For Amaya Cole, home has always been the aging apartment building she has spent years holding together—and Kingston Hale, the dangerously fine man living on the other side of one thin wall.

For eleven years, Amaya and Kingston have mastered the art of being almost everything to each other without ever becoming lovers. She knows the man beneath the money, reputation, and quiet power that makes the whole block respect his name. He knows the woman beneath Amaya’s independence—the beautiful, full-figured woman who takes care of everybody while convincing herself she doesn’t need anyone taking care of her.

Keeping Kingston in the friendship lane has always been safer.

Until one late-night moment changes the way they look at each other.

Suddenly, every bag of food left on her doorknob feels different. Every protective warning carries another meaning. Every sound through the wall reminds Amaya that the man she has quietly wanted for years might have been wanting her just as long.

But while their carefully guarded friendship begins turning into something neither of them can hide, trouble is spreading through the neighborhood.

Rent notices appear. Families who have lived on the block for decades are being threatened with displacement. A faceless property company seems determined to change the place Amaya has spent years protecting, and—as always—she puts herself directly between her people and whoever is coming for them.

What Amaya doesn't know is that Kingston knows far more about the money, the buildings, and the people behind the fight than he has ever admitted.

And the closer she gets to his heart, the closer she gets to a truth capable of breaking her own.

Because Kingston Hale has spent years believing that loving someone means protecting them from everything—even the truth. Amaya has spent just as long believing that needing someone gives them the power to leave her broken.

When everything hidden between them is finally dragged into the light, eleven years of friendship, loyalty, longing, and love are put on the line.

Can Amaya forgive the man who protected her with one hand while keeping secrets with the other?

And when Kingston is forced to choose between controlling what he loves and finally trusting it enough to stand beside him, will he realize the difference before he loses the only woman who ever saw the man behind the legend?

Crushing On The Hood Millionaire Next Door is an emotional Black urban romance about longtime friends crossing forbidden lines, a guarded BBW heroine learning what it means to be wanted out loud, a powerful hood millionaire with everything to lose, neighborhood loyalty, buried secrets, betrayal, healing, and a love eleven years in the making.

Some walls keep people apart. Others only hide how badly two people have been waiting to cross them.