Title: Freedom to Me

Author: Sidney Quinn

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: 06/16/2026

Heat Level: 2 – Fade to Black Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 220

Genre: Contemporary, gay romance, contemporary, blue-collar, bartenders, criminals, interracial, tattoos, slow burn/UST

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Description

London native Felix Brixton, rich and sheltered, leaves his old life behind on a whim to pursue his dream of running a tall ship tour boat. A midlife crisis brings him to the small Southern California town of Carino Bay, where he buys a ship, the Freedom. What Felix doesn’t know is he’s also buying a dark secret and complicated history.

Jay Valdez, tattooed and leather-clad, lays eyes on the sweet, buttoned-up new guy in town and is intrigued. He can’t resist the temptation. But Jay has personal demons which may cost him everything he holds dear.

Carino Bay, a queer haven full of misfits like him, offers Felix a new start in more ways than one. But he uncovers deep-seated crime and corruption closely tied to the man of his dreams.

No matter how intensely their attraction pulls Jay and Felix to each other, the town’s history and their complicated lives threaten to keep them apart.

Freedom to Me
Sidney Quinn © 2026
All Rights Reserved

A well-worn path behind Wreckers Roadhouse led to Jay’s modest earth-tone and brick split-level. The 1970s-era house was in decent shape. If he ever sold the place, buyers would likely tear it down and put up something much more modern and overpriced in its place.

Jay wrestled a skimmer net to scoop leaves and other bits of debris out of the kidney-shaped pool. While he was fighting with a particularly stubborn bit of waterlogged palm frond, Felix appeared on the pathway that ran along the side of the bar. Jay had told him to take the well-worn path and had left the gate open so Felix would know he was in the right place.

Felix wore sunglasses, a Hawaiian shirt patterned with flamingos—also wearing sunglasses—and robin’s-egg-blue swimming trunks.

“Oh my. You don’t have much of a commute, do you?” Felix said cheerfully as he pushed the sunglasses up. A little sweat beaded on his forehead from the short walk over.

Jay, in a tank top with an old version of the bar logo on it and his own dark swimming trunks, tilted his head at Felix. “Mhmm, perfect for stumbling home after a late night or if I decide to join my patrons.”

“And you have shade. Brilliant!” Felix looked up at the mature palm trees that turned Jay’s backyard into a modest little oasis. “Oh! I hate to come empty-handed. But I’m afraid I didn’t have much in the fridge. Olives, some cheese, some cherry tomatoes. And my famous hummus. Well. Not famous. Adequate hummus.”

“I run a restaurant right there. We can practically see the kitchen door from here,” said Jay with a nod back down the path. “We’re taken care of if we get hungry.”

“Ah, I know, but I didn’t want to be a bad guest.” Felix’s smile was genuine and bright, and Jay thought he looked a little excited.

Get that man out of your system for your own good, Jay. So we can do what needs to be done.

Hearing Keir’s voice in his head made Jay’s return smile not as bright as it would have been. “Would you like a daiquiri?” he said. “I have a machine in the house.” He motioned behind him. “We got a new one for the bar ’cause this one isn’t reliable enough. But it works well enough for home use.”

“Ah, I’d love that,” chirped Felix. “I’m absolutely roasting. Thank you for the invitation, by the way. I do have a pool at my building, but it’s either full of children or seniors at almost all times, but especially so right now.”

“Well, this pool is just for you and me.”

Felix blushed a little and smiled again.

Years of bartending experience meant that Jay made quick work of making them up strawberry daiquiris with a generous amount of white rum and a sprig of mint from the out-of-control plant in his window box.

Then the two men sat on the edge of the pool, feet dangling in the cool water.

“Cheers,” said Jay.

“Cheers,” said Felix. He sipped and smacked his lips. “Mmm! You know…” He examined his drink. “Humans are strange creatures. Someone, at some point along the line, looked at snow in the middle of winter and thought, Oh, I’d like some of that, but in summer. With fruit juice.”

“And alcohol,” added Jay, wrinkling his nose.

“Delicious alcohol snow,” said Felix.

Jay chuckled, then set his glass aside to duck his shirt over his head. “I’m roasting. Let’s get in.” He then kicked off the side and sank up to his waist, shivering dramatically as the cool water hit warm skin. “Ah, yeah.”

Felix still sat on the edge, drink held halfway to his lips, looking like his brain had short-circuited.

“You okay?”

“Ah, yeah, yes. Fine, fine,” Felix said nervously.

Jay swore he felt Felix’s eyes sweep across his bare chest. It made him stand up a little straighter, and he gave him a little wink.

Felix turned pink, then fumbled as he undid his own shirt and dropped into the pool. “Refreshing,” he said as he bobbed in the water.

Jay kicked away and dove under, then swam back around to the edge where he grabbed his drink and sipped from it. He watched Felix as he paddled about and tried to grab a unicorn inflatable that slipped from his grip.

“Oh for the love of…”

“Felix…” said Jay. He waited until he turned around. “Come here.”

Felix slowly dogpaddled toward Jay. When his feet hit the bottom, he closed the rest of the distance. “Yeah?”

Get that man out of your system.

Get that man out.

Get that man.

Jay took a moment to admire Felix as the pool water trickled down his chest and over his shoulders. There was nothing particularly remarkable about the shape of his body, but he found it deeply, deeply appealing and sexy. He closed the rest of the space between them, then slid a hand along his cheek.

Felix appeared to be holding his breath as he looked Jay in the eye. Very tentatively, he lifted a hand to touch his shoulder.

Jay moved in and kissed him with the sticky taste of strawberry daiquiri and pool water on both of their lips. He smelled coconut sunblock and sweat on Felix’s skin and the distant echo of some expensive cologne.

Jay lingered in the kiss for quite some time and was surprised when Felix shifted closer and looped a hand around his waist. Despite the heat, they pressed their bodies together and melted into each other.

“Well,” murmured Felix as he came up for air. “This is nice.”

“Mhmm,” Jay intoned. “Want to go upstairs?”

Felix bit his lip, then nodded a bit shyly. “I’d like that.”

Jay led Felix through his cluttered but mostly well-kept living room, past a rather impressive open-plan kitchen, to a staircase up to his bedroom. The air conditioning caused a ripple of gooseflesh across their wet skin.

For most of the way, Felix had his eyes glued to Jay and didn’t seem to be taking in his surroundings.

When they entered the bedroom, Jay pulled Felix in for a kiss again, the contact warming their chilled bodies. He pushed him back against a bed that was only haphazardly made with matching charcoal-gray bedding. Jay didn’t give a damn that their swimming trunks were making wet marks on the mattress and sheets. If he had his way, everything would need a thorough wash before too long anyway.

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Sidney loves genre fiction of all kinds and loves combining those genres with queer romance. Expect plots that excite and propel, intriguing mysteries, unconventional romance, and vivid worlds where the setting itself is a character.

Sidney has lived in many places across Canada but now lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia with two cuddly cats. One of these days, the cats will be compelled to pay rent or at least stop causing so much destruction of property—though that’s probably wishful thinking.

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