J. R. Ward

“DEDICATED TO: YOU -it has been so long,too long,since you have had a home.”

“I'm proud of you, and I love you," Blay said yet again, that old, familiar voice cutting through all of those years of rejection and judgement, giving him not just a rope of acceptance to hang onto, but a flesh-and-blood hand to lead him out of the darkness of his past... And into a future that didn't require lies or excises, because of what he was, and what they were, was both extraordinary--and nothing out of the ordinary. Love, after all, was universal.”

“We work together. That’s it. So I want you to do us both a favor before you think I ‘need’ to know something. Ask yourself, ‘If I were flipping burgers at McDonald’s, would I be telling the fucking fry guy this?’ If the answer is no, then shut the hell up.”

“The growl that permeated the room was loud enough to rattle the mirror on the wall next to Qhuinn’s head—as well as the silver brush set on the bureau and the crystals on the sconces by the door. At first he was sure it was Phury…except then the Brother’s brows came down hard and the male looked over his shoulder.Layla was out of bed and closing in on the pair of them—and holy fucking shit, the look in her eyes was enough to melt paint off a car door: In spite of the fact that she was not well, her fangs were bared, and her fingers were curled into claws…and the icy draft that preceded her made the back of Qhuinn’s neck prickle in warning.That growl was nothing that should have come out of a male…much less a delicate female of Chosen status.And if anything, her nasty tone of voice was worse: “Let. Him. Go.”She was looking up at Phury as if she were fully prepared to rip the Brother’s arms out of their sockets and beat him with the stumps if he didn’t do exactly what she said. Pronto”

“Qhuinn dived into the plane, pulled himself into the pilot’s seat, and tried to make sense of all the…fucking hell, there were a lot of dials. The only saving grace he had was that he’d—Rat-tat-tat-tat!—watched enough movies to know that the lever with the grip was the gas and the bow tie–shaped wheel was the thing you pulled up to go up, and pushed down to go down.“Fuck,” he muttered as he stayed in a tuck position as much as he could.”

“Listen, you mind if I take a T.O. and check in for a sec,” he interjected.V’s diamond eyes narrowed. “With who?”Right on cue, John jumped in, asking about the Hummer and its rehab plan—like somebody waving a torch in front of a T. rex to redirect it. As V started talking about the SUV’s future as lawn sculpture, Qhuinn nearly blew a kiss at his buddy.”

“Scrambling through the drifts, Blay rushed over and landed on his knees. Qhuinn was sprawled on the ground, his long, heavy legs stretched out, his upper body in John’s lap.The male just stared at him with those mismatched eyes, unmoving, unspeaking.“Is he paralyzed?” Blay demanded, looking over at John.“Not that I’m aware of,” Qhuinn replied dryly.I think he’s got a concussion, John signed.“I do not—”He went flying off the hood of his car and hit this tree—“I mostly missed the tree—”And I’ve had to hold him down ever since.“Which is pissing me off—”

“Shit. With Qhuinn looking at him like that, he couldn’t remember his own name. Blaysox? Blacklock? Blabberfox? Who the fuck knew…”

“Love, after all, was universal. Qhuinn closed his fist up tight, and knew he would never, ever take that ring off. “Always,” Blay murmured. “Because family is an always kind of thing.”

“I love you. You are my heart beatingoutside of my chest.”

“Will you get off me!""But I'm giving you CPR-""I will die before kissing you, Hollywood." Z tried to sit up, his breathing heavy. "Don't even think about it.”

“Blow me, Grim Reaper!”

“The thing was, Qhuinn felt like he wanted to explain things. Unfortunately, and unlike his slut cousin, Saxton the Cocksucker, he had no gift with words.”

“And what do you know, John's hands flew through the positionsof ASL in various l-got-this combinations."Is he deaf" the guy behind the cash register asked in a stagewhisper. As if someone using American Sign Language was some kindof freak."No. Blind.""Oh."As the man kept staring, Qhuinn wanted to pop him. "You goingto help us out here or what?" "Oh ... yeah. Hey, you got a tattoo on your face." Mr. Observantmoved slowly, like the bar codes on those bags were creating some kind of wind resistance under his laser reader. "Did you know that?"Really. "I wouldn't know."''Are you blind, too?"No filter on this guy. None. "Yeah, I am.""Oh, so that's why your eyes are all weird.""Yeah. That's right."Qhuinn took out a twenty and didn't wait for change-murderwas just a liiiiiittle too tempting. Nodding to John, who was also measuring the dear boy for a shroud, Qhuinn went to walk off."What about your change ?" the man called out."I'm deaf, too. I can't hear you."The guy yelled more loudly, "I'll just keep it then, yeah?""Sounds good," Qhuinn shouted over his shoulder.Idiot was stage-five stupid. Straight up.”

“V blunket et par ganger, kjente seg beklemt over det han skulle til å si. “Du er en helgen, vet du det? Du har bestandig vert det for meg. Bestandig. Selv da jeg…” “Selv da du hva da?” “Du vet.” “Hva?” “Helvette. Selv da jeg var forelsket i deg. Eller hva faen.” Butch tok seg til hjertet. “Var? Var? Jeg kan ikke tro at det er slutt.” Han dekket over øynene med den ene armen á la Sarah Bernhardt. “Mine fremtids drømmer er knust!”

“Er det sant at du gjorde rent i huset mitt?” spurte hun.Å pokker… Det eneste svaret han hadde på det, var alt for avslørende. “Er det?” “Ja. Jeg gjorde det” “Jeg kommer til å klemme deg nå” Z stivnet, men før han rakk å komme seg unna, la armene hennes seg rundt midjen hans og hodet la seg mot den nakne brystkassen.”

“Så i dette forferdelige øyeblikket i ekteskapet sitt klamret han seg av alle krefter til støvsugerens vuggesang mens han lurte på om han noen sinne ville bli så heldig at han igjen ville kunne ignorere den.”

“He cleared his throat and reminded himself that if you pissed Her Holiness off, they'd need barbecue tongs to pick up your steaming pieces.”

“Beth,” he whispered. “Come back to me.”He brought more of his blood to her.“Damn it, don’t you die!” Candles flared in the room. “I love you, damn you! Goddamn you, don’t you let go!”

“Don’t trust me. Don’t like me. I could give a shit. But don’t you ever lie to me.” He took a deep breath, as if he were drawing her into him. “I can smell the sex coming off you right now. I could take you down on this sidewalk and be up that skirt of yours in a heartbeat. And you wouldn’t fight me, would you?” No, she probably wouldn’t.”

“The door to Blay's room opened wide without a knock, a hello, a hey-are-you-decent.Qhuinn stood in between the jambs, breathing hard, like he’d run down the hall of statues.Sh**, had Layla lost the pregnancy after all?Those mismatched eyes searched around. “You by yourself?”Why the hell would— Oh, Saxton. Right. “Yes—”The male took three strides forward, reached up . . . and kissed the ever-loving crap out of Blay.The kiss was the kind that you remembered all your life, the connection forged with such totality that everything from the feel of the body against your own, to the warm slid of another’s lips on yours, to the power as well as the control, was etched into your mind...”

“I miss you. I miss you so fucking bad it hurts, but I don't know how to find you even though you're right in front of me.” ― J.R. Ward, Lover Mine”

“What is wrong with you ” he whispered “that you care so much about me ” Blay’s sad smile added about a million years to his age lining his face with the kind of knowledge that came only after life kicked you in the nuts a number of times. “What is wrong with you that you can’t see why I would”

“Your name. My back. I can’t fucking wait.” Jane whistled under her breath. “Do I get to do it ” He barked a laugh. “No ” “Come on. I’m a surgeon I’m good with knives.” “My brothers will do it—well actually I guess you could do a letter 
too. Mmm that gets me hard.” He kissed her. “Man you are so my 
kind of girl.” “Do I have to get cut ” “Hell no. It’s done on the males so everyone knows who we belong 
to.” “Belong ” “Yup. I’ll be yours to command. Lord over. Do what you want with. 
Think you can handle it ” V and Jane - Lover Unbound”

“Jane: Focus is important. V: Only if you're a microscope.”

“He wanted to see her eat. After the sex, after he came inside her, he wanted to have her eat food he'd bought her, and he wanted her to take the stuff from his hand. Hell, he wanted to go out and kill something for her, bring the meat back, cook it himself, and feed her until she was full. Then he wanted to lie beside her with a dagger in his hand, protecting her as she slept.”

“Butch tightened his grip on his cell and wished there were an app that let you reach through a phone and bitch slap someone.”

“I'm in love," he said hoarsely. "With someone else. That's why."Qhuinn (Lover Unleashed)”

“How can I tell her...." His voice broke, and he had to clear his throat. "How the fuck can I explain this to her?""How can you not. She loves you.Vishous - Butch (re. Jane)(Lover Unleashed)”

“What brings you onto my property?" Rhev said, cradling his mug with both hands trying to absorb its warmth.Got a problem"I can't fix your personality, sorry”

“You feel me?”

“you told me I could beat him. You promised.”

“Where do humans meet for normal dates?’ How the hell would she know? Except then she remembered Mary saying something about a colleague of hers meeting a man…What was the name of the place? ‘TGI Friday’s.’ she said. 'There’s one in Lucas Square.' 'Fine. Tell her eight o’clock tonight.' 'What name do I give her?' 'Tell her it’s…Hal. Hal E. Wood.”