He's Still That Guy. The Still Series, #1

Arielle James has spent the last year rebuilding. New city. New business. New chapter. What she did not plan for was Malcolm Carter - her college almost, her one that got away, and apparently her new downstairs neighbor. He's Still That Guy is a slow burn contemporary romance set in Brooklyn, following two people who have loved each other across years of almost - through bad timing, old wounds, and the kind of emotional unavailability that looks a lot like self-protection.
When they are finally in the same building, on the same block, breathing the same air, the question is no longer whether they love each other. It is whether they are brave enough to stop getting in their own way. Warm, funny, and emotionally specific, this is a story about chosen family, second chances, and what it actually looks like to love someone well - not just loudly. For readers who love friends-to-lovers slow burns with real emotional stakes, Black love stories grounded in everyday Brooklyn life, and romance that earns its happy ending.