Kristen Ashley

"And I wake up happy, baby, because I possess beauty and I own that beauty in all the forms it can take and the least important of those are physical."

"She nodded, grabbed her purse out of the drawer and skedaddled, walking like she was on a catwalk, one foot in front of the other, her ass swaying under the skirt of her expensive, tailored suit. Bitch. I thought again, watching her go. No comparison, Luke said after the door closed behind Dawn and I turned to him. Excuse me?Dawn’s a man eater. You’re not. No comparison, Luke answered and I didn’t know how to take that. Is that good?The half-smile came back. Most men prefer to do the eating. Holy fucking cow."

"Not one fuckin’ thing gentlemanly about protecting what’s yours. Looks like you’re gonna lose it, you do everything you can to stop that from happening. Max looked back to Niles. And you didn’t do that. She was a week away from me, she walked into a room I was in holdin’ another man’s hand, I’d lose my fuckin’ mind. Not at her. Wonderin’ where I lost my way and I’d talk to her about how to find my way back."

"I demoted him from The Best Man Ever to just The Best Man I’d Ever Met. Superman would have charged out (hell, he’d have flown) to get Lois Lane cookies. I was pretty sure of it."

"He put the knuckles of his fist to the table, leaned toward Niles and spoke quietly, cuttingly, in his rough, gravelly voice. Fucked her last night, man, and this morning. Five times. Five. It was like she hadn’t been touched in a decade. So fuckin’ sweet. Damn, he taunted, his eyes locked on Niles. You’ve had her, you gotta know, not enough money in the world’s worth that."

"Wars fought over a face like this, he murmured like he was talking to himself, my heart stopped beating and his thumbs moved lightly across my cheeks. A man would work himself into the ground for it, go down to his knees to beg to keep it, endure torture to protect it, take a bullet for it, his eyes came to mine, poison his brother to possess a face like this."

"If you think Atticus Finch went home at night and slept easy because he knew he was doing the right thing, you're wrong... Because even one voice in a wilderness of ignorance is a voice that is heard by someone. Because every woman and man, no matter their color or their religion, is entitled to a good defense. And because Jem and Scout would grow up to be like their father, spreading his wisdom, understanding his compassion and sharing his strength which are the only, the only weapons we have against injustice."

"I'm with him because when I'm with him, I'm free to be me. I'm with him because he's hot. I'm with him because he lets me blather, since I'm prone to blathering, and he lets me rant when I have a bad day. I'm with him because when I rant, he makes me feel better and he does this effortlessly. I'm with him because I live for the times when I'm on the back of his bike and we're riding together, not even talking, just being free."

"Vayoo ansha.”I shook my head and whispered, “Never. For good and always, you have lost me. Na me lapay kah Lahn. Not anymore.”**"

"Balls to ten minutes."

"Exquisite pain. The kind you wanted to feel every day for the rest of your life. It was the pain of finally having something you wanted. Something you’d longed for. Longed for since you had memories. Something life taught you to believe you’d never have. Something, if you lived without it, it left a void in your soul you knew would never be filled. Something, without it, you knew you’d never be whole. It was something you needed. It was as necessary as breath. It was what was required to complete you"."

"Sweet dreams, baby,” he whispered into myhair, his arm giving me a squeeze. “See you onthe other side.”“You too, Captain,” I whispered...'Lauren and Tate, in Sweet Dreams"

"I’ve shared more breakfasts with you thanany woman I’ve dated in the last year and a half,” Mitch returned.“I know what you look like in the morning. I know what you act likewhen you come home tired after work. I know that you pick the leastexpensive thing on the menu either to be nice or to be annoying inorder to put me off. But I think it’s to be nice because youare nice and also both times you thought you’d be spendingtime with just me, you dressed in a way that would not, in any way,put me off. I know you cuddle when you’re sleeping. I know you takeonly milk in your coffee and you make coffee strong. I know you’rereally good with kids. And I know that you use music and scents toregulate your mood. So I’m thinking this is not a first date. Thisis more like us hittin’ the six month mark. And the six month markis when you stop talkin’ about shit that really doesn’t matter andstart talkin’ about shit that means everything."