Page 13 of Our Bright Christmas Town
“You also jump before you think, Kieran.”
“Maybe.” He smiled, and even now, something in me wanted to respond to that. “But you know me—once I’ve made up my mind, I follow through.”
Bloody hell. Ice was creeping up my back, cheeks numb, breath turned visible. “I’m not a fucking project.”
“No, you’re not—becauseIlove you.”He infused it with the confidence of someone who’d known it for ages when no, he hadn’t. Unlike me. “Convincing you it’s true, though?” he continued. “That’sa project. Please give me a chance, Ash?”
I wanted to cry. At the same time, there was a strange lightness in my blood, like the bright sizzle of champagne bubbles. This was Kieran, dangling everything I’d ever wanted right in front of my face, daring me to grab it with both hands. But if he pulled the rug—fuck, I might just hate him for it.
“Please,” he repeated, much more softly, confidence diffused.
And… God. He was the risk taker, the one who towed me along even as I listed all the things that could go wrong. This? Was the ultimate risk. But no matter how scared I was—if I shot him down now, I’d be left wondering for the rest of my life.
I exhaled, my breath fogging up the air, his touch an anchor around my wrist. “Okay,” I said. Repeated it, mostly because it felt good. “Okay.”
His smile built like a wave—slow at first before it crested, dazzling like the reflection of the sun on water. When he pulled me into a tight hug, I folded into him like I’d given in already. His lips feathered along my cheekbone, and I shivered a little, more from the cold than from the contact.
“Time to go home?” Kieran asked like that still made sense, like he’d never packed up and left.
“Yeah,” I said anyway, and when I tried to step back, he held on for one more second before he let me go. Such a small thing, and yet it felt like a seismic shift.
Please don’t break me.
I held my tongue, just like I had for years. Quiet, we started moving towards the car, the faint glow of streetlights catching the soft line of his mouth. When he caught me looking, his lips curved up for another smile even as he stayed silent. I averted my eyes and wrapped my arms around myself, blood still sizzling with that strange, bubbly lightness.
All right. Prove it, then.
CHAPTER 4
Kieran
I’d messed up.
Late to the party, stumbling my way into a revelation that mirrored what Ashby had figured out years ago. My best friend, myrock, and I’d been too damn blind to see that I made him miserable.
Well—I had the rest of our lives to make it up to him.
We didn’t talk much on the drive back, mostly just let the radio do its thing. I could tell he was one wrong comment away from freaking out, and I was still working through it all. Ashby, in love with me. For a decade, while I’d been bouncing along without a care.And now? God, I’d never felt like this—knocked off-kilter, flying high as a kite on a simple kiss.
In love. I was in love. With Ashby.
Yeah, that made sense.
A sudden silence fell when we pulled up in front of my mum’s house and Ashby killed the engine. “We’re here,” he said after a beat, flashing me a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“Yeah.” I didn’t move just yet, content to study him.
“What?” he asked, voice hushed, almost shy. Distant brightness from a streetlamp washed across his face, and Christ,he was beautiful. The thought wasn’t entirely new, but it carried a different weight now.
“Just wondering,” I said. “If I tried to give you a goodnight kiss, would that be pushing my luck?”
Something twitched around his mouth—a hint of lightness mixed with nerves. “Rain check, maybe? Think I’m at max capacity for emotional rollercoasters tonight.”
“Okay.” I undid the seatbelt and hesitated. We usually hugged before we parted, but he looked like even that might be too much right now. He hated showing cracks in his armour. When his parents nearly split, it took several days until he told me, and when I’d left for Newcastle University, I had to repeat I’d miss him a dozen times before he’d say it back.
Huh. That took on a slightly different meaning now, didn’t it?
“Good night, Ash.” I reached out and skimmed my fingers along the line of his jaw, the contact sweet and brief. “Love you.”
