Kristen Ashley

“He leaned deeper toward me and said softly, "I'm gonna tell you what I make of this. What I make of it, Gwendolyn, is if my woman had a sister who I knew was in some serious shit, she would not be havin' a chat with Kane Allen, she would not be sleepin' alone and therefore she would not ever have to worry about whether she needs a baseball bat of crowbar because she'd be in bed beside me." Mitch Lawson”

“No wonder. Puerto Rican, Italian and Cuban –the perfect ingredients for a hot, bossy, badass cocktail.”

“-Una cosa que me queda que tenemos que saber esta cubierto: es que me sientas en la cama. Eso pasa,nena, sabes que va a haber un tu y yo. A donde va, nadie lo sabe, pero sin embargo va, habrá un tu y yo.”

“-Que es esto? -aventure.-El inicio de tu y yo.”

“You just need to know, I gotta fight to keep what we got so we can build on it, I will. Him, your Dad, you, I don’t give a fuck. In my life, I’ve learned when to let shit go and when to fight. This, babe, what we got, I’ll fight for.”

“Really?” I whispered.He crossed his arms on his chest and stated, “Babe, you think I found the woman of mydreams at forty-five years old and I’m gonna let anything happen to her, think again. That’s a long fuckin’ time to wait for what you want. I waited. Ifound it. I’m pullin’ out all the stops to take care of it. I know you feel the same for me so I’m doin’ the same to keep me safe for you. So yeah, really, Icalled Delgado. I made peace and asked a favor. His woman is in your posse so she wouldn’t be doin’ cartwheels, he said no and something wentdown with you or, for you, me. And he isn’t dumb, he’s a man who knows to collect favors and he’s a manwhose business means he often has the need to call markers. So his ear’s to the ground and his eyes are open so if a cop isn’t cruisin’ by yourhouse or bakery, one of Lee’s boys or one of Hawk’s commandos are. Smart people pay attention to who’s cruisin’ around people they want to fuckwith and smart people will see cops, Nightingale’s men and Delgado’s crazy motherfuckers and, my hope is, they’ll steer clear. So, there you go.Now you got a full explanation of what I mean when I say you’re on radar.”I heard all he said, I really did.But I was stuck at the beginning part where he told me I was the woman of his dreams.”

“This is it. You and me. No matter what.”

“One thing I’d learned in life was that women could bitch about their men until they were blue in the face and you could listen and nod and offer support. But you never as in never said something bad about a woman’s man no matter how much she bitched or how much he may deserve it. It always came back to haunt you.”

“... any man is defined by the woman who shares her bed with him.”

“Shut up, Jules.”

“You’re not gonna try and break up with me again, are you?”

“The Law and her sidekick, Tex, the Crackpot Coffee Guy were on the job.”

“... it isn’t the kids who have two parents and a stable home who are the luckiest ones. It’s the kids who know the taste of shit because they’ve been eatin’ it all their lives and then someone finds them and offers them a taste of somethin’ sweeter and they learn that life can be good. They learn to trust. They learn that if you care about someone you put your ass on the line to keep them safe. They learn that love doesn’t come with conditions.”

“If you’d given yourself to someone else, you wouldn’t be mine. And that would seriously piss me off.”

“Home isn’t a place.Home is anywhere, just as long as the people you love are there.”

“Are you aiming for our make-up to bethe shortest in history or what?”

“Nicaragua”

“It may almost always be the right thing for others but it usually wasn’t the right thing for you,” he told me. “Life ain’t worth livin’, Jules, if you don’t take a few risks and I’m not talkin’ about puttin’ your ass on the line to save the world. I’m talkin’ about puttin’ your ass on the line to save yourself.””

“Even though I felt like crying, I did my very best to smile.”

“Because I like you a lot. Because you’re beautiful and strong and make me feel things I can’t allow myself to feel. Because you listen to me in the moonlight like every word I say forms a drop of nectar. Because you’ve lived a shit life and come out the other side to be someone amazing. Because now you live a dangerous life with a scar on your back to prove it and I can’t afford to lose anyone else that means something to me...”

“I need his number,” I announced.“What?” Roxie asked.“Give me his cell number!” I shouted.“Who’s got his number?”Everyone started pulling out their phones.“I have his number,” Indy told me.“I don’t have his number,” Daisy said, but she was still digging through her purse as if she could help.“I wish I had his number,” Tod put in.”

“I’ve been practicin’ my morgue face for when I have to go identify your body. Wanna see it?” Nick said then he arranged his face in this kind of mock, sad, shocked look and slowly shook his head like a world with vigilante social workersmystified him.”

“And I knew Nick’s love for Auntie Reba.He loved her in a way that was indescribable.It wasn’t like she walked on water or was the earth and moon and stars.It was different.It was breath.It was necessity.”

“Meow, meow, meow. Meow meow. Meoow,” Boo told me, obviously having a full day and feeling I needed to be kept apprised of every second of it.”

“Coupla weeks ago, you gave me a fuckin’ sweet nightie and words I loved hearing.”I felt my entire body go still as I held his eyes.“Forgot to mention I feel the same,” he stated and my insides hollowed out.“What?” I breathed.“Put down the rice and come here, baby, I wanna tell you I love you when you’re in myarms.”I didn’t move. I stared at him, my internal organs gone but still, my body managed toproduce tears which gathered in my eyes and then promptly and silently slid down mycheeks.”

“I prefer your smiles and laughter, wife, but there are far worse things than your tears wetting my skin.”

“you’ll alwaysknow that I’m gray.”

“We haven't been together very long," I reminded him."You love me and I love you. How long does that need to be?"Knight and Anya Gage”

“I demoted him from The Best Man Ever to just The Best Man I’d Ever Met. Superman would have charged out (hell, he’d have flown) to get Lois Lane cookies. I was pretty sure of it.”

“I love you Anya, you’re the only woman who’s had that from me and you’re the only one who ever will.”

“You love me?”“Baby, you were made for me.”

“You got a girl who’s worth it … you spoil her rotten. You let her know she’s precious, not convince her of that shit, because it’s not about convincing. It’s about understanding it’s just fuckin’ true.”

“You’re perfect, baby.”I blinked. Then I whispered, “Knight – ““No, Anya, no fucked up shit outta that sweet mouth. I’m not gonna listen to it and I’ll work my balls off, I don’t care if it takes decades, to make you stop even thinkin’ it. Instead, you gotta know that every second I spend with you it becomes more and more clear that you were made for me. A gift I don’t deserve, didn’t earn but I’m not giving it back.”

“You can’t cushion me from the entire world, Knight.”“I can try.”

“Honey, you haven’t even kissed me yet.”

“Can you even understand what a beautiful life is? It isn’t about the perfect house and a keeping-up-with-the-Jones’s new car every two years and having the right landscaper and bragging at parties that you have a house cleaner. Not when all that stuff is shit. It’s surface. There’s nothing underneath.”

“It was a nice compromise, something I'd never experienced before in my life. With Cooter I did the compromising, I didnt know what it was like to have a fair dose of what I wanted before I gave in to what someone else wanted.”

“Jealousy is an ugly emotion that makes people do some seriously whacked shit and when a woman is experiencing it, it's worse.”

“The cold night air outside was like a slap in the face. If I wasn't in Naughty Girl Martini Land, I would have sobered instantly. Unfortunately, I was deep in Naughty Girl Martini Land. So deep, I was skipping dazedly through the Naughty Girl Martini forest and leaping over the Naughty Girl Martini streams, completely oblivious to everything.”

“Please, honey," he whispered, "make tacos. Eat 'em. Watch television. Do whatever. But however it ends, when you go to sleep, crawl into my bed.”

“Mitch---""All right, baby, I'll shut you up."Then he did, his head slanting and his lips taking mine in a repeat performance of the open-mouthed, knock my socks off, rock my world, best kiss in the history of all time.”

“I didn't think much of men's pajamas, ever. Only Max could make pajamas, even every day, normal pajama bottoms and a t-shirt like the ones he was wearing, look so darned good.”

“Well shit! If she’s dead, how can I have a bitch smackdown with her?”

“What you need to give me is to know it is not about you, it’s about me, you gotta suck it up and stand by me, you gotta know, in the end, I’ll work my ass off to make it all worth it to you and you gotta always remember I love you and I have never, not once, said those words to any breathing soul so you also gotta know what that means.”

“Great, I’ll continue this junior high bullshit and tell her that Ty. You got anything else I should whisper to her at recess?” Take asked, pissed as all hell.”

“Ty Walker opened the backdoor to his house and walked in to a big, seriously pissed off black man with tree trunk legs planted apart and beefy arms crossed on his chest. He knew he’d get that when he got home. He also didn’t give a fuck. He closed the door and looked Julius in the eye. “She gone?” he asked.“You are one serious dumb fuck.”

“He didn’t mind doin’ that time when doing it meant he would walk out to Lexie.”

“Hubby, At the pool. If I don’t return by nightfall, it’s your marital duty to rescue me. If it goes that late, this means I’ve passed out on a lounge chair in Vegas in summer so my advice is to stock up on aloe vera before you launch the rescue effort.LexieWalker stared at the note thinking that Alexa Berry… Strike that. Alexa Walker was fucking funny.”

“Christ, don't go to the Haunted Houses with Ally and Indy. A few years ago, Indy went berserk and broke through the hay bales they had set up to make the haunted trail and headed into the cornfields. All the employees chased after her but since they were dressed like monsters, Indy lost her mind. They had to call the cops to settle her down." I lost him at "cornfields". "Cornfields?" I whispered. "Yeah." "They have a haunted trail through cornfields?" "Yeah, up in Thornton. Best Haunted House in Denver. Indy and Ally go every year. Why?" "Cornfields freak me out," I admitted. Hank was silent. Then, he said, "You're from Indiana. How in the fuck can cornfields freak you out?" "Cornfields don't freak me out. Cornfields at night freak me out. Haunted cornfields at night freak me out." "You been to many haunted cornfields?" "Dude," I said low. "All cornfields are haunted. Trust me. I know... They whisper to you.”

“Life!' Vito exploded, making me jump. "Up and down, good and bad, birth and death, celebration and devastation. If you got any balls at all, you roll with the punches and get the fuck on with it, pardon my French”