More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
“Is that why you look at me the same way no matter how my appearance changes?” He studies me for long, silent seconds. “No, baby.” He caresses my cheek with his thumb, smiling into my eyes. “That’s just love.”
We hold each other and I absorb the sigh of relief that shudders through her. I don’t know if it’s hers or mine, but our bodies share it.
I’ve known the pain of losing the person you love most in the world. That is the risk of love, what makes it a radical act.
My hands tighten possessively at her waist, and I pull away, breathing hard.
Things are getting better between us than they’ve been in years, but I can’t say we’ve forgiven each other.
What does she have to forgive neevah for
“Hey.” I fix a smile on my face, which feels unnatural because there have been too few smiles between us since I left home.
“I’ve been ashamed of what I did, of what we did, since that day in the living room all those years ago.
You need to be. And whst do you mean since the living room? Not before
“You could have told me you liked him, T. I wouldn’t have given him the time of day if I’d known.” “I was too proud to admit the boy I wanted didn’t want me back. When you told me that he wanted to have sex and that you weren’t ready… well, I know how boys are, and I saw my chance.”
Such a biiiitch
“I love you, Neev,” Terry whispers, kissing my temple. “I’m so sorry and I’m so glad I can do this for you.”
You neede to be
“I thought today I would just be scared, but this right here feels as important as the surgery itself.”
I once thought he was the finest man I’d ever seen. Now, whatever once drew me to him, I can’t detect any sign of, which is as it should be.
Terry and I look at each other, and I see a measure of the fear return.
My name tumbles from her lips, carried on heaving breaths and ragged sighs. She grips behind my neck to keep me against her, her hands and hold imperative.
Naked skin hot to the touch.
I thrust up, needing to take some control, and I plunge so deep she goes still, contracting her muscles around me, dragging me past pleasure to delirium.
We pound out a rhythm of you are mine and I am yours. And mine and mine and mine and mine. And yours and yours and yours and yours.
When she finally rolls off and falls to her side on the bed, her fingers find mine immediately.
A haunted look possesses his eyes. A twinge of guilt squeezes my heart because I know exactly what it brings to his mind—how he documented his mother’s last days.
He shrugs, the helpless movement at odds with the powerful shoulders making it.
“You look at me the way your mom looked at sunsets.”
Mama lost her battle with cancer, but we had two years together, and I took care of her like she took care of me. Good daughters do that, don’t they?
Even death cannot steal, even time cannot erase, the peace I found in all the people I have known and loved.
Maybe I didn’t ever gain the fame of that other life, but this little roadside sign in a small Alabama town—it says I was here and it will tell my story.
I’m going to ignore all the swoony, melty things that happen in my body when I hear the concern threading that deep, rich voice.
“Neevah acting and dancing and singing her ass off, while managing a chronic illness, and humbling us all with her work ethic,” Canon says softly. “That’s a real thing.”
I glance up over my shoulder at Canon where he still stands behind me, feeling the love in his eyes as if his arms are wrapped around me.
The invisible thread that runs from her heart to mine, though, pulls taut all night. Straining when she moves, agitated by the distance as if not being with her is the most unnatural thing in the world.
“Where is Verity tonight?” I crane my neck, pretending to search the crowded room. “I thought I saw her talking to that agent from—” “Okay.” Monk’s expression morphs into an irritated frown. “One day it won’t work, you know. Using Ver to get me off your back.”
Throwing caution to the same winds, I bend to kiss the top of her head, forcing myself not to snarl at the photographer who just stole a picture of us.
I follow more slowly, my pace deliberate to counter my heartbeat, which is racing unreasonably fast.
Our breaths sound loud and ragged in the silence.
“It feels like she’s with us sometimes.” Neevah shakes her head as if to dismiss her own whimsy, but goes on. “I felt her with us tonight.” Fuck, now I’m crying for real. Not just tears standing in my eyes, but surrendering and sliding over my cheeks. “I felt that way, felt her tonight, too.”
She giggles, the sound so happy and soaring it lifts my heart with it.
