Kristen Ashley

“Say you love me, Ivey.”

“My girl’s home.”

“Say it.”“Say what?”“Order me to tell you I love you.”The instant the words came out of my mouth, his eyes closed, a shadow of pain crossed his face and he dropped his head to the side of mine. He remembered.He missed that too.”

“I loved you then. I love you now. I’ve loved you every day for seven years.”

“Honest to God, dollface, you need to stop running around in that fuckin’ nightie. You’re killin’ me.”

“Okay, my man, in a minute you are gonna hear a bunch of shit that’s gonna knock your socks off. So, two seconds to prepare, Ivey is my best friend, outside you my only real one, as you know. What you don’t know, she is not my lover. She’s my friend. And I’m gay. You tell anyone, I’ll shoot you and you know I’m not fucking with you about that. Deal with it. We gotta move on, like, now.”

“Never before, never since have I felt for any woman, fuck anyone the way I felt about you. I want that back. I want my girl back.”

“You still fallin’ in love with me?... ‘Cause you should know, baby, I’m already gone for you”

“Then he walked home thinking he'd given Clarisse Haines her first kiss and thinking it would far from suck if he was also the guy who gave her her last and no one in between”

“Hey! Don't drink from my drink!"He replaced the glass on the table and looked at her. "Why?""It's my drink!""Yes. And?""You can't drink my drink!""And why not?""Because it's my drink."He sighed her name, "Leah."She mimicked his sigh sarcastically. "Lucien.”

“You’re my gold, nahna xaxsah is my hahnee rah. Kay jahnan nahna lisa, na uvan tee luh kay. Ana kay jahnan nahna pahnsahna, Circe. Kay nayeesan tee. Fahzah.You’re my gold, your cunt is my liquid gold. I will have your mouth, you will give it to me. Then I will have your spirit, Circe. I will own it. Always.”

“You don’t have to have had something to want it or need it but when you have something you liked… very much… and it is taken away, and you want it back, it can become a hunger.”

“I didn’t just want your light, your power, your strength. I wanted all of you. I asked for it. I fought for it. But you kept it from me and you did it willingly knowing I needed it. I’m sorry, Sam, I’ve made my decision. I thought I could do it but I was wrong. It’s all or nothing.”

“You’re beautiful always, but you make a little dress and high heels look fuckin’ spectacular and when your face looks just… like… that, honey, you take my breath away.”God, God, God, I loved this man.”

“He must have caught my vibe because his eyes cut to me then he said into his phone, “Kia’s about to have a shit fit or a breakdown. I gotta be available for either one.”

“And it was then I knew I was wrong. I wasn’t falling in love with Sam. I was already there.”

“There were smiles, chin jerks, head nods, handshakes and so much hot guy hormone floating in the air around them it was a wonder every female in a two block radius didn’t instantly become pregnant.”

“He stopped in the doorway and his eyes flicked to Sam whereupon he mumbled, “Dude, cool to meet you, big fan,” then he looked back at me and exploded, “Seriously, Kiakee, what… the… fuck?”

“I’m gonna take care of you,” Sam whispered against my lips. “Okay,” I whispered back.”

“Today, I show you Lake Como even though I don’t know fuck all about Lake Como; I do know how to drive a boat. Tonight, no parties, no friends, no nothing. You, me, dinner. Later tonight, just you and me. You with me?”“I’m with you,” I whispered, and I was with him. So with him.”

“You know, Sam, it’s beginning to piss me off how you figure me out. How the heck am I supposed to be intriguing and mysterious if you keep figuring me out?”

“He looked at my mouth then he looked in my eyes then his arm and hand gave me a squeeze before he stated, “Now, I think she finally fuckin’ gets me.”

“Fuck me, how a woman can be so transparent and so full of shit at the same time is beyond me, but, baby, you got it down to an art”

“I see it Kia, and I get this is gonna take effort. But what I’m sensin’ is, you don’t notice I’m makin’ that effort. Don’t fuck up, baby, and, out of habit, reinforce your shields to hold back a threat that doesn’t exist. You get me?”

“Jesus Christ," he muttered to the ceiling. "All those times I sat in the office and laughed my ass off at stories of Lee, Eddie, Hank and Vance. They should have fuckin' medals.”

“My clutch and wrap had fallen to the floorbecause both my arms were around his neck, my body was plastered tohis, one of his arms was tight around my back, the other hand hadslid in my dress and down and was cupping the cheek of my ass, skinto skin (I was wearing a thong, which was a smart move on my partnot only to avoid panty lines but because his warm, strong handcupping my ass felt freaking great)when I heard my father clear his throat.”

“Then I said, “Matt’s got a big mouth.”“They all got big mouths, girl, learn that quick. These boys talk more than a pack of women. I lost fifty bucks on you.”I was stunned speechless again, this time it didn’t last as long.“What?”“See, Lee nailed Indy the first night they were together. Not nailed her nailed her but she was in his bed. Eddie, with Jet, it took a few days. Hank and Roxie, like, a day. Vance, like three, but Jules was a virgin and he had to interrupt the festivities once to go out and shoot someone.”I was blinking rapidly and feeling kind of faint at the amount and sensitivity of information Shirleen was imparting, not to mention what it might mean to me.“So we had a pool. Everyone threw down money on when they thought Luke would nail you. Mace won five hundred dollars.”Ho-ly crap.“So,” she went on. “Did he nail you nail you or did you two just sleep?”For some reason, I answered her unbelievably nosy question. “We just slept.”“New pool!” she shouted.”

“...that makes him get close toyou anytime you’re even alittle near, like any moment a lion’s gonna come roarin’ into theroom and he’s gotta beclose enough to come between you and it so he can keep yousafe.”

“He isn't my man.""Girl, it don't matter you don't think he is, he thinks he is. Therefore in Badass Motherfucker Land, that means he is.”

“Christ, I forgot how fucking good you feel when you're beneath me.”

“Quiet,” he repeated on a growl, “I’m about to fuck my wife and the only words I want her saying when I do it are ‘yes’, ‘Tor’, ‘my prince’, ‘baby’ and ‘oh my God’.”

“It’ll be all right, my love,” he assured me quietly. “Right,” I whispered, not believing him. His hand brought mine to his chest as his other hand came out, hooked me around the neck and pulled me to him. “If it isn’t, I’ll make it so,” he declared. “That’s a vow.”

“On Salem, you’re right where you’re supposed to be.”

“You’re peeved a lot” he observed. “Learn from that, big guy,” I educated and twisted right back. He chuckled.”

“His mouth moved up to my ear. “Let me stroke you, swear to the gods, sweets, you loosen up just a hint, I’ll make you come so hard you’ll think you’ve exploded.”

“Then I heard a noise I’d never heard in real life before. The kind of noise you hear in movies when horse’s hooves are beating on cobblestones or the members of Monty Python were cracking together coconuts.”

“Ava, you missed it when it happened so I’ll clue you in. Last night, around the time you fell asleep against me, you became mine.”

“Tonight’s not my night to lose you, partner,” I told him. “Tomorrow’s not my day to lose you, either.” I lifted my hand from his chest and brought it down in a fistover his heart, my voice now shouting, “Never, never, never again will there be a time when it’s my time to lose you!”

“Before I could purposefully kill the mood, Luke did it for me. “Fuck. You guys havin’ a sit down with Darius or an orgy in reception?”

“Douglas ignored her look, determined to move to the next phase in his strategy and went on. “Julia, I intend to be your lover.” With Julia’s soft warmth pressed so close, he could smell her. Both the feel of her and her scent made his body begin to tighten in an intensely pleasant way so that, when he spoke, his voice deepened, became hungry, as he, again, made his intentions clear but this time, he made them clearer. “I intend to sleep in sheets that smell of tangerines and jasmine. I intend to have your naked body squirming under mine. I intend to touch you everywhere with my hands and my mouth. I intend to memorise the taste of you, to make you call my name while I’m moving inside you, to make you so excited you beg me to let you come…”

“Sometimes, you get told enough you are what you aren’t,it gets in your head and you make it a self-fulfillingprophesy even if you really aren’t that.”

“All. Fucking. Mine. ” he whispered fiercely.”

“Are we done talking?""Absolutely""Are we going to sleep?""Absolutely not.”

“You’ve missed everything. So I’ll say it so you can understand it. I’ve been waiting to have you since I knew you existed. But I’ve been waiting for someone like you for five fucking centuries ”

“Don’t try me,” Lucian warned in my head.“Kiss my concubine ass,” I returned in his.”

“In fact, when he wasn’t being a jerk, controlling or a pain in the ass, he looked at me…He looked at me…Oh hell, he looked at me like I was his life.”

“If you are nothing else in this life, be wise, be compassionate, and be strong because those three are everything”

“If you think Atticus Finch went home at night and slept easy because he knew he was doing the right thing, you're wrong....Because even one voice in a wilderness of ignorance is a voice that is heard by someone. Because every woman and man, no matter their color or their religion, is entitled to a good defense. And because Jem and Scout would grow up to be like their father, spreading his wisdom, understanding his compassion and sharing his strength which are the only, the only weapons we have against injustice.”

“Jumpin’ Jehosafats, I think I just creamed my pants,” Annette whispered, staring at Luke. Luke’s eyes locked on me. He lifted his hand and crooked his finger. “I was wrong about before. Now, I’ve definitely creamed my pants,” Annette breathed.”

“No, no, no. I'm gonna rip his dick off and shove it up his nose and parade him though the streets naked and dickless then cut his head off.”