Full Measures

The fire you have within you is impossible to kill. The first breath you take when you’re free of all this, it will come roaring back. That’s what is so impossibly beautiful about you.

Just let me love you, December, because I can’t stop anyways. I’ve been at your mercy since I was eighteen.

grief had no mercy, time limit, or expiration date..

How can we love each other this much and not make it? Why does a love like ours hurt us both so badly?

Even if we didn't have you, the years I was able to spend with him are well worth the price of this pain. These moments, these are the ones you cling to, because it may hurt to send him away, but nothing compares to having him back. It makes you more thankful for what you have, more aware of just how precious it is

I’m your whatever.” “My whatever?” The soft kiss he’d placed on my lips had me leaning in for more. “Whatever you need me to be,” he whispered against my mouth.

Please fight for this, Ember. We are worth the fight. I love you, and that’s something I’ve never said to any girl. I love you more than hockey, or the air I breathe. You love me, too!

Just in the wrong place at the wrong time, baby. But I guess it led me to you, so it’s more like the right place at the right time.

Don't you get it? You don't have to beg me for anything. I'm already yours.

We’re taking it slow until you say so, because I can’t bear to hear a ‘no’ from you. But here’s your only warning: I’m going to chase the fuck out of you.

You still love me.” “Every fucking second I breathe. I will love you the rest of my life, December Howard, whether or not you’re around to witness it.

He tasted like sin and heaven, all in one man.

Don’t look at me like that and tell me no. That’s not fair.

Yeah, you know, like pick you up, we go out, have a good time, I steal a good night kiss?” He leaned back across the table and whispered, “I get to tell people you’re mine?

You’re so fucking mine.

For fuck’s sake, December! You’re carrying everyone in that damn house! Someone has to carry you. I can’t just watch you suffer and do nothing.

Maybe love this exquisite, this powerful isn’t meant to last forever. Maybe we’re meant to burn so brightly for each other right now to light whatever path we’re heading down, but there’s no sustaining a fire like this.

Grief, by its very nature, is designed to suck the life out of us because we are so willing to join our dead. It's supposed to be this hard to figure out to do next, but it's that 'next' that makes us the living, and not our dead.

That was the moment I fell in love with Josh Walker. Everything clicked into place, mending the broken parts of my soul enough to finally breathe freely, to soak in everything about him, and the beauty of what we were together.

And you’re December-freaking-Howard, and you happen to be the only girl I’m interested in. I’m not Riley! When I make a choice, that’s it. I don’t back down. I didn’t get where I am in hockey or school by backing down, and I choose you.

There’s no one on this earth who can love you as well as I can, and I wish it was enough.

When I make a choice, that’s it. I don’t back down. I didn’t get where I am in hockey or school by backing down, and I choose you.” “I’m nowhere near ready to be anyone’s choice.” Not ready to risk my heart. His eyes narrowed, but he let my jab slip. “One day you will be, and I’ll still be here, no matter how hard you push me away.

So you’re saying slow? Or no?” He raised his arms and put his hands back against the glass. “Because you’re killing me here.

You’re so busy taking care of everyone else, you can’t see that someone needs to take care of you. So tell me what you need, and I’ll be that for you.

I want this; I want you, Ember. But tonight is about you, not us. You needed this, and I’m fucking ecstatic to give it to you, but we’re not doing this.” He pushed his hips against my ass, and I groaned, wanting him inside me. “Until it’s about us, and no one else.

You’re wrecking me now

Kissing him was so fucking addictive. He changed pace, sped it up, mellowed it out, but kept me wondering what he was doing next. He gave me control and then took it back. Josh robbed me of every logical thought in my head except the quickest way to get him out of those clothes. I wanted to see where the lines in his abs headed. My hands slid down his chest, tracing along his stomach until I reached his pants. I skimmed under the elastic, needing to get my hands on him, to feel that soft skin under my fingertips.

You like it when I touch you.

Snap already, Josh. I’m on fire for you. I don’t need you to go slowly; I need to know what you feel like inside me.

I should have given you the choice and told you, but I couldn’t. You are this miracle, something I never thought I was worthy of touching, let alone calling you mine. I’ve wanted you since I was eighteen, but I was never good enough, not for someone like you.