Amy

“Why are you limping?” I demanded. “The arrow didn’t hit you in the leg.”
He stopped, his shift in weight pulling me to a halt, too. “I don’t know. It just seems like the thing to do after you’ve received an arrow wound.”
I sighed as he straightened his gait and walked normally. “You are so the guy for me.”
― Molly Harper, Nice Girls Don't Bite Their Neighbors

“Jane, I don’t care what capacity you let me have in your life. I just want to be there. And if that means I have to keep my distance, I’ll do that.”
I sighed. If ever there was a time for me to lay all my cards on the table, this was it. Naked, wounded, and vulnerable. “So, here’s my basic
problem with us, the reason I can’t seem to relax into a relationship with you, the reason I find problems where none exist and I push you away. I—I can’t figure out why you’re with me!” I exclaimed, clapping my hand over my mouth. I hadn’t meant for that part to come out. I had meant to say, “You lie and hide things from me.”

Gabriel pried my fingers away from my lips. My hands trembled as stuff I’d been feeling for months tumbled from my tongue. “I know that
makes me neurotic and sad, but I can’t figure out why you want to be with me. Every other woman in your life is exotic and beautiful and has all this history. And I’m just some drunk girl you followed home from a bar, some pathetic human you felt your usual need to protect, and you got stuck with a lifetime tie to her because she was dumb enough to get shot. I can’t stand the idea that you feel obligated to me. I know I’m insecure and pushy and spastic, desperately inappropriate at times and just plain odd at others. And I can’t help but wonder why you would want that when there are obviously so many other options. I can’t help but feel that I’m keeping you from someone better.”
I let out a loud, long breath. It felt as if some tremendous weight on my chest had wiggled loose and then dropped away. No more running. No more floating along and waiting. My cards were on the table. If Gabriel and I couldn’t have a future after this, it wasn’t because I held back from him. Now I could only hope it didn’t blow up in my face in some horrible way. I wasn’t sure my face could handle much more.

Gabriel sighed and cupped my chin, forcing me to look him in the eye. “I didn’t follow you that night because I wanted to protect you. I followed you that night because you were one of the most interesting people I’d met in decades. You had this light about you, this sweetness, this biting humor. After I’d only known you for an hour, you made me laugh harder than I had since before I was turned. You made me feel normal, at peace, for the first time in years. And I didn’t want to lose that yet. Even if it was just watching over you from a mile away, I didn’t want to leave your presence. I followed you because I didn’t want to let you go. Even then, I saw you were one of the most extraordinary, fascinating, maddening people I would ever know. Even then, I think I knew that I would love you. If you don’t love me, that’s one thing. But if you do, just stop arguing with me about it. It’s annoying. ”
“Fair enough,” I conceded. “Why the hell couldn’t you have told me this a year ago?”
“I’ve wanted to. You weren’t ready to hear it.”
― Molly Harper, Nice Girls Don't Live Forever

“Who are you?" asked the guard standing in front of the stairs leading up to the upper floors, leading to Elinor. Above, all was still silent. No one had thought to warn the girls working upstairs.
"Chambermaid," Winn said ina ridiculously high voice. "I must warn the girls upstairs." Winn risked a glance at the man and saw he looked skeptical. Bloody hell. What was he to do now? Women always needed help, and men seemed to enjoy helping them, so he added, "Can you help me?"
"I..." The man hesitated, and Winn considered that perhaps it was only attractive women men enjoyed assisting. Foncé's man leaned closer, scrutinizing him, and Winn decided he'd better not take a chance.
"Oh, dear! Look at that!" he screeched, pointing behind the man. When the guard turned to look, Winn kicked him. The man fell against the stairs, and Winn fell on him, ramming his head into the wooden slats.
As the man's eyes drifted closed, Winn muttered, "That's for thinking I wasn't pretty enough.”
― Shana Galen, True Spies

“He cradled her cheek and turned her head slightly, until their gazes met. "For whatever comfort this might bring you in the nights that follow, know this... when I thought death was a certainty, I chose a collection of memories that revolved around you to carry into the dark with me.”
― Lorraine Heath, Never Love a Cowboy