Monogamy Book One. Lover (Monogamy, #1) QUOTES

41 "

Alex moves from New York to Seattle and asks me to join him. He asks me many times – sometimes insistently, sometimes pleadingly – but he never pressures me. I also never take him seriously, regarding our meetings as just a happy continuation of our summer romance. I don’t believe for a second that he actually means it, and I don’t hear him when he says he has built my dream house by the sea. As I mentioned before, I have always known where my horizons are and have no illusions on that score. But, most importantly, what could be worse than destroying your family for your own selfish pleasure?! Hurting those closest to me for some, no doubt temporary, fool’s paradise in America is just never going to happen. I could never do it.

― Victoria Sobolev , Monogamy Book One. Lover (Monogamy, #1)

42 " . I don’t mean to hurt him, but I am not going to break up my family. I cannot walk away from him either, though, because he has given me so much. He has given me more love and affection than anyone in my life. His touch awakens the woman in me, his kisses give me joy, and his warmth comforts me and gives me the strength to live, work, and love those closest to me. "

― Victoria Sobolev , Monogamy Book One. Lover (Monogamy, #1)

43 " I am woken in the morning by something strange going on with my hands. I open my eyes and see Alex kissing my fingers.
‘What are you doing?’ I ask in surprise.
‘Kissing your fingers.’
‘Why my fingers?’
‘Because that’s where you have the most nerve endings; because I wanted to wake you up; because your coffee has already gone cold; and because I have to go to a meeting. I left you a note and my keys, but I thought that I couldn’t just leave without saying goodbye and so here I am, saying goodbye.’ And then he gives me a slow, lingering kiss. "

― Victoria Sobolev , Monogamy Book One. Lover (Monogamy, #1)

44 " The day actually did have a huge impact on his career, because it was the day that his meteoric, almost vertical flight into the business world began, but I only found this out years later. "

― Victoria Sobolev , Monogamy Book One. Lover (Monogamy, #1)

45 " Alex, Alex, Alex... A man made of tenderness and passion, he showers me in kisses as if they’re blessings and his embraces fill me with energy, warmth and happiness. Yet neither of us have ever said the word ‘love’ to each other. Not once. "

― Victoria Sobolev , Monogamy Book One. Lover (Monogamy, #1)

46 " On the left-hand side of his torso, just below his chest, is an intricate tattoo of a fairytale tree, the branches of which are made up of numerous letters with curlicues written as initials. The tattoo plunges me into a kind of trance and my hand reaches out to touch it, but, as soon as it does, Alex covers it with his own and presses it to his chest so tightly that I can feel his heart beating under my palm. "

― Victoria Sobolev , Monogamy Book One. Lover (Monogamy, #1)

47 " The swimming has sobered us both up and Alex whispers: ‘Now we can go to bed.’
‘Only now?’
‘Only now,’ he smiles.
‘Why not before?’
‘What’s the point of doing something based on sensuality at a time when you sense nothing?’ And with these words he once again takes me in his arms and carries me back to our terrace, to our room, and to our bed. "

― Victoria Sobolev , Monogamy Book One. Lover (Monogamy, #1)

48 " I open my eyes and find Alex looking at me expectantly. As soon as I regain the ability to listen, he asks: ‘Do you want more?’ Absolutely not! Ladies should beat a modest retreat after such excessively rampant proof of their shameful lust. I open my mouth to utter a confident and resounding ‘NO’, but instead find myself saying: ‘Yes!’ I swear I have no idea how it happened! "

― Victoria Sobolev , Monogamy Book One. Lover (Monogamy, #1)

49 " It’s too painful for me. Talking about it is difficult, like reliving it all over again, and I’m just not sure I can. But I’ll do it right now if that’s what you really want.’
There is nothing but sincerity in his eyes, an almost childlike openness, and that is what stops me. Well, that and his mention of painful memories. This playboy has an old wound that hasn’t yet healed and he does everything he can to hide it.
My heart is breaking for him but I can’t give in so easily, so I say, ‘I need to think.’
‘Then think. "

― Victoria Sobolev , Monogamy Book One. Lover (Monogamy, #1)

50 " It just so happens that my coming of age coincided with the collapse of the USSR, the re-evaluation of social and public values, economic destruction, and horrific human impoverishment. All reference points were lost. Everything had collapsed and fallen into the abyss. Our parents had no idea how to keep themselves afloat, never mind how to instil the right messages in their children and set us off in the right direction. The poverty we found ourselves in depressed and frightened my still childish mind and, like the gravitational pull of a black hole, distorted my strict, true and correct bearings. People who have achieved success command respect and reverential awe, but one’s own inability to do the same subverts any sense of personal merit by triggering a spiral of self-recrimination. "

― Victoria Sobolev , Monogamy Book One. Lover (Monogamy, #1)

51 "

‘What’s that?’ Alex asks.

‘Today, we’re going to make a chocolate cake. You like chocolate cake, don’t you?’

‘I don’t know,’ he smiles. ‘Probably.’

I start unpacking the food I’ve brought with me onto the table while Alex sits on a high stool and watches my every move with a smile. His eyes are an ocean of warmth, tenderness and love.

‘Have you got a blender?’ I ask.

‘I don’t even know what that is,’ he replies, without taking his beautiful eyes off me, his face one big smile.

There is so much awe in his gaze that I feel like a Christmas tree.

‘Just as I thought,’ I tell him. ‘That’s why you’re going to help me.’ And I hand him a whisk.

He perks up and it even seems as if the shadow of sadness in his eyes evaporates. They are lit up with enthusiasm and the desire to learn something new, which Alex loves like nothing else.

I separate the egg whites from the yolks, hand him the bowl and say, ‘Whisk!’

He is at a loss for a while, but I deliberately don’t show him what to do and he quickly works it out and starts beating the soon-to-be sponge cake.

― Victoria Sobolev , Monogamy Book One. Lover (Monogamy, #1)

52 " He takes his time, and the movement of his hips and shoulders, along with the way he holds his head slightly upturned, are all evidence of his colossal self-confidence. It oozes out of him and he radiates success, power, and determination. His slender body is shaped perfectly for my modest taste: wide shoulders, narrow hips, strong arms and muscles, his summer clothes doing nothing to hide their soft outline. I am not really an admirer of male bodies, but I am definitely having trouble resisting the urge to undress this one and see the whole picture, so to speak. He is manly, but it is not a manliness that comes from time spent at the gym, but rather from nature – organically.
Nobility, gentility, and elegant manners all make up Alex’s very being. You can find them in his every movement, gesture, phrase, word, and look. "

― Victoria Sobolev , Monogamy Book One. Lover (Monogamy, #1)

53 " It feels as if Alex is deliberately giving out as little information about himself as possible, that he is merely creating the illusion of openness. Yet it is clear to me that his personality is as deep as the Mariana Trench, its darkness and mystery beckon, and the desire to get closer is becoming increasingly powerful. "

― Victoria Sobolev , Monogamy Book One. Lover (Monogamy, #1)

54 " There is so much love in his eyes that I don’t need words to know he loves me. His love is deep, emotional, barely contained, and he wants to give me the feelings that have already overwhelmed him and seemingly pushed him to the brink. "

― Victoria Sobolev , Monogamy Book One. Lover (Monogamy, #1)