Kristen Ashley

“I closed my eyes and prayed for divine intervention.I waited a beat and nothing happened.Guess God was busy with war and famine and the like.”

“Just a little pointer, Indy, girl to girl, if you want that week with Lee to last into two. He likes itwhen you go down on him in the morning. He’s a fucking animal in bed but give him a morning BJ,he’ll return the favor and rock your world.”Every muscle in my body froze solid.“What did she just say?” Stevie asked.“She did not just say that in front of me,” Kitty Sue said.“Holy crap,” Dolores said.“Oh… my… gawd,” Tod said.“You fucking bitch,” Ally said.“This is more like it,” Tex said.”

“that fucking motherfucker”

“This is is, brother. We’re livin’ together. Soon’s we can do it, we’re movin’ to a better fuckin’ place so I can provide her a decent home. I’m puttin’ my ring on her finger, I’m givin’ her babies, and when she’s laid to rest, that ring I give her will still be on her finger.”

“I’m just tellin’ you to keep your eyes open and watch your heart. Or, more to the point, watch your ass because if you don’t, Shy’ll tap it.”

“Shy Cage never dreamed a dream. Still, he knew, without a doubt since he was holding one in his arms, dreams were real.”

“I dreamed a dream when I was sixteen and here I am, standing with my dream, feeling it come real.”

“He stalked toward her."Bedroom," he growled. "Take your clothes off on your way.”

“Tabby, love you, honey but you’re kinda freakin’ me out,” Shy admitted.“I don’t know what to do,” I confessed.“About what?”“Being this happy.”Then he said, his voice rough, “Start now.”“Pardon?” I asked.“Start now,” he repeated.“Shy – ““Start now, Tabitha. Start gettin’ used to it.”

“You know, the rulebook states anything agreed through sexual manipulation is thrown out after the act.”

“Honey, life has enough obstacles planned for you. Stop putting up your own and just live it.”

“Once the door closed, Tod turned to me. “Girlie, he is fine. He’s fine times twelve. He’s the new definition of fine.” “I’ve been in love with him since I was five,” I told Tod. “I’m in love with him now. I want to have his children,” Tod told me.”

“I also suspected he was on the cover of the Denver Firefighters calendar, picture used for the month of July, he was that hot. If the firefighters merged with the police officers and they did a group shot that included Lawson and Jury, the paper might spontaneously combust.”

“I’d had a really bad day and you hurt me.”His hand at my jaw tensed and he kept whispering when he said, “I’ll probably do it again, Red,because I’m a man and any man can be a dick. But I won’t do it like that, not again. I know you got softunder that attitude and I’ll have a mind to that.”

“Haven’t had breakfast,” Jeff replied too casually. “Well, that’s just awful,” I noted, making this news sound dire, my eyes going to his hands. “No wife to fill your belly before a hard day of the God’s honest work of tackling crime?” Max’s head came up and he made a strangled noise which I hoped was him choking back laughter because he thought I was cute. “Nope,” Jeff answered through his grin.”

“It is a measure of a nation their cunning! It is a measure of a nation their strength! And it is a measure of a nation," I leaned forward and screeched, "their mercy!" I leaned back and surveyed the crowd and for some bizarre reason kept right on shouting. The condemned you see before you have been tried justly and meet their sentence fairly. They have done wrong and they will pay for it. But I am not the Winter Princess of a nation who does not see that even the condemned deserve to be treated with respect as they face death. You may think they do not deserve it but it is your duty as Lunwynians to rise above their actionsnot fall to their depths. They will hang for their crimes and you will watch this sentence carried out.How could that not be enough for you?"I tore my eyes away from the now whispering crowd as those close sent my words far,feeling Frey’s arm still tight around my middle but I ignored it and looked down at the scaffold.Bring her to her feet,” I ordered the guardstanding around Viola and they shifted andstared up at me in stupefaction so I snapped,“ Bring her to her feet!”They jumped toward Viola who I avoidedlooking at as they helped her up and movedher to her noose. Instead, I looked back tothe crowd and, yep, you guessed it, kept right on shouting."Today, you witness something infinitely sad. Three people who have gone wrong somewhere in their lives, done wrong be-cause of it and therefore are paying the ulti-mate price. Do not stand there shouting and jeering, demonstrating that they were right to move against this great nation, those for-tunate enough to inhabit her ice-bound earth and those privileged to wear her crowns.Stand there and, as the Lunwynians I know you to be, stand strong, stand proud and stand filled with mercy.”

“You’re beautiful, Finnie, but by the gods you have never been more beautiful than you are right now, spread before me, wrapped in my wool and filled with me”

“Sweetheart, look at me" Hank whispered.I looked at him, he moved inside me and it felt delicious."Ït starts now" he told me.I moved with him, i wasn't really focusing on what he was saying, mainly because it was building again and i could feel it coming."What starts now?" i asked.You and me".He moved faster, pressed harder, went deeper.Good god."What?" i asked dazedly."You and me", he said again”

“Always and forever, baby, you're stuck with me.”

“Love you, Tabby." Oh yes. I pressed the insides of my thighs to his hips, wrapped my arms tight around him, and whispered in his ear, "Love you too, Shy." His mouth moved below my ear and he murmured against my skin, "Everything to me.”

“I had the taste of you in my mouth, so sweet, for four years. Your grudge and you hatin' me made that taste as bitter as it was sweet. Didn't get it, what I was feelin', not until I heard you were gettin' hitched. Then I knew I was gone for you. Don't know how it happened, just know it did. Seein' you with another guy cut deep. Then you lost him, and I felt it. And when you called me, I realized if I didn't get my shit together it would be empty pussy and parties for the rest of my life, and I'd never have a woman who was lost without me." His hand moved from my waist to frame the side of my face and his voice got quiet when he said, "Just to be clear, the point of findin' that is not makin' a woman be lost without me like Rosalie will be for a while until she moves on. The point of findin' that is to have the feeling, be able to give that gift, to work at keepin' it good so my woman never feels list because she knows she'll never be without me.”

“Shy burst out laughing. When he quit, he saw she was smiling up at him.and it hit him.All of it.Waking up to her. Going to bed with her. Making love to her. Eating with her. Laughing with her. Kissing her. Going shopping with her, and when she was in a store and wandering away, he saw her looking over the racks, looking for him, and when he came to her at her back, she'd turned to him, looking lost, and leaned into him the second he got there, suddenly found.Jesus, he had it.All of it."I never dreamed any fuckin' dream," he whispered, and the smile faded from her face as tears filled her eyes.She understood him."Shy-""Didn't dream it, saw it, waited my time, and then you gave it to me.""Shy," her voice broke on his name.He looked into her blue eyes swimming with tears, feeling her fingers digging into his shoulders, her weight in his lap, the smell of her hair, the taste of her still on his tongue.Yes, he fucking had it.When he was twelve he lost it.Now he had it again.All of it.Everything.”

“You are my absolution.”

“You know, you wouldn't even want a man who wouldn't go back to save someone's mother and a drag queen.”

“Maybe I should go put on my ragged white dress and stone necklace and you can put on your leopard skin tunic and we can pedal in our stone car to the roadhouse before you go bowling with Barney and I go shopping with Betty, Fred. –Sadie”

“You wanna know what else I know?” he asked.“What do you know, honey?” “My girl is gonna marry me.”

“Since I was Shy’s old lady and my behaviour reflected on him, I backed down. But, since I was Tabby and he was Hound, I didn’t do it gracefully. “You’re off my Christmas card list,” I announced.”

“Tyra told me you two went at it for days over a flippin’ fridge. Badasses are capable of and don’t hesitate to throw down about a fridge. An IT geek does not care what kind of fridge you buy. An IT geek just thanks his lucky stars he’s gettin’ it regular.”

“I told him to stop being so bossy.He told me I sucked bossy dick and never complained unless I wasn't getting my way, so I needed to get over it.Of course, at this, my head nearly exploded.”

“Jesus, fuck, once we kill him, can I keep stabbing him?”

“Tack’s eyes stayed locked on Shy’s two beats then he said quietly. “Make her happy.” Shy held his gaze as, for the first time in fucking months, he began to breathe easy. There it was.Tack just gave it.His blessing.”

“Tack studied him. Then quietly, he stated, “She’s my only daughter, man.”“And she’s the only woman I’ve ever loved, Tack,” Shy shot back instantly.”

“Shy, she’s yours, that’s what you say. Control your woman,” High demanded. “Get her ass out.”My eyes went to Shy to see him looking at High, and he wasn’t looking pissed. He was looking reflective. Then he said, “Tab and I don’t play it that way. You wanna order your old lady around, do what you do, not for me to say. I asked her to go, she didn’t go. Not gonna make her. But you try, you’ll deal with me.”God, I loved my guy.”

“Your dad just threw down and I just laid it out,” Shy started when I didn’t speak. “Now’s the time to share, Tabby.”“I love you,” I whispered. “Good, but don’t say that shit to me three feet away. Get the fuck over here.”I launched off on a foot, took one step and flew through the air. Shy, as he’d been doing awhile, caught me. I wrapped my limbs around him and looked down in his beautiful green eyes. “I love you,” I whispered again.”

“You’re the fuckin’ shit, Tabby.”“I know,” I told him airily on another smile. “My man tells me that all the time.”His eyes dropped to my mouth and his lips ordered, “Kiss me, baby.”

“Gotta say, baby,” he murmured. “You’re beautiful always but you’re seriously fuckin’ beautiful when you’re takin’ me.” …“Gotta say, darlin’,” I murmured back huskily. “You’re handsome always, but you’re seriously handsome when you’re giving it to me.”

“Righty ho, biker boss,” I muttered quickly and Shy’s eyes narrowed.“Don’t be fuckin’ cute and, honest to God, if you lick your lip, I’ll lose my mind. Next time you lick your lip you do it when we are nowhere near a public place and I can let loose the reaction I’ve had half a million fuckin’ times over four fuckin’ years every time I’ve seen you do it.”

“Shy hasn’t exactly lived his life holding it precious waiting for the one”

“You,” he whispered, “in my bed.”… “Yeah,” I whispered back. “With you.”

“I knew I was gone for you. Don’t know how it happened, just know it did.”

“I have to admit I’m not real sure you being equipped to scrape her off at the drop of a hat fills me with joy.” “I get that, Tab. What you don’t get is, she isn’t you.”

“So promise me, right now, my dick still inside you, you naked on top of me in bed, us sharing what we just shared, us having a taste of what it’s like apart and knowin’ we’re better together, you won’t leave me.”

“What just happened was somethin’ that was bigger than all that. It was bigger than everything. I had a taste of you four years ago that I could never get off my tongue. Now, I’ve tasted more of you with more than just my mouth and I know I wanna keep it in a way I Don’t want to think of it ever bein’ done. Not in a few weeks. Not in a few months. Maybe not ever.”

“May feel like you're falling', Tabby, but remember, I'm at the bottom ready to catch you.”

“Know this, Tabby, I lose you, it would be sixty years of goin' through the motions. I know that in my dick. I know it in my gut. I know it in my heart. I know it deep down in my goddamned soul”

“I never dreamed any fuckin' dream," he whispered, and the smile faded from her face as tears filled her eyes.She understood him."Shy-""Didn't dream it, saw it, waited my time, and then you gave it to me.”

“You lost that guy, respect, you found the strength to carry on. Know this, Tabby, I lost you, it would be sixty years of goin' through the motions. I know it in my dick. I know it in my gut. I know it in my heart. I know it deep down in my goddamned soul.”

“I'm with him because when I'm with him, I'm free to be me. I'm with him because he's hot. I'm with him because he lets me blather, since I'm prone to blathering, and he lets me rant when I have a bad day. I'm with him because when I rant, he makes me feel better and he does this effortlessly. I'm with him because I live for the times when I'm on the back of his bike and we're riding together, not even talking, just being free.”

“The best part of the ceremony was after Shy kissed his bride, and when we were done, he didn't let go. So I stood in his arms, my thumb stroking his jaw, my eyes gazing up at him. the world had melted away, so I didn't hear the hoots and hollers of friends and family. I only heard what he muttered in a voice that was weirdly raw but unbelievable beautiful: "Like I'm the only man on the planet." In that minute, he was but then again, for me, really, when it came down to it, he always had been.”

“I dreamed a dream, Shy Cage." He shifted so his hips were against mine and his voice was now raw when he ordered, "Shut up, baby, and kiss me." "I dreamed a dream when I was sixteen and here I am, standing with my dream, feeling it come real.""Fuck me," he muttered. Then I knew he'd lost patience, because Shy slanted his head and kissed me.Yes.I dreamed a dream and there I was, a ring on my finger, my man's mouth on mine, standing with my dream, feeling it come real.I was feeling everything.And it was beautiful.”