The Acolyte by Anna T. Pope

“You can’t see it, can you? How beautiful you are.”

Adriel has spent his entire life making himself smaller; shrinking to fit other people’s expectations, apologizing for the space he takes up, and burying the parts of himself that never seemed to be enough. When he lands a position as editorial assistant at Grayson House, his only plan is to stay invisible.

Landen Waters makes that impossible.

Landen is everything Adriel isn’t; composed, commanding, effortlessly sharp. As Editor-in-Chief of Grayson House, he runs a tight ship. But behind the tailored suits and unreadable expression is a man running on empty, going through the motions, searching for something elusive.

He finds it in the nervous junior editor who can’t stop apologizing, can’t stop blushing, and sees straight through manuscripts the way no one else on his floor can.

Their attraction is immediate. Undeniable. Dangerous.
Because Landen doesn’t just want Adriel in his bed; he wants him on his knees. And Adriel, who has never trusted anyone with that much of himself, discovers that the thing he’s most terrified of, being completely seen, is the only thing that has ever made him feel whole.

But when a ghost from Adriel’s past threatens to unravel everything, the fragile trust between them is shattered. And both men are left facing the same devastating question:

Is love enough when you’ve spent your whole life believing you don’t deserve it?

A dark, slow-burn, BDSM-charged MM romance — The Acolyte is the second book in The Crimson Knot series.