Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Of Autumn Leaves and New Beginnings
    Of Autumn Leaves and New Beginnings
    Of Autumn Leaves and New Beginnings
    Ebook77 pages57 minutes

    Of Autumn Leaves and New Beginnings

    By Nell Iris

    3.5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    At 47, Oren Walker isn’t looking for love. When he knocks on Pete Higgins’ door, all he wants is to thank him for helping his mom after she broke her femur. He never expected that one look at the man would make his knees weak and heart flutter.

    Pete is happy, albeit a bit lonely, after divorcing his wife of twenty years and isn’t looking to replace her. But when Oren shows up, all grateful and handsome and in that fancy suit, the longing for the deep connection of a relationship flares up inside him.

    As the leaves turn yellow, Oren and Pete spend a lot of time in honest conversations. Their attraction grows. Will the two men recognize the promise of new beginnings, and take the chance to find the happiness they both deserve?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJMS Books LLC
    Release dateSep 21, 2019
    ISBN9781646560325
    Of Autumn Leaves and New Beginnings
    Author

    Nell Iris

    Nell is a forty-something bisexual Swedish woman, married to the love of her life, and a proud mama of a grown daughter. She left the Scandinavian cold and darkness for warmer and sunnier Malaysia a few years ago, and now spends her days writing, surfing the Internet, enjoying the heat, and eating good food. One day she decided to chase her lifelong dream of being a writer, sat down in front of her laptop, and wrote a story about two men falling in love. Nell writes gay romance, prefers sweet over angst, and wants to write diverse and different characters.

    Read more from Nell Iris

    Related to Of Autumn Leaves and New Beginnings

    Related ebooks

    Contemporary Romance For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      With Open Arms

      Aug 12, 2021

      With Open Arms
      7 min read

    • Article

      Dustin Lance Black.

      Jun 4, 2019

      Dustin Lance Black.
      8 min read

    • Article

      Re-Imagining Masculinity

      Jun 10, 2019

      Re-Imagining Masculinity
      4 min read

    • Article

      With this RING

      Aug 8, 2023

      With this RING
      6 min read

    • Article

      With this RING

      Jul 21, 2021

      With this RING
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Perfect Match

      Apr 5, 2021

      It’s my sister’s fault that I’m standing outside a hair salon on the Saturday of my anniversary, too scared to go in. I’m not sure I was this nervous on my actual wedding day. Androulla had been bugging me for months that my look needed “updating” an

      7 min read

    • Article

      Festival

      Sep 15, 2018

      My husband, who loved festivals, who was a great fan of festivals, wanted to get to the square in time for the first band at eleven o’clock. From bed, the dog and I watched him dress. He tried on various T-shirts, declaring some of them too tight and

      13 min read

    • Article

      Identity Crisis

      Feb 2, 2019

      Identity Crisis
      8 min read

    • Article

      Soul On Sale

      Aug 10, 2022

      I was waiting for the call at the telephone booth. I’d been waiting for fourteen or seventeen minutes and finally, I decided to leave. It was pointless. I only had a 20-dollar bill on me and no coins for the slot. Hard rain was coming, some type of s

      9 min read

    • Article

      Mr Tinsel

      Nov 9, 2022

      Mr Tinsel
      6 min read

    • Article

      Righteous

      Jan 22, 2019

      Righteous
      8 min read

    • Article

      Gabriel & Holly

      Feb 8, 2021

      The first day was the most daunting. It helped that she’d arrived last night to settle herself in the cottage annexe before first contact this morning. Still, nerves attacked her as she stood before the door of the imposing but charming ivy-covered 1

      6 min read

    • Article

      Metaphors

      Mar 10, 2023

      I’m knitting on my front porch when a car roars to a stop in front of my house. It’s a red Mustang convertible, top down on this warm Thursday afternoon in June. Two girls sit in the front, two in the back. They smile and wave at me. I smile back tho

      8 min read

    • Article

      The Leather Coat

      Apr 4, 2024

      The Leather Coat
      6 min read

    • Article

      Let Me Do It

      Jun 1, 2023

      Let Me Do It
      6 min read

    • Article

      Right date, RIGHT NOW

      Feb 15, 2023

      Right date, RIGHT NOW
      6 min read

    • Article

      Longer on Moon

      Sep 22, 2022

      Longer on Moon
      19 min read

    • Article

      The Details Will Be Ours

      Jan 31, 2018

      The Details Will Be Ours
      21 min read

    • Article

      Soggy CHIPS

      Oct 19, 2022

      Soggy CHIPS
      7 min read

    • Article

      Blackberries

      Apr 5, 2023

      Blackberries
      24 min read

    • Article

      Does Flirting Really Get You Ahead?

      Feb 28, 2023

      Despite being single, I’ve never been very big on flirting. In all honesty, I’ve never been that good at it. But after a recent study published in the journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes revealed that it is actually men who u

      4 min read

    • Article

      We Don't Talk About That Here

      Nov 4, 2021

      We Don't Talk About That Here
      4 min read

    • Article

      Family Matters

      May 15, 2020

      Family Matters
      5 min read

    • Article

      Counter Waves

      Oct 23, 2020

      Counter Waves
      8 min read

    • Article

      Freedom Found

      Jul 8, 2020

      I had been working for a university for nine years. I had a manageable mortgage on my shoulders and plenty of good friends, and I came from a tight Italian-Australian family where your “business” is always going to be their “business”. Caring about w

      3 min read

    • Article

      Choosing the Flowers

      Oct 10, 2022

      Choosing the Flowers
      10 min read

    • Article

      Mature Adults In Your Area

      Aug 8, 2022

      I would say that I don’t normally do this kind of thing, except that on and off over the months and years, I’ve done “these kinds of things” too many times for that to be true. So yeah, I go on dates from time to time. This recent guy wouldn’t choose

      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Of Autumn Leaves and New Beginnings

    3.5/5

    3 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Of Autumn Leaves and New Beginnings - Nell Iris

      Epilogue

      Chapter 1

      Peter Higgins? I raise my voice to make myself heard over the rock ‘n’ roll music booming in the garage, but the man crouched by the motorcycle resembling something you’d buy at Ikea before it’s assembled hears me and snaps up his head.

      He shadows his eyes against the bright light with his hand, then he holds up his index finger in the universal sign for hang on a minute. He jumps to his feet and jogs to the bench at the back of the garage, where I’m assuming the stereo is located, considering Robert Plant gets cut off in the middle of a magnificent moan.

      As the man approaches me, his long legs quickly eating up the distance, I take in his appearance. Dark brown, tousled hair as though he just ran his fingers through it when he stepped out of the shower. A full beard with strands of silver, albeit still more pepper than salt. Laugh lines bracket his mouth and sprawl out in the corners of his hazel eyes. He’s fit; his thigh muscles play under the faded denim and an oil-stained T-shirt clings to defined abs.

      My mouth waters and I struggle to keep my face neutral. I don’t want to get caught ogling the man before I’ve had the opportunity to thank him. But he is damned fine, that’s for sure.

      I’m Pete Higgins, he says. Can I help you? His tone is as friendly as his face; he shows no sign of irritation over being interrupted in the middle of assembling—or disassembling—the five-thousand-piece bike puzzle.

      I’m Oren Walker. I smile and extend my hand. Daphne Walker’s son.

      Oh! Ms. Daphne! How is she? Is she all right? He moves to take my hand but stops himself with a grimace. Sorry, he says and holds out his oil-stained palms for me to see. I’d better not shake your hand. I don’t want to get your suit all dirty.

      I chuckle and lower my hand, ignoring the pang of disappointment in my stomach that I won’t be allowed to touch him and see for myself if his palms are as callused as I hope they are. Yeah, I came right from work. I finger my blue-striped tie and feel out of place wearing my two-thousand-dollar suit in his garage.

      "I figured. The day is too hot for a suit. Heck, this entire summer has been too hot for a suit. I’m glad fall is around the corner, so we’ll be able to breathe again. Let’s go inside. The air is cranked up. He flashes me a smile and waggles his eyebrows. I’m thirsty, and you can tell me all about your mom without the risk of being boiled to death."

      Sounds great. With my eyes glued to his ass—it’s round and squeezable, and if I don’t look away soon, I’ll be in trouble—I follow him into the garage, through a utility room, and into a big, cozy kitchen, with pale green cabinets, gleaming appliances, and a round kitchen table standing beside a bright bay window.

      He nods at the fridge. Help yourself to whatever’s in there. Grab a longneck for me, will ya? I’ll wash my hands and be right back. He disappears into the hallway before I have time to answer.

      Feeling rude and nosy for opening a stranger’s fridge, I do my best not to snoop and take out the first two bottles of beer I find. There’s a bottle opener magnet on the fridge door, and I pop off the caps and return it to where I found it.

      The only other thing on the fridge is a photo that must be a family picture—Peter Higgins with his arm around a dark-haired teenaged girl who’s the spitting image of him, minus the beard and the crow’s feet. Next to the girl stands a tall, blond boy, probably a little older than his sister, and last but not least, a beautiful blonde, wearing a wide smile and a smart business suit that screams power-woman.

      Pete Higgins strolls back into the kitchen wearing a fresh T-shirt. I glance at his hands, now reasonably clean, and my gaze continues up his arms—I’ve always had a thing for arms—before I remember the family photo and force myself to look up and meet his gaze.

      Great, you found the beer! he says.

      I nod and hand him one. You have a beautiful family. I tilt my head toward the photo.

      He looks at it with a fond smile. Yeah, they’re a great bunch. It’s a few years old now, though. Both rascals are in college, can you believe it?

      I don’t have kids, but I can imagine it must be…tough?

      He chuckles and plops onto a chair at the kitchen table. Someone should have told me that men suffer from empty-nest syndrome, too. Please sit.

      I join him and take a swig of the beer; it’s cold and bitter and perfect for a hot day like today. I enjoy his company—he exudes friendliness—and he’s easy on the eyes, so I’m not in a hurry to get out of here. So, no wild celebrations on your part? Party all night now that you don’t have to keep an eye on rebellious teenagers? I ask as a way of stalling.

      He grins. Nah, man, that was never my style anyway.

      That makes two of us. I return his smile.

      He holds out his

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1