Build-A-Boyfriend Project

Eli Francis is an assistant at the online magazine Vent, though he wants to be a writer. His boss keeps hinting at a promotion while sending him for coffee, and the ex he is still trying to get over works down the hall and has been climbing the ranks without trouble.

Eli's roommates push him to start dating again and set him up with Peter Park, who is tall, handsome and painfully awkward. The date goes badly enough that Eli decides love is not for him. When his boss overhears him retelling it, the boss proposes a series of staged dates in which Eli coaches Peter to be a better boyfriend, with an article to come out of it.

Eli has a different plan. He pretends to work on the assigned piece while quietly interviewing Peter about growing up queer in the South and about learning to date as an adult. He hopes that kind of writing will finally earn him the promotion, and in return he will help Peter with his dating skills.

The more evenings they spend together, the harder it gets to tell the rehearsal from the real thing. This is an adult queer romance with trans representation, written as a workplace story with a sweet tone and open heat. It is the author's first romance for adults. Eli has to face his biggest fears if he wants a writing career and the love he has needed.