The Reality of Everything (Flight & Glory, #5)

by Rebecca Yarros

I like this house…well, the possibilities, anyway.” It was twenty-five hundred square feet, had been in my price range, and felt like I did—weathered, beaten, and broken in ways that needed more than just a coat of paint. It was a kindred spirit.

Sweet Lord, he was a scorcher if I’d ever seen one. Strong nose, carved chin, full, chiseled lips with a Captain America edge that made me want to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. It was like God himself had crammed everything I found attractive into one man and dropped him into the ocean by my house.

“But she’s also too important, too unique, and too beautiful to stand by and do nothing while she drowns. While she might look delicate, she’s actually incredibly strong and capable of taking a storm or two.”

“Morgan, I like you, and I don’t just mean as my neighbor. I want you in a way that keeps me up at night, mentally calculating the steps between my door and yours. I want you so badly that I barely stop myself from taking those steps every single night. I have no problem owning my feelings about you. And while I’m not going to push you for something when you obviously don’t feel the same—”

I was not going to fuck this up by moving too fast. I’d keep up these light, sipping kisses all night if that kept her in my arms. Sound plan. Take it slow. She swept her tongue over my lower lip, then gently tugged it between her teeth. Fuck the plan.

Morgan, Fin helped me design this, so I hope you like it. This used to be a jar or a glass of some kind. All I know for certain is that it shattered at some point. It broke apart, then spent years in the waves and sand until it became something entirely new. No longer clear and sharp, but soft and opaque. When I saw this piece, it reminded me of you—beautiful, resilient, and unique. I don’t mourn what it used to be in its former life, because it’s precious to me exactly how it is now. I can’t imagine it ever having been more beautiful—even whole—but I also know that at the center, it’s still the same clear glass it always has been. The same glass, just made rare—not despite all its been through, but because of it. —Jackson

“I don’t need to think. I already know. I’m just glad you’re catching up, because I am so far gone for you that I can’t even see the shore anymore.”

“I’ve waited my entire life to love you, Morgan. Everything that came before was just to prepare me for your arrival, to teach me how to love you.”

see you everywhere, in the stars, in the river; to me you’re everything that exists; the reality of everything.