A high school field trip turns into something more...
From bestselling author James Brooksfield comes a passionate love story. Hold Him Close follows Kevin, an awkward high school kid with an insane crush on the token hottie in school, James Remington, or Remi as he likes to be called. An ironic twist of fate on a school field trip provides Kevin with the opportunity he has longed for, to touch and become intimate with the masterpiece that is Remi. Too afraid to be "outed", Kevin cowards out.
Just when he thinks that he's made the worst decision of his life, the opportunity comes up again and Kevin is whisked into a whirlwind of a romance that can never be forgotten. As college, marriage, and separate lives begin to take its toll on both Kevin and Remi, a thirty year high school reunion rekindles the flame and proves that time cannot overpower true love...
Exclusive Excerpt from Just Us
I met James Remington—"Remi" to almost everyone who knew him—the first day of my freshman year in high school. Remi was popular from the get-go. He looked older than the rest of us, and he had the bluest eyes any of us had ever seen. They were shockingly, almost frighteningly, blue. If I had not known differently, I'd have thought they were fake. They were that liquid. And, they danced when he smiled, which was almost all the time. Remi had a big, broad smile, framed by full, red lips. And, it was simultaneously knowing and mysterious. Remi may not have had a tiger by the tail, but he sure acted like he did.
For the next four years, he listened to music none of us had heard of, mixed drinks none of had tasted, and took drugs none of us could have gotten our hands on. And, he had whatever "it" is that makes people say "he has it." I do not know what that is, as I have never had "it." I have always been a little too furtive, a little too eager to please, a little too enthusiastic, a little too harried.
Remi was none of those things. He was casual, always seemed comfortable, languid almost, and never hurried. He sat back and soaked it all in. He moved slowly and surely. He seemed like he knew stuff none of us knew, like he had experienced things none of us had, or ever would.
For most of high school, I hovered near Remi's orbit. Both smart, we shared most classes. We studied together a little. We hung out together a little every now and then. We were friendly, but we were not really friends. I was the kind of person he nodded to in the hallway, not the kind of person he stopped to talk to.
Too many times, he caught me staring at him. Often, it was at his eyes. More often, it was at his body. Remi was a committed runner and weight lifter, and his body thickened, thinned, and developed throughout high school. While I stayed small and shapeless, he filled out beautifully. By the time we were 18 year old seniors, he was 6 feet tall, weighed 180 pounds, and had virtually no body fat. He was both muscular and lean. He had masculine hands and feet that he kept up properly. The only thing that separated him from Adonis was the mat of hair that covered his chest and the path that flowed from it into his pants. I loved that mat and that path. I desperately wanted to follow it. I hoped with all I was that he did not sense my desperation.
