Seen in Color

A structured life. A shadowed past. And a dance that changes everything. Twenty-four-year-old Tommy Sullivan lives a life of surgical precision. Working for his father's advertising agency, he finds safety in sturdy words, predictable grids, and red pens that correct the world's messiness. But beneath the silk ties and business-class itineraries lies a secret yearned to be shed: a desire to finally come alive. When Tommy arrives in Paris for a solo summer, he expects to be a mere observer of the city's indifferent beauty. Then he steps into a dusty bookstore and meets Julien. Julien is everything Tommy's father warned him about—intense, dominant, and "all wood-smoke and silence". A world-weary bookseller and tango instructor, Julien moves through life checking for exits, carrying a history that Tommy's mind can barely comprehend. As Julien leads Tommy through the rhythms of the tango and the rumba, the walls Tommy built around his heart begin to crumble. But Paris is a city of secrets, and a decade-old police report threatens to shatter their fragile peace. When the truth of Julien's past surfaces, Tommy must decide if he will retreat to the safety of home or if he is brave enough to love a man for the scars he earned while surviving the dark. From the elegant gardens of Versailles to the bohemian attics of Montmartre, Seen in Color is a story of betrayal, redemption, and the courage it takes to be truly seen. It is over 70k words and contains mature themes and definitely has a HEA.