Diana

“Why can't you say it?" I hardened my voice. "Because I'm telling you, you never have. I'd have remembered."
He stared at me with disbelief. [...]
"Love you? Of course I love you. Baby, I fucking worship you.”
― Josh Lanyon, The Dark Tide

“I looked at our hands, caked and coated in red, but entwined. The pristine moment when they were clasped like that earlier in the day seemed weeks ago.

"Clean." Peter said.

"Can I get a water bottle or something to clean his hands?" I scanned the crowd. He drew my attention back to him with a pull of my hand.

"No," Peter said. "I'm...clean."

I had missed who Peter was until that very moment.

I had called him names and treated him callously. I had read every micro expression in a vacuum of how it related to Austin Glass. And in return Peter had cared for my wounds, treated me tenderly and assured me that he was HIV negative while bleeding out in a hallway of strangers.

I broke. It wasn't a visible fracture. I didn't sob or explode into anguish. I didn't give in to my vomitus urge that came from the burst of self-loathing. But I shattered nonetheless.”
― Dani Alexander, Shattered Glass

“Tell me something good about your life," I whispered, needing to hear that he wasn't as broken as I thought him to be.
Peter breathed into the handset for about two minutes. I began wondering if he was about to hang up, or had fallen asleep, when he answered. "You."
It was so quiet I almost didn't hear it. And then he hung up before I could ask him to repeat himself.
I fell asleep, grinning, with the phone still clutched in my hand and my milk souring on the coffee table.”
― Dani Alexander, Shattered Glass

“Tease,” Ty accused softly.
“Do I have your attention now?” Zane drawled.
“You never lost it,” Ty responded before thinking better of it.”
― Madeleine Urban, Cut & Run