The last three guys Phillip dated are dead. Is he next?

When successful businessman Phillip Barone attends a lover’s funeral and discovers he was just the latest of Phillip’s partners to die, Phillip knows he’s in trouble.

He also knows just the man he needs.

Former Marine Barry Malone would love a second chance with Phillip—he just wishes the romance could be rekindled under better circumstances. But Phillip’s stalker is escalating, and if Barry cannot solve the mystery of who wants Phillip dead and why, he might lose him for good. Barry’s determined, but the investigation struggles against the wit of a crafty killer—one who is closer to Phillip than they could have realized.

Luckily Barry is even closer, and he’ll do whatever it takes to protect the man he’s falling in love with all over again.

A little excerpt for your suspenseful enjoyment.

“No. I’m just surprised by who’s here and who isn’t,” he said gently.

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Bethany spoke so ominously that Phillip wondered what he was missing. Something had clearly happened, something he had no idea about. He wondered if he should ask, but felt a little stupid and out of the loop, so he kept quiet.

Donald nodded. “That was sad.” There were other nods at the table, and Phillip tried not to look confused, but he must have failed. “Didn’t you hear?” Donald asked him. “I thought the two of you were close for a while until he transferred.”

Phillip shook his head. “What happened?” His stomach twisted a little.

“Albert Pearlman…?” Bethany asked, and Phillip nodded.

“What happened?” He hoped he kept the color from rising in his cheeks.

“He died. There was a story in the news a few months ago. The official story is that he’d been drinking and his car went off the bluff. It ended up in Lake Michigan. They think the weather might have been a contributing factor, as well. That would have been… January, I guess.”

Phillip paused with his fork halfway to his mouth. He put it down and forced himself not to shake. Then he excused himself and went down the hall to the bathroom, leaning against the tile wall as he googled Albert. The first thing Phillip noticed was the date of his death, and a quick check of his personal calendar told him that it was the day they’d set up to get together. He tried not to drop the phone, his hands were shaking so badly. Albert hadn’t dumped him—he’d driven off a cliff… and Phillip hadn’t had a clue.

He took a deep breath, then locked his phone and put it in his pocket. Then he went to the sink and splashed some water on his face. A wave of grief washed over him—for Albert, for Roger—and for what might have been with both of them. He and Albert had hit things off right away… as in heating up the restaurant and kicking the AC into overdrive. After Phillip realized the chemistry between them, the two of them had eye-fucked each other for an hour. That had led to a second date, and another one after that. Albert traveled for work, and Phillip was busy, so they saw each other at least once a week and talked on the phone in between. But, like all of Phillip’s relationships, Albert had stopped calling and simply disappeared. Now Phillip knew what had happened. And fucking hell, he felt worse for it.

Then there was Roger…. God, now he was starting to think that guys were dying to get away from him. Phillip grabbed a paper towel and blotted his face dry, then tossed the towel in the trash and walked out.

and returned to the table, where the others were talking softly. “You okay, Phillip? You look pale.” Bethany patted his arm.

“I’m okay. Funerals always get to me.” He’d been to far too many of them in his life. He wished he could learn to take them in stride… somehow. “What did I miss?”

“We were just catching up,” Bethany explained as she looked down the table, flashing everyone the evil eye. Phillip knew what that meant: be quiet or lose your balls. Bethany had always been super protective of him. Phillip had forgotten how much he liked her for that.

“I see. It must have been something pretty bad, judging by the stink eye you just gave them.” Phillip wasn’t sure he could take much more of this.

“Well….” She bit her lower lip.

“Oh, for Pete sake,” Donald said. “We were taking about Winston. You remember him. He left in the middle of fall semester, junior year. Great guy, but had some sort of family problems.”

“Yeah. He and I were involved in a business deal in London a few months ago. It didn’t really pan out at the time. But we were going to let a few months go by and see if the fundamentals changed.” They hadn’t, and as far as Phillip was concerned, they weren’t likely to with the way things had been left. Phillip picked up his fork, intending to eat a little more and tune out whatever gossip was going on around him.