Book Title: The Hidden Heart
Author: Patrick Bryce Wright
Publisher: JMS Books
Cover Artist: Written Ink Designs
Release Date: April 26, 2025
Tense/POV: third person, past tense, single POV
Genres: Sweet MM Contemporary Romance
Tropes: Co-worker to boyfriend, silver fox, age gap, May-December, size difference, boss-employee, workplace romance
Themes: Wounded guy finds love, found family
Heat Rating: 1 flame
Length: 20 000 words/ 60 pages
It is a standalone book and does not end on a cliffhanger.
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Ellis Isaacs falls in love with his new boss, silver fox Richard Quillen, but worries Richard will find him inaccessible or cold. Will the older man see Ellis’s true heart and return his feelings?
Blurb:
At the Kissinger-Mann detective agency, the mystery of love is solved just as often as crimes. When detective Ellis Isaacs joins the agency, he falls in love with his silver fox of a boss, Richard Quillen. However, Ellis faces two big problems: He tends to fall for straight men, and even when he doesn’t, Ellis’s ex-boyfriends claim he is inaccessible or even cold. Also, he has no idea how Richard will react to the age gap between them.
As Ellis works hard to spend time with Richard outside of work, problem after problem unfolds. Is Richard straight, or is he already dating a male co-worker? Is the age gap a problem, or is the issue Ellis’s reputation for being cold? Will this older, wiser man see Ellis’s true heart and return his feelings, or will Ellis’s heart remain hidden?
Jonathan stepped through the entranceway between the conference room and the kitchen, shutting the door behind him. Today he wore a black suit with a white shirt and maroon tie.
Ellis blushed at being caught eavesdropping. “Good morning. I wasn’t trying to spy on you, but I did overhear your conversation.” He took a sip of cappuccino.
Jonathan raised his eyebrows with a smile. “It’s all right. If I’d wanted the conversation to be private, I wouldn’t have had it where others can hear. I do have a soundproof office, as does Milt.” He served himself coffee from the pot in the room, leaving it black, and examined Ellis with open curiosity. “I presume you are not averse to having colleagues who are not interested in women, and you were a good sport on Saturday. How it must have bored you, being at a gathering of old men!”
“Not averse at all, considering I’m also not interested in women.” Ellis offered Jonathan a small smile. “And I wasn’t bored.” Did I seem bored rather than cold? I’m not sure bored is any better. “I was distracted by meeting Tyler Quillen.” That’s a half-truth. “Honestly, I was beginning to think you and Richard were dating, but I guess I walked away with the wrong impression.” Ellis knew Jonathan’s response might tell him much. At this point, Jonathan could indicate there was a potential relationship, or he could imply that they were only friends and only likely to ever be friends.
Jonathan looked shocked, his lips parting. “Me? Lord, no.” He laughed. “Ah, the embrace. I wondered why you seemed so taken off your guard.” He shrugged and sipped his coffee. “Richard and I are friends. That is all.” He paused. “Your distraction at meeting Ty is understandable, given you’ve read his work. It’s not every day one meets such a successful novelist, and Richard and Ty are wonderfully down-to-earth, good people.”
With that praise for his friend, Jonathan excused himself from the break room and headed upstairs to his office.
Ellis took another swig of his cappuccino and pondered this information. So they’re only friends. I might have a chance here.He steeled himself and headed across the hallway to Richard’s office. On the strength of the single donut he had eaten on the way there and half a cappuccino, Ellis paused in the doorway and gathered his nerve. It was time to ask the man out for coffee.
Richard was already seated at his desk, wearing a dark gray suit and a maroon bowtie. He read over papers that filled a manila folder. As expected, he was breathtakingly handsome.
Ellis took another sip of cappuccino for courage and then spoke. “Sorry to interrupt you, but I have a question.”
Richard glanced up. “Hmm?” He met Ellis’s gaze and gave him a smile. “Not at all. What is it? I’m always here to help.”
If only you could help in the way that I wish you would. “I’d like to get coffee with you sometime this week. At lunch, maybe? Or tomorrow morning? We could even go after work, if that’s better timing.” Ellis’s heart pounded. He always hated this part: setting himself up for rejection.
“Well, sure,” Richard said. “Be glad to. We could get some coffee tomorrow morning if you’re an early bird like me, or we can have lunch. I know a café not far from here that has great sandwiches and decent coffee.” He looked curious, one eyebrow lifting, although he didn’t ask any questions.
“Lunch is perfect,” Ellis said. “Let’s shoot for noon today.” This was the closest he had ever gotten to asking an older man out on a date. Despite his miserable track record with men in general, he’d managed to go on dates with men his own age. That was how he knew he wasn’t interested in getting serious with any of them. At securing a lunch with Richard, Ellis felt a smile threatening to overtake his face, and his heart still raced. “We can always leave a couple of minutes early or late depending on how our mornings go.”
“True,” Richard said. “All right. As soon as you’re ready for lunch, stop by. I’m just doing paperwork today.” There was a kind twinkle in his eyes.
“Great!” Ellis headed up to the third floor to his office, his dour Monday morning officially turned around. I asked a silver fox out for coffee, and he actually said yes.
I’m a quirky English professor with tattoos, piercings, and an addiction to supernatural thriller, horror, fantasy, and science fiction. I’m proudly neurodivergent, third gender, and a trauma survivor, all things often reflected in my novels. I have degrees in both English and psychology, both of which inform my writing. In my free time, I enjoy hiking, off-road biking, and pyrography.
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