#sec

You’ve been in the mating frenzy before.” Eric looked up at her, his eyes quiet. “Yes.” ”With Kirsten.” ”Yes.” Iona touched her hands together. “You must have loved her very much.” Eric nodded. “Yes. Very much.” ”Then why do you want another mate?” Eric pushed himself from the fireplace and came to her, the first flickers of fire shadowing his tall, naked body. He skimmed warm hands down her arms. ”Because I saw you. ↗

— Jennifer Ashley

#love #second-loves #shifters #love

They didn't just live with secrets. Secrecy surrounded their entire lives. ↗

— Anthony Horowitz

#secrets #humor

I stared up at the sky and raised my middle finger, just in case God was watching. I don't like being spied on. ↗

— Annabel Pitcher

#god #humor #innocent #middle-finger #privacy

I had taken the photograph from afar (distance being the basic glitch in our relationship), using my Nikon and zoom lens while hiding behind a fake marble pillar. I was hiding because if he knew I'd been secretly photographing him for all these months he would think I was immature, neurotic and obsessive. I'm not. I'm an artist. Artists are always misunderstood.(Thwonk) ↗

— Joan Bauer

#humor #infatuation #insecurity #shyness #stalking

A wise mother knows: It is her state of consciousness that matters. Her gentleness and clarity command respect. Her love creates security. ↗

— Vimala McClure

#love #mothering #respect #security #love

He shrugged. "I was...thinking." "About what?" "The fires of purgatory." She had to sit down. He wasn't making any sense now. "What does that mean?" she asked. "Patrick told me he would walk through the fires of purgatory if he had to in order to please his wife." She went over to the bed and sat down on the side. "And?" she prodded when he didn't continue. He stripped out of his clothing and walked over to her. He pulled her to her feet and stared down to her. "And I have only just realized I would do the same for you. ↗

— Julie Garwood

#love #the-secret #love

Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame. ↗

— Alexander Pope

#secrecy #fame

He was afraid that the secrets she'd kept would always be here, inside him, an ugly malignant thing lodged near enough to his heart to upset its rhythm, and though it could be removed, cut out, there would always be scars; bits and pieces of it would remain in his blood, making it wrong somehow, so that if he accidentally sliced his skin open, his blood would--for one heartbeat--flow as black as India ink before it remembered that it should be red. ↗

— Kristin Hannah

#secrets #india

We each appear to hold within ourselves a range of divergent views as to our native qualities.. And amid such uncertainty, we typically turn to the wider world to settle the question of our significance.. we seem beholden to affections of others to endure ourselves. ↗

— Alain de Botton

#affirmation #insecurity #self-esteem #status #uncertainty

Nowadays, you can do anything that you want—anal, oral, fisting—but you need to be wearing gloves, condoms, protection. ↗

— Slavoj Žižek

#condoms #fisting #liberalism #oral-sex #protection