Bound by Flames

Compromise Lesson One: Pull a dick move, and your dick gets denied. Every woman knew that, and now, so did the vampire sitting next to me.

Vlad flashed a tolerant look at Mencheres. "Pay this no mind. She always argues with me when I propose to her.

I want a hardened man, not a mass-murdering, pathologically vengeful one,” Vlad said. “There’s only room for one of those in my line right now, and that’s me.

You’ll get a lot of ‘no’ RSVPs to your next party,” I said, brushing the smoldering bits from my costume. His smile only widened. “This isn’t the first party I’ve thrown where fewer guests left than arrived.

You aren’t just my weakness, Leila.” Vlad drew me next to him, one hand sliding along my jaw while the other caressed my back. “You are my destruction, because if I were to lose you, it would finish me.

Just because you didn’t torture him doesn’t mean you weren’t rough, but I know why you did it.” I threaded my fingers through his hair. “Thank you for trying to protect me.” The barest smile touched his mouth. “I prefer simply killing people who hurt you. Much less complicated that way.

The nine pounds Gretchen had gained must’ve come from her new brass balls.

Months ago, you made me ask you if you would marry me. This time, I'm not asking. I'm telling you to say yes, so say it, and be mine for eternity.

You’re mine,” he breathed against my neck when his lips left mine to travel lower. “Forever. Say it.” “I’m yours,” I swore, the words ragged from passion. “Forever. Now, take me and prove it.

Now that we’ve compared the equivalent of our supernatural dicks, why don’t you answer my question?

You're unnerved by me, so you wish I'd leave the two of you alone to talk?" Vlad snorted. "Your personal discomfort means nothing to me, Hugh ... wait, that's not true. I enjoy it.

Vlad didn’t show off his seething masculinity by wearing fewer clothes. Instead, he wore more to taunt people with what he didn’t allow them to feast their eyes on.

Because love cuts deeper than the sharpest blade, cripples more than shattered bones, and leaves scars that can never fade.

I treasure the gift of your virginity, but if you’d given it to another I would still love you to the same dangerous degree. You are in my soul, and nothing you did before we met or will do in the future can change that.

Why do you want to know who he’d like to kill?” I asked. “I want a hardened man, not a mass-murdering, pathologically vengeful one,” Vlad said. “There’s only room for one of those in my line right now, and that’s me.

Our pasts might shape us, but they weren’t the end sum of us.

The last ghouls I’d met had tried to eat me, and not in the romantic way.

You don't know what it's like to lose a child, but I do. When they're gone, every cold word you uttered is a scar on your soul, every missed opportunity with them a pain that will never heal.

Still, how did you show the world’s biggest control freak that the secret to lasting love meant giving up control? I didn’t know, but I intended to find out.

You are in my soul, and nothing you did before we met or will do in the future can change that.

Love cuts deeper than the sharpest blade, cripples more than shattered bones, and leaves scars that can never fade.

I’d blush if I wasn’t undead,

Fake it until you make it, as the saying went.

Now that I was alone and they’d taken the camera with them, I finally allowed myself to do the one thing I hadn’t done during the excruciating, soul-crushing experience. I cried.

You don’t know what it’s like to lose a child, but I do. When they’re gone, every cold word you uttered is a scar on your soul, every missed opportunity with them a pain that will never heal.

If my ugly pajamas were a proclamation of “you can’t touch this,” his challenging, sensual gaze practically screamed “you know you want to touch this.

What has been destroyed can never be resurrected, but it can be rebuilt, so that is what we will do, Leila. Rebuild.

Besides, easy is overrated compared to you in all your spectacular, mercurial, enigmatic glory.

You aren’t just my weakness, Leila.” Vlad drew me next to him, one hand sliding along my jaw while the other caressed my back. “You are my destruction,