Preservation Quotes

“I'm the 'walks on the beach, toss all the leftovers into a salad, fall asleep reading' kind of girl." I spread my hands out in front of me as if our answer was as plain as day.
"We'll walk on the beach and eat salads and read until you let me fuck you again, and then we'll fall asleep. Be ready.”
― Kate Canterbary, Coastal Elite

“There are moments when I'm lost in my own life.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“Riley: I have to ask you something.
Heroine: Shoot…
Riley: Bear with me. I can’t believe that we haven’t discussed this yet so I’m a little nervous.
Heroine: Now I’m nervous.
Riley: You have nothing to worry about. Your life will continue just fine. It’s mine that might come crashing down here.
Riley: How do you feel about comics and superheroes?
Heroine: DC or Marvel?
Heroine: Nevermind, that’s a terrible question. I’d never want to choose. I love the ensembles. The Avengers, the X-Men, the Justice League.
Heroine: But I haven’t read any in 20 years. I’ve caught up with the movies as they’ve been released, though. Most of them have been really good.
Heroine: Are you still with me?
Riley: Yes. Sorry. I just spontaneously orgasmed.
Heroine: What?
Riley: Nothing. But I’ll talk to you later. Something just popped up.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“It never escaped my notice that Riley was dealing with some shit. He wanted the world to believe he was all easy smiles and goofy commentary, but those were the layers he used to gain distance. No one stopped to look under the surface when he was recapping sports highlights with his wonky brand of wit, or diffusing situations with self-depreciating humor.
But it was all there, right under the radar.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“He had a Batman tramp stamp, for fuck’s sake. There was no quicker way of announcing one’s man-child status than that.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“I wanted to love this woman, and I wanted her to let me.”
― Kate Canterbary, Coastal Elite

“You’re gonna break me,” she whispered, her words cracking on a sob.
“Only if you want me to break you,” I replied, peppering her forehead and cheeks with light kisses. “I promise I’ll always put you back together, honey.”
… “Always?” she asked. “No matter what?”
“Always,” I vowed.”
― Kate Canterbary, Coastal Elite

“I didn't know what I needed until I met you.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“I could also admit that, just once, I wanted to be the one. Maybe not the forever one, but at least the right now one.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“When had it happened? When had Alex stolen all the warm, tender places inside me for herself? And the rough, barbaric ones, too? It was as though she'd wandered into my life, all tiptoes and whispers, and reached in and rearranged my entire existence until it started and stopped with her.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“Silly senses. They were letting some strong hands override my brain.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“She was going to be the one beside me for decades to come, the one who opened up my wild and gave it space to roam free, the mother of my children. She was the love of my life, and she was the only one.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“Satan suck a dick, I love you already.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“Spider-Man wasn't always on the side of justice. He made some questionable choices. Also, he was a fucking creeper.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“We were affectionate like an intramural softball team. Sloppy and a little silly, and with no real purpose beyond our own amusement.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“I resisted every urge to twine my fingers around the silver necklaces at my throat. It was too early for full-on pearl clutching.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“Why the fuck was that necessary?" I yelled at the cool, empty room. "I thought we were motherfucking friends. I was restoring your foundation, not selling you off for salvage, and this is how you repay me? Stabbing me in the fucking spine?”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“Promise to keep me for always, and I’ll give you everything I have to give, and then I’ll find a way to give you more.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“I’m not good at many things. But I’ll always be good to you.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“I want to make it good for you,” he said, repeating his vow from earlier. “What do you need...? Tell me how to be everything you need. I’m not stopping until you get it.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“You make me want everything,” I admitted. “Things I don’t even understand.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“I’m going to serve you like a queen and fuck you like a whore.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“We’re going to stop fucking around now, Honeybee,” he said. “I haven’t the patience for it, and it’s not what I want tonight.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“In the back of my brain, a tiny voice was busy reminding me that we were only playing. This performance was some well-timed theatre bolstered by friendship and an undercurrent of attraction, and this scene wouldn’t outlast the weekend.
But that voice was an asshole and it was time to stop listening to him.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“I didn’t believe I’d been on the receiving end of such an overt show of possession in my entire life.
It made me want to reciprocate. Kiss her, hold her, mark her, club her over the head and drag her back to my cave. Anything. Anything that would scream This one is for me and I’m for her.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“When had it happened? When had (she) stolen all the warm, tender places inside me for herself? And the rough, barbaric ones, too? It was as though she’d wandered into my life, all tiptoes and whispers, and reached in and rearranged my entire existence until it started and stopped with her.
I didn’t know, but I was thankful for it. Hungry to explore it, too.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“He wasn’t an obnoxiously perfect player man-child anymore. He was a man I cared for now, and he was neither player not child.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“I liked this girl. Every salty ounce of her. And I didn’t like her because we needed to help each other survive a rocky patch of life. I liked her because I couldn’t know her and not like her. She was fierce as fuck and had more balls than any man I knew, but there was a quietly adorable side to her, too.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“I didn’t want to know him and I didn’t want to like him, but I felt compelled to heal him ... Here I was, wanting to gather up his torn edges and bring them back together in a way that would erase all memory of the pain that had put them there.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation

“Would you say the chip on your shoulder is massive or epic?” he asked. There was no hint of amusement in his tone, and he was staring at me with more ice than I’d believed he could muster. It didn’t feel like we were sniping at each other anymore. “It might be semantics to you but I’m trying to get a feel for what I’m dealing with here.”
― Kate Canterbary, Preservation