Desire in the Dark

Ava had mastered the art of loneliness. Forty-one, fine as hell, and freshly untethered from a life that no longer served her, she sought peace-not passion. But peace is the last thing she finds the night she stumbles into a backwoods poetry club and locks eyes with a caramel-skinned mystery who spits fire and moves like sin.

Jalen is thirty, country to his core, raised on hard lessons and harder love. He's raw, unfiltered, and hiding more than his share of demons. But when he meets Ava, his soul recognizes something rare-softness that doesn't break, fire that doesn't burn out. She's everything he never dared to want.

What begins as innocent curiosity quickly spirals into a connection neither can resist. But passion this intense has a price. Secrets simmer. Old wounds bleed. And just as Ava begins to surrender to the heat between them, Jalen is arrested-ripping open a hidden past that threatens to swallow them both.

In a world where love is rare and trust is earned, Ava and Jalen must decide: do they fight for the fire they've ignited... or let the darkness win?

Desire in the Dark is the seductive first installment of a series where hearts collide, secrets unravel, and love burns its way through the shadows.