Mel > Mel's Quotes

“Scars of all shapes, sizes, and stages of healing. Tears filled her eyes, imagining the hours of pain it must’ve taken for such markings to be left.  She reached out to touch them, but hesitated. “Who did this to you?”
― Keri Lake, Nightshade

“Do not touch this one, unless you’ve no longer any use for your fingers.”
― Keri Lake, Nightshade

“Nothing. You’re just…” He looks away as if searching for words. “You’re just kind of, like, interesting or…something?” He shakes his head. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what I mean.” And then he blurts out, “Cute,” as if just remembering. “You’re cute, I mean.” My stomach flips, and heat warms my cheeks like I’m in fifth grade again when it was such a compliment for a guy you like to tell you you’re cute. I know he means my personality and not how I look, but I kind of like it.”
― Penelope Douglas, Birthday Girl

“Time passes by you like a bullet,” he says, “and fear gives you the excuses you’re craving to not do the things you know you should. Don’t doubt yourself, don’t second-guess, don’t let fear hold you back, don’t be lazy, and don’t base your decisions on how happy it will make others. Just go for it, okay?”
― Penelope Douglas, Birthday Girl

“For however long it lasts, I’m a little braver, and he’s my new hero.”
― Penelope Douglas, Birthday Girl

“Cole’s right hand finds my thigh as he uses his left to lift the burger to his mouth, and I glance at his father, seeing his eyes downcast and looking at Cole’s hand on me. His jaw flexes as he looks back up.”
― Penelope Douglas, Birthday Girl

“Leaning over the table, I close my eyes, take in a breath, and make my usual wish Let tomorrow be better than today.”
― Penelope Douglas, Birthday Girl

“But the girl of my dreams is off-limits. She’s Cole’s, and she’s nineteen. There’s no way.”
― Penelope Douglas, Birthday Girl

“Guilt rips through me. She’s Cole’s. He kisses her. He holds her. He makes her smile. It’s not my place to have any opinions about her, especially territorial ones like where she bartends or how she dresses. I just still keep feeling like I did in the theater. She’s a young woman I met and had fun talking to, and no one else had anything to do with it.”
― Penelope Douglas, Birthday Girl

“But I hear her small, sweet voice behind me. “Yes, Daddy.” I blink long and hard, my hand tingling with an urge to give someone a spanking for the first time in my life.”
― Penelope Douglas, Birthday Girl

“She’s a good girl.”
― Penelope Douglas, Birthday Girl

“It is more. I didn’t lose my temper for Cole’s sake. It was for mine. She’s become important, and for the first time in a long time, I found myself actually enjoying talking to someone. I started to let my guard down. She feels good to have around.”
― Penelope Douglas, Birthday Girl

“Special, remembered, happy. He makes me happy. Happy in a way that my boyfriend should.”
― Penelope Douglas, Birthday Girl

“Because even if she stayed and she rode you to kingdom-come all night long,” I tell him, “you’ll still wake up thinking about me before you even remember she’s in bed next to you.”
― Penelope Douglas, Birthday Girl

“I love how you worry about me and want to protect me,” I say. “But a girl has needs, too, and eventually, I’ll have to find another man who can do your job better.”
― Penelope Douglas, Birthday Girl

“I knew you were out there somewhere,” I tell her, quirking a sad smile. “The girlfriends, women I dated, Cole’s mother…. I never wanted to marry anyone, because they weren’t what I was looking for. I had started to think I had my sights set too high, and you didn’t exist.” I clasp the back of her neck and run my thumbs down her throat. “Turns out my dream girl belongs to the one person it would kill me to hurt.” Tears”
― Penelope Douglas, Birthday Girl

“It really is. I should thank you, actually. I’ve been trying for years, it seems, to be the kind of woman I admire, and all of a sudden I feel like I am that woman now. I know I’m worth it. You’re just not.”
― Penelope Douglas, Birthday Girl

“Baby,” he whispers, his hands shaking. “I hope you love me, because I love you like crazy, and I’m going to want you the rest of my life. I tried to stay away, because I thought it was the right thing, but I fucking can’t. I need you, and I love you. This doesn’t happen twice, and I’m not going to be stupid again. I promise.”
― Penelope Douglas, Birthday Girl

“I was done backing down. From anything. It was about damn time to nut up and stand strong, even in the face of my own damage.”
― Tate James, Timber