"When I tell you that he hates me, you'll probably assume it's because he's a jerk...but you'd be wrong. He's not a jerk. I am." --- Several years ago tragedy struck Emma's home, leaving her broken... like a cup with cracks spiraling and slithering around the edges. Slowly, bitterness crept in like tar, hardening between each fracture to resemble a deceitful wholeness. She became a monster, and targeted her venom on the sweetest person she could find: Trinity Nixon. Too bad the boy Emma longed for was Trinity's brother. Now, as Emma fights to win the heart of the boy who despises her, she's forced to hide her demons. She paints her fragile cup in pinks, yellows, and oranges - all the colors of the sun. She paints on a smile, and an unusual sense of humor, so that the world will view her as bright and cheerful, when in reality she's breaking. But she's completely unprepared for the acidic truth that melts away the tar, demolishing her shell, and awakening the Emma White buried deep inside. --- Book 1 in The Dismantled Pride series *Story was previously titled "Faking It"

"You're mine." I said, only inches away from her beautiful face. Her eyes. Her lips. I could not resist. "There's only you... Only you." My thumb caressed her cheek, marvelling at the softness of her skin. From under her dark nut-brown hair, peeked eyes of hazel and honey, edged with a deep forest-green. Held innocence, and fire that dwindled down to smoldering ember. I was warned about the threats in life, but never the ones with hazel eyes. I held her close, so close that I could feel her heartbeat against my chest. Her body- chiseled to perfection. Must she be so perfect? I couldn't stop myself from pulling her close to me and kissing her lips. At first, it was a delicate butterfly of a kiss, so faint, like a whisper. But, oh, it grew into so much more. Kissing her hungrily, my hands roamed all over her body. I wanted to kiss her lips, trace the curves, the lines and the twists they hid. I wanted to caress her body, cover with my hands every inch of her skin from head to toes, run my fingertips over her, and hear the melody of her laughter, and the symphony of her moans."More," I growled silently, still kissing on her bottom lip. "Give me more, Amelia." I kept kissing her, over and over again, each time harder than the last. The more love I give her, the more I have bursting inside me... Crazy, huh? "Dimitri" The silvery melody of her voice serenaded trough my heart as the air softly touched her lips when she whispered my name. My aesthetic senses came alive. I was once again struck by what she did to me, by her beauty. Her kisses, they lit my brain on fire, the warmth spreading throughout my entire body. After each one of them, I was more addicted. I couldn't bare not to be with her and I could barely breathe when she wasn't around. I, the Vampire Prince of Venedocia was swollen under the spell of this human. Amelia was my salvation and my torment. I lived for her and I would die with the memory of her in my arms. She was the half that made me whole.