What Heals Us (Falls Creek, #2)

by Maggie C. Gates

If I was being honest with myself, I wanted to shove her up against her car and let our breath cloud as one while I slid my hand under all those layers and toyed with her.

“All doe-eyed and innocent. You make me want to ruin you. The way you’ve been dancing around me, like you don’t know exactly what being around you does to me, makes me want you that much more.”

“Acting like my dad is not a turn-on.” I grinned as I ripped her leggings down and threw them off. “Sugar, I’m not your dad, but I can sure as hell be your daddy.”

“I’m not going to take your virginity, Caroline. You’re gonna give it to me.”

“I have scars from saving other people. You got yours from fighting for yourself. And that takes a hell of a lot more strength.”

Surely losing your virginity to a firefighter in a cabin getaway that was won at a charity fundraiser had to be against some fine-print bylaw in the town charter.

how does it feel living my dream

Austin was so much bigger than me. So much older. So much more confident and so darn sexy.

“Florists are for anniversaries and apologies. Gas station roses aren’t planned. It’s something that says, ‘I saw this and thought of you.’ Gas station roses die in, like, five minutes. A gas station rose means I thought of you and I had to see you before I did anything else because I’ve been thinking about you all week and couldn’t go another minute without seeing your pretty face.”

Thanks to a Viking of a firefighter chopping wood and stoking a fire.

“Just because your pain is different than mine doesn’t make it any less valid. Life hurts. Things are never black and white. It’s not even shades of gray.”

“Let yourself be wanted; not just needed. Fulfilling needs is easy for you. Letting yourself be wanted isn’t. You’re the guy whose arms people leap from after you rescue them. You watch them run to someone else time and time again and it kills you. You’re bleeding out inside while pretending to be strong enough to survive it.”

“Most of all,” he said, catching his breath. “My favorite thing about you is that you’re mine.”

“Don’t tiptoe through life. Make it messy. Make it loud. Take up space. Try something new.”