Cata

“He took a breath. “I want you to stay. I want you to … I want you.” “You want me.” She turned the words over. Gently, she squeezed his hand. “And how will you have me, Kaz?” He looked at her then, eyes fierce, mouth set. It was the face he wore when he was fighting. “How will you have me?” she repeated. “Fully clothed, gloves on, your head turned away so our lips can never touch?” He released her hand, his shoulders bunching, his gaze angry and ashamed as he turned his face to the sea. Maybe it was because his back was to her that she could finally speak the words. “I will have you without armor, Kaz Brekker. Or I will not have you at all.” Speak, she begged silently. Give me a reason to stay. For all his selfishness and cruelty, Kaz was still the boy who had saved her. She wanted to believe he was worth saving, too. The sails creaked. The clouds parted for the moon then gathered back around her. Inej left Kaz with the wind howling and dawn still a long while away.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

“Marianne had the sense that her real life was happening somewhere very far away, happening without her, and she didn't know if she would ever find out where it was or become part of it.”
― Sally Rooney, Normal People

“I tipped my chin up and kissed him, gently. He responded by wrapping an arm across my back and lifting me into him, strong and warm and certain.
It took a while for us to break apart.
“We pass through the currentstream today,” I said. “Will you come with me?”
“In case you hadn’t noticed,” he said, “I’ll pretty much go with you anywhere.”
He tapped my nose with a gray-stained finger, leaving a mark that even I could see out of the corner of my eye.
“Did you just stain my nose right before I have to go out in public?”
He grinned, and nodded.
“I hate you,” I said.
“And I love you,” he replied.”
― Veronica Roth, The Fates Divide

“Oh yes, your relationship with Miss Bard is positively ordinary."
"Be quiet."
"Crossing worlds, killing royals, saving cities. The marks of every good courtship.”
― V.E. Schwab, A Gathering of Shadows