More Than Life

By Imogen Markwell-Tweed

Tyler and Alex love each other. No matter what life throws their way, whether that’s a broken air-conditioner or an accidental affair, they know that as long as they have each other, they’ll make it. Tyler’s got a whole lifetime ahead of him and he just wants to spend all of it in love with his husband.

Their love is big and messy and real. This short erotic novella shows the highs and lows of a lifetime spent together. Through the good, the bad, and the monotonous, through the fluff and the angst, Tyler and Alex love each other unconditionally and unfalteringly.

This contemporary erotic MM romance reveals a few snapshots of their life together.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryant Street Shorts
• Release date: Aug 29, 2020
• ISBN: 9781094413303

Imogen Markwell-Tweed

Imogen Markwell-Tweed is a queer romance writer and editor based in St. Louis. When she's not writing or hanging out with her dog, IMT can be found putting her media degrees to use by binge-watching trashy television. All of her stories promise queer protagonists, healthy relationships, and happily ever afters. @unrealimogen on Twitter and Instagram.

Book preview

Part One

Tyler’s twenty-five and, for the first time, everything’s exactly as it’s meant to be.

It’s been a long day. It’s been the kind of day that clings to his skin with sweat and happiness and not a small amount of tears. He’s exhausted, physically and emotionally, and yet he’s so awake, so far from tired, that his legs are jittery and his heart is full. He’s so happy he could scream, but Alex is looking at him with dark, hooded eyes, and a smile twisting just at the edges of his lips like he’s swallowed a mouthful of stars he’s trying hold back, and it’s Tyler’s favorite look on him, so he doesn’t scream. He just tries his hardest to not pounce on the guy and waits, as eagerly and as patiently as he possibly can.

Alex tilts his head. His nose scrunches and it’s so cute that Tyler ends up letting out a soft, adoring sigh anyway. Then Alex’s smile flickers into a curve that’s wide and pleased and Tyler decides that exhaustion is irrelevant. He tilts his head, mimicking Alex, and raises an eyebrow. Alex takes a step forward and pleasure that’s warm and thick like honey spreads through his veins.

Tyler holds as still as he’s able to and watches, lungs swelling full of candied air, as his husband walks toward him.

His husband. The word rings in his ears and spreads across his heart like a salve. He can feel it growing further and further out all over him until he’s soothed entirely. He is a husband — he has a husband. They’re married.

Tyler has known Alexander since the first moment he saw him, sitting across from him in an intro writing class reading poetry, each word like honey falling from his lips. He’s wanted him since the first time he heard him laugh, long and breathless, head tossed back, in that dingy old apartment he used to live in. He’s loved him since the first moment they kissed, tasting like sweet spiced rum. He’s so brightly, awfully in love with Alexander that some days, he wakes up and wonders just exactly how he’s ended up so lucky.

And now it’s their wedding night, and Alexander is walking toward him.

Tyler can’t breathe. More importantly, he doesn’t need to anymore. He’s pretty certain that if there was no air left in the whole world, he and Alex would be fine. They don’t need silly things like air and gravity — just this. Tyler could live a whole life, long and full, as long as Alex keeps looking at him like this.

See something you like? Alex asks, voice dragging low and deep. Tyler once compared his voice to gravel in a poem. His best friend, Charlie, had called him disgusting when he read it to her. He changed the metaphor to a smoky bourbon in the next draft and she pretended to gag.

Tyler grins. Air rushes from his lungs and something so sweet it almost feels like homesickness buries itself in his chest. Just my husband.

Husband. Alex hums. He reaches Tyler, who’s perched on the edge of the bed. Slowly, he lifts one leg, and then the other, until his knees are