Hey, book bae! Here’s one final sneak peek into all of tomorrow’s releases! I’m SO freaking excited! It is my most sincere desire that you all enjoy these books as much as I enjoyed writing them!
You can head over to Amazon to preorder the books, purchase gift boxes, and enter to win 1 of 5 mini love token gift boxes by clicking here.
Faded Mirrors: Featuring Smoke & Mira
Unedited
Before she could walk away, Smoke took hold of her wrist. He pulled her close, brushing her hair off her shoulders with his palm as he stared into her eyes.
“Why you always runnin’ away?”
Her smile was bitter as she lowered her head and avoided his eyes. “I’m trying to save you, Princeton.”
Tilting her head by her chin, Smoke assured her, “Ain’t shit you can throw my way that I can’t handle, love. I promise you dat.”
Licking her lips, Mira considered his promise before whispering, “I’m no good for you. I’m in a fucked-up relationship, and I got a lot of habits and issues. Trust me when I say it’s best for you if you stay away.”
“Nah.”
“Nah?” she repeated before smiling and gently pushing him away. “I didn’t ask you a yes-or-no question, Princeton.”
“You also ain’t saying shit that means anything either. You think I give a fuck about your issues? I got issues, too. We can put them hoes together and make our own version of Vogue. ’Cause this here that we got… this shit is fate.”
Mira’s head shook as she took backward steps away from him and laughed. “Nah. I don’t believe in fate.”
“Why not?”
Her smile fell. “Because that would imply that I believe love is out there for me, but I know it’s not.”
“You’re right… love ain’t out there for you.” He took a step in her direction. “It’s right here, looking you dead in your eyes.” Her eyes shut as she clenched her jaw. When her shoulders caved and she covered her face, Smoke’s head tilted as he rolled his tongue across his cheek. “I’ll fall back until you ready, though.”
Mira’s breath came out shaky as she dropped her hands. Avoiding his eyes, she nodded and agreed with, “Don’t wait,” but at this point, Smoke was certain that was beyond his control. Like he said, it was fate. Now that he’d seen her three times and knew a sure way to get to her through his sister, there was no way he was letting her go.
“I’ll walk you out,” he offered, to which she nodded in agreement. “How you know my sister?”
That put a smile on her face. “We met at a brunch day party like three months ago. Both of our niggas stood us up, and we couldn’t be seated at a table for two alone, so we ended up sharing a table. We’ve been rocking ever since.”
That would explain why he was so drawn to her. If Mira had any of the traits Oakland had, that was why he felt the urge to protect her.
“That’s what’s up. She needs some solid people in her life.”
“Me too.”
“Obviously not, ’cause you got a real nigga right here tryna fuck with you.”
Mira laughed as he patted his chest, and even though he was smiling, Smoke was serious as hell. He was coming up with all kinds of reasons in his head beyond her beauty that made him crave her so damn much.
“I see you gon’ be corny just like your sister.”
“Aye, we ain’t corny… we just got a different kind of sense of humor.”
“Umhm.” Mira giggled softly, stepping more into his space without even realizing it.
When they made it outside to her Infiniti, she stepped directly in front of her door. She might not have wanted to admit it, but that was her way of stealing a few seconds more of his time. Smoke would let her have that.
“Well… thanks again for the other night.”
“It’s cool. Stay safe, a’ight?”
With a smile, Mira replied, “And you stay dangerous.”
Mirroring her smile, Smoke wrapped his arm around her to open her door. When she still didn’t move, he stepped closer. Pressed his body into hers.
“You know what the fuck you doing,” he warned, voice low and thick with the lust he was trying to control.
At the feel of his dick hardening against her, Mira bit down on her bottom lip, resting her hands on his chest.
“What am I doing?”
“Tryna start some shit you ain’t prepared to let me finish. Lea’ me alone until you ready, Mira. For real.”
Conceding to his only request, Mira nodded as her hands slid down his arms.
“Okay. I will.”
That was what he needed, but it for damn sure wasn’t what Smoke wanted. Tilting her head back with a handful of her hair, Smoke rested his forehead on hers. He told himself not to do it, but he couldn’t resist measuring the softness of her lips. One peck was all he told himself to get. All he’d allow his soul to have. But when she moaned quietly and wrapped her hand around the back of his neck, he had to go in for a second. With no fear, Mira’s eyes remained locked with his as he tenderly pressed his lips against hers a third time.
It wasn’t until he pulled away and clasped his hand around her neck as he bit down on his bottom lip did she close her eyes. Lips parted, she willingly allowed his tongue to enter. She moaned again, and Smoke’s eyes closed as he melted under the touch of her skin. As her hands slid under his shirt, he pressed her harder into the car… forcing himself to pull away.
Tugging at his silver link chain, Smoke stepped back as she released a shaky breath.
“I really have to go now,” she announced, quickly opening her door before he could do it for her.
Love is the Byline: Oakland and Azriel
Unedited
“You have a very beautiful smile,” the bartender complimented as he set my drink down in front of me.
“Thank you,” I replied, more perky than I intended to. To be honest, a part of me was hoping I could establish a quick bond with him before Azriel arrived just in case he was as much of an asshole as I thought he would be.
“Are you single?”
I opened my mouth to reply, but before I could, the sexiest baritone I’d ever heard said, “Not for the next week.”
Squeezing my thighs together instantly, I inhaled a deep breath. I had three weaknesses: confidence, a deep, sexy voice, and a good smelling man. If this was Azriel, he was definitely harnessing all three. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions and assume he was him, because it could have just been a random shooting his shot. As he sat on the bar stool next to me, he casually looked my frame over before telling the bartender his drink order.
“On a scale of one to ten, how upset with me are you?”
My smile was crooked as I took his fine ass in. He had the prettiest shade of black skin I’d ever seen. And I do mean black. Black like vanilla black. But the long beard on his face was even darker, just like the low fade on his head. He had classic black man features – wide nose, dark eyes, big lips. Jesus. I needed this to not be Azriel.
“Why would I be upset with you?”
“Because I challenged your articles and set the board up to finesse us into this bullshit ass experiment.”
Yeap.
Definitely Azriel.
“Azriel?” He nodded, pulling out his wallet to show me his I.D. “Damn. I didn’t know they made ‘em like you anymore.”
His hearty laugh sent chills down my spine.
This man was fine as hell.
I was loving everything about him when I was supposed to be slicing him deep for writing rebuttals to my articles. To my truth. To my beliefs.
As his laugh settled down and his eyes opened, they lazily looked into mine as he licked his lips.
“I can say the same for you. If I would have known you were at the BWE picnics all this time I definitely would have come through.”
We stared at each other for a few seconds as our smiles lingered and wavered, and without the distraction of his voice, I was reminded that he was my competition. Almost my enemy. At that point, it didn’t matter how good he smelled or how fine he looked…
Love is the Byline: Pryer and Deacon
Unedited
“What you think?” he asked, finally breaking the silence.
I shrugged, looking at him briefly before my eyes went down to my French manicured nails. It was my favorite style, and I loved how they looked against my rich cocoa brown skin.
“I don’t want to do it.”
“Why not?”
I didn’t want to tell him the truth. That love made me feel weak and I didn’t like that feeling. I didn’t like falling victim to the emotions of men, or the lack thereof. I liked only what I could control – sex.
“I just don’t.”
“You scared of me?”
That caused me to look back at him. “Why would I be scared of you?”
Deacon smiled softly as his head tilted. “People always fear the unknown.”
“Well, I know you well enough to not fear you.”
His head shook as he stood. “Nah. You don’t know me at all. I think you want to know me, and because I didn’t submit to your will, that scares you. Now you runnin’, and this challenge is going to make it difficult for you to do that.”
Tapping the table with his knuckles, Deacon nodded, as if his mind was telling him he was correct with his assessment of me. Shit, he was. I wasn’t going to tell him that, though.
“I want you to know…” He paused and took a step in my direction. I think the rise of my chest as I inhaled and held a deep breath is what kept him from taking another. “You’re safe with me, Pryer. Okay?”
Looking away, all I could do was nod and pray he left before my tears fell. Truth was, I didn’t want to be this emotionless, hardened shell of a woman. I wanted to be the way I used to be – able to feel, love, and express freely. Able to surrender and trust men. But Armani destroyed that part of me. Even after him, as I stumbled to find my way with men, the ones that came and left those first couple of years further confirmed they weren’t to be trusted. Eventually I just stopped trying.
Now, they expected me to let a man inside of the places I’d closed off for years. Almost a decade now. Releasing a shaky breath, I wiped my eyes as my head hung. There was a lot riding on this, and even though I didn’t want to tell Deacon, he was right – I was scared as hell.
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