More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
I know how light must fall on your skin, how the world must hush when you walk through it. I know you the way a man knows the thing he was never meant to have—too well, too deep, too much.
I am an eldest daughter, after all. We overthink. We measure. We try to get things right, even when no one is watching. Even when no one else cares.
“You’re fucking starving. For more. For someone to see you. For someone to take you seriously when you stop pretending you want this kind of life.”
“You don’t run from this, Ari. Not when I’ve been starving for you. Not when I need you more than my next fucking breath.”
And then, his voice, low and dark, vibrates against me. “Don’t say his name while you’re riding my face.”
“Yeah?” He leans in closer, his voice barely a whisper. “Then tell me why you’re wearing the clothes I picked out and bought for you… why you smell like me…” His thumb drags over my hip, where last night’s bruises are starting to bloom. “…and why I can feel you shaking beneath my touch, like you can’t fucking wait for me to do it again?”
“Angel, the only way I’d ever hurt you is if you begged me for it. If you got on your knees, looked up at me with those pretty, desperate eyes, and asked me nicely.”
I’ve always loved the ocean. Not just because it’s beautiful, but because of what it represents. It feels… endless. Uncontrollable. Wild.
“You’re impossible.”
I tilt my head, my voice dipping lower. “I’m inevitable.”
Maddox, though? Maddox wields it. He watches me like a man hunting weakness, like he won’t stop until I come undone completely. Until he ruins me for anyone else.
“Let him stand there, clueless, while I ruin you.”
“If you want safety, if you want easy—you already had that. With me? It’s every ugly and real thing. It’s chaos and passion. It’s heavy, but it’s real. I want all of you, and not just the polite or palatable parts. I want every breath, every bruise, every broken piece you try to hide. I want it all.”
She’s the one thing I didn’t plan for, not really. Not like this. She’s the chaos I didn’t see coming, the storm I thought I could tame, but now? I don’t want to. I just want to stand in the middle of it and burn.
We don’t get peace, she and I. We get fire. We get ruin.
“I think I’m the man who’d die for her. I think I’m the man who wouldn’t trade her for a promotion or a calendar full of conference calls. I’d never even think of letting let her settle for less than what she fucking deserves. And just so we’re clear—neither of us deserve her—but I’m the only one who’d burn this whole fucking world to the ground just to keep her.”
“You’ve changed my entire world, Ari. You made this house my home. You became my home. You made me believe I could be more than what I came from, or where I’ve been. That I could have a future instead of a sentence. That…” I swear I see the hint of tears in his bright blue eyes. “That I could have a second chance at love.”
“I want to be your biggest fan. Your loudest hype man. Your forever partner. The one who’s always watching out for you, and making sure you’re happy. And most of all… I want to be your husband.” A breath. “Will you marry me?”
I was exhausted from being good, from being small, from folding myself into the shapes other people needed me to be.
