What do you think?
Rate this book
416 pages, Paperback
First published September 10, 2015
“I have a business arrangement to offer you.”
I lifted one brow. “A business arrangement?”
She nodded… “Yes, well, in actuality, Mr. Hawthorn, I’m here to propose marriage.”
I laughed, almost spewing the sip of coffee I’d just taken all over my desk. “Excuse me?”
“I had to admit his looks had swayed me, too. He looked like every hero in every fairy tale I’d ever dreamed, come to life. And, God, I wanted to believe in heroes again.
But sometimes, I supposed, a girl has to be her own hero.”
I waved my hand. “I’m sure you’re aware that women find you… appealing of some unknown reason.” I shrugged.
“Appealing?”
“Hot, panty-melting,” I elaborated.
He stopped and I did as well, turning to face him. The look on his face was filled with amusement. “This topic interests me. I’d like to stop and discuss it further.”
“I shouldn’t be delving more into Grayson’s hidden torment. It’d only make me love him more. Wasn’t that just the way with women? And I was no exception. What was sexier on a man than great abs and a heart full of hidden torment? They should bottle it and sell it by the truckloads. Or perhaps write a book: “Abs and Hidden Torment: A Man’s Guide to Bagging Babes.”
I had a wife to find and some grovelling to do. I was going to grovel so hard they might need to find a new word for it.
Forget the price and princess. I always imagined the real story was between the witch and the dragon.
“Watch what people do when they think no one’s watching, love. That’s how you’ll know who they really are.”
My desire for her burned, scalding my heart. Beautiful, willful, tender, stubborn, compassionate, infuriating little witch.
Today may be a very bad day, but tomorrow may be the best day of your life. You just have to hang on until you get there.
Watch what people do when they think no one’s watching, love. That’s how you know who they really are.
“There is always pain in this life. Not just for me, not just for you- for everyone. You can’t avoid it. And sometimes the pain is so great, it feels as if it carves out the very essence of who you are. But it doesn’t, not if you don’t allow it to. It carves out a place in you, yes, but love is meant to fill that space. If you let it, pain makes more space for love within you. And the love we carry inside makes us strong when nothing else can.”
"Oh, I dare you. Show me that dragonish side. Do your worst."
"You bring me peace, little witch, and you put a fire in my blood."
"Kira was like a brightly shining light, and I had been living in cold darkness for so very, very long."
"Truce. Come here so we can shake."
"You come here," she challenged.
I smiled slowly. "Meet in the middle."
“Today may be a very bad day, but tomorrow may be the best day of your life. You just have to hang on until you get there.”
"If you let it, pain makes more space for love within you. And the love we carry inside makes us strong when nothing else can."
"I love you. I will always love you."
❝And sometimes we'll meet halfway, but other times, I'll come to you.❞
“She would be a constant, shameful reminder of just how far I’d fallen.”
“True love is not only the flower, true love is also the thorns.”
Apparently, I'd been wrong about The Dragon, in some ways at least. He wasn't the uncaring beast I'd originally thought.
Irrationally, I felt duped, as if the little witch had put some kind of spell on me. Maybe it wasn't so irrational—she probably had. Bewitching little troublemaker.
The shrubbery was tall and untended, and as I ran by, holding the hoops of my skirt as close to my body as possible, my long dress trailing on the ground behind me, branches seemed to reach out and grab me.
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
“Today may be a very bad day, but tomorrow may be the best day of your life. You just have to hang on until you get there.”
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
“Love is not always smooth and easy. Love can be piercing. Love means exposing yourself – all of yourself, every tender part – to being hurt. Because true love is not only the flower, true love is also the thorns.”
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
‘My beautiful little witch – there was magic within her, and I wanted to bathe in its light.’
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
“Forget the prince and princess. I always imagined the real story was between the witch and the dragon.”
“I have a business arrangement to offer you.”
“A business arrangement?”
“Yes, well, in actuality, Mr. Hawthorn, I’m here to propose marriage.”
“He looked like every hero in every fairy tale I’d ever dreamed, come to life. And, God, I wanted to believe in heroes again. But sometimes, I supposed, a girl just had to be her own hero. Especially when the hero in question turned out to be a dragon.”
“Next time you offer to marry someone, you should try to be a little more meek. A man likes some obedience in a wife.”
“What was that now? I want to make sure I get every single word of wise advice. Meek, was it? Does that have double e or is it ea? I can never remember.”
“I’d sleep on the floor in this dusty shack if it meant getting the best of Grayson Hawthorn.”
“Love. Fierce longing rose in my chest. For just once to be cherished.”
“Love can be piercing. Love means exposing yourself—all of yourself, every tender part—to being hurt. Because true love is not only the flower, true love is also the thorns.”
“Today may be a very bad day, but tomorrow may be the best day of your life. You just have to hang on until you get there.”
“Sometimes, I supposed, a girl just had to be her own hero. Especially when the hero in question turned out to be a dragon.”