Burning Daylight (Defying the Stars, #1)

by Emily McIntire

“So that sketchbook of yours…that’s all me?”

“That sketchbook’s the east,” he whispers. “And you, Juliette, are the sun.”

“Why can’t I stay away from you?”

“If you figure out how, let me know.”

This thing with you, it’s…reckless.” “So be a little reckless,”

It’s not just a bar. That’s what Merrick said.

you’re planning to argue with me the whole time we’re back here, then you should just leave.” “We can kiss instead, if you want.”

“That tasted like a sin, not a prayer,”

“Then give me my sin again,”

“And I’m trying—really trying—to respect this invisible line we drew, but clearly, I suck at it.”

“Because every time you smile,” I say, “every time you give me that little look like you can’t decide if you want to throttle me or kiss me, I want to keep you forever.”

“I wish we could be more, Roman.” “We are more, Juliette.”

“Sometimes the only way to protect something as precious as love…is to take it far from where anyone can reach it.”

“A great love is obsession.”

“I am yours. In all the ways that matter.”

“Yeah, Trouble. I’ll go anywhere with you.”

“I promise not to kill you if you promise to follow me around for the rest of my life,” he murmurs.

“That’s a very dramatic way to ask me out, officially,” I tease,

It’s a rose, I realize. Twisting, and bleeding from the petals. Like it’s wilting mid-bloom. Across the stem, in jagged letters, it says: “And with her kiss, I die.”

“Do you love him? Would you renounce your family for him? Do whatever needs to be done in order to keep him?” My throat feels thick, my fingers wringing together. “Yes.”

“Love doesn’t survive in the dark, Juliette. It demands for you to step into the light.”

“I hope you know, Juliette, that I am always on your side. No matter where you go. My loyalty will always be to you.”

“Even if I end up forsaking midnight?”

“Especially...

“I’ve always been yours. The moment I met you, I was ruined.”

This is right. This is home. This is everything.

“I won’t make a scene,” he says. “But if he keeps touching you, I’ll find him once he leaves and break every single one of his fingers.”

I nod slowly, heat curling in my belly. “Damn you. I find that incredibly attractive.”

“I’m so in love with you, I’ve forgotten how to exist without you,” I say. “I love you like I was made to love you. Like I came into this world just so you could carve out my heart and leave yourself inside it.”

Our love burns so bright it’s blinding.

If she was the sun, then he was every constellation in the sky. For never was a bond the stars could show, As boundless as Juliette…and her Romeo.