False Start (Red Zone Rivals, #5)

by Kandi Steiner

“Because I’ll light you on fire and dance in the ashes. I am not a weak, helpless thing. I can handle myself. And if you respect me at all, you’ll honor this.”

“We are doing business together. Fair business. The only money I will take from you is the commission I rightfully earn after finding you the house you want. Do you understand?”

“I want to protect you — whether you need it or not. And I feel like I was put here to do that. If your ex is going to be in your life, he’s going to respect you.” He paused. “And Sebastian.”

“I know you don’t need me,” he said, cutting me off. His eyes flashed with something achingly familiar when he added, “But I need you.”

“You’re a real jerk for doing that, you know.” “Well, I need a date to this wedding.” “More like you need to insert yourself into a situation you should just leave alone.” “Shut up and let me take care of you.”

Alright, motherfucker. Let’s play.

“I will be fine,” she said on a grin. “Stop acting like I’m some helpless damsel.” “Oh, trust me — I am well aware that you’re the dragon, not the damsel.”

“I fell hard, and fast — the way only a teenager can. And I know she fell for me, too. We fell in the way two people do when there’s nothing to lose, when there are no stakes, when it’s all just fun and warmth and of course we love each other. You know?”

“When I saw her again earlier this summer… I hated her. At least, I wanted to — but the truth was that as soon as it happened, I was already planning how I could see her again, how I could talk to her, how I could get her to tell me what happened all those years ago.” I tongued my cheek. “I am and always have been hers. And being with her again, fighting through what we’ve had to, surviving what we did… there’s no one in this world I could ever want more than her. There’s no one who could ever make sense. She’s it for me. Period. End of story. She is… everything.”

“In this life of mine, I have only loved you. Even when I wanted so desperately to hate you, it was impossible. You have known me, the true core of me, since I was just fifteen years old. We grew up together. We grew apart. And somehow, in a crazy turn of events, or maybe… fate,” he said with a wry grin. “The universe brought us together again.”

“I love you, Mads,” he breathed, and when his jaw flexed with those words, when emotion made him swallow — it nearly broke me. “God, I love you fiercely. I love you in a way that would kill me if I wasn’t allowed to act out this love every day of my life. I love your passion and your heart. I love your fight. I love your determination. I loved you as a friend, as my first love, as my first… everything. And I love you even more now, as a mom, as a woman who has worn the weight of the world on her shoulders.”

I always made sure she was open to touching before I attempted — because I know if anyone tried to touch me while I was two seconds away from vomiting, I’d fucking deck them.

“I love you. And I will keep loving you until I am taken from this Earth, and long after I am gone, too. Always. That’s how long you have me. Forever. That’s how long I want you. Infinite, Madelyn — that’s what we are.”