The Player Quotes

“The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“I wondered why unconventional, defiant Harper had wanted a wedding in a grand church. What I didn’t understand is that when you get married, you want the weight of thousands of years of tradition to protect your love. The commitment, that comes from inside you. It’s the rest of the world that bears witness.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“Love?” He presses his face into my hair and breathes deep. “I have this theory.” “It doesn’t matter how many times we fail or how much it hurts.” “It doesn’t matter how long we have to wait.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“A lifetime wouldn’t be worth much without love.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“The fact that she lived on the street. The fact that she prostituted herself. There are men who would judge her for that. They might be with her despite that, but they wouldn’t appreciate her because of that. When I look at her time on the corner, I see only her strength. Her survival. The world would be such a dimmer place if she were gone.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“If you build a life, and there’s room for me in it, I’ll be there.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“I loved them with a selfish, shallow love. I wanted them for myself. But you… God, Ashleigh. I love you the real way. The deep way. The way where I need you to be safe and secure and strong more than I need to breathe. So yes. Yes. This is goodbye.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“Did you know I thought it was my fault? That Harper chose Christopher? That my love wasn’t as deep as his. That I was shallower, and she could sense that about me. That I was weaker because I loved two people instead of one.” “Sutton, no.” “Yes.” His voice turns hoarse. “The thing is, I was right. It was a shallower love than I was capable of, and maybe she did see it. It wasn’t diminished because there were two of them. It was diminished because I was waiting for you.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“Do you know how much it hurts not to take you right now? But it’s right. It should hurt. That’s love.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“It’s not wrong to care, but that’s going to make it hurt so much more when we can’t be together. You’re seventeen. You have a whole life ahead of you. I’m thirty-two, and I have no business tying you to me right now, when you’re vulnerable.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“He never seemed to care much about me. I thought it was just—the way he loved me. That distant father kind of thing. More busy with work than his family. And then I turned fifteen.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“Love is the great human experiment. We try it again and again. It doesn’t matter how many times we fail or how much it hurts.” “It always hurts.” “I have this theory that sometimes it doesn’t. If that person loves you back.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“I don’t owe you this. You didn’t buy my secrets.” “I bought your time,” he says, as if cataloging a purchase order. “I bought your body. Your kisses. Is that right? Only those things?” “Yes.” And my love. I gave that to him for free, though he doesn’t know. It would probably horrify him to know that I feel that way. Maybe he’d run away then. Except I can’t bring myself to tell him. It would strip me naked in a way I haven’t been. “Then let me buy your secrets.” “What?” “How much are they? Name your price.” I stare at him. “My secrets aren’t for sale.” “Everything is for sale.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“That’s the thing about Sutton. He’s still a gentleman, even when other people aren’t watching. A gentleman, even with reddened knuckles.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“Thank you for being—” “Kind?” A harsh laugh. He runs two fingers across my cheek, capturing a tear on his skin. “God, you’re tempting like this. Crying. Except I want to be the one to make you cry. Only me. Cry and beg and scream. Don’t mistake me for a good guy, Ashleigh. I’m a bastard. No one knows that better than you.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“The way you look when you ate that is the same as you look when you come. Have another one. Have three.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“Forget an open bar. This is what weddings should have. Food that feels like a religious experience.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“The chemistry is enough to singe me, standing only a few feet away. I have to watch as Christopher cups her beautiful face. I have to watch as Harper’s eyes turn damp. He lowers his head, and I’m jealous of her. She reaches to put her hand around his neck, and I’m jealous of him. It tears me up inside, a thousand different blades. I’m jealous of the goddamn air between them. Loving one person is bad enough. Loving two is pure hell. Loving three would be enough to break me. I can’t let myself fall again.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“That’s all there is between us. The… physical stuff.” It’s her turn to flush. “Sometimes it starts that way. That’s how it was with Hugo and me. But when you let someone in, I mean really let someone in, it can never be purely physical.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“He has his flaws, but he deserves better than to be the sideshow.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“That’s what Harper whispered to me. Don’t break his heart again. Again, because she knows what she and Christopher did to him. I don’t have that kind of power, but I think he might break my heart.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“The more I have her, the more I want her. The more I need her.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“brought this woman, whether shield or comfort or both, when facing the woman I lost.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“You’re allowed to love someone else. You’re allowed to choose someone else. You deserve to be happy, Harper.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“There’s a rule about brides. You can’t say no to them on their wedding day.” Her hazel eyes are beautiful. Mysterious. “So I should ask for the moon?” Part of me knows she’s goading me. The other part’s ready to be goaded. “I gave you the moon, Harper. You didn’t want it. Not from me, anyway.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“She’s trying to protect me. Homeless and battered. She’s trying to protect me. I’m humbled in front of her. Destroyed.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“A musical laugh that belongs to Ashleigh. It sounds young and innocent. And I realize that I’ve never made her laugh. Only Hugo’s done that. Jealousy burns my throat.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“Ashleigh stands there, wearing that pale gold dress, wobbling on cream-colored Louboutins, looking like a lost lamb. If there were any mercy in this world, some priest would come to shield her from sinners like me. Maybe they’d lock her up in a nunnery where no one could touch her, no one could hurt her. There isn’t mercy in this world. There are only wolves like me, and we love to tear lambs apart.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“Christopher Bardot and I were business partners first. We became both friends and enemies. In one night, with the woman we both loved between us, we almost became lovers. He’s going to marry that woman, and I have to smile and laugh and pretend like my stomach isn’t ripped into shreds.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory

“Such undeserved trust. That’s her fatal flaw. I shouldn’t find it so goddamn beautiful.”
― Skye Warren, Mating Theory