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Title: Echo
Author: Sol Crafter
Genre: mm contemporary romance
Word count: 36,800
Summary: Painfully shy, Cole Heath has always had a hard time connecting to people outside of his family. So when he meets Anderson Bester for the first time, he doesn't really think anything of it. He certainly doesn't imagine that he'll end up falling in love.
After work he went home to his lonely apartment where he changed into jeans, a tee shirt, and comfortable sneakers. Then he heated himself up a bowl of canned chili in the microwave and settled in front of the TV.
Later he might go on the Internet and indulge in the only kind of human interaction that didn't leave him sounding like an idiot.
There had been a low-level murmur of noise coming from the apartment next door, but it suddenly started getting very loud. They were playing music, but all he was getting was the pounding bass.
He sighed and turned up the volume on the TV, figuring he would ignore the noise. Except it was getting louder too, and louder, and louder.
When it reached the point that photos were vibrating on the walls, he figured enough was enough.
Mary Paterson was his neighbor's name and she was a very understanding lady. She was always incredibly patient with his speech problems.
The man that answered the door to Cole's knock was no one he knew. He could feel his courage curdling away. Especially when he realized just how good-looking the guy was--tall and lean with fair skin and even features. He could have been a model or something.( more )
