Daria Melnichenko had been trained to survive pain, hide shame, and treat her own needs like weakness. But Braxton Thorin didn’t let her dismiss what broke open inside her. He showed her that intimacy didn’t have to leave bruises on the soul. It could feel like reverence.
I nodded, trying to pull myself together. Embarrassment washed over me as I realized how exposed I was, both physically and emotionally. Quickly, I wiped my face with the back of my hand. “I’m fine. God, I’m just being stupid. It’s nothing. I’m just tired and—”
“Don’t,” he said firmly, taking my face in both hands. “Don’t say you’re being stupid.”
I froze.
“What you’re experiencing is how sexual pleasure should always make you feel. Giving a man that special piece of yourself is the best gift he could ever receive. You deserve to be adored and pleasured in every way, to be praised and feel loved. Your body is your temple, and any man should be lucky enough to worship before it.”
My heart cracked wide open.
~Daria Melnichenko, Mission Shift
About this Daria Melnichenko quote
This Daria Melnichenko quote comes from Mission Shift by Evie James, the third and final book in the Broken Heroes trilogy. After a lifetime of being shaped by violence, control, and men who treated her body as a tool or prize, Daria experiences intimacy with Braxton as something radically different: care, praise, safety, and reverence. Their story blends enemies to lovers tension, forced proximity, secret identity, kidnapping, romantic suspense, Russian mafia stakes, war-zone trauma, emotional healing, and a love that teaches a weaponized woman she deserves to be adored.
Read more about Mission Shift or explore the Broken Heroes trilogy.