Kovida

“Tell me, Nina, if there wasn’t this deal between us, would you have come when I nodded?” he asks. “Nope.”
I don’t expect him to ask me to elaborate, but he does, and his question surprises me. “Why not? Is it because of the wheelchair?”
He says it conversationally, but there is a hidden undertone I can’t quite define. I abandon watching the crowd and look him right in the eyes. “It’s because I’m not a poodle, Mr. Petrov.”
― Neva Altaj, Painted Scars

“I want you to smile at me every day,” I say next to her ear and slam into her again. “Every.” Slam. “Fucking.” Slam. “Day.”
― Neva Altaj, Stolen Touches

“Tristan Caine: Apparently, you're not out of my system, Ms. Vitalio.”
― RuNyx, The Predator

“Roman?”
“Yes?”
“I have a confession to make.”
I kiss her shoulder. “Something bad?”
“Yeah. It’s . . . well, it’s a kind of a problem. A big one.”
“Spill it, Nina.” She’s silent for a few moments, and then makes my world tilt on its axis with six short words. “I’m in love with you, Roman.”
I close my eyes for a second and squeeze her tightly. It’s like everything around me stopped. “Then we share the same problem, malysh.”
― Neva Altaj, Painted Scars