kiab.reads’s Reviews > King of Pride > Status Update

“We’d been together for two years, but I would never get over the fact that she was mine.”

“Kai.”
“Hmm?”
“Shut up and kiss me.”

“You think you’re broken, but I wish you could see yourself the way I see you. Smart. Strong. Beautiful. Imperfect by your own standards but so wonderfully perfect for me.”

“I love you, Isabella Valencia.” Simple and raw, stripped of all pretense except for the naked truth that had been staring me in the face all this time. “Every single part of you, from your laugh to your humor to the way you can’t stop talking about condoms.” One of those laughs I loved so much slipped out, thick with emotion. A smile flashed across my face before I sobered again...”

“She was everything I shouldn’t want, but it didn’t matter. I wanted her anyway. So much so, I couldn’t breathe.”

“I miss you too, love.”

“There was no growth without risk, no progress without change.”

“We loved our mother, but we also loved seeing people call her out. It didn’t happen often.”

“Remember, you read a full page of Austen while getting spanked. If you can do that, you can do anything.” << Kai’s encouraging voice note to Isabella

“Kai had called me love many times before, but he’d never called me his. One word. Two letters. Sometimes, they made all the difference.”