T.J. Alton is shy and reticent, living alone with a rescue cat after his parents' death a year earlier. He rarely strays from his usual daily routine of work and home and back again.

Then he meets Devon Ryder, an outgoing, colorful, and ruggedly handsome man, with his own long list of emotional baggage. After a month of chatting online, the two men decide to meet in real life, and their first date is at a local Great Escape theme park in upstate New York. 

As they discover more about each other through conversation and food, a connection is made. But will T.J.'s fears of large crowds and intimacy drive him back to isolation, away from the social circle of life, and the idea of starting a new relationship with someone special?



Thomas Grant Bruso graduated from SUNY Plattsburgh in 2004 with a Bachelor's in theatre performance and English writing. He knew at an early age he wanted to be a writer. He has been a voracious reader of genre fiction since he was a kid. His literary inspirations are Dean Koontz, Karin Fossum, Jeffery Deaver, Joyce Carol Oates, and John Connolly. He loves animals, book-reading, writing fiction, and prefers Sudoku to crossword puzzles. He writes book reviews for his hometown newspaper, The Press Republican. He lives in Plattsburgh with his husband, Paul, and their miniature pincher diva, Riley. For more information, visit facebook.com/thomasgrantbruso.