All Zarinah wanted was to fall in love. Growing up, she had kissed her fair share of frogs. When an unconventional situation leads her to Lawson, her wishes might become reality. Lawson is the new CEO of his family's hotel casino chain. He's tired of aimless dating and women just wanting his money. When he meets Zarinah, he instantly feels like she's the one.

When souls are tied, it's never goodbye. A boy I was that summer evening I met you, pulling your belongings out of the truck and into your new home. I knew it was love then. A whole man I was the day that you met me at the altar and agreed to love me until death do us part. A shell of a man I've become since it did, unable to move on, move forward, or progress in any way until I discovered that not even death was permanent enough to keep us apart. A better man I'm destined to be, knowing that, at some capacity, you're still with me. Our love is one that never dies.

You met them in the Valentine and Rose series. In this prelude, I will formally introduce you to Malik Anthony Clark, Tristian Neil Clark, and Langston Jamal Clark.

Zahi was young and living life to the fullest. Then, he was thrust into fatherhood and forced to change his outlook on life, love, and happiness. The self-proclaimed bachelor did not expect to be swept up in emotions he'd never felt. However, caring for his daughter, Zuri, charged a part of his heart that he thought was dead. The spark awakened a need for more out of life. From the moment he laid eyes on India, he was drawn to her. The pull was so intense, and no matter how many times he told himself to stay away from her, he just couldn't follow his own command.

At twenty-one, Ason ‘Ace’ Williams Jr. knows all about inevitable endings. He’s formerly famous, a popular rapper’s muse, the son of a three-time NBA champ, and a little… complicated. After a disturbing scandal and loss rocks his world, he’s left to deal with both in a city that doesn’t quite feel like home. It’s a place filled with old family friends he’s never met, reminders of all the endings he’s had to endure, and even worse—he’s stuck there after his dad takes a job no one ever imagined him taking.

All Jerzey wanted was a family of her own. After things don't work out with her ex-husband, she takes matters into her own hands. Being a foster mom isn't easy, but having her best friend by her side to help makes it a little easier. That is, until the two blur lines and suddenly a friendship isn't enough.

Cadence was forced to run to protect the one person she would give her life for. Sol was forced to run to protect the one person who he feels that he failed. You can’t hide from your indiscretions and you definitely can’t hide from your heart. When two creative souls are drawn to each other with an undeniable connection, the riffs and harmonies are a beautiful complicated mess.

The job offer she expected after taking an unpaid internship at a major shoe company didn’t come through. The friend who’d offered her a place to stay suddenly gave her 48 hours to vacate after a misunderstanding. And when she’s forced to move back to her hometown to live with her father and his mistress-turned-wife, it almost seems impossible for things to get any worse...until she runs into her former best friend, who’s only gotten fine with time.

Samad Baker has always been comfortable existing in the shadows. Allowing others access places Samad and the ones he loves in jeopardy. Nilou finds conflict with her heart and the life she chooses while Samad has conflict with his troubled past. If two conflicted hearts collide, there is bound to be an emotional explosion and when the smoke clears, there’s no guarantee that either will still be whole.

Kenya Higgs has the perfect life, at least from the outside looking in. Her husband Boston is handsome, wealthy, and he showers her with extravagant gifts like every day is Christmas. Kenya gets to rub elbows with the most affluent people in the community and take vacations at the drop of a dime. Kenya’s life is perfect, that’s if you don’t consider the unspeakable things going on behind the arched doors of their breathtaking mansion.

For Maleek Jones, hockey is his wife. Everything and everyone else is his mistress, an aside. When unexpected responsibilities land in his lap, the balance of his world is disrupted, changing the way he sees everything.

Kailani had been scarred from her last relationship and love was the last thing on her mind, but when Hendrix makes an appearance, she can't seem to shake, she learns to lower her guard. The two build a bond that seems unbreakable until someone from Kailani's past threatens to ruin it all.

Can a good girl find love in a thug? For Lei Fifer, that’s the hundred-thousand-dollar question. When Lei, an introverted homebody, invites her girls over for a spa day, she isn’t expecting their conversation to shift to men in prison. As an advocate for rehabilitated people receiving the love, companionship, and support those who haven’t committed crimes receive, Lei doesn’t hesitate to put her money where her mouth is and bet that she can find a good friend or great love with someone through the pen pal program her father created.

Best friends? With a celebrity? Impossible. That's how Sesali feels after a chance encounter with super producer Dash Dean. His offer of friendship has to be a smoke screen for an ulterior motive. Besides, she already has best friends, and one of them has staked a claim on Dash.

From the moment his eyes met hers, there was something. Time stood still, the world around them vanished, and electricity... instant electricity. Immediately, she owned him in an inexplicable way he couldn’t quite understand. He couldn't escape her. Not in his dreams. And soon, not even in his reality. He was the man that made her soar. There was nothing in the world she wanted more than him. Absolutely nothing. His touch made her levitate. When she was with him, she was limitless. He felt like home.

This is not a simple story. This is not even just one story. There’s a boy, and there’s a girl. But there’s so much more than that. I was going home. Not forever; only long enough to watch my eternally irresponsible father marry a girl who happened to be my childhood enemy. There were no plans to embark on some crazy sex odyssey with a wild 19-year old baseball player. Easton Malone is insufferable, crude, and far too close. The hot, reckless days we shared should never have happened. I would forget him.

Nadia Conrad has big dreams, and she's determined to make them come true. But between maintaining her college scholarship and working at the local day care to support herself, dating's the last thing on her mind. Then she moves into a new apartment and meets the taciturn yet irresistible guy in 1B. Daniel Tyler has grown up too fast. Becoming a single dad at 20 turned his life upside down - and brought him heartache he can't risk again.

Max Dutton, a starting NFL linebacker for the Los Angeles Condors, is certain he's going to die young, since his father and grandfather both passed away at an early age. Believing his life will be cut short, Max lives every moment to its fullest. For this reason, Max also shies away from forming close relationships. What would be the point of falling in love and starting a family, only to leave them as his father left him and his sisters? Nutrition expert Kari Murphy used to think Max Dutton was to die for. She's older and wiser now.

Marcus Major, author of the Blackboard best-seller Good Peoples, crafts this fun, stylish and delightfully perceptive tale of four best friends, an oath - and one very special young woman. Colin, Dexter, Ibn, and Michael have been inseparable since college. Besides sharing similar interests, they have someone very important in common - Erika. Erika is the little sister of a friend who died, and they’ve promised to watch out for her.

A long time ago, in a small town I've tried to forget...I married the charismatic all-American king of high school. He was sexy and charming. I was shy and infatuated. We were both 18. Of course we did not live happily ever after. We did the opposite. You thought that was the end? So did I. Seven years later and without warning, Branson Hickey is back in my life. Many things have changed and a few things haven't. I still want him. I still can't stand him. I still think about him all the time, even after everything we did to each other.

Dallas Cole loathes football. That's what happens when you spend your whole childhood coming in second to a sport. College is her time to step out of the bleachers and put the playing field (and the players) in her past. But life doesn't always go as planned. As if going to the same college as her football-star ex wasn't bad enough, her father, a phenom in Texas's world of high school coaching, has decided to make the jump to college ball…as the new head coach at Rusk University. Dallas finds herself in the shadows of her father and football all over again.

As one of the big names at his family's gym, Legends, MMA star Rory Kavanagh is used to being in the spotlight - until a gruesome leg injury knocks him out of the cage. Rory is left feeling sidelined in more ways than one, battling the inner demons that come with losing the one shot at his dreams. Then Clare walks into his life and gives him a new dream: winning her heart. There aren't many new faces in Woodlawn these days, but this tough, beautiful stranger makes Rory want to get his life back into fighting shape.

Brody O'Donnel doesn't believe in happily ever afters - at least, not for himself. But he wants the best for his vivacious, beautiful friend Gwen Danes, and he's tired of watching her pine for a clueless man. Figuring a little bit of jealousy will motivate the guy, Brody proposes a fake relationship. It's an outrageous plan, but Gwen figures there's no harm in it - until they share a passionate kiss she never saw coming. Suddenly, Gwen's fighting a growing attraction to a man she knows she can't have. After all, he's just faking it, isn't he?

Trenton Maddox was the king of Eastern State University, dating co-eds before he even graduated high school. His friends wanted to be him, and women wanted to tame him, but after a tragic accident turned his world upside down, Trenton leaves campus to come to grips with the crushing guilt. Eighteen months later, Trenton is living at home with his widower father, and works full-time at a local tattoo parlor to help with the bills. Just when he thinks his life is returning to normal, he notices Cami sitting alone at a table at The Red.

Walter Lucas doesn't believe in storybook love. Everyone is better off having as much fun as possible with as many people as possible - except his shy, sad little sack of a roommate is seriously screwing up his world view. As Walter sets out to lure Kelly out of his shell, staying just friends is harder than he anticipated. He discovers love is a crash course in determination. To make the grade, he'll have to finally show up for class - and overcome his own private fear that love was never meant to last.

Twenty-eight-year-old Brooklyn Campbell is having a bad day. A speeding ticket, a towed car, and a broken heel are all working against her laid-back vibe. To top it all off, her birth mother, whom she's never met, has requested contact. The only bright spot is an impromptu date with a beautiful and mysterious brunette. Jessica Lennox is what you would call a high-powered executive. She's the head of a multimillion-dollar advertising firm in New York City, and it didn't happen by accident.

Jory Keyes leads a normal life as an architect’s assistant until he is witness to a brutal murder. Though initially saved by police Detective Sam Kage, Jory refuses protective custody - he has a life he loves that he won’t give up no matter who is after him. But Jory’s life is in real jeopardy, especially after he agrees to testify about what he saw. While dealing with attempts on his life, well-meaning friends who want to see him happy, an overly protective boss, and a slowly unfolding mystery that is much more sinister than he could ever imagine, the young gay man finds himself getting involved with Sam, the conflicted and closeted detective....

Kate Corbin had a handsome boyfriend and a budding career as a reporter at a popular Chicago newspaper. But after the death of the woman who raised her, she fell into a rut and never got out. Now she's stuck writing fluff pieces about lipstick and wine and feeling trapped in a relationship that's going nowhere. Kate's boss gives her an intriguing assignment: spend a week interviewing R. J. Lawson, a modern-day Howard Hughes who recently reemerged as the owner of a well-respected Napa winery.

When Parker Blanton meets Ben Olsen during her freshman year of college, the connection is immediate - and platonic. Six years later, they're still best friends, sharing an apartment in Portland's trendy Northwest District as they happily settle into adult life. But when Parker's boyfriend dumps her out of the blue, she starts to wonder about Ben's no-strings-attached approach to dating. The trouble is, even with Ben as her wingman, Parker can't seem to get the hang of casual sex - until she tries it with him.

Virginity. Bliss Edwards is about to graduate from college and still has hers. Sick of being the only virgin among her friends, she decides the best way to deal with the problem is to lose it as quickly and simply as possible - a one-night stand. But her plan turns out to be anything but simple when she freaks out and leaves a gorgeous guy alone and naked in her bed with an excuse that no one with half a brain would ever believe. And as if that weren't embarrassing enough, when she arrives for her first class of her last college semester, she recognizes her new theater professor....

Family over everything! It sounds good in theory. But in reality family can be the first to screw you over. Paris, the stunningly beautiful sister, has always been the golden child, effortlessly captivating everyone around her. However, her breathtaking exterior hides a darker side—one that led her to betray her sister Samaya’s trust by sleeping with her man. Their once inseparable bond, igniting a fierce rivalry filled with resentment and longing. Samaya, on the other hand, is equally beautiful but feels overshadowed by Paris's allure. As she grapples with the betrayal, she finds ...

Hidden away near the end of Long Island, New York, is a community where affluent African Americans, their friends, and the wannabes have secretly vacationed for more than 75 years. Unlike the bluffs of Martha’s Vineyard, black folks here own five miles of prime beachfront. With a mix of legacy families, new money, hangers-on, and thirsty developers, drama can never be far behind in a place called...the BLACK HAMPTONS.

Patience had grown tired of the way that her husband willing went around slanging his D like numbchucks. Since he wanted to throw his D, there was one D she threw at him and that was a Divorce. That was something Nova wasn’t prepared for. In his mind, when he said “until death do us part,” he meant each and every word.Since Patience knew Nova wouldn’t give up easily, she had another trick up her sleeve. Enlisting one of his old friends to help her out, she didn’t know just how deep the relationship with that friend went and it ends up backfiring on her. She can’t begin to thing ...

How long does it take to fall in love? It most certainly can't happen in one night . . . can it? A one-night stand, an engagement, and a wedding, all within the space between New Year's and Valentine's Day. Could it be love? If so, is it meant to be?

Can you remain in a marriage knowing that practically every woman around you has tasted that one part of your husband’s body that’s supposed to belong to you…and only you?!? Patience once loved everything about her husband, down to his dirty drawers. In the back of her mind, she always felt that he was seeing other women behind her back, but that was something she could never prove. A turn of events on a day that was supposed to be used for her to relax her mind and free herself of all negative thoughts about her relationship, caused Patience to leave behind the weak version of ...

Losing everything doesn't have to be the end. Sometimes, it's a chance to find something different.

“God made the woman from the man’s rib. Not from his head… that he should command her. Not from his feet… that he should walk upon her. But, rather from his side… to be his partner in life. From under his arm… to be protected by him. And from near his heart… to be loved by him.”~Matthew HenryNassir “Nas” Braxton was a man who never believed in love until he ran into his fiancé, Ciara. Ciara was everything he thought he wanted in a woman. That was until one random night when he wanted to surprise her, but he was the one that got the surprise of his life. Jamecca “Mecca...

Career-driven and goal-oriented is what Suny Daniel is. After studying under the best surgeons in Texas, she's ready to make a change. That change leads her back to her roots in New Orleans. A mishap with her current boyfriend on New Year's Eve lands her in bed with the mysterious Kross Stockley. Kross Stockley is a wild card, one that tends to shy away from relationships and commitments. The moment that he meets Suny, he is immediately drawn to her. He quickly realizes everything that what he thought he didn't want, turns out to be exactly what he needs. But at what cost?

Elite investigator Zoe Harrington isn't about to be fooled twice. She knows all the tempting by-any-means-necessary games FBI agent Carver Banks will use to close a case. So when he needs her help with a missing person case, she's happy to charge him double the fee - and keep his sizzling moves at arm's length. But when the search strikes too close to home, Zoe finds the passion between them reigniting past the danger point.

Advice columnist Amelia Reinhardt had been told her entire life that she was destined for greatness. After gracing the cover of a popular magazine that highlights Black professionals, Amelia knew she’d finally made it. Now that her career was taking off, she no longer had an excuse to ignore the storm brewing between her and the man she’s known her entire life.

When club owner Adrian Bryant discovers his biological father is hotel magnate Elliot Crawford, his life unravels. Shunned by Crawford while he and his mother struggled, Adrian hatches a high-profile plan to destroy the Crawford name - and the reputations of his two half-brothers. But to shield the woman he loves from the hell he intends to unleash, Adrian has to let her go. Photographer Dana Singleton is heartbroken and confused by Adrian's behavior. But just when she's given up on their relationship, she begins to discover the truth - and a dark side of Adrian.