Where I Found You by Parker Elliot

Riley Carhart enlisted in the Marines as soon as he was able to. He thought it would give his complicated life meaning – and for the eight years he served, it did. When he returns to civilian life in his hometown of Claxton, Georgia he hopes to find something that will fill the void he can’t quite explain always being there. When he takes a position as a live-in gardener for a wealthy recluse, the last thing he expects is to find what he’s unknowingly been searching for all along.

Hollis Freemont believes he was dealt a bad hand in life. It didn’t matter how much wealth and beauty surrounded him – he would have traded it all just to be “normal”. Or at least treated like he was. Recovering from the heartbreak and humiliation of being left at the altar by his ex and dealing with idle gossip that came along with being the only gay man in a small town, Hollis keeps mostly to himself. When he hires Riley for a gardening position on his large property, he doesn’t expect more than a professional relationship. But when Riley encourages a friendship with Hollis, he can’t help getting close to the blue-eyed muscled Marine.

As the summer heat intensifies, so does the friendship between the unlikely pair. When Riley finds himself at a crossroads about who he is and what he wants, it’s Hollis who he turns to for answers. But with fragile and introverted Hollis having been burned before, getting attached isn’t in the cards. Because love is never simple, is it? Nobody can just walk into your life and not expect anything, right? Dreams don’t come true… do they?