So, I’ve been teasing this for a while. Character B, James’ love interest in my book. I’ve been trying to decide when is the best time to reveal his name, when it occurred to me that Valentine’s Day was coming up. But instead of eschewing the day like every other single lady I know, I’ve decided to celebrate it.

In case you don’t remember (because it’s been a while), the main character of my book is James Morgan. 28 years old during the book, short brown hair, bright green eyes. If you click that link in the parentheses up there, you can read a little more about him.

So who is his love interest?

Well, his name is Kieran Jackson. Kieran is 33 years old during the book, with long brown hair and cool blue eyes. Like James, he’s also a musician. He’s a vegan because come on, you all knew I had to throw a vegan in there. He’s an ESFP on the Myers-Briggs scale. He’s a Pisces, born February 22. He’s homosexual.

Funny things about James and Kieran?

James’ name came to me almost immediately. But Kieran? I knew how he looked. I knew his personality. But I have to give the credit to my best friend, Chelsey, for his name. I texted her one night out of desperation because I could not settle on a name to suit him. When she came back with the name Kieran, I just knew, that was his name.

When James and Kieran first meet, they don’t like each other. Well, James is really just indifferent as he struggles with his own demons. But Kieran does not like James. There’s obviously more to the story, but it is interesting to note that these two men, who begin on less-than-favorable terms, fall in love each other.

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, here is a tiny, unedited excerpt from one of my favorite early moments between James and Kieran. Enjoy and happy Valentine’s Day!

Kieran stopped to take a drink of water when he locked eyes with James Morgan for the second time that day. He wanted to frown, to give James a look representative of how he felt about the whole situation. Instead, he felt self-conscious, flustered. Keep it together, Kieran, he thought. He felt his face flush in spite of himself. Oh for fucks sake, he’s not even that attractive. And he’s a drunk. An arrogant drunk. But that wasn’t fair. James had been apologetic, embarrassed even. And there’d been something else about him, something in his eyes that’d remained with Kieran all day. Something about the way he reacted when Kieran pointed out the bruise on his face. He couldn’t quite pinpoint it, but it’d softened him, made him almost want to apologize for being so abrasive. Almost. He turned back to the crowd.