Our Bright Christmas Town: A Sweet MM Small-Town Friends-to-Lovers Romance by Zarah Detand

Author:Zarah Detand [Detand, Zarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zarah Detand
Published: 2025-11-07T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

Ashby

This was… different, God. Nothing like that first kiss, when I’d been blindsided by it all, my world tipped on its side. Now, I set the pace—and Kieran surrendered, hands lightly resting on my waist. Trusting my lead.

We shared each swallow of air, our mouths breaking for fractured seconds before we collided again. Years, fuck. I’d spent so many years uselessly imagining something like this—Kieran looking at me like his reality had narrowed to just the two of us, melting into every kiss even as winter cold pressed in around us. Heat pounded under my skin.

Not a dream.

Minutes later, with icy air creeping underneath our clothes, we started moving again. It was slow progress, pausing every few steps for another kiss. When I fisted his coat to pull him in, he gave a soft, breathy laugh—joy or disbelief or both.

“Come home with me?” I asked, our foreheads pressed together, then wondered if it was too much, too fast. He’d only just realised he liked guys, maybe even loved me, probably.

“Yeah,” he said before I could backtrack. “Yes.”

He angled his head for another kiss and I moved into it—more urgent than before, deeper. Both of us stumbling, and his back hit the brick wall of the local coffee shop, long since closed. He chuckled and held onto me.

“You okay?” I asked anyway.

“Brilliant.” The distant glow of a streetlamp revealed his smile and the faint flush to his cheeks, snow settling in his hair only to dissolve. “Just, feels like we’re a pair of bloody teenagers. Like, clinically inadvisable dopamine levels.”

“Yeah, baby. Talk science to me.” I chuckled under my breath, stupidly happy or maybe just stupid, and nudged my nose against his. Cheesy, God. But it was Kieran, and I couldn’t bring myself to care. Just cupped the back of his head and guided him in again, swallowing his sigh.

Eventually, we shuffled on. Another few steps, another greedy kiss on this quiet street. My neighbours’ obnoxious Christmas decorations cycled in a weird colour pattern, blue and red and green, like Santa had decided to throw a low-budget rave.

“Subtle,” Kieran commented, tucked firmly against my side.

“Maybe they made a bet.” I turned my head to watch reflected colour spark in his eyes.

“That they could fit an entire nightclub light show on their balcony?”

I gave him a deliberately smarmy smile, pulse hammering in my ears. “Pretty sure it’s got nothing on the fireworks we’re about to set off in my bed. If you’re interested?”

“Of course.” No humour, just simple sincerity. “Ash—yes. I’m not suddenly going to change my mind, okay?”

“Okay,” I echoed, thoughts a little slippery, fingers fumbling with the keys. For fuck’s sake, act like you’ve been there before. Except—not like this. Not with him.

I got the door open and pulled him along, sudden warmth draping around our shoulders. The rich, faintly sweet scent of the well-worn wooden stairs settled me slightly as I led the way up to my flat. We were barely inside, gloves ditched, the door swinging shut, before I pressed him back against the entrance wall and shoved the winter coat off his shoulders.

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