The Straight Man's Rulebook

Ethan Cole fixes things. Houses, businesses, fences—he knows how to assess a broken foundation and rebuild it from the studs. But after a nineteen-year marriage ends, he buys a crumbling duplex in Maple Landing, New York, to hide from the one thing he can’t repair: the truth about his own desires. For twenty-five years, Ethan has buried his attraction to men under a heavy layer of duty, calluses, and silence.

Then he accidentally destroys the meticulously maintained herb garden of his new neighbor, Nico Alvarez.

Nico is everything Ethan isn't. Vibrant, openly queer, and the charismatic co-owner of the town’s most popular community bar, Nico knows exactly who he is. Having survived a relationship that kept him closeted and small, Nico has strict rules to protect his heart—including never becoming an experiment for a confused, freshly divorced straight man.

But as the two men are thrown together on a high-stakes construction and event project, the magnetic pull between them becomes impossible to ignore. Ethan isn't looking for a lesson or a phase; he's a man finally ready to stop pretending. To win Nico's trust, Ethan must learn that true strength isn't about carrying the weight alone, but finding the courage to let someone see you when you're empty-handed.