Quotes On The Pursuit Of Happiness

From a stall in the office restroom, I overhear someone badmouthing me. Henry Fielder, the intern I've been mentoring for three months, grumbles, "The guy's got zero people skills. He's a total fossil, like a robot stuck in one mode." I'm about to push the door open and jump in when someone laughs and piles on. "The paperwork is incomplete. The receipts aren't compliant. I can't reimburse it without a manager's signature. We could recite his canned empathy lines in our sleep!" Once they're gone, I quietly head back to my office. Later, Henry drops a thick stack of expense reports onto my desk. "Quit waving the rulebook and rejecting everyone's reimbursements." I skim the fake receipts, and for once, I don't call him out. Instead, I give a thin smile and say, "I have a headache. I can't make out the words."

My husband, Steve Malone, thinks of himself as a highly-educated person. Not only that, but he's also very uninterested in physical intimacy. When we go to bed every night, we have to sleep with a bowl of water between us. In fact, Steve refuses to let me touch him at all. But on the day he returns from the volunteer teaching program in the countryside, I discover a pair of pantyhose all tangled up in his clothes. Upon hearing my question, Steve maintains his cool facade as he explains, "This is contraband that I've confiscated from a student." I never respond to Steve. Instead, I get in contact with the female teacher, Rebecca Cramer, who has gone teaching with Steve earlier. From the other end of the line, Rebecca's sarcastic voice drifts over. "Your husband sure is unstoppable, Audrey. He couldn't resist kneeling in the pig sty while licking the dead skin off that Paige widow's feet. No one could stop him at all. "I heard that Paige even intends to give birth to a child for him. They went at it once per day, you know. I think you should head over here and witness everything for yourself." As soon as I end the call, I contact my lawyer right away and prepare to file for a divorce. This time, I'm hell-bent on ending things with Steve.

“Heidi, call me a monster. Call me a beast. Fuck, call me the Devil. It does not change the way I feel about you.” “How about the way ‘I’ feel about you?” I whisper. “This hatred—built from love, passion… trust.” Hunter gently takes my hand and interlocks it with his before placing both on his chest. He then leans down to bump his forehead on mine, making me close my eyes and sigh as it drives in me sensations that cause me to crumble. “I love you, Heidi…” he whispers—doesn’t do good for my eyes bleeding more tears. “…and I will let the world burn for you.” ~ H E I D I I’ve lived twenty-two years but never seen a man like Hunter. He has killed everyone I know and is bound to do more, which is why I’m determined to stop him, if only I wouldn’t have to deal with these emotions—old feelings clashing with new ones; love and hate—that make me want to squash his heart one moment, then piece it up the next. But I know I can’t hang between these feelings forever. I have to choose, and quickly. H U N T E R I am told she is dangerous, a being forbidden from existence. Yet, I find myself protecting her. I shouldn’t, but I do. Then I realize she isn’t the threat. Where danger lies is with my feelings—ones that I must not have, that will be my downfall. To be that creature feared by all, I need to be the man with nothing to lose. But now I have so much to lose. Even nature has fated our Love to be doomed and will see to its vow that one of us is destroyed.

Selene's whole world ended the day she walked in on her husband and the man she gave up everything for, cheating with not just anyone but his own step sister. Filled with anger and pain, she decides to drop her usual good girl act and drown her sorrows. What she doesn't expect is that her attempt to forget leads her straight into the clutches of Aries Dimitriou, a reclusive and crazily wealthy man whose eyes were so cold, it sent goosebumps all over her skin. Before she can take a breath, he suddenly proposes a deal. Live in his home, cook and care for his three troubled children and earn a fortune. At first, she wants nothing of such a shoddy deal but the moment she finds that he is the fiancee of none other than the same woman who ruined her life, she accepts it without any hesitation. Now, trapped in a mansion so ridiculously large it seems like a maze, while also surrounded by mean little brats out for her life and an emotionless man whose gaze both scares and makes her body burn, Selene is starting to think that her little petty revenge plot might not be as easy as she thought. As if she doesn't have enough to worry about, she still has to deal with the Dimitriou crazy family members who think their all that just because they are rolling in wealth.

Valentina Kelvin had loved Hamiltion Carpenter for ten years, loving him to the point of hurting both her heart and health, only to be defeated by a single lie from his "white moonlight". When she saw Hamiltion Carpenter trying to introduce young, attractive men into their lives, Valentina Kelvin finally came to her senses. Isn't it better to just go back home and enjoy being a billionaire heiress?

“Where’s your fight now, wife?” Dominic's breath ghosted across my bare skin. “Let me go. I’m warning you,” I hissed, struggling against his wrist that held both my hands above my head. “Funny... Your upper and lower lips seem to be contradicting each other. I don’t know which to trust… maybe I should kiss both, see which one’s lying.” “Fuck you!” I spat—only it came out more like a moan I couldn’t control. “Yeah…” His hand tightened, holding me just enough to make my pulse pound. “Yeah… you will. You’ll beg for it.” “You'll scream it out to the world. Tell them who you belong to,” And it should’ve been a joke. A sick one. Because Dominic Cantrell wasn’t someone girls like me belonged to. He was the billionaire’s heir with a reputation that could ruin cities and rebuild them. I was a mere cleaner with a brother in debt. But when a series of mistakes; one fight, one night, one kiss; pulls us into a contract that binds me to him for 365 days, survival becomes something I have to earn… under him. The devil thinks I’m a pawn. He thinks he can own me, bend me, break me. He’s so wrong. Because I'm not one of his bimbos. I'm his Kryptonite. And one day? I’ll make the devil kneel. WARNING: Contains high R-rated explicit scenes.

Noah’s a rising hockey star with a mouth that gets him in trouble and a body built to break rules. Sterling is the team's billionaire owner—older, untouchable, and dangerously in control. They were never supposed to cross that line. But one reckless moment changes everything. Now, Noah can’t stop thinking about the man who sees right through him. And Sterling? He’s losing control in ways he swore he never would. It was supposed to be a mistake. It’s starting to feel like an obsession.

She lost her job, her love, and her home until the man who fired her offered her a lifeline… in the form of a contract marriage.When loyal secretary Natasha Hills is wrongly accused of corporate betrayal, she’s cast out by billionaire CEO Bruce Stamford and left broken by the sudden disappearance of her scheming boyfriend. But everything changes when Bruce, desperate to fulfill his dying grandmother’s last wish, proposes a marriage of convenience.Their deal is strictly business… until emotions blur, secrets unravel, and enemies close in. In a world of power, lies, and betrayal, can fake vows turn into real love before everything crashes down?

My in-laws were old-fashioned. They insisted that spending New Year's in their hometown was a must for a smooth year ahead. We could not get train tickets, so we decided to drive back. When my wife’s first love heard about it, he insisted on coming with us. He even brazenly took the front passenger seat from me. “Charles, I get carsick easily. I can only sit in the front.” Evan shot me a disdainful look. "It's just a seat. Why are you being so touchy?" “If you knew how to drive, would this even be an issue?” My in-laws chimed in as well. “You’re a grown man. Why are you making such a fuss over something so small?” Outnumbered, I had no choice but to squeeze into the back seat with my in-laws. Then, when we were passing a toll booth, Yvonne spotted a stray dog and was suddenly overcome with compassion. “That poor dog. Let’s bring it home with us.” I immediately objected, “The car is already full. If we bring a dog too, we’ll be over the limit. We won’t even be allowed on the road.” Before I had even finished speaking, Evan turned on me without hesitation. “Charles, in that case, why don’t you give up your seat for the dog? You can just take a cab back!”

Kenneth Parker, my childhood friend—and the person I've secretly had a crush on—isn't into men. In the end, I find myself wandering into one of those shops out of sheer loneliness and buying myself a toy. That night, just as I'm about to follow the instructions to use it, someone suddenly opens the bedroom door. Kenneth stands in the doorway, his face frozen in complete and utter shock as he stares at me. Blushing furiously, I try to pull the blanket and cover myself, but Kenneth rushes in and takes the toy from my hand. He says, "It's alright, Xavier. I'll show you how to use it."