INTRO:Tanner’s life had all been planned for him, and falling in love with his boss was not a part of that plan. Tanner is new to country life, and a stranger to country living. He is not new, however, to love. During his summer in the countryside of upstate New York, Tanner falls in love with the man he has come to work for and learn from. Tanner knows he must leave at the end of the summer and return to medical school, but cannot imagine life now without his boss, Mr. Knight. Tanner must decide for himself if he will follow the predetermined plan for his life, or follow his heart and stay with the man he loves. All Romance ebooks, 1Romance ebooks.
EXCERPT:
As Tanner entered the station, there was only one man waiting. Braden Knight was a tall man who Tanner guessed to be about six feet tall, with dark hair, a slight build, and a very kind face with the bluest eyes he had ever seen. As Braden stood up, Tanner slowly walked toward him. “Hi, Braden Knight,” the nice man said with a kind voice to match his kind face. He reached for Tanner’s hand and Tanner took it in welcome relief. This man seemed genuinely kind, not just as a pretense as he had seen in so many of his fellow students. “Here, let me take your bag,” Braden offered. “Thanks. I’m Tanner, but I’m sure you already know that from the picture I sent.” “I was pretty sure it was you, at least you looked just like the picture you sent.” Braden’s smile lit up his entire face, and immediately put Tanner at ease. “We have about a five mile drive to my clinic, and then about another five miles north of town to the old homestead I call home. It’s been in the family for years.
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They parted at the top of the staircase, and as Braden walked toward his bedroom he turned around to get one last look at Tanner before he retreated into what he knew would not be restful slumber. As Braden turned around for this last look, Tanner was stripping off his shirt on his way to a much needed sleep. Braden stopped and stared. He couldn’t stop himself from staring at this young man’s perfectly sculpted physique. Even the muscles of his back were in perfect form, and as the door closed behind Tanner, Braden found himself staring at the door to the room that had just swallowed his new friend, and he envision the entirety of Tanner’s body naked in the bed at the end of the hall.
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Braden was worried now. He waited for approximately ten minutes before going to Tanner’s bedroom. The door was shut, so he politely tapped on the door. A sniffling Tanner said, “yes, come in”, in a seemingly shaky voice. Braden walked in slowly, and went over to sit on the side of the bed beside Tanner. Tanner kept his eyes closed, even as Braden took one of his hands in both of his own. “Something’s not right, Tanner. Can you tell me what it is? You know you can trust me. Whatever you tell me will go no further.” At these sincere and gentle words, Tanner could feel the warmth of his own tears as they began seeping continuously out from underneath his closed eyes. His voice was shaky as he began to speak. “It’s really stupid, Braden. I don’t why it bothered me. I was so touched by your concern and care for your patients, and even though they were animals, you treated them with the utmost respect.” Braden reached for Tanner’s other hand and simply whispered, “yes.”
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The day dragged on endlessly. Finally, at around 6:00 p.m. the clinic phone rang. Braden was alone, still sitting at his desk finishing the paperwork of the day. His mind was far away, and it didn’t register with him that the phone was ringing until the third ring. He picked it up quickly, and said hello twice. His nerves were frayed, and he couldn’t hide it. At the other end of the line was a very feeble sounding voice which Braden barely recognized as that of Tanner. “Braden, is it okay if I come back?” Dumbfounded by the question and the unbelievable sadness with which it was asked, Braden could barely speak. “Tanner, I have been so worried about you. I’ve been sick with worry not knowing where you were. You absolutely can come back. Baby, I want you with me forever.” His words sounded so sincere that Tanner wanted to believe them. Braden didn’t know what to think or what to say, but felt that he needed to keep talking so that Tanner would not hang up the phone for any reason. “Let me come and get you, Tanner. Just tell me where you are, and I’ll be there as fast as I can.” Tanner couldn’t do this. He couldn’t let Braden see him like this. “How about this, Tanner, get a cab and tell the driver that I will pay him when you get here, please,” Braden said, a little more commandingly. Braden had done so much for him that Tanner hated to do this, but he needed to be somewhere safe. He just wanted to put this entire week out of his mind forever. “Okay,” Tanner heard himself say. “So, you’ll get a cab and tell him exactly how to get here. Do you remember how to get here, Tanner? If you forget, have the taxi driver call me, okay? They all have a phone with them.” Braden had no idea where Tanner was calling from. It certainly wasn’t the cell phone number. “Tanner, I’ll see you soon, then, right?” Tanner was so tired he just wanted to lie down somewhere on the streets of New York and sleep. “I’ll try, I’ll try.”
B.K. Wright
http://www.beautobeau.com
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