Ivy, or Normalcy is Overrated

He's worked his way through school at the Premier Escort Agency.

Born in the slums of a mining planet, Jared Ramirez found his way to the planet Haivran, the intellectual center of the Four Species Alliance. Agencies are legal, licensed and regulated, and an attractive young man with a flair for pleasing a female clientèle is in great demand. And Jared has an advantage; he can read minds, and sometimes influence the minds of the people around him. He never talks about it, but it can be a useful little talent.

But now he is seeing an end to his Agency work. He's teaching at the Institute and he is within reach of his doctorate. His client list is short now, only his favorite regulars, and he is trying to find other Agency representatives to take his place with them. Within the year, he hopes, his only romantic relationship will be with his long-time lover Maud. He will use his Ears in the classroom, and with his Zamuaon friends next door, and the eight-year-old up the street with powerful natural Ears.

But now his presence is demanded by a new Agency client, one who claims to know about him and insists that no one else will satisfy her. His Ears tell him she doesn't really want him, so why does she pursue him with such great urgency? He has other things on his mind; he doesn't need to cope with a young woman he doesn't much like, or her mysterious agenda.

And Maud has her own ideas about Ivy's secrets and intentions.

This is a novella, suggestive rather than explicit.