We thought forcing ourselves to forget and a few state lines could make us regret what we were. We lied, called it life and just let it run its course. But death doesn't care about boundaries and the heart will always yearn for exactly what it wants.

Zachary Taylor and Fatima Wilson were never supposed to be anything more than friends. Seven and a half years later, nobody believes them. Not when he calls her first after every game. Not when she shows up to every practice like she belongs there. Not when his daughter cries for her before anyone else. And definitely not when they argue like a married couple who forgot to sign the papers. They swear it's nothing. Just friendship. Just loyalty. Just life. But life has a funny way of looking like love when you stop paying attention. Especially when you've already been living like a family without realizing it. And when outside relationships, old history, and unexpected truths start to blur the lines... One question becomes impossible to ignore: If they're just friends... why does it feel like they've already been married this whole time?

Sometimes you have to lose what was never meant to stay to find the love that adds everything you were missing.

✨Read Me✨

Fatima Wilson doesn't do distractions. At 25, she's built a life on control, success, and never letting anyone get close enough to shake her focus. She's sharp-tongued, fiercely independent, and impossible to read-unless you know her well enough to see the softness she hides behind the attitude. Zachary Taylor is the exact opposite of everything she tries to avoid. Confident, effortlessly charming, and used to getting exactly what he wants, Zac has never met a woman he couldn't win over-until her. Fatima doesn't fall for the smile, the status, or the reputation. She doesn't even make it easy for him to stay in the same room without arguing. And somehow... that only makes him want her more. What starts as a chance meeting in a crowded club turns into something neither of them can escape when business forces them back into each other's world. Every interaction becomes a battle of wills-sharp words, stolen glances, and tension that refuses to stay buried. She calls him Zachary when she's annoyed. He calls her Angel like it belongs to her. She says she can't stand him. He says she'll get used to him. But beneath the arguments and eye rolls, something dangerous begins to form-something neither of them planned for, and neither of them knows how to stop. Because the real problem isn't that they don't like each other. It's that they do.

A love worth building.

Sequel to Bound By Paradise.

"You want me to gamble my heart on a spin?" he asked, a dry little laugh slipping under his breath. "No," she murmured, sliding off the stool and stepping closer to him. "I want you to stop pretending love could ever survive in a place you have to lie to keep it."

Her family sees embarrassment. Her lawyer sees entitlement. The public sees a headline. But underneath all of that, she is somebody who keeps making reckless choices because she is starving for love, attention, freedom, and somebody to choose her over the family name.

Our love ended years ago... or did it?