Unloved

by Katy Regnery

I long for someone. In my loneliest moments, I long for someone so fiercely, it aches. I want someone to hold me, to whisper in my ear, to braid their fingers through mine and breathe against my skin. I want to know love again. In fact, I actively yearn for it, though I can’t actually imagine accepting it.

I will live quiet. And Paul Isaac Porter’s terrifying genes will die with me.

I wish I was the sun so I could shine down on her, so I could examine every peak and valley of her face until I have it memorized and can recall it at any lonesome moment: the sad, beautiful, green-eyed girl from the forest.

Anyone with half a brain loves romance novels, and the rest are lying.

There is no me without you. . . . and it’s not like anything I’ve ever felt before.

there is something so natural, so nice, so potentially addictive, about sleeping beside him that I long for it even now, after a whole night spent together.

“Sooner or later everyone was driven to love someone they could never have.”

I want you. Like I’ve never wanted anyone before.

Saying goodbye doesn’t mean forgetting. Moving on doesn’t mean you never loved him. I’m telling you to let go. I’m telling you that you’re allowed to be happy.

I’d do anything for you.

The minutes I’ve spent with her are the greatest gift my quiet life has ever known.

I can’t find anything but protectiveness and tenderness for the small, sleeping woman in front of me.

“I want it too.”

He wants me as much as I want him. Please let it be enough.

Everything is Brynn. And I am addicted to everything.

I love her. I will love her until the sky falls. Until the sun and moon fail to rise. Until Katahdin crumbles. I will love her forever.

Brynn, Brynn, how I love you.

“You are . . .,” he murmurs breathily, moving his hips up experimentally as his tongue darts out to wet his lips, “the greatest . . . treasure . . . of my entire life.”

I love this man, and I am his treasure.

“Brynn. My . . . angel. My . . . greatest . . . treasure.”

“I love you, Cass. I want to stay together.”

“I know I said I wouldn’t fall in love with you and that we wouldn’t discuss our feelings . . . but I can’t help it. I love you, Cassidy. You’re the best man I’ve ever known. And when I see my future, I see you in it. I want you in it.”

Me too, sweet Brynn. I see you in my dreams too . . .

. . . but this has gone far enough. It’s time to wake up and face reality.

Live quiet, and no matter what happens inside of you, you won’t never be able to hurt someone, Cassidy. It’s what yore mama would want.

I love you, I wish I could say.

You are, and will forever be, my life’s greatest treasure, and I will still be loving you on the day I die, Brynn Cadogan.

because my life will be colorless and loveless when I leave her and go.

Wait for me, Cass. I’m coming, my love. I promise you, I’m coming.

I am lost.

Wait for me, Cass. I’m coming.

will I forget that she is my life, my beating heart, my angel, and my salvation.

She was my magic. She healed me. She gave me back my life. She is, and will forever be, my life’s greatest treasure. Because of her, I am loved.