The Soldier's Scoundrel (The Turner Series, #1)

by Cat Sebastian

“Sometimes I think fashion magazines are run by revolutionaries just to make the aristocracy look stupid.”

Honor was a luxury item, like hair pomade and snuff. Its only purpose was to show the world that you could afford to be impractical, that you had enough money to behave in a way that was compatible with some ludicrous code instead of acting out of self-preservation like the rest of humanity.

It was more than attraction. Seeing Jack like this was the first inkling Oliver had that he could feel more for him than interest in a passing dalliance. Jack Turner’s face was one that could be dear to him.

And Jack had half a mind to simply let everything else unfold however Rivington wanted. Kissing on the road, falling stupidly in love, why the hell not? “Everything’s so easy with you,” Jack said, pulling back from the kiss. “It’s as if you don’t know what a bad idea this all is.”

“I’d like to know how you managed to debauch yourself on four continents without being able to say cock or fuck.” “Gestures, for the most part,” Oliver said softly. Jack took hold of Oliver’s wrists and pressed them into the mattress on either side of the other man’s head. “Hear me now, Oliver Rivington. You will not use gestures with me.” And then he bent his head to take his lover’s mouth in a hard kiss.

“No harm, no foul,” Jack managed.

A phrase first used in 1956 🤨 re: rules of basketball

“It’s only that I prefer to think that there’s some order governing the world, some absolute rights and wrongs, and I like to think that order overlaps with the law at least to some extent.” “It does, somewhat.” Barely. Sometimes. On a good day, and only if you squinted your eyes.

“You stubborn, ignorant bastard.” He was speaking through gritted teeth. “I love you. I don’t want you to die for me. I don’t want you to be hurt at all. I want you to be safe, with me. Why is that so hard to understand? What if you had died tonight? What the hell would I have done with myself once I had figured out that you did it for me?” Jack forced himself to look directly at Oliver. “Then you would have known that you were loved in return.”

“No worries,” he heard himself saying.

First used in 1965 for christ’s sake 🤦🏻‍♀️