Soul Ties

Winner of the 2023 Best Urban Fiction Audio In Black Award K. Renee's Gem Award for 2023 Breakout Book of the Year 2024 Audiobook of the Year from AAMBC Literary Awards 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. Sadly... he was home for someone else. Soul Tie: An intense connection between two people that binds them together mentally, spiritually, and physically.

In his new position as head of the Baptiste family business, Saint faces many challenges. Nothing could have prepared him for the challenges that came with dealing with the alluring Naoki Childs. She was the insoluble problem his big brother, Jahad, talked about. A problem that couldn't be handled with a phone call, a meeting, or by simply emptying his clip. Saint thought he'd never be faced with a problem he couldn't handle, especially where a woman was concerned. But he quickly learned that Naoki wasn't just some woman. She was much, much more than that. Naoki was trapped in what felt like a never-ending cycle with the same man. Except, he wasn't the same man… not exactly anyway. In many ways, he was. But in very distinctive ways, he wasn't. Saint Baptiste belonged in a category of his own. He made her feel in ways no man ever had. In ways she vowed to never feel again. But at the end of the night, when she'd awaken to a cold, empty bed, she'd be reminded of the ways in which he was just like the men before. For a while, his being the same didn't bother her. But when feelings got involved, and she found herself wanting to venture outside of the box she put herself in, things got complicated.

Saint Baptiste fell in love. That was never part of the plan. His relationship with Naoki was supposed to be purely physical. He never intended to feel anything for her, but from the moment they locked eyes four years ago, he felt something. At the time, he didn't realize that the feeling was love. Uncertain how to handle his emotions, he put up walls and tried to maintain control-the one thing he didn't have with her. In focusing on his ego, he did the very thing he never wanted to do: ignored the 'fragile' label only he could see and mishandled her. By the time he was willing to embrace his feelings for her, he feared it might already be too late. After years of untreated trauma, Naoki Childs finds herself trapped in a whirlwind of emotions. She's stuck in a cycle, unable to dig herself out of the hole she's in. The saddest part is that she can't find a mask to hide behind; all her pain is on the surface. The remedies she once relied on no longer work, and she feels herself sinking deeper every day.

Mahogany Mills-Morris has been tethered to Duke since they were teenagers. On paper, they've built a life: a marriage, a home, four beautiful children. But behind closed doors, Mahogany is unraveling, bound by history, babies, and the kind of love that's easier to hold onto than to walk away from. The warmth is gone. Her laughter is quieter. And every day feels like a version of a life she no longer recognizes. Five years ago, for a brief and stolen moment, she felt something else-something electric and alive-in the arms of a stranger at Pandora's. She never saw him again. But the memory lingers like perfume on the skin. Not because of him, but because of what he made her feel: wanted, chosen, seen. She's spent years searching for that feeling in all the wrong places-through quiet betrayals and hollow choices of her own. But every time, the emptiness echoes louder. And Duke… Duke has secrets of his own-one so heavy, it threatens to collapse everything beneath it. Mahogany dreams of leaving, of finding herself outside the walls of what they've built. But she's afraid. Afraid of the unknown. Afraid that a life without Duke might be worse than the one she's already surviving. And afraid that if she chooses herself… she might lose everything. This isn't just a story about infidelity or heartbreak-it's about a woman reckoning with who she is, what she's worth, and whether the love she's clung to is still the love that can save her.

Mahogany is caught off guard when a blast from the past steps back into her life. Not only as the mysterious 'Armani Suit', but also as Crescent Carter, her new client. The connection is instant, undeniable, and every bit as consuming as it was the first time. Crescent feels it too, their chemistry pulsing beneath every word and every glance. But the morals they share hold them back, keeping business and desire in a fragile balance. For Mahogany, whose marriage still binds her, crossing that line could shatter the life she's been fighting to hold together. Meanwhile, Duke is desperate to keep his family intact. For the first time in years, things with Mahogany are steady, and he's determined to protect that fragile peace. But shadows have a way of creeping in-and Diary is the secret he can't outrun. The truth waits, threatening to dismantle everything he's worked so hard to keep hidden. As passion and temptation build, Mahogany and Crescent must decide how much longer they can resist what they feel. Will loyalty and morality prevail? Or will the pull between them prove stronger than the promises that bind her? How will Duke balance his life and his secret? Will it all work out in his favor? Or will the truth unravel in a way that destroys everything he's worked hard at keeping together?