Vee Hoffman

“Sleepy, I kissed the juncture of his collarbone, and we said goodnight as my heart ached the way it normally did with the power of what I felt. All combined, it was a magnificent feeling. But it was also a little inexplicable. Somehow, it worried me, the intensity of that feeling. The fear beneath it.”Excerpt From: Nicolaie, Alexandra. “Sublimation.” iBooks. This material may be protected by copyright.”

“The way I just focused on the sight of his naked form, helpless with passion, you’d think I expected to never see it again. I forgot to talk and I resisted the urge to touch him – I just wanted to see it all, to save it for my memories.”Excerpt From: Nicolaie, Alexandra. “Sublimation.” iBooks. This material may be protected by copyright.”

“I looked at him and drew him into a poignant silence, traced my fingers over his lips, I watched Dominic’s green-grey eyes with fiery certainty as I swiped my thumb on his plump bottom lip and then pulled down, opening it for a kiss. He surrendered and slid his tongue against mine almost on instinct, which is when I made my move.Grabbing his tongue at first gently between my teeth, I felt him tense and shudder, the movement replaced with a moan and an acquiescence when I sucked it hard to a tingling numbness between my lips. I repeated the movement a couple of times before letting him go, and by the time I did he was close to tearing my t-shirt with the ferocity of his grip. Dominic drew in a sharp, desperate breath when I pulled back, and stared at me, wide-eyed and trying to process this.Every stage of understanding played over a fistful of split-seconds on his face, and at last he whispered: “Do you mean what I think you mean by that?”Excerpt From: Hoffman, Vee. “Acclamation.” Indie Inklings Ltd. iBooks. This material may be protected by copyright.Check out this book on the iBookstore: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/M...Excerpt From: Hoffman, Vee. “Acclamation.” Indie Inklings Ltd. iBooks. This material may be protected by copyright.”

“You are already my lover so I cannot offer to make you that. You are already a man so I cannot offer that, either. You are already half of my soul, you are already my religion and my prayer.”

“I wonder if I loved him because I thought no one like you would ever come along.”

“Dominic, I realized at once, would be the one to suffer the most.”

“This was beautiful, this was us.”

“My lips pursed on the shuddering feather softness of his belly and a sigh broke from Dominic that invaded and destroyed and rebuilt my brain, rebuilt it with a true, unwavering knowledge that I was his now. If he wanted, he could do as he wished, but I knew then that no matter the consequence I would follow his whims, wherever they might lead me.”

“I had nothing to feel guilty about. I had no one to answer to. I could look back upon my short life with Scott and I could smile. My youth and my happiness, I had once thought bitterly, had been taken from me prematurely, and without anything to fill the void left by their absence. But they were being reclaimed, fought for, declared the property of someone who was brave enough to suffer me, to try and understand me.”

“I never thought people actually woke up the way I did that morning. I always figured it was hyperbole and massive overcompensation to say that you woke up grinning, woke up in a state of contentment and excitement for the smallest things. Even while I was in love formerly, it seemed more like a comfortable thing rather than a giddy, overwhelming happiness. Realize, then, that I had never been joined in a mutual state of infatuation with someone else. My infatuations tended to be unrequited, accompanied by a sense of muted sadness. I sat up at 7:00a.m. without even waiting for the alarm, and kept still there, smiling, looking at nothing and going over yesterday’s conversations, the fevered symphony of emotion ringing forever in my ears.I fell back and actually laughed to myself, reaching for my glasses to slide them on as I stretched out my back comfortably in a lazy, half-waking state.You are in love.”

“It’s wonderful when a kiss lives up to its promise. When hands fist on fabric, push off jackets, tug at and run through hair, grabbing and pulling and wanting to make the closeness that much closer. Everything all together, trying to spare a moment for breathing deep a lover’s scent, surrendering that moment on the half-second to tasting his mouth, focusing on this and then on that, never stopping, never stilling. Pressing and curling your tongues together, knowing the calm will descend but never wanting that to happen.”

“The things we take for granted. The things we never feel we’ll lose. Not missing the water until the well runs dry, and hundreds more tired idioms and metaphors to build monument to the fact that I was drinking in every detail of Dominic’s body like the precious thing it was, quenching the thirst of years with visions of flesh and beauty. It was impossible to believe, suddenly, that I had ever known beauty and excitement before.”

“My whole body felt light, unguarded. I leaned in without even thinking about it, not too much at least, and kissed Dominic’s lips. I felt him smile against my mouth and it was like the openness of the bridge and the river and the sky and the city got bigger and more infinite as we pressed together, warming each other, happy. So very happy. Ever after.That must be what it feels like, to dream of flying.”

“What’s the use in dreaming, if you’re not going to fly?”

“Desire. You can't fight that; you can only fight yourself after it hits you...”

“With a sleepy sigh, I reminded myself that distance was only a myth.”

“Why do you fall in love with the impossible?”