Hot Shot (North Ridge, #3)

by Karina Halle

Love is wildfire.

In my books, love is a devastating force of nature, a raw, primal element that threatens all who dare to indulge in its flames. It’s a wildfire that spreads and consumes until all that’s left is a charred heart surrounded by ash and bone. There’s no taming it, no fighting it back. No matter what you do, love will burn you to the ground.

Feelings with a capital F.

The world is too big, this life too short, to want anything less than magic with someone.

This is a cruel new reality.

Fire has its own language. It’s only heard by those that have witnessed its beauty, only understood by those who have seen its destruction.

Even on my darkest days, she’s always been the sun.

but life is terribly short and the longer something burns you up inside, the harder it is to move past it.

And love doesn't go away. You can ignore it, you can bury it, you can pretend it doesn't exist. But it will continue to grow and it won't grow from a happy place. Love gets twisted, tangled. It can eventually choke you if you don't face it."

"Unrequited love is a poison for the heart. Something that works slowly over time, like adding arsenic to milk, little by little, day by day. Undetectable on the surface but destroying you underneath. Love will give and give and give but unless you let it loose, it will only take from you until there's nothing left."

“You were the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen back then and I’d be hard-pressed to say that anything has changed.”

“It’s like…in my head and my heart, there’s fire that I can’t control. It’s like nothing in this world, nothing that I’ve seen. The flames are black, sticky, and they rage and it’s just this twisting, churning mess inside and I can’t see straight, I can’t think straight and then, then…I’m with you Del and all of that goes away. The pain fades. You bring me peace. It doesn’t last but when I get it…it makes this life manageable. You just make me fucking happy.”

It was all or nothing with her. Maybe this girl is all or nothing for you. And believe me, that shit is scary.

I am so fucking fucked.”

You’re everything I’ve been looking my whole life for and you’ve been right in front of me all this time.

“I’m falling in love with you,” he whispers. “A little bit more each day. It’s spreading, like fire. Like wildfire. I can feel it ignite every part of me, from the deepest corners of my heart to the lost places in my soul. It will eventually consume me and I want to be consumed, Del. I want to love you, burn for you, until there’s nothing else left. Just your heart and mine.”

“Love is like everything I’ve ever lost has come back to me,” I tell them.

Del, I don’t want to be brave for anyone else anymore. I only want to be brave for you.”

I am madly, chaotically in love with you.

What a crazy clan of loons I have.”