The Finish Line (The Ravenhood, #3)

by Kate Stewart

To me, love was always conditional—until her.

embrace. The fuel I need for the fight I’m in for. “No matter how we came to be, we were and still are. You stole my heart, and you let me love you with it, and you made damn sure I knew where its home was.”

I don’t like waking up without you. I would much rather wake up inside you.

You’re looking a little stressed. I can help you relax. With my tongue, and your pussy.

“With you, I continually broke my number one rule. With you, I wasn’t thinking like I should have. I never really did after we got together, but I didn’t want to be without you.”

With a shared look and with a confession I felt to the depth of my soul, I broke my own creed and gave in to the deepest part of me, and my soul-deep ache for a connection with her.

“I don’t want to be your thorn, Cecelia.” “I know.” “I am yours.”

you want. I’ll give you whatever you want. Dream with me again, Cecelia. Dream a thousand more dreams with me, and I will make them all come true. I can give you promises. Promises I couldn’t before.”

“You’re unforgivably selfish! Is that what you want to hear? And maybe I don’t want to forgive you for the years I spent crying for you, dreaming about you, or for the hell I endured eight months ago, begging you to see what was so fucking clear to the both of us. You sent me away to ease your own guilt, pain, and fears, never taking into consideration how much I suffered alone—or if you did—it wasn’t enough to keep you from hurting me again. If you’re unforgivable, it’s for that. And what you’re doing right now is equally as selfish.”

“What hurts you, hurts me.”

Cecelia is my home and my reason for trying to forgive myself, and she needs to be your reason too.

“I remember everything, Cecelia. Every word you said, every look you gave me. Your three kinds of laughs, the details of your dreams, the way your nostrils flare when you’re starting to get pissed. The sting of your slaps, the salt in your tears, the fit of your breasts in my hand. The feel of your mouth, the taste of your pussy,”

“You don’t bleed like that.”

I’m certain that if God granted me only one minute of life on this earth, I would want it to be this minute, this moment with him, where I know exactly why I’m alive and who for.

Life, as I knew it, was over the second I laid eyes on her. All former versions of me were erased when I exchanged hate for love.

the recognition of a destination I never thought I would be again, home.

“You fucking monster!” His voice is even when he speaks. “Only when I have to be, and for you, I will be.”

From the little girl with mischievous eyes to a woman with nothing but fire in her heart—she stole me first, and that’s the truest truth of this thief’s heart.

I’m still fucking battling the urge to spank her or fuck her, or both. Definitely at the same time. Problem is, she likes the punishment too much.

“The worst day of our lives was the day we broke your heart.”

“The second worst day of our lives was the day you broke our hearts,”

“No man on earth has ever loved a woman more than I love you. I’ll prove this every day for the rest of our lives. I love you more than any cause, any ambition. The sight of your face over any other on earth.”

save me a place in the passenger seat.”