“Under the Trees, He Found Me Again”

The Christmas lights above us flickered like they knew our secrets.

The world around us glittered,

bright and innocent—

but the air between us was anything but.

He stepped closer,

just close enough for the warmth of him to melt the cold off my skin.

My pulse tripped.

His jaw clenched.

He wasn’t touching me,

but it felt like he was.

“Still running from me?” he asked quietly.

And God—

the way his voice dipped low

felt like a hand on the small of my back.

“No,” I whispered.

Because for once,

I wasn’t.

The truth is—

I never really wanted distance.

I wanted this.

This heat.

This tension.

This dangerous, beautiful thing

that feels like a Christmas miracle wrapped in shadow.

And when he leaned in,

snow falling gently around us,

the world finally felt right

in the wrongest kind of way.