Payback's a Witch (The Witches of Thistle Grove #1)

by Lana Harper

“She already said no, man,” Morty interjected. His face had cleared; he’d probably already forgotten the unbroken glass, or confabulated some story that lined up better with his understanding of the way the world usually worked. “And one ‘no’ is enough for a gentleman, am I right?”

What a human treasure.

“Maybe I’m not such a bad decision anymore.”

and for a moment it was like I’d never left, like everything between us had been perfectly preserved.

I was the sudden storm.

Being that self-sufficient . . . that’s how you drive away the people that matter. The people that you want to stay.”

the tension between us had broken like oppressive heat extinguished by a long-overdue downpour—leaving behind a relief so heady it felt a little like new love.

at some point, everything just . . . clicked. I woke up and realized I could be happy there; that I was happy, for the most part. That it was the right place for me to be. A stepping-stone to the rest of my life.”

being around Talia felt so vivid, so radiant and jewel toned. It made everyone else I’d ever been with seem to pale, to fade into unremarkable pastels.

quiet mornings in my own bed, with a book in hand and the ambient noise of Jasper’s whistling snores, tended to be my happy place.

All may not yet be lost.”

So here we were once more, circling each other. And no matter what it did to my fragile peace of mind, how it compounded my already-complicated turmoil, I found I couldn’t even imagine wishing myself anywhere besides this close to her.

Every so often we’d pull back a little and pause, hands still tangled in the other’s hair, to just look, and marvel, and grin dizzyingly at each other, that this was really, finally happening.

We were pure heat together, a building blaze with no known boundaries.

A fire that felt like madness, like it might never be put out.

if she was going to give up the world for me, I’d better be damn well worth a sacrifice like that.”

chasing change the way you’ve been doing since you left . . . sometimes that’s just another way of burying your head in the sand. Of hiding from what you actually want, and think that you shouldn’t have.”

running the fuck away is what you do best.”

“I know what it’s like to want too many things at once.