Admitting who you are can be difficult, and coming out has all kinds of potential dangers attached to it. Enough to make some people hesitate until they have a reason to change their attitude. This story is about Liam, a man who changes his priorities because he meets Kael, the guy who makes Liam reconsider his life’s priorities. There isn’t a lot of drama, and it’s a gradual process, but in the end Liam emerges reborn and a different person. I really enjoyed watching him change, learn, and grow in this gentle story with lots of hot loving, BDSM and otherwise, and two men who are clearly meant to be together.

Liam keeps his personal life under wraps because he is afraid. There is no reason given for his fear, but then there doesn’t need to be one—after all fear is very personal and doesn’t need a reason. It just is what it is. What gets him to reconsider his priorities is another man. A sub he meets at a club and feels drawn to strongly enough to break his own rule about never playing with the same boy twice. But that isn’t the only rule Kael helps him break. I loved watching Liam get used to the thought that he wanted a different way of living his life. It is a slow thawing, an internal process that is accelerated by what happens once he begins to open up.

Kael is an experienced sub, and he is very unassuming. He falls for Liam almost immediately, but he never pushes him to come out more than the closeted Master is comfortable with. Kael is dedicated to running his shelter for GLBT youth and probably couldn’t be more out if he tried. He knows how to protect himself, and the kids in his care, but he needs some looking after as well. Kael is happy to have found someone who appreciates him when he and Liam link up, but he knows better than to push. Some things have to happen at their own speed, and Kael is very good at bringing out the best in people—be they the kids he protects or the new Master he wants as his own.

If you like gentle love stories with lots of kink, if two men on opposite sides of the “out” spectrum meeting sounds like fun, and if you’re looking for a read that is as hot as it is sweet, then you will probably like this novella. ( )