TEMPTED AT MIDNIGHT

Atlanta designer Sylvie Gates has a night of passion with a stranger only to discover he’s the CEO of Jordan Industries, her newest, and biggest, client.

Chemist Erik Jordan was happiest hunkered down in the lab of his family’s multinational cosmetics company, but when he accidentally discovered that his father was embezzling funds, he had to inform the authorities. As Erik’s father is carted off to prison, the board appoints Erik CEO, entrusting him with restoring Jordan Industries’ financial health and reputation. Erik is proud of what his family’s African American cosmetics company “represents to so many women who have been told they’re not beautiful or that they have to conform to someone else’s idea of beauty.” But he needs a designer to remodel the company’s headquarters as he modernizes with new products. Sylvie Gates of SG Designs knows the JI gig could help her fledgling business take flight, but she’s not prepared to discover her unforgettably hot one-night stand occupying the c-suite. Erik and Sylvie are both workaholics. She’s been burned by love and he has commitment issues, not to mention a very messed-up family situation. But their attraction is too powerful to resist, and before long they develop a friendship with benefits. Family secrets and misunderstandings threaten, but Hodges (The Business of Love, 2019, etc.) lets Erik and Sylvie act their ages in this well-paced story. Secondary characters, especially Erik’s mother and brother, add richness to the tale.

An entertaining and sincere romance with plenty of family drama set in Atlanta’s business district.