Luck brought us together… but can it last forever? I was working a dead-end job and living with too many roommates when I met Carlos. That meeting was our first stroke of luck, changing both our lives and tying us together. I’ll never regret it, but after eight amazing years, I’m starting to think he does. More than anything, I want to spend the rest of my life with Carlos, but making him miserable isn’t an option. He might think this getaway to Illinois is to visit friends, but for me, it’s a last-ditch push to save our relationship. A wrong turn brings us to Mannix Estate… and suddenly it seems like our luck might have struck again. This Ghostly Guardians prequel novella was previously a newsletter serial. No changes have been made.

an alternate cover edition can be found here When you can talk to ghosts, things are bound to get spirited. The ghosts have been there since before I can remember. When I was a kid, they doted on me, but as I got older, they got more demanding. I’ve spent my whole life seeing and talking to dead people and trying to pretend I’m not, because the living just don’t understand. Nobody wants to be around the freak who claims to see ghosts. Until I go to Mannix Estate. Once a private country home, then a posh hotel, it was closed after a suspicious incident but is now an immersive historic experience. It’s also haunted AF, and everyone knows it. Finally, I’ve found a place to work and live where I can be useful. Where I’m actually wanted. There are only two problems: I spent a hot, sweaty, satisfying night with Ewan the blacksmith before I knew we’d have to work together. Everyone knows sex with colleagues is a bad idea, right? Even if he’s the world’s most ripped cinnamon roll. Plus, the ghosts are keeping secrets. There’s something going on that’s not normal, even for a haunted estate. And I suspect that when the truth comes out, I’m the one who’ll have to deal with it… and it won’t be good.

Wanted: one demon hunter. Beware the matchmaking ghosts. After years managing a haunted hotel and estate, I thought things were good. Sure, the ghosts can be a handful—nosy, opinionated, interfering—but they’re also friendly and fun. We have a system. Everything was under control. Cue hysterical laughter. But after a minor blip with a demon in the basement and a vortex to the spirit world, the ghosts swear they have no more secrets. The danger is gone, and we’ve done everything we can to make the vortex safe. It should be fine. Nothing’s come through it for fifty years. It’s never that easy at Mannix Estate. Lucky for us, the demon expert we met online is willing and able to help us out. I’m so grateful, I’d willingly kiss his feet. Until he arrives and opens his mouth. Connor is... a jerk. But he’s a sexy jerk who’s doing us a favor, so I’m going to be polite no matter what. Even when he makes me mad. When he flirts hard. When the roof falls in and we have to share a bed. When we realize the vortex upstairs is just the beginning. Suddenly, Connor’s real strengths shine. Beneath the smoking hot yet annoying surface is a heart of gold, and I don’t think I can hold out against it… or that I want to.

Being in love with my straight friend isn’t easy… I thought pining for Daniel was an epic tragedy, but then I found out I’m a conduit—someone who can communicate with beings from the otherworld—and my unrequited love for one of my best friends seems less of a problem. So when a spirit is destroyed while trying to warn me of an approaching disaster, it makes sense for Daniel to step up and help me search for more information. Or it does until my mom turns up twenty years after abandoning me and Daniel turns into Mr. Protective. One thing leads to another, and somehow the whole town now thinks we’re dating. As if all that isn’t enough to deal with, Daniel’s having a bisexual awakening, and he’s looking to me, his gay friend, to guide him through it. I’d do anything for him, but the thought of being with him and then watching him move on to another guy… I don’t know if my heart can take it. But I have to toughen up and get on with it, because whatever’s happening in the otherworld is spilling over to here, and it’s going to take everyone we’ve got to keep humanity safe… if we can.

It only took seconds for my world to change… I live a simple, small-town life. Helping with the family restaurant, my side gig as a ride-share driver, hanging with my best friend, making the most of the extra time with my ghost grandma. The only exciting thing to happen to me in the past year was when Gabe moved to town—too bad Nonna scared him off. It’s hard to impress a guy when your dead grandmother calls him the devil. The last thing I expect when I pick up a ride-share client and take him to Mannix Estate is that he’s a demon. An actual, breathing, can-kill-me-with-a-thought demon. That night blows my simple life apart and changes everything. Turns out, ghosts aren’t the weirdest things out there, my best friend and Gabe are both part of this alternate world, and there’s a big bad demon who wants to end us all. What’s a small-town boy to do but roll up his sleeves and join the fight to save the world? Working side by side with Gabe reminds me just how much I liked him when we first met… and the feeling’s mutual. As the clock counts down and we both struggle with personal issues, it’s good to know there’s someone to lean on. But I don’t know if our tenuous connection can survive the hell that’s coming and see us through to the other side.

Disorderly Dad is a small town single dad romance set in my Ghostly Guardians world, and will be exclusive to my website!