As I feel her touch I can't help but smile and relax. I felt calmer now as I move slightly and turn around to face her. She looks up at me and I lace my arms around her body so our bodies are pressed against each others. "I love you." I say. She looks at me surprised and then smiles. "I love you too.", "I don't think that I say it enough." She touches my cheek and then lowers her hand again. "Well...each time you say it to me is special." I grin and kiss her. Months have passed since Tessa Erickson and Nicolai Piercy have met. Since then...they got engaged but when many surprises come their way it changes things for the couple. As they deal with lies, secrets, love, and loss-will the two of them stand by each others sides through it all and have a new start in life? ~*~ Cover created by: kikiceleste_ Rated PG-13: (Strong language, sexual situations)

"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"