Colin: My life is pretty quiet, and I prefer it that way. I do my schoolwork, I have what some would call a nerdy hobby and I have my, um…toys. Tutoring pays the bills, and when I’m asked to help the star football player fix his grades, it’s just another job, right? Then I find out he’s a dragon shifter who likes to party rather than study. God, I wonder if the stories about dragon shifter anatomy are true? Not that I’m likely to find out since he’s clearly straight!
Leon: Being on the football team and belonging to the best frat on campus is great. I get to have fun, and women throw themselves at me. Life was looking good until my team captain found out I was failing a class and hired a nerdy little human tutor to keep me focused and get me back on track. But…It turns out the guy is actually kind of cute...and quite a distraction!
All Colin wants is a quiet life studying and building his models. All Leon wants is to have fun and play football. When the nerd and the jock are thrown together, logic dictates they can’t both have what they desire…or can they?
1
Colin
Sweat beaded his forehead as he leaned in closer, careful not to jostle the table too much. Colin narrowed his eyes as he brought the tweezers forward, clutching a tiny piece of plastic, and dabbed a small bit of glue onto one end of the short rod. Setting the tube of glue aside, Colin took a deep breath, steadying his hand before placing the tiny cylinder in its designated place. Giving it an extra bit of pressure, he tweaked the angle until it was sitting exactly where he wanted it to be.
Drawing his hand back, he set the tweezers down on the work surface and looked over the half-built model in front of him. With only the guts of the miniature painted and delicately put together, it looked like a mess of pipes, beams, and partially finished compartments. When it was done, however, it would look like the majestic, if tragic, passenger ship it was meant to represent.
The glue from the recent additions would need time to dry, however, and he wasn’t going to fuss with it while that happened. That was perfectly fine with him, as the other half of the table in his room had the rest of the parts needed for the next step laid out and waiting to be painted. Once the paint dried, he would be able to busy himself with adding another layer to the model.
A knock at the door drew his head up from his handiwork, and he frowned at the display of the electronic clock on his computer desk. Without realizing it, he had burned through an entire afternoon, busying himself with his latest creation.
His roommate’s wry voice came through the door. “Colin? You alive in there?”
Snorting, he carefully moved his chair to the side. “Yes, give me a second.”
Sliding his chair, so it sat snugly under the worktable, he opened the door. Leaning against the doorway, showing off her Amazonian height, Lily stood with an amused smirk on her face.
“And what have you been toiling away at this time? Another extra credit? Porn?” she asked.
Colin sighed. “I don’t know what sort of people you’re used to dealing with, but if they’re spending hours looking at porn, maybe they should find themselves a different hobby.”
Lily snorted. “I mean, I hope you wouldn’t be in here watching porn for four hours straight.”
Four hours sounded about right, though he couldn’t remember registering the passage of time. Even as a boy, Colin’s ability to focus on a single task at the expense of everything else around him had been a story his parents and siblings loved to tell other people. First, it had been books after he’d learned to read, becoming so absorbed in a book he probably wouldn’t have noticed if a bomb went off. Studying had become second nature to him once it was required later on in his school life, and that sort of focus had drawn him to hobbies that allowed him to embrace it.
Lily nodded down the hall toward the kitchen. “Hungry?”
Colin placed a hand over his stomach, and it growled as if in response. “I guess I am.”
“Then come on, I cooked something,” Lily said, turning on her heel to walk back toward the kitchen.
Grinning, Colin closed his door behind him, following after her. “Please tell me it’s one of your legendary meals.”
“Dunno about legendary, but I made Bolognese.”
Colin sighed contentedly. “Then yes, one of your legendary meals.”
On cue, the rich smell of meat and tomato sauce filled his nose as they approached. Lily was usually confused by Colin’s enthusiasm for her food, but considering he was all but useless with a stove, he would happily take a well-cooked meal if it was created by someone else’s hand. He didn’t consider himself very picky, but when it came to food, he would choose Lily’s cooking over his own or even that of their other roommate.
Colin glanced around as he stepped into the cluttered kitchen. “Where’s Sam?”
Lily stopped in front of the pot on the stove, lifting the lid off. “She said something about a tournament.”
Colin took another breath, inhaling the intense cooking smells. “She’s found another game.”
Lily shrugged. “I can never keep up with them all. Last time it was some board game that had a rule book bigger than a textbook, and this time it’s some card game that’s played half online. I don’t know how she manages to keep up with it all or afford it.”
Colin snorted. “Probably because a lot of the people who come into the tutoring center ask for her specifically.”
Lily frowned. “Really? Everyone I’ve ever seen at her games aren’t the kind of people I would expect to be having problems with their studies.”
Colin raised a brow. “Are you trying to say that every geek out there is also a nerd?”
“Is there a difference?”
“Geek’s like their games, shows, and stuff like that. Nerds are like me, obsessed with grades and learning.”
Lily stirred the sauce, shaking her head. “And also happen to be the only ones who actually care about the difference between the two.”
Colin laughed. “But you’ve got a point. The people who ask for her specifically are also the ones you never see on the tutor list for anything else.”
Lily paused. “Let me guess, pretty girl, who really likes geeky things.”
Colin winked. “Now you’re getting it.”
Lily shook her head. “Everyone likes to talk about how the frat boys and jocks are the biggest horndogs on campus, but I think they’re severely underestimating just how horny a nerd can be.”
“Geek.”
“Both work in this case.”
“I am not a horndog.”
Lily looked up from the pot, smirking. “Remember when I did your laundry?”
Colin hesitated. “Yes.”
“Well, let’s just say someone needs to learn to put their toys in a different hiding place if they’re going to have their roommate do their laundry for them.”
Colins’ face burned. “And this is the part where we change the subject as quickly as possible.”
Lily chuckled. “Then go sit your butt down at the counter so I can serve you some food.”
“I am capable of getting my own food,” Colin said even as he obeyed her.
Lily turned to watch him, her eyes glinting as they caught the light from the overhead lamp. Colin knew logically that the flash in her eyes was from the extra layer of tissue all large cat shifters had, but it was always a little disconcerting to see, especially at night.
She grinned. “Something the matter?”
“Just don’t like it when you get all feral looking right before dinner,” Colin grumbled as he pulled out a stool to sit down.
Lily rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to the pot. “Humans.”
“You ever considered the possibility that maybe it’s not just humans?” Colin asked.
“Are you trying to say that I’m just naturally scary?” Lily asked with a chuckle.
“I’m saying that historically, humans spent as much of their time being prey for predators as they did being the hunters. So we have plenty of holdovers from that period that make us as wary. Just as you would expect from prey shifters like squirrels or deer,” Colin pointed out.
Lily shook her head as she spooned out a healthy portion for him. “I’m just fishing for a compliment, and you have to drag out your science degree knowledge on me.”
“Ah, I did it again.”
Lily slid the bowl toward him. “Good old Colin, ruiner of fun.”
Colin grinned, bringing his food closer. “If it makes you feel any better, it’s not just your fun I’m fond of ruining.”
Lily leaned onto the counter. “Didn’t you recently lecture Sam about how it’s unhealthy for a canid to eat a lot of chocolate?”
Colin snorted, twirling spaghetti around his fork. “She was so frustrated with me, and kept trying to get me to understand that she’s a lupine, not a canid.”
“It will never not amuse me, watching that goofy girl somehow still get her feathers ruffled. You’d think with the way she works, she would have gotten rid of that damned stubborn wolf pride,” Lily said with a shake of her head.
Colin was too busy shoving the rich pasta sauce into his mouth to respond. His focus in school had primarily been animals, but that also meant that he ran into a lot of shifter biology and psychology as well, to the point that he’d decided to take a minor in Shifter Biology. The revelation of shifter’s existence to the human population had brought about an entire movement for the acceptance of their shifter cousins. Now they were accepted as a part of the world, and there was always a growing need for those who studied and sought to understand them.
Lily squinted. “I can see you thinking, even while you’re eating, you know that, right?”
Colin swallowed his mouthful of food before chuckling. “Sorry, I can’t help it. If I’m existing, I’m thinking about something.”
“Ever thought about turning it off for a bit?”
“If I did that, I’d probably end up going crazy,” Colin admitted.
“Maybe try getting laid.”
Colin groaned. “Please tell me we’re not about to have a conversation about my love life.”
“I think you’d have to have one before we could talk about it.”
“Ouch.”
Not that she was wrong, but he didn’t appreciate it being said quite so bluntly. Colin didn’t expect anything else from Lily, however. His friend and roommate was the quintessential lion shifter, regal, proud, determined, and lacking any tact whatsoever. Her honesty, both unvarnished and brutal, was one of the things Colin liked about her. There was something attractive about a person who was willing to state the truth, no matter how few friends it won them.
“You could always try to change that,” Lily pointed out.
He rolled his eyes. “I’m doing fine, thank you.”
It wasn’t as though he’d been utterly bereft of attention during his time at college. At twenty-four-years-old, Colin had experienced and enjoyed the freedom of so many people mingling on campus. Sure, he’d recently let his thick black hair get a little long for his taste, and the long nights studying had put dark circles under his blue eyes, but he still considered himself attractive. There were, after all, plenty of people attracted to tall, lanky guys, even if he did have to hide his eyes behind thick glasses. He wasn’t going to win any awards for his fashion choices, but he liked to run, and he ate well, so there had been a few takers over the years.
He’d just stopped taking them after a while.
Lily grinned. “Hey, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner.”
“First of all, it’s weeks away, secondly, what does that have to do with anything?”
“I mean, you can use that to your advantage, can’t you? Here you are, single, cute, and there’s a holiday celebrating couples coming up in a few weeks. Seems like a good time to start trolling around to find yourself a date.”
Colin scrunched his nose up. “So, your advice is for me to start trying to find a date just because of some arbitrary day on the calendar?”
Lily laughed, turning back to the stove. “When you put it like that, it doesn’t sound very romantic at all.”
“Was it supposed to?”
“Yes, the idea of finding someone to spend a romantic holiday with was supposed to sound romantic, Colin.”
“Makes me feel as if you think I’m so desperate for a love life that I’m willing to snatch up anyone who’s single and lonely.”
Lily finished spooning out her own food with a shake of her head. “Trying to get you to be romantic is like squeezing blood from a stone, you know that?”
Not that Colin hadn’t heard it before, though it had been a few years since the last time someone had thrown that particular accusation his way. His first attempt at a real relationship a few years ago had been one hell of an experience, and not one Colin was eager to repeat. At first, he and James had seemed perfectly matched, with both of them in the same field, both somewhat reserved and preferring quiet activities over anything energetic and boisterous.
And what a disaster it had turned out to be.
Lily tilted her head. “Did I hit a nerve?”
“Just reminded me of my disastrous love life,” Colin said with a light laugh.
Lily narrowed her eyes. “You were with James for six months, and it was two years ago. You can’t keep using that as an excuse to hide away from dating.”
Colin frowned. “I’m not hiding from anything.”
If it wasn’t for the fact that he was constantly busy, he could almost see what Lily was talking about. Between his studies and his work in the tutor center, Colin didn’t have a lot of time to spare. That he was content doing his own thing when he did have free time wasn’t something he considered a mark against himself.
He was just busy.
“This from the man more focused on his dinner than looking at me while we talk about this,” Lily pointed out.
Colin was spared having to answer her by the soft buzz of his phone in his pocket. Shooting Lily an apologetic look, he pulled it out to look at the notification on the lock screen. At the sight of Katie’s face, the woman in charge of the tutoring center, he quickly opened up the message.
“Something good?” Lily asked as she twirled her fork around on the plate.
“Looks like Katie has another job for me.”
Lily grunted. “Sounds good, you said you needed some extra money.”
“Tell me about it. Seems like some frat boy needs help,” Colin told her as he looked over the message.
“Which one?”
“Alpha Delta.”
“Don’t sound so excited about it.”
Colin wrinkled his nose. “I’m not going to make any judgments before I get to the job since they’re asking for help. But let’s be honest, most frat boys aren’t really interested in getting better, they just want to be good enough to keep having fun.”
“You’re such an optimist.”
“I like to think of it as realistic.”
“But not so much that you’ll turn the job down.”
Colin snorted, sliding his phone away. “Not a chance.”
Noah Harris is a 28-year-old bisexual man currently single and living in a small apartment in New York.
Being a natural introvert with significant extrovert tendencies he expresses himself through the world of writing MM books, often with a darker, paranormal twist. His books are written from the heart of his deep, sensitive and mysterious, but playful and creative, wild spirit.
Noah is dedicated to giving something back to the universe, sharing generously in his successes and inspiring and motivating others through his writing and in any other way he can. He believes in living a natural, healthy lifestyle and has embraced meditation as a way of clearing the 'noise' in his head and allowing his dark creativity to shine through in his books.
He is determined to reach out to as many readers, who he considers his 'friends', as he can through his unique personal touch and through building like-minded communities online. It is this personal touch, with his readers, that sets him apart from most other authors today.
