Kiss the Sky (Calloway Sisters, #1)

by Krista Ritchie

“I’ve seen the kind of love that cripples. Take Loren Hale and Lily Calloway—when one is shot with an emotion, the other feels it. If you stripped one from the other, they’d be less than themselves. If that’s love, I want no part of it.” I want to be whole. I want to be the best possible version of myself without the chance of being wounded or broken. “Can you empathize with Rose?” he asks me. “Yes, but love is a weakness that I won’t submit to.” “Sometimes you can’t control everything, Connor,” he tells me. “Even as intelligent as you are, there are things out of your grasp. Love, death—you can’t predict either. They just happen.” “And you believe it’s already happened?” I refuse this outcome. It’s not computable. “Why are you with her?” “Attraction.” “And?” “Affection.” “What else?” “Amusement—these are just words, Frederick.” “Love is just a word.” “I can’t love her,” I tell him definitively as I stand and pocket my phone. He stays seated, and yet, I feel as though he has the advantage on me. He still sees what I can’t. “And why is that?” “Smart people do stupid things when they’re in love. I’ve yet to do something inane.” Frederick grins. “Give it time.”

i wish he wasn't so afraid of love and things that he can't control