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M/M, Contemporary Romance, Friends-to-Lovers [Coming Dec 4, 2025 / 4,500 Words] AMZ / Apple / BN / Kobo / SW / All Buy Links When a winter storm shuts down the city and spoils Sean's plans to visit his family, he's resigned to spending Christmas alone. He sure as hell doesn't expect to find his best friend waiting at his door. Warren is supposed to be in Naples with holiday plans of his own, not sitting on Sean's doorstep in the middle of a blizzard. But here he is anyway, cheerful and gorgeous and cagey about his reasons for coming. Sean doesn't mind the unanswered questions. He's just grateful Warren is here, for a Christmas that will be sweeter than he ever imagined. 
By the time Sean disembarks the final bus of his commute, the weather has taken such a severe turn that he marvels at having made it the last leg of the journey home. Surely public transit will need to shut down soon at this rate, and he's grateful his manager decided—in defiance of instructions from higher up the chain of command—to shut the coffee shop down early and send everyone home. The thought of spending Christmas Eve sleeping on the floor of his day job, trapped downtown with coworkers he barely tolerates some days, is a circle of hell he does not particularly want to experience. The trudge along snow-drifted sidewalks makes him wish he'd chosen taller boots this morning. Every step sinks him into wet, heavy snow almost up to the knee, and the loose tops of his ankle-high boots mean his socks have been sodden since about five minutes into his commute. Even his puffy winter coat isn't enough to shield him from the biting wind and sleet as they slant relentlessly down from the sky, stinging the side of his face no matter how he turns and huddles. Clouds hang sickly and green above the horizon, so thick and heavy that the world has been cast in disconcerting darkness a full hour before sunset. It's the sort of weather Sean loves watching through a window, fascinating at a safe remove, not so pleasing up close like this. He hopes the aggressive wind and clinging ice won't take out power for the whole block. His apartment is an old brick building, drafty as hell. He's already dreading this month's heating bill; he's not sure what he'll do if the heat goes out entirely during weather like this. As he rounds the final corner onto his street, he's relieved to see cheerful light shining from almost every window. The streetlights aren't on—it isn't supposed to be dark yet—but Sean has been picking his way along dim and icy sidewalks this whole time. He can manage another fifty feet. Carefully, though. So carefully. Even when this means avoiding the very occasional patches of open pavement in favor of trudging through deeper snow alongside the path. He startles upon reaching the front steps of his own building and seeing a figure huddled there—seated on the third step up from the pavement, hunched inward against the wild and howling chill—perfectly centered between a small suitcase and a rumpled paper bag. Sean has all of two seconds to wonder if one of his neighbors has managed to lock themselves out, before the figure's head rises and dark eyes catch on Sean through the maelstrom. The figure is wearing a sleek jacket that does not look at all sufficient for the elements, and a dark knit cap pulled all the way down to their eyebrows. A thick scarf conceals the entire bottom half of the figure's face, nose and all, leaving only the eyes visible. But the eyes are enough. "Warren," Sean blurts, his face already breaking into a wide grin beneath his own ice-crusted scarf. "What the hell are you doing out here?" He has other questions too, like how Warren can possibly be in the city, when last Sean heard he was planning to spend Christmas with his family in Naples—or how any plane could possibly have arrived safely, considering the dramatic weather event unfolding across half the state. But somehow those questions feel less urgent than sussing out why Warren is waiting for him outside, when the world is currently blowing itself to pieces. Even without being able to see Warren's mouth, Sean can tell by the way his eyes scrunch at the corners that his best friend is wearing a sheepish smile. "My key didn't work." Warren shrugs. "And by the time I realized, my taxi was gone." AMZ / Apple / BN / Kobo / SW / All Buy Links |
Cover design by Yolande Kleinn ISBN 978-1-946316-65-3 |