Our Radiant Embers (A Witty MM Urban Fantasy Romance) by Zarah Detand

Author:Zarah Detand [Detand, Zarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zarah Detand
Published: 2024-06-06T18:30:00+00:00

The morning sun woke me. No nightmares, just a sweet drift into awareness, the backs of my lids painted a cheerful orange.

There was no sign of Adam yet when I made it downstairs, so I set about preparing a lavish breakfast. Oh, sure, he intended to simply ignore his birthday, but I had no such plans. If his family wasn’t going to make him feel special, well, I didn’t mind stepping up. I was kindly assisted by approximately three garden centres’ worth of flowers from Cassandra and a chocolate cake from Gale, both delivered by a discreet Hartley employee. A note from Cassandra said the man could be trusted.

By the time Adam made it downstairs, the table on the terrace looked like a florist’s Instagram account had thrown up all over it. Gale’s cake sat at the centre, and I’d boiled eggs and cut up fruit. Adam paused in the doorway, sleep still tucked into the corners of his eyes.

“I thought I told you not to make it into a big deal?” The question contradicted the light in his eyes.

“Yeah.” I shrugged. “But you didn’t actually expect me to listen, did you?”

“I guess not.” He wandered closer, and fuck, it was the morning of his thirtieth birthday and he was here, with me. I closed the gap between us and pulled him into a tight hug.

“Happy birthday, Adam.”

Sleepy warmth and a subtle, woodsy scent that was starting to feel familiar. He nestled his head into the crook of my shoulder, and for a few moments, we simply stood there, one of his hands cradling my neck, our chests pressed together. When he stirred, I brushed a kiss against his cheek and stepped away.

“Thank you,” he said, an unusual translucence in his voice. “For all this.”

“It’s the least I can do. Although”—I nodded my chin at the table—“I should mention that the flowers are from Cassandra and the cake from Gale. I assume he knows you’re not turning twenty-nine?”

Adam glanced at the glittering number on the cake and grinned, a tinge of sadness in the curve of his mouth. “Yeah, he knows. He also knows I was dreading this a bit, so…”

“That’s for another time,” I told him. “Today, it’s all about having fun, okay? Breakfast first, then we’ll do a boat tour to see some seals, and for dinner, I reserved us a table at an Italian restaurant.”

“Wow. That’s…” Adam cleared his throat, smile a tad wobbly. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do all that.”

“I know.” Something sweetly heavy sat in my stomach. I let my hand rest on his shoulder. “Now, I would offer to make coffee, but I know you’d only pour it down the drain. So how about you make it, and then we have some cake?”

“Sounds like a deal.” Adam hesitated. Then he leaned in for another hug and a fleeting, whisper-light touch of our foreheads before he turned towards the kitchen. I picked my stupid heart off the ground and followed.

Breakfast spanned nearly two hours along with, somehow, us getting into my relationship history.

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