by Alex W. Wells
Neil Ashworth has spent four years not being looked at.
He teaches English at a Manchester comprehensive. Arrives at 7:20. Takes the back staircase, drinks his coffee before the staff room fills, and locks his office door twice before he leaves at night. His ex-wife knows he is gay. His five-year-old son does not know there is anything to know. His colleagues see a quiet, competent teacher. Neil plans to keep it that way.
Then the school hires Rory Cavanaugh to paint a mural on the courtyard wall.
Rory has paint under his nails and a lip ring that has no business in a Key Stage 4 briefing. He is warm and loud, and he has been raising his younger brother since the boy was eight. He paints what he sees. What he sees is Neil.
One school year. A mural on the courtyard wall. A portrait in oil that nobody gave him permission to start. A Manchester gallery show that will hang Neil's face six feet tall, in public.
If Neil lets him finish, his father will see it. His son. His colleagues. Neil himself.
This is a contemporary literary MM romance featuring slow-burn intimacy, a closeted single dad, a warm artist, forced proximity in a school setting, explicit on-page scenes between adult men, and a hard-won HEA. 18+ only.
Note: Bare is already live on Amazon, so you can post your honest review the moment you finish reading.
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