I wondered if there was ever a time when I hadn't cared about others' opinions, either the subtle ones that I'd heard through hushed whispers... or the harsher ones I'd fabricated within my own mind. If there was a way to appease the vicious hounding of my own worries as they nipped at my heels, it felt far beyond my reach. I longed for the peace of hearing something unpleasant and allowing it to rush through me without it tearing me apart. --- Bennett Oden had long ago grown accustomed to the numbing coldness of reality. He led a miserable existence at the hands of his father, but starving was all he knew. He understood how to navigate it... and how to survive on having just enough. On being just enough. Then, he crashed into Mason Locke-warmth incarnate. [Book 1 of The Rapture Series. Stand-Alone.)

Emmett Locke gave up on love years ago; that is, if you can give up on something you never really believed in. Sure, he would have gladly accepted a relationship and consistent sex, but it just wasn't that easy. He didn't do bars, clubs, or any of the other things gay men were 'supposed' to do and he sure as hell wasn't going on some stupid app. He'd accepted, rather begrudgingly, that no one was just going to fall into his lap. Finnegan Walker IV had no time for any of the stupid men who wooed, harassed, or eye-fucked him on a seemingly hourly basis. He wasn't dumb, even if people assumed he became Vice-president of his family's company at the ripe old age of 26 because of his name. Being smart meant that he refused to be used for his money, name, looks, or body and the fact was that by the end of his long days he had very little left to give. Why couldn't he meet someone who didn't want to take, take, take? That was alright; there were more important things in life. Friday afternoon, their worlds collided. Literally. Emmett and Finnegan probably never would have met otherwise. They may as well have been from different planets. Luckily for them both, Finn was reckless. Or maybe it really *was* Emmett's fault? This is a two-book series with a middle, his daddy, and a lot of expectations turned on their heads. Angst is pretty low and it ends in a HFN.