J. Rose Black > Quotes

“If there was one thing a former sniper could do well, it was wait. Patiently. Quietly. Without a sound. Barely a movement. Just him, a quiet mind and his breath.”
― J. Rose Black, Losing My Breath

“Their lips met in a slow, languid kiss. Salt from her tears mixed with her natural sweetness. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed closer. Her softness, her scent, she filled and overran his senses. He mouthed another kiss against her lips. Heat flared inside his abdomen when she opened her mouth, and kissed him back with firmer lips. 

He sank into her embrace, the heated connection she offered. A kinetic warmth surged through him, lighting, igniting dormant pieces inside—like someone returning home . . . A soft groan, hushed breaths. Their mouths parted and found each other again. He slid his hand behind her neck as he deepened the kiss.”
― J. Rose Black, Losing My Breath

“Warmth radiated from her skin in waves. Her pulse beneath his fingertips. The telltale flutter in her neck. Life. It mattered, was precious. And could be taken away in an instant.”
― J. Rose Black, Losing My Breath

“I can’t do more than this. Don’t ask me. If you ask, I’ll try and I’ll fail. You’ll end up hating me. And I’d rather die . . . than have you hate me. Or disappoint you. My own darkness, it still chips away at me.”
― J. Rose Black, Losing My Breath

“Callan stared at the door. Raw and razed and present. A crucial moment—when he wasn’t the one with his finger on the trigger.”
― J. Rose Black, Losing My Breath

“Callan sucked in a breath. As a sniper, he’d been trained by the Marines to know and recognize moments. 

Moments when all the training—his focused mind, muscle memory, weapon knowledge . . . 

When all the preparation—target reconnaissance, angle of attack, position scouting . . . 

When all the setup—hidden amid the terrain, barrel aimed, trajectory known . . . 

When everything came together in one crucial moment—when the sniper squeezed the trigger and took his shot.”
― J. Rose Black, Losing My Breath

“He grimaced and went after her. “I’m not a trainer. Just spent a lot of time working out.” 

“Misspent youth, clearly.” She held the door open, standing just outside. 

“My application to princess school was rejected.” Callan exited the building and fell into step alongside her. “Working out was how I coped.”

Sunlight peeked out from behind striped clouds and lit the early-morning sky. Autumn weather chilled the perspiration on his skin. 

“Such a shame.” Meridian glanced up at him out of the corner of her eye. 

“What is?” 

“That you didn’t go to princess school. Could have learned some manners.” Her blue-green eyes sparked in the sunlight. And her mouth . . . Her lips set in some smart-looking, lopsided grin, with a small dimple. 

I should definitely kiss that look off her face.

“Overrated. Inefficient. And I look terrible in a tiara.”
― J. Rose Black, Losing My Breath

“Every day is a battle. Still. She doesn’t need this…this mess. The nightmares. She doesn’t deserve what I’d put her through. And she probably wouldn’t stick around anyway. Who would?”
― J. Rose Black, Losing My Breath

“Light flashed in her eyes. In fact, it clung to her—flaring around her skin, her hair, her whole body. It was a trick of the eyes, his mind, when adrenaline hit his system. But she glowed. Vivid. Alive. And for a moment, he’d have given anything to be like her.”
― J. Rose Black, Losing My Breath

“She made a face at him, and he could picture her, as a child princess—sticking her tongue out at a playmate in her princess castle. ”
― J. Rose Black, Losing My Breath

“He clamped his eyes shut and waited for the pang of something he could no longer name to subside; it plucked at steel threads holding him together and reverberated through his system.”
― J. Rose Black, Losing My Breath

“Warm, aquamarine eyes stared into him—providing a lifeline to shore. And he wondered if she was really the one who needed saving . . .”
― J. Rose Black, Losing My Breath

“I’m sure everyone’s sorry and said they’re sorry, and you’ve heard it a thousand times. We all mean well, by the way. We just don’t have words.”
I rubbed a hand over my forehead. Maybe that was the end of it. A little different than the standard lines. She meant well. Good talk. “It’s fine. Most people just say ‘sorry.’ I don’t need a speech.”
“I’m not, though.” Her hair swished against my arm as she shook her head. “It’s sad your mother died. It is. Because of all the things she’ll miss. It’s very sad. But, I’m glad she lived.”  ”
― J. Rose Black, Chasing Headlines

“Love was the quiet hum of a lullaby slipping pas sleeping ears on a late November evening.”
― J. Rose Black

“If I’m going to do the time. Might as well do the crime?” 
She scowled. “Worst pickup line in evolutionary history. Truly proof you never evolved past neanderthal.”
― J. Rose Black, Chasing Headlines

“Maybe you should be the one to get naked for me. 'Breslin Cooper's Revealing Interview. Take a peek at the real ass inside those hot baseball pants.”
― J. Rose Black, Chasing Headlines

“So, you’re asking me how long before a couple can break up after having sex?”
And I was a tomato. “Yeah.” 
“So you’ve never broken up with someone after having sex?”
I stared at him. And that smug sonofabitch had the nerve to chuckle. My face was on fire and I wanted to slide to the floor. Under the tile. “That’s not . . . it isn’t—”
“I can fix that for you. Seems like the least I can do.”
― J. Rose Black, Chasing Headlines

“I have words for this patently pedantic policy and what the mildly misogynistic men who tried to run my life could do with it. And if it rhymed with "dove it up their mass," I'd never tell a soul.”
― J. Rose Black, Chasing Headlines

“Life is passion. It's fire. Don't let the world extinguish it.”
― J. Rose Black, Chasing Headlines

“Diabolical. You’re a scoundrel in tasteful athleisure wear.” 
I grinned and stretched my arms. “Isn’t this jacket cute? I really couldn’t pass it up.” 
“It’s adorable.” She sipped her tea. “You’re adorable. Cooper should eat you up. But I have two of you that are as stubborn as mules. How is even a certified busybody supposed to Hallmark-ending you two?”
― J. Rose Black, Chasing Headlines

“I held my breath and closed my eyes, just listening to the wordless song of falling.”
― J. Rose Black, Chasing Headlines

“You could just fall in love with me, then.” He leaned closer. “Problem solved.” 
“You first.” I huffed and moved away, pain seared through my chest—stomping out the warmth that had been so alive a moment before.”
― J. Rose Black, Chasing Headlines

“But this is my fucking life! My mom died and some reporter wanted a story.” I heaved for air. “And all I cared about was playing in some game. Like that was what mattered. She was dying, and I was mad. I’m still fucking pissed. Criminals survive every day. Murderers and rapists and lunatics. But not her.”
“Life, in all the years I’ve been living it, son, doesn’t make a lick of sense where that’s concerned.”
― J. Rose Black, Chasing Headlines

“Love was the quiet hum of a lullaby slipping past sleeping ears on a late November evening.”
― J. Rose Black, Chasing Headlines

“It occurred to me then, like one of those moments I’d remember years from now . . . the crisp November air, the amber-colored field lights so bright they eclipsed the moon. The electricity of the win suffusing every breath, every cell, every particle of the world that was Vanquer, Texas . . . 
Everyone has a story.”
― J. Rose Black, Chasing Headlines

“Everything for the game.”
― J. Rose Black, The Real Ones

“You can’t be good at everything.”
― J. Rose Black, The Real Ones

“Maybe I'm trying to?”
― J. Rose Black, The Real Ones

“If there was a moment a person could choose to fall in love, that would have been mine.. with him.”
― J. Rose Black, The Real Ones

“Gee, Mick, when you ask so nicely, how can a girl say no?”
― J. Rose Black, The Real Ones