Christmas 2025

 

Christmas Eve 2025

 

This is my all-time favorite Christmas-time verse. Growing up, I could hear the church bells ringing as we walked home from my Aunt Jane's house on Christmas Eve. Those are memories I treasure.

January After Dark by KC Kendricks

 December 10, 2025

New today! January After Dark is live on Amazon! Yes, that happened a lot faster than anticipated. The book is also loaded at iTunes and other online vendors, but it has to finish the process. I don't think it will take too long.

Thanks for reading January After Dark.

KC

_*_*_

A wrong number on New Year’s Eve turns into a romance.

“Wow. We haven’t had dinner yet and that sounds like you’re already laying the foundation for an out.”

 Derek Bradley leads a secret double life. During the day, he works a regular nine-to-five, but when the sun goes down, his alter ego comes to life. Five nights a week, Rick January takes to the airwaves for your drive home with January After Dark.

It’s New Year’s Eve and Andre Maxwell tries to reach out to his estranged twin brother only to find that phone number now belongs to someone named Derek. It seems like Derek is a caring guy, and they stay on the phone to watch the ball drop together.

In one of life’s twists, they meet as strangers at a local pub and discover they’ve been talking on the phone. Derek doesn’t think he’s ready to love again, and Andre’s never had a decent relationship. But lonely hearts want what they want, after dark. 

EXCERPT:

Out with the old and in with the new.

The new mattress arrived first thing on Friday morning. I made the bed with the new sheets and hustled off to my day job. I was deep into the personnel review of the new company, and I wanted to schedule a few interviews for next week.

If I made it through the day without losing my mind, Eddie and I were going to work at the radio station tonight to get two more Friday night shows recorded. My lawyer hadn’t gotten back to me about the syndication contract, but Eddie and I needed to do some preliminary work and get our ducks in a row. We were going to act on faith.  

I had all this to do, and my focus was on my date tomorrow evening. Andre hadn’t called me, and I was squirrely over it. I had purposefully not stopped at the Night Owl for a drink, and now I feared he thought I was avoiding him. Which I was, in a way.

Andre was cute in ways Daryl had not been. It seemed shallow to compare them, but I couldn’t help myself. I had yet to discern the color of his eyes. The Night Owl’s dim lighting prevented me from getting a good look, but I suspected they were light blue or gray. I had gotten a look at his ruby signet ring though, and the shank was engraved with a stylized “C” which I thought must be for his twin brother.

And then there was The Itch. Ah, that low-level simmering heat in my balls every time I thought about what may or may not happen after our dinner. I’d never been one to think with my cock, but my cock was ready to seize the lead. I couldn’t allow that to happen. I barely knew Andre, certainly not well enough to consider letting him fondle the goods.

Eddie and I worked like demented fiends until midnight, and I hit the wall. I was beat until my ass hit the car seat, and I suddenly had a second wind. Instead of heading home, I cruised into the Night Owl’s parking lot.

This was not a good move, but Andre had said he’d call me sometime today and he had not. I wondered why. I climbed out of my car just as he sprinted out the door and straight for me.

“I thought you were going to call me,” I said as he pinned me to my car and kissed my cheek. I slid sideways out of his grasp.

“I did say that, but the day got away from me, Derek. I’ve been here, hoping you’d stop, and I’d just given up when I saw you drive in.” He studied me for a moment. “Are you going to tell me you ‘worked’ late again?”

I pushed the button on the remote to unlock my car doors. “Get in, and I’ll talk.”

His eyes glittered in the streetlights, but he finally nodded and walked around to the passenger door.

If I didn’t tell him what was going on, he’d think I was seeing another man, and I couldn’t blame him if he did. Keeping secrets never worked well for me. I dropped back onto the driver’s seat and locked the doors. I shifted to face him.

“What I’m about to tell you is top secret. It can’t get out just yet because I still need my day job.” I held my right pinkie finger out to him. “Do you swear to stay silent?”

Andre hooked his pinkie around mine. “I swear, but you’d better tell me now or I might die from curiosity.”

“Here it is. I’m Rick January.”

He tilted his head. “Who?”

I stared at him. He didn’t know? “You don’t listen to local radio?”

A wide grin transformed his face. “Gotcha! Oh, my God. I can tell now. The voice. You really are Rick January? No shit?”

“No shit. My ‘working late’ is being on the air from six until ten, weeknights. I don’t tell people this, Andre, but I’m telling you so you know I’m not lying to you about working.”

He leaned back and then held his pinkie out to me again. “I won’t tell a soul, not even my friend Joyce.”

“Thank you. But there’s more. The show is going to be syndicated nationwide, so I have a lot of work ahead of me.”

He was quiet for a moment. “Wow. We haven’t had dinner yet and that sounds like you’re already laying the foundation for an out.”

_*_*_*_

January After Dark is available at:

 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G66DB4QX
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0G66DB4QX
Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0G66DB4QX
Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0G66DB4QX

Universal by link for other online vendors: https://books2read.com/u/3LAqkM

Visit the book page for more info at 

https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/january-after-dark-by-kc-kendricks.html

     _*_*_*_*_*_*_

 KC Kendricks

My home on the web- Between the Keys: 

http://kckendricks.blogspot.com

Visit my bookshelf at: 

https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/bookshelf.html

Social media links:

Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com

My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com

Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/KCKendricks

twitter.com/kckendricks

facebook.com/kckendricks

KC Kendricks, Between the Keys, January After Dark, LGBT gay m/m romance, new love, love after loss, contemporary gay fiction, LGBTQ fiction, Kindle romance, romance writer, new book

I can still call myself a writer

 December 9, 2025

I typed THE END in one of the three manuscripts I have on the go. I cannot tell you how good that felt! I was relieved I finished one after months of struggling with a few inner demons. And no, I don't think I'm going to whine about them. If you've been following along, I think you know losing Ron changed everything for me. 

It felt good! There's still some work to do. I need to write the blurb, add the front and end material, set up a book page here on the blog, and get the book uploaded everywhere. At least the cover is made, and I'll share that in a day or two. I'm happy that getting it finished has invigorated me, and maybe inspired me, to buckle down and finish another of the stories I've had on the go. 

I've struggled with the question of whether or not I should hang up my keyboard, but at the moment, I know it's not yet time. I've been worried about what I'm going to do this winter when I can't get outside and writing is the answer. I knew that but wondered if I could actually do it. I'm cautiously optimistic that I can. 

You wouldn't think that after twenty three years I'd still question the muse. She was asleep for a long time and I can't guarantee she won't fall back into a coma. 

Now it's time to move on and get busy with those aforementioned finishing touches. It doesn't pay to bask in a small success for too long. Building on it is a lot better.

_*_*_*_*_*_*_

KC Kendricks
My home on the web- Between the Keys: 
http://kckendricks.blogspot.com
Visit my bookshelf at: 
https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/bookshelf.html

Social media links:

twitter.com/kckendricks

facebook.com/kckendricks

Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/KCKendricks

Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com

My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com

KC Kendricks, Between the Keys, contemporary gay romance, m/m romance, rural living, fiction writer, GLBT romance, Kindle romance, Twitter, Blogger, Facebook, books