"Solè, why'd you stay?" "Because, Zaire... you the first thing that ever felt worth staying for." ❀ 🝳 ❀ Harlem held the noise. Solè gave Zaire the quiet. Zaire Knox, Harlem's quiet storm, known for his ties to the streets and a gaze that read people faster than they could lie to him. Respected. Feared. Loved. With scars buried deeper than his tattoos, he never planned to love soft. Until a Harlem vinyl shop left behind by his late grandfather forces him to slow down, to breathe, to find his real purpose in the world beyond the streets. Solè Sinclair, soft but unbreakable, raised by her father after loss. By day, she serves warmth behind the counter of a café. By night, she disappears into her art, trying to paint the parts of herself no one ever sees. When their worlds cross, the city shifts. What starts off tense and unexpected turns tender. Together, they learn love can hold you just as fierce as the streets ever did, and softer, too. But love in Harlem always asks one question: what are you willing to risk when the heart wants more than the streets ever offered? A Harlem story. A hood love. A soft place to land. ❀ 🝳 ❀

This is Georgia Simmons and Terrance Carter Jr. love story about how they met at Dillard University in New Orleans. The story starts in August 2013.

*Not edited* I snuggled into the pillow before I felt his arm wrap around me, pulling me closer. My head now in his chest as he pulled my leg over him. "I love you," he whispered with his eyes closed. "Why?" I whispered back and he opened his eyes, looking at me and chuckling a little. "Gabriella, if you don't say it back and stop playing," he mugged and I laughed. "I'm not playing. Why?" I smiled looking up at him and he let out a deep sigh. "I love you because you're the best thing that's ever happened to me...because I was lost before you...because I can't go a second without thinking about you...because my mind goes foggy when I'm not around you...because there is nothing in this world, or any other, I wouldn't do for you...because I know you always got me...because you're my baby and all I'm ever gonna do is love you," he smiled kissing my temple ::: Gabriella Rae Mason is a dancer who moved from New York to LA to follow her dreams. She ran away from a past that still has a hold on her. Although she finds it hard to let her guard down, her life it going well with what she's built for herself. That's until she meet a man who pulls her life in all different directions. Jordan is an artist. He's good at painting and interior design, his way with prints and patterns warm you. The colors of his work paint a rainbow but his insides are coated grey. A cloud of darkness filled with pain and trauma follows him. Will the new girl he meets be able to halt the precipitation? #1 Black Writer(8/1/22)