The Bride Test

“Everyone deserved to love and be loved back. Everyone.”

“How did you change your life when you were trapped like this? Her history didn't define her. Her origins didn't define her. At least, they shouldn't. She could be more, if she had a chance.”

“Their bodies lined up next to each other in that perfect way, and he pressed his cheek to hers like he was savoring being close to her.“Please, don’t let me make you cry,” he whispered in her ear. “If something is wrong, tell me so I can fix it. Please.”Her heart squeezed, and she hugged him tight. “I’ll tell you.”

“My heart works in a different way, but it’s yours. You’re my one.”

“Warm. Content. Safe in his arms. Him safe in hers. She hugged him tighter. He was bigger and stronger, but she would protect him with everything she had.”

“She was so beautiful she made his chest hurt.”

“Quan gave him an impatient look. "Did you touch her clit at all?""What's that?" "Oh hell," Michael said.Quan smacked his palm to his forehead. "Her clitoris. It's where you stimulate her to make her come.""Where is it?"Quan rubbed both hands over his face as Michael repeated, "Oh hell.”

“In a split second, she redefined perfection for him. His standards aligned to her exact proportions and measurements. No one else would ever live up to her.”

“Happy people don't wear all black.”

“I don’t care what these hands do as long as they’re yours.”

“I’ve missed you.” So badly his body had broken down. “I need to know you’re safe and happy. And I want you close. With me.”

“Khải’s jaw dropped, and he stared at Jade. “There’s a tiny Esme.”

“She still shared a bed with him, but she kept her back to him and balanced on the very edge, as far away from him as possible. Sometimes, he worried she’d fall off. Other times, he hoped she’d fall off. So he’d have an excuse to tell her to come closer.”

“Show me how to make it good for you, too,” he said as he looked at her directly, no trace of shame on his face. “Because I need you to feel the way I do right now.”

“Don’t forget to apologize. First with words. Then with your tongue.”

“The government didn't care about her, the schools didn't, the scholarship organizations didn't, but this one person did, and sometimes one person could make a world of difference.”

“She needed to get ready for bed, but first, she wanted to do nothing for a few moments. Just nothing. Nothing was such a luxury”

“He was ignoring everyone, including her, at this expensive wedding, so he could read a novel about alien demon things.”

“I wasn't loneliness if it could be eradicated with work or a Netflix marathon or a good book. Real loneliness would stick with you all the time. Real loneliness would hurt you nonstop.”

“I only want you to be yourself with me.” “I am.” Wasn’t he? He certainly wasn’t pretending to be someone else, but if he looked at things objectively, that was what the people around him usually wanted—for him to act differently, more appropriate, more intuitive, more considerate, less eccentric, less . . . himself. Did she really not mind him as he was?”

“She didn’t need to sleep with him. Her anger would keep her company.”

“When she died, demons were going to torment her for eternity instead of letting her reincarnate. Or worse, they'd let her reincarnate, but she'd be a catfish who lived under a river outhouse. It was only fair. That was what she got for wishing food poisoning on people.”

“He’d never imagined her with another man, but he sure as hell was now. The thought irritated the shit out of him.”

“He was a puzzle she never would have been able to solve if he hadn't shown her how. Those were the best kinds of puzzles, though, weren't they? The ones no one else could figure out?”

“So beautiful. And here. She’d come to find him again. No one ever looked for him. They all knew he wanted to be alone. Except it wasn’t always that way. Sometimes he was alone out of habit. Sometimes it took effort to distract himself from the growing emptiness inside.”

“His house was his sanctuary, the one place where he could escape people and just be.”

“He wondered what made a person a person. Was it something mystical like a soul? Something scientific like neural connections in the brain? Or something simpler like the ability to make someone miss you ten years after you'd died?”

“Most alive when you might die.”

“No one seemed to understand it wasn’t good-bye unless Andy said it back”

“The length of an arm? That's a strange saying. And so lonely.”