Captivated Love
Opposites ignite… Where relationships are concerned, Safire Lewis is like quick fire. She moves fast to get what she wants–then moves on before things get too complicated. Artist Darien James's laid-back charm arouses her interest from their first meeting. But instead of seizing the opportunity for a no-strings fling, he's looking for a commitment.Darien has been hurt before. Now he wants a passionate connection that will last. With her sizzling confidence, the gorgeous paralegal has become his artistic muse–and the ultimate temptation. First they're butting heads, then they're burning up the sheets. He won't settle for less than everything Safire has to give. And if she will only lose her fear of letting go, she might realize that Darien is the one man who'll keep her endlessly enthralled….
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Opposites igniteâ¦
Where relationships are concerned, Safire Lewis is like quick fire. She moves fast to get what she wantsâthen moves on before things get too complicated. Artist Darien Jamesâs laid-back charm arouses her interest from their first meeting. But instead of seizing the opportunity for a no-strings fling, heâs looking for a commitment.
Darien has been hurt before. Now he wants a passionate connection that will last. With her sizzling confidence, the gorgeous paralegal has become his artistic museâand the ultimate temptation. First theyâre butting heads, then theyâre burning up the sheets. He wonât settle for less than everything Safire has to give. And if she will only lose her fear of letting go, she might realize that Darien is the one man whoâll keep her endlessly enthralledâ¦.
One of his hands still cupped her face, and he leaned his head near hers.
âSafire, this has been the best part of the whole evening to meâright here, finding out something real about you. You are beautiful. Donât let that change. Donât squander it away. Donât play it away. Itâsâ¦amazing.â
Safire didnât realize she was holding her breath until she opened her mouth to say something. But she didnât know what to say. The intense look on this manâs faceâso near to hersâtook her breath away. His concern over her feelings moved something inside her. His earnest gaze froze her to the spot. His deep voice sent tingles through her.
She nodded once and smiled weakly, not knowing what to say. They seemed so different that she didnât really expect to see him again, not for another date. Things had gotten a bit tense between them at the sports bar. In the end, he was just a little too conservative for her taste.
She turned to get in her car, and he turned toward his. Safire had turned her key in the lock and opened the door before she felt his hand on her back. She turned around to find him immediately in front of her, taking her in his arms. When Darien kissed her, those soft, kissable lips felt like warm, melted chocolate. Her lips parted at their gentle, platonic touch.
But their kiss didnât remain chaste.
YASMIN SULLIVAN
grew up in upstate New York and St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, from which her family hails. She moved to Washington, D.C., to attend college and has earned degrees from Howard University and Yale University. As an academic writer, she has published on works by Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, James Baldwin, Maya Angelou and Ed Bullins, as well as the writing of the Negritude Movement and historical fiction treating emancipation in the Danish West Indies/United States Virgin Islands. She currently lives in Washington, D.C., where she teaches with a focus on African-American and Caribbean literatures. When she is not teaching, she also does creative writing and works on mosaics.
I think that the people we love and those who love us help us to know ourselves, and our interactions with them help us evolve as human beings. They can be our shelter in times of hurt and our inspiration to create great things. They can shield us from bitterness, and they can help us love the spark within ourselves. This is true of friends and family, but especially of lovers.
I hope that this novel reveals the way we grow through our interplay with those we love. This is what Safire Lewis and Darien James have to find out along their journey togetherâwhether they can evolve with each other, whether they can inspire each other. Iâm so grateful that youâve chosen to share their voyage with me.
I would love to hear your impressions of this book. Please write me at [email protected].
Warm wishes,
Yasmin
For my mother, father, brother and grandmother, who have given me the richness of the human heart; for Jennie and Tanya, who have been my sister-friends; for Madeline, Freddie and William, who have shaped my vision of love; for Vionette and Lois, who have inspired the romantic in me; and for Jimmie, who was somebody to dream with.
Contents
Safire Lewis shifted in her swivel chair, turning from the computer to the open books on the long table in the law library. She loved her work, but a paralegal wasnât what she had set out to become. It was supposed to be a learning interlude on the way to law school. Her parents were gone by then, so she knew she would have to make it independently, and this seemed a way to do that. Now she was ready to make a change, and she already had plans set in motion.
She would have to fight to do it on her own, but it had been that way for a long time. After she lost her parents, she became determined to make it on her own termsâfiercely determined. She was used to fighting, and she was used to going after what she wanted. It was how she had come this far and how she would go on to get what she really wantedâonce she finally decided what that was.
