John is a solitaire man. He has to live in a shared house to sustain his permanence in London, but he doesn't like to socialize. He has nothing against other people but he prefers to stay alone and mind his business.

After a bad experience with an homophobic landlord, he goes to live in a big victorian house. The new landlord, Charles, is a nice man, involved in politics, and with an open minded attitude. He doesn't mind that John is gay, not at all, he is bi. And in fact, he is quite attract from John, but he respects his privacy and for the first weeks he takes his hands afar.

But days pass and the attraction for John is growing. And one night he sets himself up to seduce his new lodger. But John has a little guilty secret (and another not so little...) and a Black Leather Rose will help Charles to literatelly unveal the multiple layers that wrap the real John.

A quite interesting and brief story. Maybe the two characters are worthy of something a little bit long: when I was at the climax of the story, it has ended! Jules Jones has an happy hand to decipt very complex but nice geeky characters: John will line up with the geeks of Syndacate and Buildup series.