Heated
Naima Simone
(Burned, Inc., #1)
Publication date: July 5th 2022
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
From USA Today bestselling author Naima Simone comes Heated, a sizzling novel about a breakup professional who embarks on a fake relationship with a clientâs exâthe one person she wasnât supposed to fall for.
Zora
Iâm Denverâs unmatchmaker. Every city needs one.
Why? Because people break upâand sometimes they should. But when I learn that entertainment attorney Cyrus Hart is someone elseâs mistake, I canât believe it. Heâs smart, successful, and sexy as hell.
When a chance encounter with Cyrus turns into something more, I canât help but fall for him. Our chemistry is undeniable. But his ex used my company to send him that letterâand thatâs a problem. Especially since he doesnât know I own the company.
How can this possibly work? I know from experience that the riskiest ventures are the worthiest onesâŚbut falling for Cyrus Hart may be my biggest gamble yet.
Cyrus
Iâm a man with a planâcollege, law school, a great career. So far, so good.
Until a stranger shows up on my doorstep and reads me a breakup letter from my girlfriend. My carefully laid plans unravel.
But then I meet someone new. Itâs spontaneous. Itâs electric. And itâs not according to plan.
â
EXCERPT:
Why are we here?â
âI havenât quite figured that out yet,â I admit.
Itâs not a lie. My hastily thought-of plan drove me here. But part of me hasnât decided if it also wasnât simply the desire to see her again. Or an exercise in self-control. Dangling what I shouldnât take in front of me to see if I possess enough discipline to keep my hands to myself, to walk away. Or tempt myself with this sensual form of edging by embracing what I shouldnât.
The ambiguous answer seems to be the correct one, though. The tension slowly ebbs out of her body, and she props an elbow on the chairâs arm.
âThat makes the two of us, then, because I havenât figured out yet why I came here.â She huffs out a soft breath. âIâm certain of one thing, though. This isnât right or smart.â
âWhy? Because youâre Valâs friend?â I slice a hand between us. âSheâs already seeing someone new. Probably was before she sent you to do her hatchet job. So I donât care about that.â
âIs that what this is, then?â she murmurs. âRevenge? Payback? You plan to throwââshe twirls a hand in the airââwhatever weâre doing here back in her face one day for breaking up with you and moving on too quickly?â
I almost laugh long and loud at that bullshit.
âThere arenât many things that are a one hundred percent certainty. Weather, election outcomes, the price of gas, Hollywood marriages. But this I can state without a shadow of a doubt. Not happening.â
She studies me, and I can practically read all the questions in those brown eyes. How can you? Why? What happened?
But she lifts her cup and drinks, and instead of asking what she so clearly wants to know, she says, âNot my business.â
âIsnât it? When you chose to put yourself in the middle of our relationship, it became your business.â The moment comprehension dawns, her eyes widen, then narrow. But I lean forward, a smile curving my mouth. And that smile? Itâs possible it isnât nice. Because nice doesnât accurately describe this uncomfortable and unwanted gnawing inside of me. Iâm feeling hungry. âYou owe me.â
I both hear and see the hitch in her breath. The almost nonchalant note in her voice belies the worry in her eyes. Too bad for her; I make a living at reading people. Too bad sheâs shit at hiding her emotions. God, I could fucking feast, become a damn glutton on her honesty.
âWhat?â she whispered.
âYou heard me.â
âYes, I heard you.â My own breath really shouldnât quicken or my blood pump hotter at the sound of those words coming through clenched teeth. Or the sight of her hand wrapped tighter around her cup. As if only her grip on the cardboard container is preventing her from transferring it to my neck. âBut obviously I donât understand your meaning. I owe you for what?â
For witnessing my weakest moments since leaving my auntâs house. For reminding me that my life, my world, is not in my control. For throwing me back to that twelve-, fourteen-, sixteen-year-old uncertain boy again.
For refusing to be evicted from my head like a sexy, stubborn squatter.
For being my answer, my salvation, in this moment, when for years Iâve vowed to depend only on myself.
And her most heinous sin? For deviating from my carefully laid-out plans. For stepping outside those lines and hungering for something, someone, I have no business desiring.
But I say none of that because those reasons are mine and mine alone.
She gets, âFor not stepping back and letting Val have the guts to do her own dirty work. Instead, you allowed yourself to be her patsy, and Iâm pissed with you and her about that. Iâm also mad as hell that you both stole the chance for me to have my say.â
A starkness enters her eyes, and she briefly closes them before glancing away, her hair concealing most of her profile. Fisting those curls and moving them out of the way so I can see her expression, her thoughts, is such a fierce urge I shift away from her.
âI didnât think about that. About stealing your voice. Iâm truly sorry for that.â
I believe her. But Iâm not letting it go that easily. It isnât in my interest to.
âLook at me,â I say softly. I order softly. And a coil in my gut draws almost painfully, sweetly tight when she obeys. âYou owe me. And Iâm offering a form of . . . penance.â
She loses that pained, haunted expression, and anger tautens the skin across her cheekbones, emphasizing their boldness, their strength. As perverse as it might make me, my cock pounds at the sign of her ire. Yeah, Iâm turned on, and part of me is hoping she takes it out on me with teeth and nails.
Well shit. When did I become a man who enjoyed an edge of pain with his pleasure?
The answer?
Zora.
đReviewđ
Due to the volatile relationship of her parents Zora and her siblings have created a unique company where they offer packages to help people end their romantic relationships. Her latest client finds her Cyrusâs door and she thinks it will end there but fate had other ideas.
Cyrus has overcome a difficult childhood and has a plan for his future which include making partner at his law firm and marrying a suitable woman. When the woman he chose ends their relationship through Zola he isnât aware that it was a job she was hired to do. When fate keeps bringing them together he convinces her to pretend to be his girlfriend to enhance his chance of making partner but sometimes the best laid plans donât turn out the way you expect.
Zora is nothing like any of the woman he has dated in the past and that only intrigues him more however secrets have a way of being exposed at the worst possible time. I enjoyed getting to know Zora and Cyrus and seeing the relationship develop and their family and friends are not only there for them but add some humor to the story as well.
Author Bio:
Published since 2009, USA Today Bestselling author Naima Simone loves writing sizzling romances with heart, a touch of humor and snark. Her books have been featured in The Washington Post and Entertainment Weekly, and described as balancing âcrackling, electric love scenes with exquisitely rendered characters caught in emotional turmoil.â
She is wife to Superman, or his non-Kryptonian, less bullet proof equivalent, and mother to the most awesome kids ever. They all live in perfect, sometimes domestically-challenged bliss in the southern United States.
Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Newsletter
GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js
Hosted by:
Kari's Book Reviews and Revelations 