 |  soul mate noun a person ideally suited to another as a close friend or romantic partner. Podcast host Zola is smart, sexy, and opinionated. When wealthy app developer Khalil calls into her show to correct her, she won’t let him off the hook without a fight. The more they talk, the bigger the sparks. Could it be love?    |
 | soul mate noun a person ideally suited to another as a close friend or romantic partner. He kinda looked like Ross, he even smiled like him. My mind didn't want him. It shouldn't have. Not after Ross. But he smelled good and he talked to me in a way that felt good, deep down in my soul. He wasn't Ross. Zena Lewis believed in fairy tales as a little girl. She carried those fantasies of a knight in shining armor loving her until eternity, until her ugly separation and divorce from her ex. These days, a man would have to be lucky to get her to smile back at him, let alone give up her number. Until Rafael Dupré. Rafael was different. |
 | Zoe comes from a line of clairvoyant, empathic women. Each one, including Zoe, is deeply connected to the world around them. Zoe's gifts are much more intense and hard to go unnoticed by those who get close to her so she often hides what she knows to avoid being seen as unstable. She's always known who the love of her life was going to be, she just hadn't met him yet. He could live halfway across the world for all she knew. But if she saw him... or if she met him ... she would know she was meeting her soul mate. The man for her. Her man to love ... Rashaad. Rashaad only wants two things: to play his music and explore the world, and women, while he does it. So far, he's been managing that very well, until he is pulled to the less than bustling, more like unassuming, city of Pittsburgh. He figures he can just get in and get out and move on, but getting in, is more about love, and getting out, would be about leaving it. He doesn't know how to make that decision when it involves Zoe, his someone new. His once in a lifetime. Soul Love is book three of the Soulmates series. ♥ |
The strings of a guitar caught my attention first, and when I looked up to find where the source of the melody came from, I saw him. Again.
He sat on a stool at the area being transformed into the “night club” portion of the restaurant. Cameron, the owner, initiated a plan he had to have live music playing a few nights at Sizzle. New Year’s Day was the first night where he had a live band that would perform a few times a week. I also heard he had a solo musician, that he would rotate throughout the year, that would play before the house band played and had played that night as well. Though I had been in New Orleans with Rafe’s family, I heard this place was poppin’. They had to turn some people away due to fire code restrictions.
I had no idea who the musicians were, and hadn’t been remotely curious before, but I did hear there was a guitarist that played like nothing they’d ever heard before. Now I could agree. When I thought of guitar players, at least black ones, I thought of either Gary Clark or Lenny Kravitz. Entirely different ends of the spectrum mind you, but prolific and stand out personas. My neighbor and soul mate, Rashaad, was more neo soul artist and his music was simply put, love over strings.
He wore a chocolate brown fedora that he’d not had on when we crossed paths this morning, making me wonder if he kept it in his car. His vest matched his hat, and he wore it over a white tee. His dark blue jeans were crisp and creased and on his feet were soft brown leather loafers. He strummed a few more notes before doing a little adjusting on his guitar. A few more plucks of the strings and he started the song over and I listened to what started as a love ballad. His guitar cried out as if it were sad and wanted his lover badly, and then as if it realized it exposed emotions it would rather keep inside, it jumped into a fast-paced tune meant to get people bopping and rocking. The man handling the guitar seemed to make the same transition and what had been a brooding expression turned light, fun, uninhibited. He seemed free from worry, as he dropped his tune. I stood in a daze and only came out of it once I realized the music was no longer playing and I was staring into the brown eyes of the man holding his instrument.
We didn’t speak at first but after an extended pause filled with so many emotions, I approached him. Why couldn’t this be a day I had no class? I wanted to skip my Restaurant Management class just so that I could understand why he’d be my soulmate.
“That was beautiful. Is it yours?”
He smiled and though I’m sure he’d been asked the question many times, he made me feel like this time, my question, mattered.
“Yeah. It’s a new one.”
“What’s it called?”
“Hazel.” He watched me for my reaction.
He didn’t have to tell me what Hazel was about; I knew it was about me. My eyes. Eyes that came from my father. All of his children had them.
I held in a pleased smile. “I like it. I had no idea you would be playing here.”
“And I had no idea you would be working here. You do work here right?”
“Yeah. I’m an intern here. I go to culinary school.”
“That’s what’s up. So you’ll probably be cooking food that’ll make my mouth water every day.”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“That’s alright, you don’t have to invite me over for food. I won’t force us to be together more than we already have to be.”
I wanted to say it seemed like someone or something, bigger than us, wanted us to be close to each other, with us living in the same building and now working in the same restaurant, but I didn’t. I didn’t want to scare him. I couldn’t. I needed him to stay put, especially since I sensed he was a wanderer.
“I won’t hold you. I know you need to get ready for your evening, right?”
He stared at me, his dark eyes assessing me. “Yeah, but we’ll be seeing each other.”
Aja is an award-winning national bestselling author of passionate women's fiction. Readers experience realistic, passionate and soulful interactions with her work. She is inspired by soulful music and sensual art and uses it to help craft her stories.
Aja is the recipient of multiple awards including The Beverly Jenkin's Author of The Year Award for 2020. When she's not being being a wife and mother, you can find her looking for a spot on the beach to watch the sun rise over the remarkable waves.
this looks like a great read
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