{"id":232468,"date":"2025-07-02T16:45:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T16:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/232468\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T16:45:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T16:45:12","slug":"read-an-exclusive-extract-of-bolu-babalolas-new-book-sweet-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/232468\/","title":{"rendered":"Read an exclusive extract of Bolu Babalola’s new book, Sweet Heat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bestselling author Bolu Babalola is back with her hotly anticipated new novel, Sweet Heat . It\u2019s three years after their intense breakup, and Kiki has worked hard to forgive her first love, Malakai. They\u2019re about to see each other again for the first time at the engagement party of their respective best friends, Aminah and Kofi, as none other than maidof honour and best man. Read on for an exclusive insight into themoment they lock eyes, during Kiki\u2019s speech about her best friends at the event in London…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aminah is evidently very annoyed, because her accent has slipped from neutral posh to Lagosian posh. \u2018I went on Instagram and I saw him on that actor\u2019s stories \u2013 what\u2019s his name, Monae Noble? That overacting goat from that Motown show? They were at some party. If I find out that he missed his flight because he was hungover and doing body shots off some model\u2019s navel, he\u2019s going to have to square up to me! Doesn\u2019t he know that Ty is waiting in the wings to take his place? I\u2013\u2019 Aminah\u2019s fully loaded now, about to unleash her clip of insults, but something must have flitted across my face, because her eyes flicker in apology. \u2018Oh\u2013\u2019<\/p>\n

I push a smile out at her, hoping the force would repress the imagery of Malakai licking body shots out of the grooved abs of a woman who probably makes videos like \u2018Day inthe Life of a Plant Whisperer and Choreographer\u2019 in a sultry whispering cadence. \u2018I think it\u2019s time for my speech.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Now, my girl has never been an outdoorsy type. In fact, I would say that Aminah\u2019s idea of camping would be staying in a hotel that hasn\u2019t got a pool.\u2019 There\u2019s a warm smattering of laughter that ripples across the 50-odd people in front of whom I\u2019m standing as Aminah leans further into Kofi\u2019s arms and nods with a cute little unrepentant tick of her shoulder. <\/p>\n

\u2018That being said, I always knew there would come a day when my brother Kofi would gift her with a very… very large rock, and that she would accept.\u2019 Whoops swirl around the room and wrap themselves around the couple as Aminah lifts her hand up, flexing it in the royal wave. Kofi props her arm up witha triumphant, \u2018Yeah, you didn\u2019t know that man\u2019s a geologist?\u2019 <\/p>\n

I laugh and nod. \u2018Yeah, also a great DJ and producer. I don\u2019t like complimenting men, but I will give my brother that. And the thing is Kofi has always been good at blending. He used to help out on my radio show, help create mixes, and he would always know what songs would feed into each other, which would amplify one another, bring out the harmony, the feeling… which would speak with each other. And I truly believe that when he saw my beautiful, darling sister that first time at a uni party, doing her cute little two step and shimmy \u2013 you know the one \u2013 probably wiping down a seat before sitting down, sipping on her amaretto and pineapple, he knew they would make the right blend. Feed into each other. Make each other better.\u2019<\/p>\n

Aminah and Kofi moon at each other, and the tenderness drapes heavy on my throat, making my voice harder to haul out. I push through it. \u2018…unlike amaretto and pineapple,\u2019 I add.<\/p>\n

Aminah releases an indignant \u2018Hey!\u2019 that I gleefully ignore. \u2018Kofi is breezy, and Aminah\u2026 well, she ain\u2019t, as we well know.\u2019<\/p>\n

Mirth ripples across the room as I zero in on my best friend\u2019s face, as dazzling as the ring on her finger, as her soul, as the love she gives to those who she deems worthy. \u2018But she\u2019s a wildflower. Beautiful, defiant, blooming wherever she finds herself, knowing who she is. Her place is wherever she is, and she owns it. Man, does she own it.\u2019 Aminah\u2019s eyes shimmer and she releases Kofi\u2019s hand to make a heart shape with her fingers in my direction. I reply with two taps on the left side of my chest with two fingers. <\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Stocksy<\/p>\n

\u2018And, the thing is, the breeze, it needs the wildflower to help give it direction, something to flow through, and the wildflower\u2026 well, the breeze reminds it to bend, to twirl. They\u2019re perfect together.\u2019 Kofi drops a kiss on Aminah\u2019s temple, squeezes her to him, and she rubs his arm. An internal pressure amps up and I feel my eyes begin to mist. \u2018Now, uh, I\u2019m gonna save my good stuff for the wedding toast, but\u2013\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m sorry \u2013 that wasn\u2019t your good stuff? You already have us on the ropes. Mercy, please.\u2019 Shanti heckles me from where she\u2019s stood on the other side of the crowd, to a rumble of chuckling, dabbing the corner of her eyes with the edge of a curved index as Chioma teasingly pinches her waist and throws an arm round her.<\/p>\n

\u2018…but they have something special,\u2019 I continue. \u2018And\u2013\u2019 I look back into the crowd and the words I\u2019m about to say fizzle on my tongue, the heat of his presence evaporating them into nothing. My eyes automatically snapped in his direction, not even knowing what they were being drawn to, but knowing, still.<\/p>\n

\n

‘For better or for worse, my body reacts to his presence, acetone on a papercut. My heart hisses\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I will always know. The air seems to shift, make way for repressed feelings that are agitated to the surface, and it seems to have shifted away from me because I can barely breathe. I swear I can even smell him \u2013 wood and amber and resentment. I know, because, for better or for worse, my body reacts to his presence, acetone on a papercut. My heart hisses. There are footsteps as he comes further into the room, firm, swift steps that judder against my heartbeat. Heads turn to look and a good number of the female heads stay a little while, because that\u2019s what Malakai does, he turns your eyes sticky and your heart tacky, clinging on to him, so that you get stuck, tangled\u2013<\/p>\n

Fuck, why now? He picks up a champagne flute from a nearby tray and that\u2019s when he looks at me and pins the remaining straggles of air I have to my ribs. I feel as if I\u2019m being lanced with a honey-dipped blade. I almost buckle. It isn\u2019t lost on me that the last time I was standing in front of my peers giving a speech it was to declare my undying love for him. My hand slips a little on the flute and I grip it tighter.<\/p>\n

His face, the face I haven\u2019t seen in the flesh in two-and-a-half years, is inscrutable. Time hasn\u2019t etched it, but instead brought out things it was supposed to. His cheekbones are still steep, but his jaw is wider now, covered with a beard as plush as a night sky, glistening, and his skin is an undisturbed pool of dark elixir that looks like something you can lap at for refreshment; in fact, I used to. His deep eyes carry no love, no hate, but something strong and intense, wrapped in clingfilm to preserve it or maybe to keep out… Keep me out. I thought I was ready, but, as it turns out, I Am Not Ready. I need to somehow expel my spirit from my body right now, and unfortunately the only way to do that is to die. I contemplate it for a few seconds (by holding my breath for a long, long time), but I decide against it for many reasons including, but not limited to:<\/p>\n