J.R. Ward

“Well, wasn't this a night for firsts. Sex. Arson. Pants.”

“She wanted to walk into a crowded restaurant where a man would look up and take her into his arms with his eyes. She wanted to know what it was like to feel that she was beautiful to someone and had been eagerly waited for”

“Nothing bubbled up from the depths. For once, the present was so alive and captivating that the past was not even an echo or a shadow-she was, in this moment, wiped clean.”

“El otoño es mi estación favorita del año —dijo él al cabo de un rato—. No es que yo esté tonteando o algo así… pero me gustan las hojas cuando se tornan rojas y anaranjadas. Son hermosas a la luz de la luna, pero más concretamente, se trata de una transformación imposible. El verde de la primavera y el verano son sólo una sombra de la identidad auténtica de los árboles, y todo ese color cuando las noches se vuelven frías es un milagro cada vez que pasa. Es como si compensaran la pérdida del calor con todo su fuego. Me gusta el Otoño… —(...)—. Tú eres así. Eres hermosa y ardes llena de colorido, y ya es hora de que salgas a la luz. Así que digo… Autumn.”

“Zsadist: I didn't make up the rules of this scenarioWrath: You'll die if you go by yourself.Zsadist: Well... I'm kind of ready to get off the ride.Phury felt his skin get tight all over.”

“He thought about all the holes in him, the blank places, the voids where others felt things. When it came down to it, he was really just a screen, more empty than solid, his emotions blowing through him, only angry catching and holding.”

“—Estaba muerto hasta que me encontraste, aunque respiraba. Estaba ciego, aunque podía ver. Y entonces llegaste tú… y estaba despierto. (Zsadist, Amante despierto)”

“To her, saving grace meant you got to live out your life like a normal person: You were healthy and strong, an the prospect of death was just some far-off, barely acknowledged hypothetical. A debt to be paid off in a future you couldn't imagine”

“Still, it would have been great, just once, to have a man stare at her with total adoration. To have him be... enthralled. Yes, that was the word. She would have loved for a man to be enthralled by her.”

“I'm not cock-blocking for kicks and giggles. The mothership called”

“She silenced him with her mouth, then pulled back. "You can't change what I think of you."He reached up and brushed her lower lip with his thumb."If you truly knew me, everything you believe would change.""Your heart would be the same. And that is what I love.”

“You are the male I might have been. You are the potential I had and lost. You are the honor and the strength and the kindness she needs. You'll take care of her. I want you to take care of her.”

“Let me kiss you.” Qhuinn groaned as he leaned in. “I know I don't deserve it, but please ... it's what you can do for me. Let me feel you....”Qhuinn's mouth brushed his own. Came back for more. Lingered.“I'll beg for it.” More with the caress of those devastating lips. “If that’s what it takes. I don't give a fuck, I'll beg...”

“Are you wet for me, Mary? I think you are. I think you're covered with honey.”

“You are so . . . odd.""I shall take that as a compliment."-Thor to No'One”

“Someone put opera on inside the house. Someone changed it to hip-hop, thank God. Someone started a shower. Someone vacuumed. Again.Life. In all its mundane majesty.And you couldn't take advantage of it if you were sitting on your ass in the shadows... whether it was in actuality, or metaphorically because you were trapped in an attic's darkness.”

“Rehv swooped down with his long arms and gathered her up against him, tucking her with vital care to his chest. Ducking his head to hers, his voice was deep and grave."I never thought I would see you again."As he shuddered, she lifted her hands up to his torso. After holding herself back for a moment...she embraced him as fully as he did her."You smell the same," she said rought, putting her nose right into the collar of his fine silk shirt. "Oh...God, you smell the same.”

“Closing his eyes, he made it about fifteen minutes before his tossing and turning rode those pj bottoms so far up his crotch he felt like he could cough flannel.If he was doing the mattress and pillow thing, he usually slept naked and now he knew why.This was f'in ridiculous.”

“Her bra was cotton and white and, bless its little frickin´ heart, had a front clasp.”

“Okay, okay, okay … go to your corners, boys. This is a nice Aubusson carpet you’re standing on. You get blood on it and I’ll have Fritz so far up my ass I’ll be coughing on his hankie.”

“There was a soft chiming sound, which meant, tragedy of tragedies, the angel had just popped himself up onto the countertop. “So, what are we doing tonight? Wait, let me guess, sitting in morose silence. Or, no…you’re mixing it up. Brooding with soulful intensity, right? What a fucking wild child you are. Whoo. Hoo. Next thing you know, you’ll be opening for Slipknot.”With a curse, Tohr stood up and went over to turn on the shower, hoping that if he refused to look at the loudmouth, Lassiter would get bored more quickly and move on to ruin someone else’s afternoon.”

“Man, some open doors were not welcoming, and that was so the case here—less hi-how’re-ya, more come-in-so-your-skin-can-be-used-to-make-a-super-hero-cape-for-one-of-Hannibal-Lecter’s-patients.”

“The princess stood in the center of the cabin, her brilliant red robes and the rubies at her throat and her bloodred eyes all the color of hatred. With her stark hair twisted up off her neck, and her pale skin, and the live albino scorpions she wore as earring, she was an exquisite horror, a Kabuki doll constructed by an evil hand. And she was evil, her darkness coming to him in waves, emanating from the center of her chest even as nothing about her moved and her moonlike face remained unmarred by a frown.”

“The weight of the dead was heavier than the pounds of the body.”

“How do you like your eggs?" she said. "Hard or soft?""Hard," he bit out. "Why am I not surprised.”

“Wheeling around, he went blindly for the doors, messing up the piles, nearly knocking himself over on the coffee table.Saxton got there first, blocking the way out with his body.Blay's eyes locked on the males face." Get out of my way. Right now. You don't want to be around me.""Is that not for me to decide."Blay shifted his focus to those lips he knew so well. "Don't push me.""Or what.""If you don't get the fuck out of my way, I'm going to bend you over that desk of your-""Prove it."Wrong thing to say. In the wrong tone. At the wrong time.Blay let out a roar that rattled the diamond-paned windows. Then he grabbed his lover by the back of the head and all but threw Saxton across the room. As the male caught himself of the desk, papers went flying, the confetti of yellow legal pad and computer printouts falling down like snow.Saxton's torso curled around as he looked behind at what was coming at him."Too late to run." Blay growled as he ripped open his button fly.Falling upon the male, he was rough with his hands, tearing the the layers that kept him from what he was going to take. When there were no barriers, he bared his fangs and bit down on Saxton's shoulder through his clothes, locking the male beneath him even as he grabbed those wrist and all but nailed them to the leather blotter. And then he pushed in hard and let out everything he had, his body taking over .. . even as his heart stayed far, far away.”

“I judge you not by the sex of whom you love... but by how you love them. -Layla, page 306”

“Tohr: "Doesn't have to be easy to be right."John: "In that case, we're meant for each other.”

“Amazing, John thought as he stood behind Xhex. If you looked down at your cock and balls and told them that if they behaved badly you would slice them up and bury them in the back yard, they actually listened to you.”

“Great rationalizations. All of which her adrenal gland middle-fingered and then carried right on.”

“Hey, no offense, but do you mind if you put both your palms where I can see ’em?”

“Tohr shrugged. “Assuming he’s kept the same ones on, they’re a total of five. Three cousins. That porn star Zypher—”Rhage harrumphed at that. Clearly, even though he was now very happily mated, he felt like the race had one, and only one, sex legend—and it was him.”

“I miss you.…” He stroked the indentation of the gown where her waist would have been—should have been. “I miss you so much.”

“F*ck that - why is your GPS in your kitchen" "Because that's where I was when I took it out of my phone""What the hell, V." Butch tightened his grip on his cell and wished there were an app that let you reach through a phone and b#tch slap someone. ~Butch and Vishous, Lover Unleashed.”

“In his old life, the answer would have been easy: He'd have just put a gun to Vin's head and dragged the fucker to the altar. Now? He needed to be a little more civilized.”

“How'm I doin'?" Jim asked in his own voice—hey, he could talk out of the bastard's mouth, too.Across the way, Adrian shrugged. "Pretty damn good—I can't sense you. But I gotta ask—the pair of you want a cigarette? Or are you going for a twofer?”

“Then how about we start with a shower," he said in the kind of deep voice that made her consider the value of cleanliness.”

“That's where you come in. I want into that guy's mind, and you need to tell me how to do it."Ad shrugged. "Personally, I'd just use a hacksaw, but—""There are potential consequences and side effects," Eddie said carefully."Like what?""Well, worst case... he could end up like Adrian.”

“Hello? You tracking at all? Or were you planning on sleeping through this round."The lids on that red stare lifted. "I'm not sleeping.""Meditating. Whatever.""I wasn't meditating.""Fine. Psychically manipulating energy fields——""You make me dizzy when you pace. It's vertigo diversion.”

“Matter of fact, when it came to manscaping, all he had was a dark stripe that ran between his belly button and his... You know, maybe size did matter, she thought.”

“Tell me this isn't permanent""No, you have to give me my weapon back at the end."Har-har, hardy-har-har. "I'm talking to Jim.""No, it's not," the angel answered from out of Veck's mouth. "I can get free as easily as I got in.""You sure about that?""Nope.""Fabulous.”

“And mortal terror in a female was Z's favorite turn-on. He got off on it like most males favored crap from Victoria's Secret.”

“Vishous came up onto the dais, his eyes down. He accepted the silver glove from Z and slipped it over the black leather he already wore on his hand. Then he scored himself with a quick flash of the black blade and stared at the skull as his blood dripped down into the basin, joining the others'."My flesh," he whispered.He seemed to hesitate before turning to Butch. Then he pivoted and their eyes met. As candlelight flickered over V's hard face and got caught in his diamond irises, Butch felt his breath get tight: At that moment, his roommate looked as powerful as a god...and maybe even as beautiful.Vishous stepped in close and slid his hand from Butch's shoulder to the back of his neck. "Your flesh," V breathed. Then he paused, as if asking for something.Without thinking, Butch titled his chin up, aware that he was offering himself, aware the he...oh, fuck. He stopped his thoughts, completely weirded out by the vibe that had sprung up from God only knew where.In slow motion Vishous's dark head dropped down and there was a silken brush as his goatee moved against Butch's throat. With delicious precision, V's fangs pressed against the vein that ran up from Butch's heart, then slowly, inexorably, punched through skin. Their chests merged.Butch closed his eyes and absorbed the feel of it all, the warmth of their bodies so close, the way V's hair felt soft on his jaw, the slide of a powerful male arm as it slipped around his waist. On their own accord, Butch's hands left the pegs and came to rest on V's hips, squeezing that hard flesh, bringing them together from head to foot. A tremor went through one of them. Or maybe...shit, it was more likely they both shuddered.”

“Tell me something, boys," he drawled. "Do you wear that leather to turn each other on? I mean, is it a dick thing with you all?”

“I'm not broken, I'm ruined. Do you understand the difference? With broken maybe you can fix things. Ruined? All you can do is wait to bury me.”

“They don't fit you?" V asked his roommate."Not the point. No offense, but these are wicked Village People." Butch held his heavy arms out and turned in a circle, his bare chest catching the light. "I mean, come on.""They're for fighting, not fashion.""So are kilts, but you don't see me rocking the tartan.""And thank God for that. You're too bowlegged to pull that shit off."Butch assumed a bored expression. "You can bite me.”I wish, V thought.Butch and Vishous”

“Do not think of him with Blay. Do not think of him with Blay. Do not think of him— “I didn’t know you were a sherry man.” “Huh?" Qhuinn glanced down at what he’d poured himself. Fuck. In the midst of the self-lecture, he’d picked up the wrong bottle. “Oh, you know… I’m good with it.” To prove the point, he tossed back the hooch—and nearly choked as the sweetness hit his throat. He served himself another only so he didn’t look like the kind of idiot who wouldn’t know what he was dishing out into his own glass. Okay, gag. The second was worse than the first. From out of the corner of his eye, he watched Saxton settle in at the table, the brass lamp in front of him casting the most perfect glow over his face. Shiiiiiit, he looked like something out of a Ralph Lauren ad, with his buff-colored tweed jacket and his pointed pocket square and that button-down/sweater vest combo keeping his fucking liver cozy. Meanwhile, Qhuinn was sporting hospital scrubs, bare feet. And sherry.”

“If it had been anyone else, Wrath would have used his favourite pair of words: Fuck and off”

“How ironic. Now that he wasn't with Blay, he was being faithful to the fucker.”

“It's not big," Veck said, "but it's flawless. That was important to me. I wanted to give you something...flawless”