About Unlikely Hero
by Sean Michael
207 pages / 62000 words
ISBN: 978-1-60370-812-8, 1-60370-812-X
Available file types - html, lit, pdf, prc, epub, Sony-optimized pdf, paperback
Eric doesn’t know where else to turn when his daughter is kidnapped, so he calls on his powerful ex-lover, Brock. Brock never expected to hear from Eric again, but he never got over the man, either. When Eric comes to him to help find the three-year-old Josie, there's no way Brock can turn him down. He has the money and the contacts Eric needs, and he can't let Eric walk out of his life again. Not after all these years.
Brock has no idea what he's letting himself in for. Together, Eric and Josie turn Brock's world upside down while they work with police and private security to find the people who took Josie, and to keep Eric and Josie safe while they do. Even as they get to know each other again, Brock has to fight the feelings he still has for Eric, at least for time being, which just makes it all that much harder. Can Eric and Brock find out who wants to hurt them before it's too late, or will Brock fall off his pedestal as Eric's hero?
Review
CB Potts, author of Recovery and Recovery Ranch, writes:
Brock Vencenza has it all: a high powered executive, the world at his fingertips, riches and power beyond most men's dreams -- which is a good thing, as he'll need all of those resources and more to save his ex-lover, Eric, and his adopted daughter, Josie, from evil kidnappers. Michael starts this book off strong -- we know on the first page that Josie's been kidnapped -- and the action doesn't stop for a moment.
Gut-wrenchingly emotional in parts, Unlikely Hero is also sure to please the action adventure fans out there. There's layers within layers going on: who could have snatched Josie from her daycare? What did they hope to accomplish? Why are the bad guys so determined to keep coming -- despite the not inconsiderable resources Brock throws at them? Michael delivers a thrilling tale that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
At the same time, this is the most sweetly romatic of all of Michael's work. If you're a fan of the everyone-in-this-world-has-one-true-love romance, you're going to adore Unlikely Hero. Eric -- far more complex than he appears on first glance -- knew he had to have a family. That wasn't going to work with Brock, so he left - but he carried a torch this whole time. I particularly like how Eric's passion for Brock affected what he taught his daughter; Michael's delivered a character who is more than a cookie-cutter 'perfect gay parent' trope and instead provided a real, rounded man who loves his kid and does his best.
Strongly recommended. Thoroughly enjoyable, masterfully paced, smoking hot when it's not being heart-meltingly sweet, Unlikely Hero is among Michael's best work yet.
Sample
Brock Vencenza glad-handed the board members, smiling and nodding, making all the right noises. He just had to wrap this up and then he was off to the Cayman Islands for some richly deserved R&R. Deep sea fishing, baby.
He saw the last concerned stockholder out the door and headed for his desk, closing down his computer and tossing a few files into the in-box for Stephanie.
Speak of an angel; his intercom buzzed, Stephanie's voice coming next. "Brock, there's an Eric on the phone, says he has to talk to you. He won't even give me his last name, sir."
Brock frowned. Eric? Now there was a name he hadn't heard in awhile. Years. A lot of years. Enough years that it couldn't be the Eric his mind had automatically pulled up.
"It's probably just a salesman, Steph. Tell him I'm on vacation." His yacht was calling to him. Calling.
"I already did. Brock, he sounds too upset to be a salesman."
Brock growled. "Fine. Put him through." Steph was getting soft if she couldn't put off a nuisance call. He pressed the button for the outgoing line and barked out his name.
"Brock? Brock, it's me. Please, love. I need help." It was his Eric -- his silly, goofy, soft-hearted, ridiculously idealistic to the point of absolute fucking madness Eric -- with hysteria in his voice.
It might have been nine years and Eric might have dumped his ass hard, but Brock didn't even hesitate. "What do you need?"
"Help. Someone's kidnapped my daughter."
Brock stood up and grabbed his briefcase. "Where are you?"
"I'm downstairs. The security guard wouldn't let me in. Please, Brock. Josie's only three. She's got to be so scared."
"Don't move. I'm on my way." He hung up the phone and nodded to Steph as he passed her desk on the way to the elevators. "I'm off. You know the cell number if there's an emergency."
"Have fun, Brock."
He nodded to her again as the elevator came.
Two minutes later he was in the lobby, scanning it for his ex. God, nine years. That was a lot of fucking water under bridges that were long ago burned.
Eric Wilson was standing there, looking completely out of place in the glass and steel modernity of the lobby, reminding him oddly of the Scarecrow from Oz -- still as skinny as always, dressed in a button-down, a pair of khakis, a ball-cap. Jesus. The man had no fashion sense and was all arms and legs and nose and huge blue eyes and… Right. Zero fashion sense.
None.
And he looked like fucking shit.