"You’re a nut, Mia. First of all, just because you’re getting married doesn’t mean I’m going to stop worrying about you and looking out for you."
"It was no sacrifice, Mia. I don’t have a single regret either."
"You made him work for it. I gotta admire that."
"Patience, baby. Want to make this good. You’re so fucking sweet."
"Did not intend for that to happen so fast. But fuck, baby, you’re so goddamn sweet."
"Everything is going to be all right now. I don’t want you to worry."
"If you see her again, you call me immediately. Day or night."
"She may have run, but I am damn well going to haul her back."
"I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that I should forget about a homeless woman we fucked."
"You don’t have to do a single thing, baby. We’ll do all the work. I just want you to relax and enjoy the ride."
"She’s here, she just came in. She’s... hurt."
"Stay out of this, Ash. It doesn’t concern you."
"She's clearly frightened and exhausted and, as I said, she's injured."
"Will you be taking her with you, Mr. Crestwell?"
"Oh yes," he said quietly. "She's coming with me. I'll take care of her. I promise."
"I want to thank you," she said in a soft voice. "For everything. The heat. The food. The generous donation. Look around you, Mr. Crestwell. All these women have a warm place to sleep and food to eat because of you."
"I won't hurt you and you goddamn well know that."
"If you don't already know it, you soon will."
"I've been looking for you for two goddamn weeks. I've scoured every fucking shelter I could find, hoping like hell to find you in one of them."
"I'm fighting for you and I have no intention of losing."
"Nothing worth having is ever easy, baby. And you don't get things without fighting for them."
"Be warned. I'm fighting for you and I have no intention of losing."
"Even as she knew she should resist, a big part of her was relieved."
"It's like a bizarre spin on the Cinderella story—only for girls like me, there aren't happily-ever-afters."
"We all make mistakes, baby. Nobody is perfect."
"She didn't know how to process the bombardment of emotion Jace evoked."
"For the first time in her life, she was making love."
"You're the beautiful one, Bethany. So damn beautiful that I can't get enough of staring at you. I stood there in the doorway watching you forever. I could look at you all day and never get tired of it."
"Everything about Jace unhinged her. She had no control around him."
"If you believe that, you're a fool. It's always been you taking care of me, Bethy."
"I won't let just anyone enter that inner circle."
"It's time for you to get on with your life. I've held you back far too long."
"What’s mine is his. But that money wasn’t mine. I’d never take advantage of you that way."
"You are most definitely my concern. I’ll do anything in this world to keep you out of harm’s way."
"Are you still angry with me? I’m angry, yes. Not at you. I’m frustrated. Again, not at you."
"How can I know what it is you need from me if you don’t show me?"
"I want it," he said fiercely. "There’s nothing I want more."
"Undress and kneel on the rug by my bed. Wait for me there."
"She knew the significance of kneeling. Of waiting for Jace to come into the bedroom."
"I want to enjoy not having to worry about where my next meal came from, or whether I had a place to sleep."
"I’m sorry," he said hoarsely. "I can’t tell you the satisfaction it gives me to see you kneeling here, waiting for me."
"Promise me that if it’s ever too much, if you’re ever overwhelmed, that you’ll tell me."
"I want you to sit on my face while I lick that sweet pussy."
"You belong to me. Only me. No one else will ever have this, what I have, you on your knees, waiting for me."
"You’re a woman worth fighting for, Bethany. Men would kill to possess what I own, even for an hour."
"Christmas is coming up shortly... I want you to be comfortable and confident."
"He always knew just how to make her feel more at ease."
"Where was he today? It was cold and snow had begun falling, covering the sidewalks in a white blanket."
"You’re tying yourself into knots over nothing."
"It’s Christmas. I want you to enjoy the holiday. Our first together."
"Trust me when I say things are going to be fine."
"You’re understandably nervous. I don’t fault you for that."
"All they’re going to care about is that you make me happy."
"You make him happy. So I’m going to like you no matter what’s in your past."
"I love Christmas trees too. I never had one. A real one, I mean. In an actual home."
"One day you’ll see you like I see you, baby."
"The tree is beautiful. And that I got to see it with someone who cares about me."
"You’re mine, Bethany. You belong to me. Only to me."
"I understand. I do. But, Jace, I told you what I almost did."
"I had come such a long way until today. Until I saw those pills."
"I wanted it more than anything. It was a compulsion."
"I was this close to doing it. I had the pill in my mouth."
"I realized what I was doing. What I almost allowed to happen."
"I can't go back there, Jace. We have to end it now before we destroy each other."
"If this is what being with you does to me, I can't do it anymore."
"He took that for me. He put himself in the way every single time."
"Jack's always taken care of me. When I was in the car accident. Before that. After that."
"I understand why you feel the way you do, baby, but listen to me. Jack has gone beyond that now. He’s in deep and he’s putting you in serious danger. I can’t allow that. I won’t allow it. I’ll never agree to anything that can harm you. Do you understand that?"
"You can’t take the blame for this. I won’t let you. He protected you. I’ll always be grateful he did that. But baby, even he wouldn’t blame you for what he is now. We all make choices. He made some bad ones, but that doesn’t mean you have to pay the price."
"You are everything to me. Everything, Bethany. I don’t say that lightly. I’ve damn sure never said that to another woman. Hell, I’ve never said it to another human being."
"The kind of power you’re talking about isn’t about control. It isn’t about your submission. It isn’t about my dominance. It’s about emotional power. But baby, you have exactly that same power over me."
"Never run out on me again, Bethany. No matter what happens, you stay and fight. Yell at me, argue, throw something at me, whatever you want to do, but never walk away from me. You stay and fight for what we have."
"I want you to have whatever you want. All I want from the deal is you as my wife. Anything else is just icing on that beautiful cake you want."
"You’ve given me the most precious gift I’ll ever receive. Yourself."
"I'm fine! And Mia said you were getting us home tonight so I didn't have to worry about how drunk we got."
"You're going to kill yourself in those damn heels."
"But it was worth it to have you fuck me in these shoes."
"Everything you give me is the sweetest pleasure I've ever known."
"Words are just words. The evidence is in how you act, how you react."
"No amount of saying I love you and I trust you makes it true when it isn’t."
"You need to focus on that and quit worrying about me."
"You deserve more than I could ever give you."
"Trust wasn't automatic. Sometimes it took months, even years to fully achieve."
"She's strong. She's defeated insurmountable odds. No way she'll go down over this."
"We all make mistakes. Look at the mistakes Gabe made. I was so furious with him. I was devastated when he pushed me away."
"She loves you," Mia said softly. "And that didn't change because you hurt her. You'll get the chance to make it right, Jace."
"It was never a sacrifice, Mia. I don't have any regrets. I was waiting my entire life for her and now I've found her."
"No matter what happened from here on out, it would always be enough that she was alive and in his life."
"Come back to me, Bethany. I love you so much."
"He didn’t mean to hurt you, honey. He’s an idiot, but he didn’t mean to hurt you."
"Never felt a sweeter thing, baby. Your heart beating. You breathing."
"You’re going to lie there and listen to my apology."
"You’ll never be lost, baby. Never again. I’ll always find you."
"It was worth it because I have you back. Never leave me, Bethany. Stay with me. Be with me. Love me."
"You’re family. Maybe not the most normal family in the world, but you’re stuck with us now."
"I love you, Bethany. More than I could have ever imagined loving a woman. You’re my heart and soul and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"
"Fairy tales did exist for girls like her. And she’d found her very own Prince Charming."