The Velvet Glove series by Sean Michael Part 2 (Re-reads 5-9)

The Velvet Glove is a series of novels and short stories by Sean Michael.  The Velvet Glove is an interplanetary private club that offers every luxury to its members.  Men from all backgrounds can be themselves at the club and find others that fit their needs in order to lead the lives they want.  

In Ghost, Trip hits the ground running in his position as the Velvet Glove's newest doctor when a young sub is brought in in a catatonic state.  Trip reviews footage of the sub's last scene and notices Ghost seems to be reacting to the Top's emotions...following this path, Trip soon finds that not only is Ghost, the sub, empathic, but that Trip is somehow connected to him as well.  Trip takes Ghost in and a relationship quickly develops.  

Connor is celebrating a friend's committment ceremony when he meets Desmond in Connor's Journey.  This is one of the longer stories in the Velvet Glove series and is stronger for it.  Desmond has lived at the Velvet Glove for over 20 years and while he loves his life, he wants a sub of his own that he can make the center of his life.  When he spots Connor sitting at his regular dinner table, he knows he has found the one he's been looking for.  Connor can't believe that this amazing, confident man would want a simple worker such as himself but he decides to take a risk and see where it takes him...and it takes him all the way to his happy ever after.  This story doesn't really have any conflicts, instead it just follows along with Conner and Desmond as they build their relationship together.  

Soaring with Hawk is very similar to Connor's Journey.  Jester, who works the line at a plant, is invited by his supervisor, Hawk to dinner at Hawk's residence, the Velvet Glove.  Jester is happy to agree as he finds Hawk fascinating.  Pretty soon Hawk and Jester are in a relationship with Hawk taking the dominant role.  I really enjoy Jester, who is a sweetheart helping to take care of his many younger siblings.  His mother is a real piece of work and is fun to hate, but we don't see much of her.  After a slight bump in the road, these two reach their HEA.  

Rock Stars and Size Queens is two romances in one.  Angel, a famous singer who is exhausted physically and mentally after his latest tour, is secreted away to the Velvet Glove by his manager, Jax.  Jax knows the Velvet Glove is the safest place to hide Angel while also being a place where Jax can finally look for a sub of his own.  While he loves Angel, he knows their relationship is a business one.  Jax is introduced to Minuet and from the moment he lays on him, Jax knows Minuet is the one for him.  In order to focus on Minuet while also meeting the needs of Angel, Jax hires Roland to care for Angel.  This story goes back and forth between the two relationships but does a good job of balancing between the two story lines.  Minuet thrives on service and is the size queen, while Angel needs someone steady that he can crash against without fear of them faltering and is the rock star.  Roland seems to be the character that we learn the least about, but he is the steady presence that Angel needs.  I do like that Angel is threatened at first by Minuet's presence in Jax's life when Angel has been his focus up to this point as it provides needed depth to the story.

Velvet Blade starts with Gideon entering the Velvet Glove with the intention of moving in for at least a year.  Within the hour, he meets Tybalt a new server and immediately decides that Tybalt is the one for him.  Tybalt is sweet and tries hard, but is struggling in his job to answer to orders from so many people.  Gideon remedies this by having Tybalt focus solely on serving him.  The last third of this story gets surprisingly serious as Tybalt is discovered to be from a group of people whose planet was overtaken and whose refugees are still hunted by the terrorists who attacked their planet.  Tybalt is nearly caught by one such "blue-skinned" terrorist in an outside market and later the Velvet Glove itself is targeted.  This seriousness is a decided turn from the more laid-back style of previous entries.