Rule (Marked Men, #1)

by Jay Crownover

My struggle was that Rule was complicated; he was brash, mouthy, careless, thoughtless, often cranky, and generally an insufferable pain in the ass.

“That’s the girl you complain about driving home with every weekend? That’s the girl you whine endlessly about walking in on you when you’re acting the fool? That’s the girl you dodge calls from and avoid like the plague? Geez, Rule, I never knew you were gay.”

The girl was rocking some serious curves and I wondered what in the hell I had been smoking to miss it right up until now.

She gave me a sheepish grin. “You’re going to have your hands full with that one.” Considering I wasn’t even a hundred percent sure what we were doing, I had no doubt she was right.

it’s complicated.” She winked at me and gave me a saucy grin. “Oh, honey, when they look like that and exude that kind of ‘do-me’ vibe, it always will be.”

“Gotta tell you, Rule, I’m a fan of kissing with all that metal in your face. I never thought that was something I would be into, but you sure make it work.”

and I decided then and there that kissing Shaw was probably as close to heaven as I was ever going to get.

“You’re always so proper and put together, who knew underneath was such a naughty girl?”

“You have me, Shaw, any way you need me, any way you want me, you have me.”

“Because it’s always been you even when I didn’t want it to be, even when it broke my heart over and over again. It’s just always been you.”

“If anything happens to her, Rome, I’m going to lose it. I mean, I know I kind of went off the rails when Remy died, but something tells me if that girl ends up hurt or worse there won’t be any recovering from that for me.”

And when I see your superhot, half-dressed boyfriend covered in tattoos looking all sleepy and satisfied I get a little burn near my heart that hurts.

“When I look at you I don’t see anything but you, and Shaw, you are perfect. I don’t care what color your hair is, if you’re pale or tan, if you have makeup on or just woke up—all I care about is that when I look at you, you always look back and see me. You’re beautiful inside and out and if you wanted to tattoo all that pretty white skin from head to toe, I would be honored to put it there for you, but if not, I’ll take you all smooth and milky white any chance I get.”

“You have to promise not to bail on me when I get lost, Shaw. You have to promise to just wait it out until I can find my way back. I need to know you’re at the end of the tunnel when everything goes black.”

“Here’s my heart, Shaw. You have it in your hands, and I promise you’re the first and last person to ever touch it.

opposites don’t just attract, they freaking catch fire and burn the entire city down.”