Nicole Williams

“I love you, Jude.” …“And that makes me the luckiest bastard in the world.”

“I will gladly entertain and endure any and all bouts of jealous, angry sex you want to toss my way.”

“If you say you’re going to trust your man, then trust your man. Don’t revoke that privilege when he needs it most.”

“I swear that man swaggers in his sleep,”“Yeah, but Jude’s swagger is justified, not manipulated. He moves with that strut because he knows how to make a woman throw her head back in bed. And he knows it.”

“I loved that woman in that desperate, all-consuming, she-could-break-me-with-one-word, way.”

“I couldn't let anyone make me feel unworthy without my consent”

“My prior fondness for the dress turned to hate-you can take the girl out of the jeans...but you shouldn't.”

“Why was it the meaner the girl, the more she sparkled?”

“That's the thing about trust; it's like love. You can't help who you trust or love sometimes - you just do - you can't turn it on and off when you want to.”

“I've loved you from the first day I met you, as I will the rest of my existence.”

“Silence didn't bother me, it was actually where I felt most comfortable—in the things that didn't need to be spoken—but this was a very pregnant silence that was starting to give me labor pains.”

“I want to be with one person forever. I don't want to date my way through guys until I've forgotten just what I was looking for in the first place and end up settling for the next one that comes along.”

“don’t make me walk back without being beside you, holding your hand.” He lowered one arm from my waist to draw my hand to his lips. “I’ve lived for two hundred years with only the imagination of what it would be like to touch this,”—he moved my hand over his mouth, kissing each knuckle—“to hold this . . .” When my breath became weak, he lowered it from his lips, but kept it firmly in his hand. “Please allow me to escort you back to the house?”

“I love you, Bryn Dawson. I am yours, and yours alone, to the very end.”

“I’ve lived every beat loving you, since I first met you.”

“You want me?” I repeated, my bewilderment not abating, but growing. “I’ve never wanted anything more.”

“If being in love made a person mad, then being away from the one you loved made you a lunatic.”

“Happily ever after wasn’t a destination, it was a journey. And we were well on our way.”

“You can survive alone, or you can *live* together. I know which option William would chose—has chosen,” he said, shaking me as if he wished he could shake some sense into me. “You have to make your choice.”

“I’m surrounded by morons,” I muttered, making certain both the accused in question could hear me, before I began hopping away from them. I was positive I looked like a psychotic Easter bunny terrorizing the woods.”

“Not even William?” I found this hard to believe. These two shared everything . . . except girlfriends and underwear. Hopefully.”

“Fact of life: when a ladder and I went in hand to hand combat, the ladder would always win.”

“Yes," he said, shrugging. "Maybe you didn't understand when I said I"d love you forever, but I meant I'd love you forever. There were no qualifiers or addendums to that vow, nothing that would void it out based on your actions." His smile lit up the night. "To make sure you're clear on this, let me repeat myself. I'll love you forever, Bryn Dawson, no matter how determined you might be to screw it up.""No conditions?" I asked. "Not even (spoiler omitted)He shook his head. "I think that's why they call it unconditional.”

“They didn't call me the hook,line, and sinker man for no reason.”

“It wasn’t like a first kiss because we knew each other too intimately for that. And it wasn’t like a last kiss because we’d only just begun. It was the kiss you spend your whole life waiting for. The kiss you wish would swallow you whole so you’d always be living it. This was the kiss of a lifetime, shared with a woman I’d spent a few lifetimes waiting for.”

“There weren’t perfect people, nor were there perfect lives or perfect relationships. There were, however, perfect moments. And this was one of them.”

“Love is a simple thing by nature, people just like to screw it up and make it heavier than it is meant to be. That's why it's earned such a bad name.”

“Trust is rarer than Love.”

“Decent is the last way I want you," she said, skimming her fingers over my stomach, my lower stomach. My lower lower stomach, AKA the last part of exposed skin that, had my towel been hanging any lower, would have been considered indecent.”

“You’re not the only one who wants it all—I do too. I want you every day of forever, Bryn, not just one day at a time. But it’s enough for now,” he repeated his eyes overflowing with fondness.”

“What if we can’t have it all?” His expression was pained and I knew it was because he was admitting he may not be able to give me everything I wanted. “What if we can only have each other?”

“You may very well be the death of me one day. But what a way to go.”

“I wanted to flog myself for reacting this way to him.”

“There’s never been anyone but you, Bryn . . . ever. You’ve been that one shining star in the night sky, shining brighter than the others, until that’s all you can see in the surrounding darkness.” His lips rested over mine, for the shortest moment, before they fell away. “Your light is blinding.”

“You’re stubborn, aren’t you?” The fire gone from his eyes, his mouth pulled up into my favorite smile—that mischievous, I-don’t-have-a-clue-how-hot-I-am-when-I-smile-like-this-which-makes-it-that-much-hotter smile.”

“Something tells me if he thought you wanted the Titanic, he would retrieve it from the depths of the Atlantic for you.”

“I understand, given her track record, "I should use a first and last name-- maybe even the last four digits of their social security number-- when making a reference to one of her boyfriends.”

“The sky wasn't the limit - the only limits were the ones we imposed upon ourselves.”

“We weren't perfect, but we were perfect together.”