Gator by Jacki James

At six feet of cocky charm, easy smiles, and a reckless streak a mile wide, Harlan “Gator” Thibodeaux is not my type. So why is he the one I call when my world falls apart?

Julius Petros has spent years dazzling older men who wanted arm candy, not commitment—men who loved the sparkle but never stayed long enough to see the person underneath. Gator is nothing like them. He’s bold, disarming, and far too willing to look past the performance and into the parts of Julius no one else has bothered to see—the parts he’s tried to keep hidden.
But when Julius witnesses an abduction behind a nightclub, the danger becomes terrifyingly real—and the only person he trusts to keep him alive is Gator.

Gator is ex-military, a hand-to-hand combat expert, and far more dangerous than he lets on. He’s sharp, loyal, and lethal when it counts. And when he promises to protect Julius, he means all of him—the glitter, the drama, and the heart he’s never let anyone hold.

As danger closes in and the truth about what Julius witnessed begins to unravel, he’ll have to decide: stay hidden behind a wall of sparkle and sass, or let in the one man who might be strong enough to stand beside him.