She agreed to live with a man everyone warned her about—no strings, no feelings, just survival. But between the flowers he leaves in her room, the way his hands linger when he thinks she's not paying attention, and dinners that end with them sitting too close, the heat becomes impossible to ignore. When she discovers the truth about his past, she has to decide: walk away safe, or choose the man he's becoming?

This Valentine's Day, forget the roses and chocolate. Violet doesn't do sentimental holidays—until an anonymous voice message changes everything. At 38, she knows what she wants: real connection, raw honesty, and someone who looks at her like they're thinking about all the ways they want to touch her. When Rowan's voice comes through her speakers—steady, confident, hungry—something shifts inside her. One message leads to another. Texts turn into confessions. And by midnight, they're standing face-to-face in a hotel lobby, the air between them electric with possibility. What happens when two strangers choose vulnerability over safety? When desire stops being something you apologize for and becomes something you claim? Join us for a special Valentine's episode of Crave: Slow Burn—where a rooftop pool, a birthmark, and one wickedly cute grin lead to a night that proves the best love stories start with a little bit of courage.

It wasn't that she didn't love her husband—she did, deeply—but after having a child, she'd lost track of herself somewhere between the laundry and the school pickup routine. At forty, she starts writing romance novels in stolen morning hours, crafting scenes about women who know exactly what they want and aren't afraid to ask for it, and something unexpected happens: the fiction begins bleeding into reality. A Brazilian wax after five years. A deliberate photo sent during his work meeting. The vulnerability to finally guide his hand and whisper, "slower, I want to feel every second of it." This is a story about a woman writing her way back to desire—and discovering that reigniting the spark in a long marriage isn't about grand gestures, but about choosing presence over pleasantness, one brave moment at a time.