“
If hearts could shatter, mine just did.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
Hearts don’t realize they’ve been lied to. They still love anyway.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Just for Now (Sea Breeze, #4))
“
Unconditional love is hard to compete with.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Because of Low (Sea Breeze, #2))
“
He seems like a man who knows what he wants, and the problem is he wants what I want.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
I perfected the art of being uninteresting.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
I was taking the bad boy off the market for good.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
I might never breathe again once he walked away from me.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
I understood that pain was real and sometimes things didn't last. Sometimes you just had to enjoy it while it lasts and cherish it when it's gone.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
I love you. I love you so damn much it consumes me. I don't deserve you, but I'm gonna become the man who does deserve you. I promise you. I'll make you proud of me.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Just for Now (Sea Breeze, #4))
“
A fragrant breeze wandered up from the quiet sea, trailed along the beach, and drifted back to the sea again, wondering where to go next. On a mad impulse it went up to the beach again. It drifted back to sea.
”
”
Douglas Adams (The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide: Five Complete Novels and One Story (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1-5))
“
He closed his eyes and let out a jagged breath. "Okay."
He settled between my legs holding himself over me. "I've never been with a virgin, Eva. I'm going to try real hard not to hurt you."
"Will it hurt you?" I asked, thinking about his pained expression when he'd said I was too tight.
He smiled, "It's going to be the closest to heaven I'll ever get, baby.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
You see somethin' ya want, baby?"
"Maybe. I'm checking things out. Seeing if I'm interested," I shot back with my own evil grin.
"I see something I want," he drawled as he came toward me.
"You do?"
"Hell yeah, I do," he murmured. "I love chocolate." What? My excitement turned to confusion. His arm reached out beside me and took the piece of chocolate cake I'd brought him.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
She loves you. Do you even know what to do with that?”
I kissed the top of her head. “Cherish it like it’s the most precious thing on the face of the earth.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Just for Now (Sea Breeze, #4))
“
Sailors on a becalmed sea, we sense the stirring of a breeze.
”
”
Carl Sagan (Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space)
“
I didn't need taming. I needed saving.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Just for Now (Sea Breeze, #4))
“
I'd walked too close to heaven and gotten a glimpse. The hell I'd lived before her no longer appealed to me.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
He did say I fascinated him, but he really should have clarified to me that I was just the fascination for the day.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
Nothing about this thing we have is a bad thing. I’m not gonna lie about it: I don’t deserve you. I’m sure as hell not good enough for you, but as long as you want me, I’m all yours.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Just for Now (Sea Breeze, #4))
“
If you were mine, I would never let you go.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
Things happen in life and you can’t control them. It sucks and you have to move on.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Because of Low (Sea Breeze, #2))
“
You're with me, Sadie. When you're off the clock, you're not my employee. You're my.. Air."
I frowned at him. "Your air?"
He grinned. "Well, girlfriend seems to be a shallow word for what I feel for you..
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
Sometimes the answer we need is in our heart. We just have to listen to it.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Just for Now (Sea Breeze, #4))
“
He doesn't deserve it. he can have any girl in the world's love and he took yours. someone who deserves so much more than a summer fling
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
I'm worried that this is too soon. What if you get tired of having me around all the time? What if I eat your Wheaties or leave my makeup out in the bathroom or what if I snore?"
"I don't eat Wheaties, I hope you leave all your girlie shit laying all over the place so I can see it when you're not there and know you're coming back. And you don't snore. You do this soft purring thing that is so fucking cute I just want to lay awake and listen to you.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
Once he had me panting for breath he broke the kiss and burried his head in the curve of my neck. "I fucking love you." I giggled. That was a very cage response.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
I laughed out loud and shook my head, "You're crazy!"
He nodded, "About you.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
I'm here because the reason I get up each morning, needs me as much as I need her." -Jax Stone
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
She deserved a man who could take care of her. But fuck if I was just going to leave her. I couldn't do that. I may not be good enough for her but I was gonna damn well try my hardest to become worthy.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
I couldn't forget. I couldn't break. She had the power to break me. No one had ever been given that power, ever.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
The air tasted just the same, smelled just the same. The wind making my hair feel sticky, the salty sea breeze, all of it felt just right. Like it had been waiting for me to get there.
”
”
Jenny Han (The Summer I Turned Pretty (Summer, #1))
“
The fair breeze blew,
The white foam flew,
And the forrow followed free.
We were the first to ever burst into the silent sea.
”
”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)
“
I want whatever part of you I can have.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
Fine. You don’t want to be good enough for me, then you will never be. I deserve someone who wants to be what I need.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Just for Now (Sea Breeze, #4))
“
Calculus was not math. It was a fucking science experiment gone wrong.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Just for Now (Sea Breeze, #4))
“
You don’t just fit into my world, Blythe. You are my world
”
”
Abbi Glines (Bad for You (Sea Breeze, #7))
“
When you love someone, you can't lie to them. It hurts to much. It's a deception that goes too deep.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Just for Now (Sea Breeze, #4))
“
You're everything I write about in songs, but can never have." -Jax
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
Preston smirked. “You’re gonna have to stop calling me things like ‘gorgeous’ and ‘beautiful.’ I’m gonna get a complex. Why can’t I be ‘sexy,’ or maybe ‘irresistible’?
”
”
Abbi Glines (Just for Now (Sea Breeze, #4))
“
Are you sure it wasn't my sexy-as-hell voice whispering in your ear that caused your momentary lack of oxygen?
”
”
Abbi Glines (Just for Now (Sea Breeze, #4))
“
You are such a bad boy." She tugged on the hair that brushed my collar.
"I can be real bad. You haven't seen anything yet," I murmured, bending my head so I could take a nip at the soft skin at the back of her neck.
"I'm not sure I could keep up with you. I'm extremely inexperienced. We are in completely different planets when it comes to sexual experience," her breathing was labored as I licked and kissed different sweet spots on her shoulders and collarbone.
"I didn't say anything about sex, Eva," I grinned before kissing her jawline. "You're the naughty one who brought up sex.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
The few moments of heaven were not worth the hell he put me through when he was done.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Just for Now (Sea Breeze, #4))
“
No matter where I am, I will always be there when you need me.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
I'll be good. I promise. I'll be the best damn friend you've ever had.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Just for Now (Sea Breeze, #4))
“
But dreams change. Fate has a way showing you paths you want more.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Sometimes It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #5))
“
You do realize that I never thought you had a stellar
reputation.” Her teasing tone made me smile.
“What? You didn’t think I was next in line for Pope? Damn, I thought I had you fooled.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
I don't want to beg or promise you things I can't give you. There isn't much of me to give, but what I have is yours. This is all up to you, Sadie. If you want me, I'm yours. If you can't do this, then I'll walk away and leave you alone. I swear.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
He loved the extensive vaults where you could hear the night birds and the sea breeze; he loved the craggy ruins bound together by ivy, those dark halls, and any appearance of death and destruction. Having fallen so far from so high a position, he loved anything that had also fallen from a great height
”
”
Gustave Flaubert
“
That's okay. You an be selfish with me all you want. I'm yours.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
Last night I'd made love to a woman for the first and last time. It had been amazing and I had a memory that would shape the rest of my life.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
There was something in her eyes that drew me in. I wanted to make the sadness she tried to hide go away." -Cage York
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
In the screwed-up life I’d been dealt, she was my only source of comfort.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Just for Now (Sea Breeze, #4))
“
Don't frown beautiful, you fascinate me.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
A tightness in my chest came out of nowhere. As I listened to Amanda reassure my brother, I wanted to pull her into my arms and cry. How damn crazy was that? This girl was making me a nutcase.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Just for Now (Sea Breeze, #4))
“
What? I didn't drop you because I got bored. You. Rejected. Me! And fuck that, Eva. ALL I saw while I was with them was you. I closed my ficking eyes and pictured you. Just--- YOU.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
I know being with me is not easy. But I want you to understand no one has me, or has ever had me, except you.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
You're ever song I have ever sung. I'll never let anything hurt you again. For the first time in my life, my dreams aren't about me. They're about you." -Jax
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
I don’t want to love you,” I forced out through the thickness in my throat.
“God, I hope you do, because you own me completely,” he whispered.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
I've been loved in life, but all that matters now is that I'm loved by you." -Eva
”
”
Abbi Glines (Because of Low (Sea Breeze, #2))
“
Most women beg me to lick them, and I give it to you for free and you push me away,” he said with a fake pout on his face.
“You’re crazy.” I giggled
“I’m the good kind of crazy, though.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Bad for You (Sea Breeze, #7))
“
We may be sure that the characteristic blindness of the twentieth century - the blindness about which posterity will ask, "But how could they have thought that?" - lies where we have never suspected it... None of us can fully escape this blindness, but we shall certainly increase it, and weaken our guard against it, if we read only modern books. Where they are true they will give us truths which we half knew already. Where they are false they will aggravate the error with which we are already dangerously ill. The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books.
”
”
C.S. Lewis (On the Incarnation)
“
I never felt magic crazy as this
I never saw moons knew the meaning of the sea
I never held emotion in the palm of my hand
Or felt sweet breezes in the top of a tree
But now you're here
Brighten my northern sky.
”
”
Nick Drake
“
I want to have the memories of my time with you to keep me warm.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
But when we find that one person who completes us, we don't give up. No matter how bad we screw up. We make it right.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Just for Now (Sea Breeze, #4))
“
I dropped my phone on the floor and let the pain assail me. I'd given my heart away to someone who didn't want it. Even knowing that, I didn't regret it. I just wanted him to want me. I just wanted him to love me too.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
Just to make your eyes sparkle, I'd do anything. I could give it all up to know you were my girl. Just being with you and listening to your laugh is what makes up my other half. I was lost and cold inside when your heart called out to mine. Now I know you're the only thing that keeps me hanging on, when the rest of the world seems to come crashing down." -Jax Stone
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
Just maybe I was worthy of love.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Bad for You (Sea Breeze, #7))
“
I was completely obsessed with her. Addicted wasn’t a strong enough word. She had surpassed my addictive tendencies, and I was full-blown obsessed.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Bad for You (Sea Breeze, #7))
“
This is what it feels like to care about someone who doesn't feel the same. I'd only known how it felt to love someone who loved me just as fiercely. I'd never known rejection. I'd never wanted someone who didn't want me. The longing didn't go away with rejection.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
These violent delights have violent ends,” Juliette whispered to herself. She tilted her head up to the clouds, to the light sea breeze blowing in from the Bund and stinging her nose with salt. “You have always known this.
”
”
Chloe Gong (Our Violent Ends)
“
He’ll see that if you love a woman, you fight like hell to hold on to her. And you don’t fucking walk away when things get tough.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Hold on Tight (Sea Breeze, #8))
“
I never stood a chance. He stole your heart first." -Marcus Hardy
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
Don't walk out of here. I can't lose you.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Just for Now (Sea Breeze, #4))
“
I relaxed. “I would imagine in your world, girls are much different than here in the real world. I’m sure if you spent some time with the everyday girl, you would find I am not unique.”
He grinned at me. “The everyday girl is who writes me fan mail and buys out my concerts. They are the girls who yell my name and run after me like crazed animals. You’ve not even tried to sneak into my room and squirt your perfume on my pillow.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
I'd worried that letting her get too close would break me. Unfortunately, I'd worried about that a little too late. Because I was broken. The Cage I was before Eva no longer existed. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I'd fallen in love with her. I'd allowed someone in and she hadn't want me. I hadn't been good enough. I never was.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
I could never be what she wanted. She thought I was like Cage and the right girl could tame me. It wasn't about that. I didn't need taming. I needed fucking saving.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Just for Now (Sea Breeze, #4))
“
Preston pulled me up against his chest and cupped my face in his hands. “I love you. I love you so damn much it consumes me. I don’t deserve you, but I’m gonna become the man who does deserve you. I promise you. I’ll make you proud of me.”I reached up and ran my thumb over his lips. “I am and will always be proud of you. I want the world to know you’re mine.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Just for Now (Sea Breeze, #4))
“
I needed to get out and my roomies had both left me for the night so I followed the pretty one here.” Did Marcus just call me pretty?
”
”
Abbi Glines (Because of Low (Sea Breeze, #2))
“
Too late. I’ve already seen the blush. Stop trying to hide it from me. I think it’s adorable.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
Hey, sexy. Why haven’t you called?” The cooing sound came from behind me, and I glanced back over my shoulder to see a familiar-looking brunette. “Because I’m the asshole who never calls,” I replied with a wink.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Just for Now (Sea Breeze, #4))
“
If lighthouse becomes a burning candle,
flickered upon ocean's insanity.
Your sailing heart there anchors to handle
the obsessed breeze towards sand dune's vanity.
”
”
Munia Khan
“
I didn't want to see you, but you invaded my world. Every dark corner you found a way in bringing light to the lifeless and lost." Eva
”
”
Abbi Glines (Because of Low (Sea Breeze, #2))
“
I finally found him sitting on his balcony. He was leaning back against the wall with his eyes closed. Soft music played, and a cool ocean breeze blew back my hair as I stepped on to the balcony and inhaled the scent of the sea.
"May I join you?" I asked softly.
He didn’t bother opening his eyes. "If you like."
The moon in the dark sky looked like a giant white plate dipping its edge into the ocean. We sat quietly for a while. I closed my eyes too and listened to him hum along in harmony with the music.
"You haven’t played your guitar in a long time. I miss it," I said when the song was finished.
Ren turned away. "I fear there is no music left in me.
”
”
Colleen Houck (Tiger's Destiny (The Tiger Saga, #4))
“
I'm not going to hurt her. I know she's special and I tried to stay away, but when I'm with I don't feel so cold and alone.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
I’m not sharing. You’re mine. No one will touch you but me. I have an addictive personality. I always have. And you just became my number one addiction. I’m gonna want this. A lot. I’m needy and demanding, and now you’re the only one who can meet that need.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Bad for You (Sea Breeze, #7))
“
You have been with me, as close as the tips of my fingers, even when we were years and seas apart. Your being was like the hum of a plucked string at the edge of my hearing, or a scent carried on a breeze. Did not you feel it so?
”
”
Robin Hobb (Fool's Errand (Tawny Man, #1))
“
He seems like a man who knows what he wants, and the problem is he wants what I want. If it were anything or anyone else, I could stand back and let him take it." His blue eyes gazed back at me. "But I can't let him have you.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
Here in this ocean, in the midst of all this water, with the red flags on those distant buoys flapping in the sea breeze, I find myself unable to treat our house in Tokyo as anything but a dream.
”
”
Banana Yoshimoto (Goodbye Tsugumi)
“
Did you just call me a hottie? And Jax isn’t better looking than me. He’s just famous.”
Amanda let out a loud cackle of laughter.
“No brother dear, Jax Stone is hotness incarnate with or without the guitar and sexy as hell singing voice. You never stood a chance. He was what you call playing with the big dogs. This time you’re definitely playing within your league.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Because of Low (Sea Breeze, #2))
“
Luckily, I's learned at an early age that self-preservation was the only way to survive with your soul intact.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
He stole my breathe away the moment we first spoke. He's my air." -Sadie White
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
Women were fucking complicated, but the right one turned the shit in life to gold with a simple smile.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Hold on Tight (Sea Breeze, #8))
“
Okay, so you want your other nipple pierced," she said pulling up a chair and getting her supplies ready.
"She wants my other nipple pierced," he replied winking at.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
Penelope
In the pathway of the sun,
In the footsteps of the breeze,
Where the world and sky are one,
He shall ride the silver seas,
He shall cut the glittering wave.
I shall sit at home, and rock;
Rise, to heed a neighbor's knock;
Brew my tea, and snip my thread;
Bleach the linen for my bed.
They will call him brave.
”
”
Dorothy Parker
“
Peaches and Cheese”:
The vagabond sun winks down through the trees,
While lilacs, like memories, waft on the breeze,
My friend, I was born for days such as these,
To inhale perfume,
And cut through the gloom,
And feast like a king upon peaches and cheese!
I’ll travel this wide world and go where I please,
Can’t stop my wand’ring, it’s like a disease.
My only regret as I cross the high seas:
What I leave behind,
Though I hope to find,
My own golden city of peaches and cheese!
”
”
Rachel Hartman (Seraphina (Seraphina, #1))
“
hanging out the window, Amber blew her a kiss. a lump the size of a fist clogged Heather's throat, while a breeze from th sea pushed her thick hair away from her face. tears trickled unchecked down her cheeks.
”
”
Lurlene McDaniel (Angel of Hope (Angel of Mercy, #2))
“
I don’t think I’m making myself very clear Low,” he’d lowered his voice and the effect made goose bumps break out over my body. “I was only interested in one person at that bar last night. I only came to see one person,” he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and softly caressed my earlobe before tracing the line of my jaw. “I was there for you.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Because of Low (Sea Breeze, #2))
“
If guys don't open doors for you, then they aren't worth your time.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Misbehaving (Sea Breeze, #6))
“
Listen. The trees in this story are stirring, trembling, readjusting themselves. A breeze is coming in gusts off the sea, and it is almost as if the trees know, in their restlessness, in their head-tossing impatience, that something is about to happen.
”
”
Maggie O'Farrell (The Hand That First Held Mine)
“
You need to run. Your ass may be bigger than me, but I can use a gun real damn good. So you’ve been warned. I’m coming after your motherfucking ass and I intend to put a bullet between your eyes.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Sometimes It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #5))
“
The whole town’s talking about the way Jax Stone sat in your hospital room and snag to you until you came out of your coma. Then he apparently wouldn’t leave you alone for a minute. The boy sounds hooked.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
You're my present and my future Sadie, I will use whatever power I have to make you happy.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
Having you close like this makes me forget the reasons why this won’t work. We will never work.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Just for Now (Sea Breeze, #4))
“
Damn, I was so far gone at this point I’d do anything she asked of me.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Because of Low (Sea Breeze, #2))
“
There's a thin line baby. A thing line between love and hate." -Cage York
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
Because you’re mine. And I’m so fucking yours.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Hold on Tight (Sea Breeze, #8))
“
Those blue eyes that had stopped my heart the first time she looked at me found me in the crowd." -Cage
”
”
Abbi Glines (Because of Low (Sea Breeze, #2))
“
I want to be with you.” My words brought a hugegrin to his incredibly beautiful face.
“You’re my present and my future,Sadie, I will
use whatever power I have to make you happy.”
He leaned down and touched his perfect lips to mine, and my heart took flight. I would never get tired of his kiss. Jax Stone was my everything.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
That’s really sweet.”
He grinned and reached for a plate.
“Then I believe my mission is accomplished.” Laughing softly so I didn’t wake up Cage, I walked over and took the plate he was offering to me.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Because of Low (Sea Breeze, #2))
“
Nobody could catch cold by the sea; nobody wanted appetite by the sea; nobody wanted spirits; nobody wanted strength. Sea air was healing, softening, relaxing -- fortifying and bracing -- seemingly just as was wanted -- sometimes one, sometimes the other. If the sea breeze failed, the seabath was the certain corrective; and where bathing disagreed, the sea air alone was evidently designed by nature for the cure.
”
”
Jane Austen (Lady Susan / The Watsons / Sanditon)
“
No excuses; those were just weak.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Sometimes It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #5))
“
Just like magic, each one of us had had that someone special walk into our lives and love us enough to fight for us. Life is funny that way. Fate happens, and it’s better than what you had imagined in the first place.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Until the End (Sea Breeze, #9))
“
I’ve known you all my life. And I’ve never seen you treat anyone the way you treat Sienna. Not when we were in high school and not now. She’s your one. The one who reaches you. The one who makes you different.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Hold on Tight (Sea Breeze, #8))
“
Even if I had stayed she wouldn't have ever wanted me. She didn't want me for anything more than a summer fling. I was a way of moving on for her.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
As the music played over the speakers and the waterfall in the pool filled the silence around us, I knew that, without a doubt, I had just been ruined.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Misbehaving (Sea Breeze, #6))
“
Or maybe I’d lost my soul already. I doubted God let someone like me keep any gift from him. It was highly likely I’d been born without one.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
I smashed all the windows in my ex-boyfriend’s truck.” “You did what?” I couldn’t have heard her correctly. That did not happen in real life. Country songs, yes. Real life, no way.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Misbehaving (Sea Breeze, #6))
“
I was in Cancun, Mexico, sitting in a disappearing-edge swimming pool, on a bar stool that was actually under the water, watching palm trees sway in a sultry breeze against the unmistakable aqua splendor of the Caribbean Sea; drinking coconut, lime, and tequila from a scooped-out pineapple, with salt spray of breaking surf and sun kissing my skin.
Translation: I'd died and gone to heaven.
”
”
Karen Marie Moning
“
All I had to do was make this guy happy. I’d take care of his cows and do manual labor
for two and a half months then my coach wouldn’t kick my ass off the baseball team. The DUI, he’d had to bail me out of jail for, would be forgotten
and my baseball scholarship would remain intact. I only had three problems with this plan:
1. No girls.
2. I hated manual labor
3. No girls.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
I knew it wasn’t Jess. I love that girl, but I knew it wasn’t Jess. I even told Jess that one day the right girl would come along and you’d know. She’d rock your world. That she would heal you. Fix what they did to us.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Bad for You (Sea Breeze, #7))
“
You could maybe go to a music school and actually meet girls who know how to play the
bass. Typically the ones you pick up in bars only know how to unzip your pants.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
For the first time, the object of what I want is more important than fulfilling my desires.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
With everyone else, he was chipped ice on a mountain. With her sister, he was a summer breeze across the sea. Alas,
”
”
Renée Ahdieh (The Rose & the Dagger (The Wrath and the Dawn, #2))
“
I love you.” My heart almost stopped beating in my chest.
She hadn’t spoken those words since the last time I held her in my arms.
“And you did leave me. But... but you came back. No one’s ever come back. They leave me and that’s it. They want to leave me. You didn’t. And you came back.” I wanted to stand up and reach across the table and jerk her into my arms but I wasn’t sure I could stand up just yet. I needed to hear everything she had to say.
“Yes, I came back. My heart never left you.”
“I miss you.”
This time I stood up and walked around the table.
“I miss you. Every second of every day,” I whispered. Her eyes followed me until I was inches from her.
“I trust you.”
I needed more than that.
“You trust me,” I repeated.
She nodded and her hand came up and caressed the side of my arm.
“I want to try again.”
Those were the words I needed to hear.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Because of Low (Sea Breeze, #2))
“
i am standing upon the seashore. a ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. she is an object of beauty and strength. i stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other. then someone at my side says: "there, she is gone!" "gone where?" gone from my sight. that is all. she is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear the load of living freight to her destined port. her diminished size is in me, not in her. and just at the moment when someone at my side says: "there, she is gone!" there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout: "here she comes!" and that is dying.
”
”
Henry Van Dyke
“
He isn’t like us Low. You know that right.”
I knew what Cage was saying. Marcus was out of my league. He didn’t want me thinking there could ever be anything between me and his roommate. I was low class. Marcus was a rich kid.
“I’m not stupid Cage.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Because of Low (Sea Breeze, #2))
“
Most girls want love sonnets, and you want a song about a cowboy wanted dead of alive- Jax Stone
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
The journey may not be easy, but when you find the one to take it with, then you can do anything.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Hold on Tight (Sea Breeze, #8))
“
They weren't mine, but in my heart they were.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Hold on Tight (Sea Breeze, #8))
“
Preston:
"See you in a few. I'll be the handsome guy at the end of the isle. Come get me.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Until the End (Sea Breeze, #9))
“
Because hearing you laugh makes everything okay
”
”
Abbi Glines (Hold on Tight (Sea Breeze, #8))
“
I will never, and I mean fucking never regret choosing you. Nothing is more important than you, Eva Brooks. Nothing.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Sometimes It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #5))
“
What of miniature boats constructed of birch bark and fallen leaves, launched onto cold water clear as air? How many fleets were pushed out toward the middles of ponds or sent down autumn brooks, holding treasures of acorns, or black feathers, or a puzzled mantis? Let those grassy crafts be listed alongside the iron hulls that cleave the sea, for they are all improvisations built from the daydreams of men, and all will perish, whether from the ocean siege or October breeze.
”
”
Paul Harding (Tinkers)
“
Towards midnight the rain ceased and the clouds drifted away, so that the sky was scattered once more with the incredible lamps of stars. Then the breeze died too and there was no noise save the drip and tickle of water that ran out of clefts and spilled down, leaf by leaf, to the brown earth of the island. The air was cool, moist, and clear; and presently even the sound of the water was still. The beast lay huddled on the pale beach and the stains spread, inch by inch.
The edge of the lagoon became a streak of phosphorescence which advanced minutely, as the great wave of the tide flowed. The clear water mirrored the clear sky and the angular bright constellations. The line of phosphorescence bulged about the sand grains and little pebbles; it held them each in a dimple of tension, then suddenly accepted them with an inaudible syllable and moved on.
Along the shoreward edge of the shallows the advancing clearness was full of strange, moonbeam-bodied creatures with fiery eyes. Here and there a larger pebble clung to its own air and was covered with a coat of pearls. The tide swelled in over the rain-pitted sand and smoothed everything with a layer of silver. Now it touched the first of the stains that seeped from the broken body and the creatures made a moving patch of light as they gathered at the edge. The water rose further and dressed Simon's coarse hair with brightness. The line of his cheek silvered and the turn of his shoulder became sculptured marble. The strange, attendant creatures, with their fiery eyes and trailing vapours busied themselves round his head. The body lifted a fraction of an inch from the sand and a bubble of air escaped from the mouth with a wet plop. Then it turned gently in the water.
Somewhere over the darkened curve of the world the sun and moon were pulling; and the film of water on the earth planet was held, bulging slightly on one side while the solid core turned. The great wave of the tide moved further along the island and the water lifted. Softly, surrounded by a fringe of inquisitive bright creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast constellations, Simon's dead body moved out towards the open sea.
”
”
William Golding (Lord of the Flies)
“
Okay. If you want to do this thing with Marcus then fine. I’ll take it and deal with it. But when he hurts you. When he lets you down, I’ll be here. My arms are always open for you to run into. I want you happy and if you think this asshole will make you happy then fine. You need to live a little too. I can’t protect you from everything, but I can be here to hold you when he breaks your heart.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Because of Low (Sea Breeze, #2))
“
Getting up at the ass-crack of dawn
”
”
Abbi Glines (Bad for You (Sea Breeze, #7))
“
The boy who hadn't been loved and had been left by everyone had trusted me with his heart and I'd let him down.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Sometimes It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #5))
“
Ah, and you go, do something as enchanting as shivering and almost break my resolve.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
I love her. She fills the void. She’s my soul.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Bad for You (Sea Breeze, #7))
“
It’s about finding your own twisted perfection, letting yourself fall too far and
taking a chance. If you’ve done all that. You have no reason to give up. Not now.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Because of Lila (Sea Breeze Meets Rosemary Beach, #2))
“
For a tree that has many branches, even a small breeze will shake some loose.
”
”
Lisa See (The Island of Sea Women)
“
Low, a guy doesn't fall in love with you and have you love him back then just throw it away. You're too special. After being loved by you, he can't completely forget. He's haunted by it. I'd bet my life on it." -Cage York
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
I don’t bite Marcus. You can come sit on the comfy old couch with me. That chair is incredibly uncomfortable.” Just the opening I needed. I jumped up and sat down on the end of the couch and stretched my legs out in front of me.
“You don’t have to tell me twice. I was just being polite.” Will ow chuckled and brought a blanket over to the sofa with her.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Because of Low (Sea Breeze, #2))
“
I’d just known I wanted her happy. It was important to me.
But I knew why now. She was special. The kind of special that is hard to find in this life. The kind of special most people don’t get to touch. It’s the rare kind that, when you find it, you know it’s worth fighting for.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Hold on Tight (Sea Breeze, #8))
“
I didn’t want to see you but you invaded my world
Every dark corner you found a way in
Bringing color to the lifeless and lost.
I didn’t want to touch you but you reached inside me
Every lost memory you found a way to melt the frost
Until the small closed world inside opened up into the sea
You made me love you by the smile on your face, the kindness in your eyes and the heat of your skin. One kiss makes all that’s been hurt fade away.
You made me love you for the man inside. The one no one sees but me. The man who listens to what my heart has to say.
I didn’t want to love you but you’re impossible not to love. Every perfect moment I spend in your arms draws me closer Showing me that life isn’t over because its path takes a sudden turn
I didn’t see you coming when you arrived
Nothing prepared me for the gift of a second chance.
I’ve been loved in life but all that matters now is that I’m loved by you
You made me love you by the smile on your face, the kindness in your eyes and the heat of your skin. One kiss makes all that’s been hurt fade away.
You made me love you for the man inside. The one no one sees but me. The man who listens to what my heart has to say.
I’ll spend eternity in your arms if you’ll trust me when I say that
I love you.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
It made me expect certain things. You taught me not to expect those things. You made me believe I could be wanted. You wanted me when no one else ever has.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Bad for You (Sea Breeze, #7))
“
I’m trying to make myself let you go before Ms. Mary comes to get you, but you go and shiver at my touch and weaken my resolve to stop holding you.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
Your carriage awaits, my lady.” I walked up to him and slipped my hand in his extended arm. “Ever the gentleman,” I teased. “Whatever it takes to make the lady smile.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
I laughed. “I’ll pass. I happen to be interested in someone I don’t really see as the guy in those posters.” He hesitated a moment, and then said, “Thank you.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
Dear Josh,
Thank you for giving me the most amazing memories. My life growing up was so full because you were in it. Having your love and loving you was always
just right. It made sense. You were my home. When I was with you I knew everything would be okay.
You dried my tears for me when I was sad. You held my hand when we buried my mother. You made me laugh when the world seemed like it was
falling apart. You were every special memory a girl could have. That first kiss will forever be embedded in my brain. It was as funny as it was sweet.
Our life together molded me into the woman I’ve become. I understand what it feels like to be loved and cherished because I had that with you. I
never doubted my worth because you taught me I was worthy.
When you said that one day I would heal I didn’t believe that was possible. Life couldn’t go one without my best friend. There was no room for
another guy in my heart. It turns out you were right. You always were. I found him. He is incredible. He is nothing at all like I would have planned. He
doesn’t fit into a perfect package. He managed to wiggle into my heart and take over before I knew what was happening. I found that happiness you told me
would come along. I’m going to go live that life. I’m sure it will be a wilder ride than I ever imagined and I can’t wait to live it. He’s my home now. I’ll
always love you. I’ll never forget you. But this is my goodbye. I wasn’t ready before to let you go. Now, I can move on. Your memory will live on in my heart
always.
Love,
Your Eva Blue
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
Because I love you more than any goddamn thing on this fucking planet, I’m gonna let you have one more day. You just lost your daddy, and I’ll never forgive my- self for not being here with you. I’ll live my life regretting it. But I’ll be back. You’re mine, Eva Brooks. Always. You told me that yourself and, sweetheart, I’m holding you to it.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Sometimes It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #5))
“
This couldn’t be just a lake. No real water was ever blue like that. A light breeze stirred the pin-cherry tree beside the window, ruffled the feathers of a fat sea gull promenading on the pink rocks below. The breeze was full of evergreen spice.
”
”
Dorothy Maywood Bird (Mystery at Laughing Water)
“
There is a whirlwind in southern Morocco, the aajej, against which the fellahin defend themselves with knives. There is the africo, which has at times reached into the city of Rome. The alm, a fall wind out of Yugoslavia. The arifi, also christened aref or rifi, which scorches with numerous tongues. These are permanent winds that live in the present tense.
There are other, less constant winds that change direction, that can knock down horse and rider and realign themselves anticlockwise. The bist roz leaps into Afghanistan for 170 days--burying villages. There is the hot, dry ghibli from Tunis, which rolls and rolls and produces a nervous condition. The haboob--a Sudan dust storm that dresses in bright yellow walls a thousand metres high and is followed by rain. The harmattan, which blows and eventually drowns itself into the Atlantic. Imbat, a sea breeze in North Africa. Some winds that just sigh towards the sky. Night dust storms that come with the cold. The khamsin, a dust in Egypt from March to May, named after the Arabic word for 'fifty,' blooming for fifty days--the ninth plague of Egypt. The datoo out of Gibraltar, which carries fragrance.
There is also the ------, the secret wind of the desert, whose name was erased by a king after his son died within it. And the nafhat--a blast out of Arabia. The mezzar-ifoullousen--a violent and cold southwesterly known to Berbers as 'that which plucks the fowls.' The beshabar, a black and dry northeasterly out of the Caucasus, 'black wind.' The Samiel from Turkey, 'poison and wind,' used often in battle. As well as the other 'poison winds,' the simoom, of North Africa, and the solano, whose dust plucks off rare petals, causing giddiness.
Other, private winds.
Travelling along the ground like a flood. Blasting off paint, throwing down telephone poles, transporting stones and statue heads. The harmattan blows across the Sahara filled with red dust, dust as fire, as flour, entering and coagulating in the locks of rifles. Mariners called this red wind the 'sea of darkness.' Red sand fogs out of the Sahara were deposited as far north as Cornwall and Devon, producing showers of mud so great this was also mistaken for blood. 'Blood rains were widely reported in Portugal and Spain in 1901.'
There are always millions of tons of dust in the air, just as there are millions of cubes of air in the earth and more living flesh in the soil (worms, beetles, underground creatures) than there is grazing and existing on it. Herodotus records the death of various armies engulfed in the simoom who were never seen again. One nation was 'so enraged by this evil wind that they declared war on it and marched out in full battle array, only to be rapidly and completely interred.
”
”
Michael Ondaatje
“
Girl, you better stop apologizing to me. I’m just glad you’re all right. Now, here is Master Jax’s number. You need to call him. He has gone to your house looking for you. I ain’t never seen the boy all worked up and worried as he was when you didn’t show. Don’t you worry about a thing, and call him, please, before he gets the police searching for you.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
Listen, bitch, the only white trash in this room is the one who slept with a married man. An old married man at that. You call my man one more name and I will knock those ridiculously high heels out from under you. So back the hell off before you end up on your ass. -Eva
”
”
Abbi Glines (Sometimes It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #5))
“
They went to the sands, to watch the flowing of the tide, which a fine south-easterly breeze was bringing in all the grandeur which so flat a shore admitted. They praised the morning; gloried in the sea; sympathized in the delight of the fresh-feeling breeze- and were silent...
”
”
Jane Austen (Persuasion)
“
I got to get back to work. I’ll be looking for you to come entertain me soon, Becca Lynn,” Cage said in a low whisper then stepped around
her and headed out the door without a backward glance.
The second the door closed behind him Becca pulled out a kitchen chair and sank down into it with a loud thump. “OHMYGOD!” she
squealed. “I swear I think I just creamed my damn panties.
”
”
Abbi Glines (While It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #3))
“
Dylan, this is my friend, Sadie, I told you about.” He looked at me and gave me a slow smile. “Amanda said you were at school last year. How did I miss you?” he asked, his smile turning into a cocky grin. Before I could think of anything to say, Amanda cleared her throat, again and said, “And this is her date tonight, Jax Stone.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
He reacted like I slapped him, and I hated hurting him, but I knew he needed to know. “He doesn’t deserve it. He can have any girl in the world’s love, and he took yours. Someone who deserves so much more than a summer fling.” He stood and started to walk away, but stopped and glanced back at me. “If you were mine, I would never let you go.” He left the kitchen.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
Oddly enough, living only for one’s emotions, like a flag obedient to the breeze, demands a way of life that makes one balk at the natural course of events, for this implies being altogether subservient to nature. The life of the emotions detests all constraints, whatever their origin, and thus, ironically enough, is apt eventually to fetter its own instinctive sense of freedom.
”
”
Yukio Mishima (Spring Snow (The Sea of Fertility #1))
“
Let her arm go and pray she has no bruise,” a familiar voice said in a low angry tone. I shuddered from relief at the sound of his voice. Trey released my arm and shrugged, grinning. “I just wanted an oyster, and she wouldn’t serve me.” I opened my mouth to protest when the warm fingers holding my arm softly squeezed me for reassurance. So, I stayed quiet. “Jason, please escort your friend to the door. I have no other reason to speak with him unless Sadie has a bruise or any lasting marks from his hands, and then he will see me again.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
You’re one of the best men I know. You wear your tats and piercings and those damn leather bracelets that only you could get away with. But inside you are one big teddy bear. When someone you love needs you, there is nothing you won’t do for them. When I needed you, you were always there. I’ve never questioned your heart. It’s made of fucking gold, and we all know it. We laugh at your crude jokes and snide comments because we know they mean nothing. It’s part of your shield. Underneath, I don’t know many men that compare. You’re one of the best, Dewayne. One of the best.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Hold on Tight (Sea Breeze, #8))
“
The crying sounded even louder out of doors. It was as if all the pain in the world had found a voice. Yet had I known such pain was in the next room, and had it been dumb, I believe—I have thought since—I could have stood it well enough. It is when suffering finds a voice and sets our nerves quivering that this pity comes troubling us. But in spite of the brilliant sunlight and the green fans of the trees waving in the soothing sea-breeze, the world was a confusion, blurred with drifting black and red phantasms, until I was out of earshot of the house in the stone wall.
”
”
H.G. Wells (The Island of Dr. Moreau)
“
I was tossed on a buoyant but unquiet sea, where billows of trouble rolled under surges of joy. I thought sometimes I saw beyond its wild waters a shore, sweet as the hills of Beulah; and now and then a freshening gale, wakened my hope, bore my spirit, triumphantly towards the bourne: but I could not reach it, even in fancy,--a counteracting breeze blew off land, and continually drove me back. Sense would resist delirium; judgment would warn passion
”
”
Charlotte Brontë (Jane Eyre)
“
Again, there were maidens who cherished the firm belief that he had come from the sea. Because within his breast could be heard the roaring of the sea. Because in the pupils of his eyes there lingered the mysterious and eternal horizon that the sea leaves as a keepsake deep in the eyes of all who are born at the seaside and forced to depart from it. Because his signs were sultry like the tidal breezes of full summer, fragrant with the smell of seaweed cast upon the shore.
”
”
Yukio Mishima (Confessions of a Mask)
“
I worship the ground Eva walks on. I love her smile. I love the way she gets in a snit and her lips get all pinched up. I love the way she thinks she has to cook for me. I love the fact that she lets me butter her biscuit. I love the way she curls into me at night and lets me hold her. I also love how perfect it is when I’m making love to her. How I feel complete.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Sometimes It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #5))
“
Tis a far cry from home for a poor lonely thing,
O'er the deeps and wild waters of seas,
Where you can't hear your dear mother's voice softly sing
Like a breeze gently stirring the trees.
Come home, little one, wander back here someday,
I'll watch for you, each evening and morn,
Through all the long season 'til I'm old and grey
As the frost on the hedges at dawn.
There's a lantern that shines in my window at night,
I have long kept it burning for you,
It glows through the dark, like a clear guiding light,
And I know someday you'll see it, too.
So hasten back, little one, or I will soon be gone,
No more to see your dear face,
But I know that I'll feel your tears fall one by one,
On the flowers o'er my resting place.
”
”
Brian Jacques (Triss (Redwall, #15))
“
He smiled and leaned over and asked in a soft voice, “Don’t you know you’re beautiful?” I swallowed, hoping my throat allowed the words through without making me sound all choked up. “I wouldn’t say ‘beautiful.’ I realize I have nice hair and eyes. I got those from my mother. But I don’t have a good personality. So it really takes away from the others.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
I'm so sorry. God, baby. What were you doing? You . . . God." He took a shaky breath. "You couldn't breathe. He hit you so hard and you went down and fuck, sweetheart. I've never been that scared in my life."
I was able to breathe again without pain and I had to fix this. This wasn't Green's fault. I didn't know he wasn't going to be able to stop. I thought he would stop from hitting Krit if I was in front of him. "He was gonna hit you," I said, wincing from the pain in my throat.
Krit went still a minute, and then his hold on me tightened.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Bad for You (Sea Breeze, #7))
“
Jeremy brought you halfway, but the rest is mine. I’ve had you the rest of the way.” He said as Jeremy handed me over and pressed a kiss to my cheek.
I looked up at Cage as he tucked my arm into his and bestowed me with one of his soul-stealing grins. “It’s time we start our always, Eva.”
I turned to face him. I stood on my tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his lips. Then I whispered, “We already have. We’ve been working on our always since you walked into my world with a cocky swagger and a smile.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Sometimes It Lasts (Sea Breeze, #5))
“
The final stretch of drive ended at a small cottage nestled in a grove of ancient live oaks. The weathered structure, with chipping paint and shutters that had begun to blacken at the edges, was fronted by a small stone porch framed by white columns. Over the years, one of the columns had become enshrouded in vines, which climbed toward the roof. A metal chair sat at the edge, and at one corner of the porch, adding color to the world of green, was a small pot of blooming geraniums.
But their eyes were drawn inevitably to the wildflowers. Thousands of them, a meadow of fireworks stretching nearly to the steps of the cottage, a sea of red and orange and purple and blue and yellow nearly waist deep, rippling in the gentle breeze. Hundreds of butterflies flitted about the meadow, tides of moving color undulating in the sun.
”
”
Nicholas Sparks (The Best of Me)
“
In a moment, when I throw myself down among the absinthe plants to bring their scent into my body, I shall know, appearances to the contrary, that I am fulfilling a truth which is the sun's and which will also be my death's. In a sense, it is indeed my life that I am staking here, a life that tastes of warm stone, that is full of the signs of the sea and the rising song of the crickets. The breeze is cool and the sky blue. I love this life with abandon and wish to speak of it boldly: it makes me proud of my human condition. Yet people have often told me: there's nothing to be proud of. Yes, there is: this sun, this sea, my heart leaping with youth, the salt taste of my body and this vast landscape in which tenderness and glory merge in blue and yellow. It is to conquer this that I need my strength and my resources. Everything here leaves me intact, I surrender nothing of myself, and don no mask: learning patiently and arduously how to live is enough for me, well worth all their arts of living.
”
”
Albert Camus
“
Morning, Ms. Mary, I will be back to help as soon as I get changed.” Ms. Mary cut her eyes toward me and back toward the table with a frown. I followed her gaze. Leaning back in a kitchen chair, looking ridiculously sexy for seven in the morning, sat Jax. He gave me a crooked grin, and my heart went into frenzy. “Hey,” I said this without sounding affected by his presence. I know he’d said he would be hanging out in the kitchen more often, but I hadn’t realized he meant this early in the morning. “What? Why are you here?” He raised his eyebrows and grinned at me. “I would have thought that would have been obvious.” I knew I was blushing.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
Despina can be reached in two ways: by ship or by camel. The city displays one face to the traveler arriving overland and a different one to him who arrives by sea.
When the camel driver sees, at the horizon of the tableland, the pinnacles of the skyscrapers come into view, the radar antennae, the white and red wind-socks flapping, the chimneys belching smoke, he thinks of a ship; he knows it is a city, but he thinks of it as a vessel that will take him away from the desert, a windjammer about to cast off, with the breeze already swelling the sails, not yet unfurled, or a steamboat with its boiler vibrating in the iron keel; and he thinks of all the ports, the foreign merchandise the cranes unload on the docks, the taverns where crews of different flags break bottles over one another’s heads, the lighted, ground-floor windows, each with a woman combing her hair.
In the coastline’s haze, the sailor discerns the form of a camel’s withers, an embroidered saddle with glittering fringe between two spotted humps, advancing and swaying; he knows it is a city, but he thinks of it as a camel from whose pack hang wine-skins and bags of candied fruit, date wine, tobacco leaves, and already he sees himself at the head of a long caravan taking him away from the desert of the sea, toward oases of fresh water in the palm trees’ jagged shade, toward palaces of thick, whitewashed walls, tiled courts where girls are dancing barefoot, moving their arms, half-hidden by their veils, and half-revealed.
Each city receives its form from the desert it opposes; and so the camel driver and the sailor see Despina, a border city between two deserts.
”
”
Italo Calvino (Invisible Cities)
“
Once I had her clean, I wrapped her in a towel and carried her back to the bed. A small red bloodstain was on the sheets, and again the possessive monster inside me threw back his head and roared his pleasure. I stood there holding her and letting the proof I was the only man to be inside her wash over me.
Blythe turned her head, and I felt her stiffen in my arms. “Oh, I can clean that up,” she said, starting to wiggle.
I pulled her tighter to my chest. “No. I’m going to dry you off and hold you some more. I like seeing that blood. I did that,” The pleasure in my voice made Blythe smile.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Bad for You (Sea Breeze, #7))
“
The windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside that seemed to grow a little way into the house. A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling, and then rippled over the wine-colored rug, making a shadow on it as wind does on the sea. The only completely stationary object in the room was an enormous couch on which two young women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon. They were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house.
”
”
F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby)
“
Marcus sat down beside me against the wall and pulled me into his arms. I went like a child and curled up in his lap and cried. He didn’t speak. He just held me, and his silence and acceptance soothed the pain. When my crying eventually mellowed, I stared up at him and touched his face. He was real, and he was here. Even after I had been the reason he lost his job, he had come to me in the darkness. “Saddie,” he whispered, as if his words might be too much for me. “I need you to eat for me.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Breathe (Sea Breeze, #1))
“
Nina Simone Feeling Good
Birds flying high you know how I feel
Sun in the sky you know how I feel
Breeze driftin' on by you know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good
Fish in the sea you know how I feel
River running free you know how I feel
Blossom on the tree you know how I feel
Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, don't you know
Butterflies all havin' fun you know what I mean
Sleep in peace when day is done
That's what I mean
And this old world is a new world
And a bold world
For me
Stars when you shine you know how I feel
Scent of the pine you know how I feel
Oh freedom is mine
And I know how I feel
”
”
Nina Simone
“
She said to me, over the phone
She wanted to see other people
I thought, Well then, look around. They're everywhere
Said that she was confused...
I thought, Darling, join the club
24 years old, Mid-life crisis
Nowadays hits you when you're young
I hung up, She called back, I hung up again
The process had already started
At least it happened quick
I swear, I died inside that night
My friend, he called
I didn't mention a thing
The last thing he said was, Be sound
Sound...
I contemplated an awful thing, I hate to admit
I just thought those would be such appropriate last words
But I'm still here
And small
So small.. How could this struggle seem so big?
So big...
While the palms in the breeze still blow green
And the waves in the sea still absolute blue
But the horror
Every single thing I see is a reminder of her
Never thought I'd curse the day I met her
And since she's gone and wouldn't hear
Who would care? What good would that do?
But I'm still here
So I imagine in a month...or 12
I'll be somewhere having a drink
Laughing at a stupid joke
Or just another stupid thing
And I can see myself stopping short
Drifting out of the present
Sucked by the undertow and pulled out deep
And there I am, standing
Wet grass and white headstones all in rows
And in the distance there's one, off on its own
So I stop, kneel
My new home...
And I picture a sober awakening, a re-entry into this little bar scene
Sip my drink til the ice hits my lip
Order another round
And that's it for now
Sorry
Never been too good at happy endings...
”
”
Eddie Vedder
“
Lucky"
(feat. Colbie Caillat)
Do you hear me,
I'm talking to you
Across the water across the deep blue ocean
Under the open sky, oh my, baby I'm trying
Boy I hear you in my dreams
I feel your whisper across the sea
I keep you with me in my heart
You make it easier when life gets hard
I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
Ooohh ooooh oooh oooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
They don't know how long it takes
Waiting for a love like this
Every time we say goodbye
I wish we had one more kiss
I'll wait for you I promise you, I will
I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
Lucky we're in love every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday
And so I'm sailing through the sea
To an island where we'll meet
You'll hear the music fill the air
I'll put a flower in your hair
Though the breezes through trees
Move so pretty you're all I see
As the world keeps spinning round
You hold me right here right now
I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
I'm lucky we're in love every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday
”
”
Jason Mraz
“
We lay side by side on the extension roof, hands behind our heads, elbows just touching. My head was still spinning a little, not unpleasantly, from the dancing and the wine. The breeze was warm across my face, and even through the city lights I could see constellations: the Big Dipper, Orion's Belt. The pine tree at the bottom of the garden rustled like the sea, ceaselessly. For a moment I felt as if the universe had turned upside down and we were falling softly into an enormous black bowl of stars and nocturne, and I knew, beyond any doubt, that everything was going to be all right.
”
”
Tana French (In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1))
“
Do you know why wildflowers are the most beautiful blossoms of all, my son?”
Dain shook his little head.
Soft waxen curls blew forward in the breeze as she lifted her storm-gray eyes to gaze out over the sea of petals. “Wildflowers are the loveliest of all because they grow in uncultivated soil, in those hard, rugged places where no one expects them to flourish. They are resilient in ways a garden bloom could never be. People are the same, son—the most exquisite souls are those who survive where others cannot. They root themselves, along with their companions, wherever they are, and they thrive.
”
”
Micheline Ryckman (The Maiden Ship (The Maiden Ship, #1))
“
Places I love come back to me like music,
Hush me and heal me when I am very tired;
I see the oak woods at Saxton's flaming
In a flare of crimson by the frost newly fired;
And I am thirsty for the spring in the valley
As for a kiss ungiven and long desired.
I know a bright world of snowy hills at Boonton,
A blue and white dazzling light on everything one sees,
The ice-covered branches of the hemlocks sparkle
Bending low and tinkling in the sharp thin breeze,
And iridescent crystals fall and crackle on the snow-crust
With the winer sun drawing cold blue shadows from the trees.
Violet now, in veil on veil of evening,
The hills across from Cromwell grow dreamy and far;
A wood-thrush is singing soft as a viol
In the heart of the hollow where the dark pools are;
The primrose has opened her pale yellow flowers
And heaven is lighting star after star.
Places I love come back to me like music–
Mid-ocean, midnight, the eaves buzz drowsily;
In the ship's deep churning the eerie phosphorescence
Is like the souls of people who were drowned at sea,
And I can hear a man's voice, speaking, hushed , insistent,
At midnight, in mid-ocean, hour on hour to me.
”
”
Sara Teasdale (The Collected Poems)
“
Ah God! to see the branches stir
Across the moon at Grantchester!
To smell the thrilling-sweet and rotten
Unforgettable, unforgotten
River-smell, and hear the breeze
Sobbing in the little trees.
Say, do the elm-clumps greatly stand
Still guardians of that holy land?
The chestnuts shade, in reverend dream,
The yet unacademic stream
Is dawn a secret shy and cold
Anadyomene, silver-gold?
And sunset still a golden sea
From Haslingfield to Madingley?
And after, ere the night is born,
Do hares come out about the corn?
Oh, is the water sweet and cool,
Gentle and brown, above the pool?
And laughs the immortal river still
Under the mill, under the mill?
Say, is there Beauty yet to find?
And Certainty? and Quiet kind?
Deep meadows yet, for to forget
The lies, and truths, and pain?… oh! yet
Stands the Church clock at ten to three?
And is there honey still for tea?
”
”
Rupert Brooke (The old vicarage, Grantchester)
“
Then overwhelmed by the sense of that unknown infinity, like one bewildered by a strange persecution, confronting the shadows of night, in the presence of that impenetrable darkness, in the midst of the murmur of the waves, the swell, the foam, the breeze, under the clouds, under that vast diffusion of force, under that mysterious firmament of wings, of stars, of gulfs, having around him and beneath him the ocean above him the constellations, under the great unfathomable deep, he sank, gave up the struggle, lay down upon the rock, his face towards the stars, humble, and uplifting his joined hands towards the terrible depths, he cried aloud, "Have mercy.
”
”
Victor Hugo (The Toilers of the Sea)
“
The word God can mean whatever you believe it to mean, for me it is the conscious stream of life from which we all come, and to which we can stay
connected throughout our lives as a source of peace, wisdom, love, support, knowing, inspiration, vitality, security, balance, and inner strength.
I think that awareness is paramount, because in awareness we gain understanding, which then enables us to regain our feeling of empowerment.
We need to feel empowered to make our choices conciously, about how to deal with changes in life, rather than reacting in fear (which tends to make us blind and weak).
If we are aware, we can be realistic yet postive, and we can properly focus our intentions.
Awareness can be quite sensual (which can add to your sense of feeling empowered). Think about how your body moves as you live your life, how amazing it is; think about nature, observe the intricate beautiful details of natural thngs, and of things we create, and breathe deeply to soak it all in.. Focus on the taste of food, the feel of textures in cloth, the feel of you partner's hand in yours; smell the sea breeze, listen to the wind in the trees, witness the colours of the leaves, the children playing; and be thankful for this life we are experiencing - this life we can all help to keep wonderful. Feel the wonder of being alive flood into you anytime you want, by taking a deep breath and letting the experience of these things fill you, even just by remembering.
We all have that same stream of life within us, so you are a part of everything. Each one of us has the power to make a difference to everything.
Breathe in that vital connection to the life source and sensual beauty everywhere, Feel loved and strong.
”
”
Jay Woodman
“
I
On the calm black water where the stars are sleeping
White Ophelia floats like a great lily;
Floats very slowly, lying in her long veils...
- In the far-off woods you can hear them sound the mort.
For more than a thousand years sad Ophelia
Has passed, a white phantom, down the long black river.
For more than a thousand years her sweet madness
Has murmured its ballad to the evening breeze.
The wind kisses her breasts and unfolds in a wreath
Her great veils rising and falling with the waters;
The shivering willows weep on her shoulder,
The rushes lean over her wide, dreaming brow.
The ruffled water-lilies are sighing around her;
At times she rouses, in a slumbering alder,
Some nest from which escapes a small rustle of wings;
- A mysterious anthem falls from the golden stars.
II
O pale Ophelia! beautiful as snow!
Yes child, you died, carried off by a river!
- It was the winds descending from the great mountains of Norway
That spoke to you in low voices of better freedom.
It was a breath of wind, that, twisting your great hair,
Brought strange rumors to your dreaming mind;
It was your heart listening to the song of Nature
In the groans of the tree and the sighs of the nights;
It was the voice of mad seas, the great roar,
That shattered your child's heart, too human and too soft;
It was a handsome pale knight, a poor madman
Who one April morning sate mute at your knees!
Heaven! Love! Freedom! What a dream, oh poor crazed Girl!
You melted to him as snow does to a fire;
Your great visions strangled your words
- And fearful Infinity terrified your blue eye!
III
- And the poet says that by starlight
You come seeking, in the night, the flowers that you picked
And that he has seen on the water, lying in her long veils
White Ophelia floating, like a great lily.
”
”
Arthur Rimbaud (A Season in Hell and The Drunken Boat)
“
Blow on, ye death fraught whirlwinds! blow,
Around the rocks, and rifted caves;
Ye demons of the gulf below!
I hear you, in the troubled waves.
High on this cliff, which darkness shrouds
In night's impenetrable clouds,
My solitary watch I keep,
And listen, while the turbid deep
Groans to the raging tempests, as they roll
Their desolating force, to thunder at the pole.
Eternal world of waters, hail!
Within thy caves my Lover lies;
And day and night alike shall fail
Ere slumber lock my streaming eyes.
Along this wild untrodden coast,
Heap'd by the gelid' hand of frost;
Thro' this unbounded waste of seas,
Where never sigh'd the vernal breeze;
Mine was the choice, in this terrific form,
To brave the icy surge, to shiver in the storm.
Yes! I am chang'd - My heart, my soul,
Retain no more their former glow.
Hence, ere the black'ning tempests roll,
I watch the bark, in murmurs low,
(While darker low'rs the thick'ning' gloom)
To lure the sailor to his doom;
Soft from some pile of frozen snow
I pour the syren-song of woe;
Like the sad mariner's expiring cry,
As, faint and worn with toil, he lays him down to die.
Then, while the dark and angry deep
Hangs his huge billows high in air ;
And the wild wind with awful sweep,
Howls in each fitful swell - beware!
Firm on the rent and crashing mast,
I lend new fury to the blast;
I mark each hardy cheek grow pale,
And the proud sons of courage fail;
Till the torn vessel drinks the surging waves,
Yawns the disparted main, and opes its shelving graves.
When Vengeance bears along the wave
The spell, which heav'n and earth appals;
Alone, by night, in darksome cave,
On me the gifted wizard calls.
Above the ocean's boiling flood
Thro' vapour glares the moon in blood:
Low sounds along the waters die,
And shrieks of anguish fill the' sky;
Convulsive powers the solid rocks divide,
While, o'er the heaving surge, the embodied spirits glide.
Thrice welcome to my weary sight,
Avenging ministers of Wrath!
Ye heard, amid the realms of night,
The spell that wakes the sleep of death.
Where Hecla's flames the snows dissolve,
Or storms, the polar skies involve;
Where, o'er the tempest-beaten wreck,
The raging winds and billows break;
On the sad earth, and in the stormy sea,
All, all shall shudd'ring own your potent agency.
To aid your toils, to scatter death,
Swift, as the sheeted lightning's force,
When the keen north-wind's freezing breath
Spreads desolation in its course,
My soul within this icy sea,
Fulfils her fearful destiny.
Thro' Time's long ages I shall wait
To lead the victims to their fate;
With callous heart, to hidden rocks decoy,
And lure, in seraph-strains, unpitying, to destroy.
”
”
Anne Bannerman (Poems by Anne Bannerman.)
“
KRIT
"Fuck," Matty whispered.
He'd heard her.
It was me who couldn't breathe now. I had thought it was an accident. But she'd fucking done it on purpose. To protect me. Holy hell.
"I'm gonna go . . . ," Matty trailed off. I listened to his footsteps until he was gone before pulling back and looking down at Blythe.
"You got in front of a six-foot-three one hundred and eighty pounds of muscle because he was going to hit me?"
She nodded. "It was my fault he was going to hit you. I was just going to stop him."
She was going to stop him. This girl. Never in all my life did I imagine there was anyone like her. Never.
"Sweetheart, how did you intend to stop him? I could handle him. I've kicked his ass many, many times." I cupped her chin in my hand. "I had rather had him kick my ass than to have anything happen to you. That was fucking unbearable. You can't do that to me. If you get hurt, I won't be able to handle it."
She signed, and her eyes locked back toward the stage. " I made this worse. I'm sorry. Can you go fix things with the two of you so you can get back onstage?"
The distressed look on her face meant I wasn't going to be able to leave. I wanted nothing more than to take her back home and hold her all night. But she was really upset about this. I had overreacted. She had been sitting over here staring at the floor with the saddest lost expression, and I couldn't think straight. I had to get to her.
"I'll get Green, and we'll go back onstage. But you have to promise me that you won't try and save me again. I take care of you. Not the other way around," I told her.
She reached up and touched my face.
"Then who will take care of you?"
No one had ever cared about that before. That wasn't something I was going to tell her, though. "You safe in my arms is all I need. Okay?"
She frowned and glanced away from me. "I'm not agreeing to that," she said.
God, she was adorable. I pressed a kiss to her head. "Come with me to get the guys," I told her as I stood up and brought her with me.
"You won't do anything to Green then?" she said, sounding hopeful.
"No." Until you're asleep tonight. And then I'm beating his ass.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Bad for You (Sea Breeze, #7))
“
We are working! She was fine. You could see her. What the fuck is wrong with you? This is our job, asshole. You can't go doing shit like that when we have a packed house!"
Krit shoved him again. "Don't tell me what the fuck to do."
I had to stop them. This was about me. I wasn't sure why Krit had come offstage, but I knew it was about me. I had to fix this. I didn't want Krit fighting his best friend.
"Stop fucking shoving me, you pansy-ass motherfucker!" Green roared, and lunged for Krit.
I moved fast, putting up two hands and jumping in front of Krit to stop him. The force of impact when Green didn't stop hit me directly in the chest. It was as if someone had put a vacuum in my lungs and sucked all of the oxygen from the room. Nothing was getting in, and panic gripped me when I realized I couldn't breathe.
"Fuck!" Krit yelled, and his arms were around me. He was doing something to my chest as he begged me to breathe. I was trying to breathe. It wouldn't work.
"Baby, please breathe," he was pleading, and I wanted nothing more than to do that, but I couldn't. It hurt, and the terror that I was about to die settled over me.
"She got the air knocked out of her. She's gonna be okay," Matty said in a calmer voice.
And then the vacuum left, and the air I had been fighting for filled my chest as I gasped loudly and bent over. Krit was holding me against him as me muttered sweet things over and over while he rocked me back and forth.
"Take him out of here," Matty said.
I couldn't look up to see who he was talking to, but I grabbed Krit's arms to hold onto him in case they were talking about him.
"Not me, baby. I'm not leaving you," he said as his hand began running down my hair as if he were petting me. "Not going anywhere."
"When Krit is sure she's okay, he is going to beat the motherfucking hell out of you. Go with Legend and let him calm down first.
”
”
Abbi Glines (Bad for You (Sea Breeze, #7))
“
Meanwhile, someplace in the world, somebody is making love and another a poem. Elsewhere in the universe, a star manyfold the mass of our third-rate sun is living out its final moments in a wild spin before collapsing into a black hole, its exhale bending spacetime itself into a well of nothingness that can swallow every atom that ever touched us and every datum we ever produced, every poem and statue and symphony we’ve ever known—an entropic spectacle insentient to questions of blame and mercy, devoid of why.
“In four billion years, our own star will follow its fate, collapsing into a white dwarf. We exist only by chance, after all. The Voyager will still be sailing into the interstellar shorelessness on the wings of the “heavenly breezes” Kepler had once imagined, carrying Beethoven on a golden disc crafted by a symphonic civilization that long ago made love and war and mathematics on a distant blue dot.
But until that day comes, nothing once created ever fully leaves us. Seeds are planted and come abloom generations, centuries, civilizations later, migrating across coteries and countries and continents. Meanwhile, people live and people die—in peace as war rages on, in poverty and disrepute as latent fame awaits, with much that never meets its more, in shipwrecked love.
I will die.
You will die.
The atoms that huddled for a cosmic blink around the shadow of a self will return to the seas that made us.
What will survive of us are shoreless seeds and stardust.
”
”
Maria Popova (Figuring)
“
Much of Chinese society still expected its women to hold themselves in a sedate manner, lower their eyelids in response to men's stares, and restrict their smile to a faint curve of the lips which did not expose their teeth. They were not meant to use hand gestures at all. If they contravened any of these canons of behavior they would be considered 'flirtatious." Under Mao, flirting with./bre/gners was an unspeakable crime.
I was furious at the innuendo against me. It had been my Communist parents who had given me a liberal upbringing.
They had regarded the restrictions on women as precisely the sort of thing a Communist revolution should put an end to. But now oppression of women joined hands with political repression, and served resentment and petty jealousy.
One day, a Pakistani ship arrived. The Pakistani military attache came down from Peking. Long ordered us all to spring-clean the club from top to bottom, and laid on a banquet, for which he asked me to be his interpreter, which made some of the other students extremely envious. A few days later the Pakistanis gave a farewell dinner on their ship, and I was invited. The military attache had been to Sichuan, and they had prepared a special Sichuan dish for me. Long was delighted by the invitation, as was I. But despite a personal appeal from the captain and even a threat from Long to bar future students, my teachers said that no one was allowed on board a foreign ship.
"Who would take the responsibility if someone sailed away on the ship?" they asked. I was told to say I was busy that evening.
As far as I knew, I was turning down the only chance I would ever have of a trip out to sea, a foreign meal, a proper conversation in English, and an experience of the outside world.
Even so, I could not silence the whispers. Ming asked pointedly, "Why do foreigners like her so much?" as though there was something suspicious in that. The report filed on me at the end of the trip said my behavior was 'politically dubious."
In this lovely port, with its sunshine, sea breezes, and coconut trees, every occasion that should have been joyous was turned into misery. I had a good friend in the group who tried to cheer me up by putting my distress into perspective. Of course, what I encountered was no more than minor unpleasantness compared with what victims of jealousy suffered in the earlier years of the Cultural Revolution. But the thought that this was what my life at its best would be like depressed me even more.
This friend was the son of a colleague of my father's.
The other students from cities were also friendly to me. It was easy to distinguish them from the students of peasant backgrounds, who provided most of the student officials.
”
”
Jung Chang (Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China)
“
A Tear And A Smile -
I would not exchange the sorrows of my heart
For the joys of the multitude.
And I would not have the tears that sadness makes
To flow from my every part turn into laughter.
I would that my life remain a tear and a smile.
A tear to purify my heart and give me understanding
Of life's secrets and hidden things.
A smile to draw me nigh to the sons of my kind and
To be a symbol of my glorification of the gods.
A tear to unite me with those of broken heart;
A smile to be a sign of my joy in existence.
I would rather that I died in yearning and longing than that I live Weary and despairing.
I want the hunger for love and beauty to be in the
Depths of my spirit,for I have seen those who are
Satisfied the most wretched of people.
I have heard the sigh of those in yearning and Longing, and it is sweeter than the sweetest melody.
With evening's coming the flower folds her petals
And sleeps, embracingher longing.
At morning's approach she opens her lips to meet
The sun's kiss.
The life of a flower is longing and fulfilment.
A tear and a smile.
The waters of the sea become vapor and rise and come
Together and area cloud.
And the cloud floats above the hills and valleys
Until it meets the gentle breeze, then falls weeping
To the fields and joins with brooks and rivers to Return to the sea, its home.
The life of clouds is a parting and a meeting.
A tear and a smile.
And so does the spirit become separated from
The greater spirit to move in the world of matter
And pass as a cloud over the mountain of sorrow
And the plains of joy to meet the breeze of death
And return whence it came.
To the ocean of Love and Beauty----to God.
”
”
Kahlil Gibran (A Tear and a Smile)
“
She took a puff, put the cigarette in the ashtray and stared at it. Without looking up, she said, But do you believe in love, Mr Evans? She rolled the cigarette end around in the ash tray. Do you? Outside, he thought, beyond this mountain and its snow, there was a world of countless millions of people. He could see them in their cities, in the heat and the light. And he could see this house, so remote and isolated, so far away, and he had a feeling that it once must have seemed to her and Jack, if only for a short time, like the universe with the two of them at its centre. And for a moment he was at the King of Cornwall with Amy in the room they thought of as theirs—with the sea and the sun and the shadows, with the white paint flaking off the French doors and with their rusty lock, with the breezes late of an afternoon and of a night the sound of the waves breaking—and he remembered how that too had once seemed the centre of the universe. I don’t, she said. No, I don’t. It’s too small a word, don’t you think, Mr Evans? I have a friend in Fern Tree who teaches piano. Very musical, she is. I’m tone-deaf myself. But one day she was telling me how every room has a note. You just have to find it. She started warbling away, up and down. And suddenly one note came back to us, just bounced back off the walls and rose from the floor and filled the place with this perfect hum. This beautiful sound. Like you’ve thrown a plum and an orchard comes back at you. You wouldn’t believe it, Mr Evans. These two completely different things, a note and a room, finding each other. It sounded … right. Am I being ridiculous? Do you think that’s what we mean by love, Mr Evans? The note that comes back to you? That finds you even when you don’t want to be found? That one day you find someone, and everything they are comes back to you in a strange way that hums? That fits. That’s beautiful. I’m not explaining myself at all well, am I? she said. I’m not very good with words. But that’s what we were. Jack and me. We didn’t really know each other. I’m not sure if I liked everything about him. I suppose some things about me annoyed him. But I was that room and he was that note and now he’s gone. And everything is silent.
”
”
Richard Flanagan (The Narrow Road to the Deep North)
“
Their other hands flipped up, palm to palm, and Merik’s only consolation as he and the domna slid into the next movement of the dance was that her chest heaved as much as his did. Merik’s right hand gripped the girl’s, and with no small amount of ferocity, he twisted her around to face the same direction as he before wrenching her to his chest. His hand slipped over her stomach, fingers splayed. Her left hand snapped up—and he caught it. Then the real difficulty of the dance began. The skipping of feet in a tide of alternating hops and directions. The writhing of hips countered the movement of their feet like a ship upon stormy seas. The trickling tap of Merik’s fingers down the girl’s arms, her ribs, her waist—like the rain against a ship’s sail. On and on, they moved to the music until they were both sweating. Until they hit the third movement. Merik flipped the girl around to face him once more. Her chest slammed against his—and by the Wells, she was tall. He hadn’t realized just how tall until this precise moment when her eyes stared evenly into his and her panting breaths fought against his own. Then the music swelled once more, her legs twined into his, and he forgot all about who she was or what she was or why he had begun the dance in the first place. Because those eyes of hers were the color of the sky after a storm. Without realizing what he did, his Windwitchery flickered to life. Something in this moment awoke the wilder parts of his power. Each heave of his lungs sent a breeze swirling in. It lifted the girl’s hair. Kicked at her wild skirts. She showed no reaction at all. In fact, she didn’t break her gaze from Merik, and there was a fierceness there—a challenge that sent Merik further beneath the waves of the dance. Of the music. Of those eyes. Each leap backward of her body—a movement like the tidal tug of the sea against the river—led to a violent slam as Merik snatched her back against him. For each leap and slam, the girl added in an extra flourishing beat with her heels. Another challenge that Merik had never seen, yet rose to, rose above. Wind crashed around them like a growing hurricane, and he and this girl were at its eye. And the girl never looked away. Never backed down. Not even when the final measures of the song began—that abrupt shift from the sliding cyclone of strings to the simple plucking bass that follows every storm—did Merik soften how hard he pushed himself against this girl. Figuratively. Literally. Their bodies were flush, their hearts hammering against each other’s rib cages. He walked his fingers down her back, over her shoulders, and out to her hands. The last drops of a harsh rain. The music slowed. She pulled away first, slinking back the required four steps. Merik didn’t look away from her face, and he only distantly noticed that, as she pulled away, his Windwitchery seemed to settle. Her skirts stopped swishing, her hair fluttered back to her shoulders. Then he slid backward four steps and folded his arms over his chest. The music came to a close. And Merik returned to his brain with a sickening certainty that Noden and His Hagfishes laughed at him from the bottom of the sea.
”
”
Susan Dennard (Truthwitch (The Witchlands, #1))
“
Nature Boy
I was just a boy when I sat down
To watch the news on TV
I saw some ordinary slaughter
I saw some routine atrocity
My father said, don't look away
You got to be strong, you got to be bold, now
He said, that in the end it is beauty
That is going to save the world, now
And she moves among the sparrows
And she floats upon the breeze
She moves among the flowers
She moves something deep inside of me
I was walking around the flower show like a leper
Coming down with some kind of nervous hysteria
When I saw you standing there, green eyes, black hair
Up against the pink and purple wisteria
You said, hey, nature boy, are you looking at me
With some unrighteous intention?
My knees went weak,
I couldn't speak, I was having thoughts
That were not in my best interests to mention
And she moves among the flowers
And she floats upon the smoke
She moves among the shadows
She moves me with just one little look
You took me back to your place
And dressed me up in a deep sea diver's suit
You played the patriot, you raised the flag
And I stood at full salute
Later on we smoked a pipe that struck me dumb
And made it impossible to speak
As you closed in, in slow motion,
Quoting Sappho, in the original Greek
She moves among the shadows
She floats upon the breeze
She moves among the candles
And we moved through the days
and through the years
Years passed by, we were walking by the sea
Half delirious
You smiled at me and said, Babe
I think this thing is getting kind of serious
You pointed at something and said
Have you ever seen such a beautiful thing?
It was then that I broke down
It was then that you lifted me up again
She moves among the sparrows
And she walks across the sea
She moves among the flowers
And she moves something deep inside of me
She moves among the sparrows
And she floats upon the breeze
She moves among the flowers
And she moves right up close to me
”
”
Nick Cave
“
I am already far north of London, and as I walk in the streets of Petersburgh, I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, which braces my nerves and fills me with delight. Do you understand this feeling? This breeze, which has travelled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes. Inspirited by this wind of promise, my daydreams become more fervent and vivid. I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of frost and desolation; it ever presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight. There, Margaret, the sun is forever visible, its broad disk just skirting the horizon and diffusing a perpetual splendour. There—for with your leave, my sister, I will put some trust in preceding navigators—there snow and frost are banished; and, sailing over a calm sea, we may be wafted to a land surpassing in wonders and in beauty every region hitherto discovered on the habitable globe. Its productions and features may be without example, as the phenomena of the heavenly bodies undoubtedly are in those undiscovered solitudes. What may not be expected in a country of eternal light? I may there discover the wondrous power which attracts the needle and may regulate a thousand celestial observations that require only this voyage to render their seeming eccentricities consistent forever. I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man. These are my enticements, and they are sufficient to conquer all fear of danger or death and to induce me to commence this laborious voyage with the joy a child feels when he embarks in a little boat, with his holiday mates, on an expedition of discovery up his native river. But supposing all these conjectures to be false, you cannot contest the inestimable benefit which I shall confer on all mankind, to the last generation, by discovering a passage near the pole to those countries, to reach which at present so many months are requisite; or by ascertaining the secret of the magnet, which, if at all possible, can only be effected by an undertaking such as mine.
”
”
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus)
“
Call me Ishmael. Some years ago--never mind how long precisely--having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off--then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this.
If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.
There now is your insular city of the Manhattoes, belted round by wharves as Indian isles by coral reefs--commerce surrounds it with her surf. Right and left, the streets take you waterward. Its extreme downtown is the battery, where that noble mole is washed by waves, and cooled by breezes, which a few hours previous were out of sight of land. Look at the crowds of water-gazers there.
Circumambulate the city of a dreamy Sabbath afternoon. Go from Corlears Hook to Coenties Slip, and from thence, by Whitehall, northward. What do you see?--Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries. Some leaning against the spiles; some seated upon the pier-heads; some looking over the bulwarks of ships from China; some high aloft in the rigging, as if striving to get a still better seaward peep. But these are all landsmen; of week days pent up in lath and plaster--tied to counters, nailed to benches, clinched to desks. How then is this? Are the green fields gone? What do they here?
But look! here come more crowds, pacing straight for the water, and seemingly bound for a dive. Strange! Nothing will content them but the extremest limit of the land; loitering under the shady lee of yonder warehouses will not suffice. No. They must get just as nigh the water as they possibly can without falling in. And there they stand--miles of them--leagues. Inlanders all, they come from lanes and alleys, streets and avenues--north, east, south, and west. Yet here they all unite. Tell me, does the magnetic virtue of the needles of the compasses of all those ships attract them thither?
Once more. Say you are in the country; in some high land of lakes. Take almost any path you please, and ten to one it carries you down in a dale, and leaves you there by a pool in the stream. There is magic in it. Let the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries--stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region. Should you ever be athirst in the great American desert, try this experiment, if your caravan happen to be supplied with a metaphysical professor. Yes, as every one knows, meditation and water are wedded for ever.
”
”
Herman Melville (Moby-Dick or, The Whale)
“
There is no pain - just travel.
On her knees, she stays still as a supplicant ready for communion. It is very quiet. All of a sudden there is no hurry. There will be time for everything. For the breezes that blow and for the rainwater drying in the gutters, for Maury to find a place of safety in the world, for Malcolm to come back from the dead and ask her about birds and jets. For the big things too, things like beauty and vengeance and honor and righteousness and the grace of God and the slow spilling of the earth from day to night and back to day again.
It is spread out before her, compressed into one single moment. She will be able to see it all -- if she can keep her sleepy eyes open.
It's like a dream where she is. Like a dream where you find yourself underwater and you are panicked for a moment until you realize you no longer need to breathe, and you can stay under the surface forever.
She feels her body falling sideways to the ground. It happens slow - and she expects a crash that never comes because her mind is jumping and it doesn't know which way is up anymore, like the moon above her and the fish below her and her in between floating, like on the surface of the river, floating between sea and sky, the world all skin, all meniscus, and she a part of it too.
Moses Todd told her if you lean over the rail at Niagara Falls it takes your breath away, like turning yourself inside out -- and Lee the hunter told her that one time people used to stuff themselves in barrels and ride over the edge.
And she is there too, floating out over the edge of the falls, the roar of the water so deafening it's like hearing nothing at all, like pillows in your ears, and the water exactly the temperature of your skin, like you are falling and the water is falling, and the water is just more of you, like everything is just more of you, just different configurations of the things that make you up.
She is there, and she's sailing out and down over the falls, down and down, and it takes a long time because the falls are one of God's great mysteries and so high they are higher than any building, and so she is held there, spinning in the air, her eyes closed because she's spinning on the inside too, down and down.
She wonders if she will ever hit the bottom, wonders will the splash ever come.
Maybe not - because God is a slick god, and he knows things about infinities. Infinities are warm places that never end. And they aren't about good and evil, they're just peaceful-like and calm, and they're where all travelers go eventually, and they are round everywhere you look because you can't have any edges in infinities.
And also they make forever seem like an okay thing.
”
”
Alden Bell (The Reapers are the Angels (Reapers, #1))
“
I draw myself up next to her and look at her profile, making no effort to disguise my attention, here, where there is only Puck to see me. The evening sun loves her throat and her cheekbones. Her hair the color of cliff grass rises and falls over her face in the breeze. Her expression is less ferocious than usual, less guarded.
I say, “Are you afraid?”
Her eyes are far away on the horizon line, out to the west where the sun has gone but the glow remains. Somewhere out there are my capaill uisce, George Holly’s America, every gallon of water that every ship rides on.
Puck doesn’t look away from the orange glow at the end of the world. “Tell me what it’s like. The race.”
What it’s like is a battle. A mess of horses and men and blood. The fastest and strongest of what is left from two weeks of preparation on the sand. It’s the surf in your face, the deadly magic of November on your skin, the Scorpio drums in the place of your heartbeat. It’s speed, if you’re lucky. It’s life and it’s death or it’s both and there’s nothing like it. Once upon a time, this moment — this last light of evening the day before the race — was the best moment of the year for me. The anticipation of the game to come. But that was when all I had to lose was my life.
“There’s no one braver than you on that beach.”
Her voice is dismissive. “That doesn’t matter.”
“It does. I meant what I said at the festival. This island cares nothing for love but it favors the brave.”
Now she looks at me. She’s fierce and red, indestructible and changeable, everything that makes Thisby what it is. She asks, “Do you feel brave?”
The mare goddess had told me to make another wish. It feels thin as a thread to me now, that gift of a wish. I remember the years when it felt like a promise. “I don’t know what I feel, Puck.”
Puck unfolds her arms just enough to keep her balance as she leans to me, and when we kiss, she closes her eyes.
She draws back and looks into my face. I have not moved, and she barely has, but the world feels strange beneath me.
“Tell me what to wish for,” I say. “Tell me what to ask the sea for.”
“To be happy. Happiness.”
I close my eyes. My mind is full of Corr, of the ocean, of Puck Connolly’s lips on mine. “I don’t think such a thing is had on Thisby. And if it is, I don’t know how you would keep it.”
The breeze blows across my closed eyelids, scented with brine and rain and winter. I can hear the ocean rocking against the island, a constant lullaby.
Puck’s voice is in my ear; her breath warms my neck inside my jacket collar. “You whisper to it. What it needs to hear. Isn’t that what you said?”
I tilt my head so that her mouth is on my skin. The kiss is cold where the wind blows across my cheek. Her forehead rests against my hair.
I open my eyes, and the sun has gone. I feel as if the ocean is inside me, wild and uncertain. “That’s what I said. What do I need to hear?”
Puck whispers, “That tomorrow we’ll rule the Scorpio Races as king and queen of Skarmouth and I’ll save the house and you’ll have your stallion. Dove will eat golden oats for the rest of her days and you will terrorize the races each year and people will come from every island in the world to find out how it is you get horses to listen to you. The piebald will carry Mutt Malvern into the sea and Gabriel will decide to stay on the island. I will have a farm and you will bring me bread for dinner.”
I say, “That is what I needed to hear.”
“Do you know what to wish for now?”
I swallow. I have no wishing-shell to throw into the sea when I say it, but I know that the ocean hears me nonetheless. “To get what I need.
”
”
Maggie Stiefvater (The Scorpio Races)