Murder, trauma, and raising children - who said love was easy?
Blurb
Mac and Tony thought the hard part was over. They’re together openly as a couple, sharing a home and building a life with their two kids. It’s what they dreamed of.4 But daughter Anna struggles with the changes, Ben is haunted by old secrets, Mac’s job in Homicide still demands too much of his time, and Tony is caught in the middle. It’ll take everything these men can give to create a viable balance between home and work. Especially when life refuses to give them a break.
(This is a lightly edited rerelease of the 2012 original novel.)
About the Author
I get asked about my name a lot. It's not something exotic, though. “Kaje” is pronounced just like “cage” – it’s an old nickname, and my pronouns are she/her/hers. I’ve been writing far longer than I care to admit (*whispers – forty-five years*), although mostly for my own entertainment. I write M/M romance, often with added mystery, fantasy, historical, SciFi, paranormal… I also have Young Adult short stories (some released under the pen name Kira Harp.)
After decades of writing just for fun, my husband convinced me I really should submit something, somewhere. My first professionally published book, Life Lessons, came out in May 2011. I now have a good-sized backlist in ebooks and print, both free and professionally published, including Amazon bestseller The Rebuilding Year and Rainbow Award Best Mystery-Thriller Tracefinder: Contact. A complete list with links can be found on my website "Books" page at https://kajeharper.com/books/.
Since she broke up with me, I get my needs met any time I want, without putting my heart on the line. Exactly how I like it.
But when she is called overseas and leaves me with our child, my bachelor lifestyle ends faster than you can say, “Daddy, I want a pony.”
I need help.
Problem is, help’s come in the form of an incredibly hot nanny.
My employee.
Who is much younger than me.
And also … a guy.
I watch Scott care for my kid and can’t help feeling like he clicks into place in her life.
When he looks at me, though … I get an entirely different feeling. One that makes me long for things I can’t have.
Like him.
Unmanageable is a contemporary m/m age gap romance about a starry-eyed nanny who wants hot-air balloon rides and singing telegrams and a grumpy single dad who most definitely does not.
Excerpt
I wish I had Murph’s confidence. Before that dustup with Edsel, I was positive he was the one, but now my optimism has left me, never to return.
“What do I do while I’m waiting for ‘the one’? And how do I solve my money issues?” My voice cracks. “I might lose my place.”
“How can I help?” He bites his lip. “Do you need to borrow some money?”
“No.” My tone comes out much more forcefully than I intend. But hell no. “I’m not getting into more debt, especially not to a friend. I just need to put my job search into hyperdrive. I have to get myself a job that pays more than the greeting card gig.”
“Now, that’s a solvable problem.” Murph’s eyes light up, and he claps. “What do you want to do for work? What skills do you have?”
“None.”
He glares at me. “You have to be good at something.”
“Well, I’m very good at arranging romantic dates, but that’s not exactly a salaried position.”
He tilts his head to the side. “You could be a wedding planner!”
I scratch the back of my neck. “Actually, that’s not a bad idea.” My shoulders slump. “But I don’t know how to break into that business. And I need money fast.”
“Who needs money fast? You’re still job hunting?” A body hovers over us, and I look up to see my friend Jeremy Everett. After he and I got a tiny bit sauced one night here at V and V, he adopted me as a member of his booklover gang. Like Murph, Jeremy’s a force of nature, only he’s a bit more reformed fuckboi and a bit less princess. He runs a hand through his halo of dirty-blond hair. “You could sell plasma. Or sperm.”
“Hey,” I say, scooting over in the seat to let him in. “And, um, no.”
“I’m not gonna judge,” Jeremy says, holding up his hands. “You gotta do what you gotta do.”
“Even if I were desperate enough to bring the product of my ham candle to market, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to pass on my genetic material. The recipient might end up in as dire straits as me.”
“Product of your ham candle?” Murph and Jeremy say at the same time.
Shrugging, I hide my smile.
They burst out laughing, and then Murph clucks his tongue. “I’ve had about enough of ‘Bag on Scottybear’ time. No more, okay? We’re problem solving.”
“Fine.” I grimace. “Just no, uh, dissemination of my, um, semen. For profit. I mean, I don’t have a problem with it, but it’s not for me.”
They crack up again, and now we’re getting looks from around the bar. Vino and Veritas is all chatter and good vibes, but there is a point where you can be a little too loud. We might be getting there.
“Do you have to get back to work?” I ask Murph.
He checks his phone. “I have a couple minutes left of my break. And this is more entertaining than that time Jason and Tai lost bets to me and Emmett and had to stand on the street corner across from city hall in Speedos holding signs that said, ‘Love me, love my Nantucket Nad Bucket.’”
Jeremy raises his eyebrows. “I missed that one.”
“You did,” Murph and I say together.
About the Author
Leslie McAdam is a California girl who loves romance and well-defined abs. She lives in a drafty old farmhouse on a small orange tree farm in Southern California with her husband and two children. Leslie's first published book, The Sun and the Moon, won a 2015 Watty, which is the world's largest online writing competition. She's gone on to receive additional literary awards and has been featured in multiple publications, including Cosmopolitan.com. Her books have been Top 100 Bestsellers on both Amazon and Apple Books. Leslie is employed by day but spends her nights writing about the men of your fantasies.
