“You know, Savannah, if you cry, I won’t tell anyone,’ Ken said quietly. ‘I promise.”

“You love me,” he said. “That’s all I need to know.” “You always say the right thing,” Savannah told him, her eyes so filled with love that he almost wept. “Sometimes it takes you awhile to get to it, but you always get there, and what you say is always worth waiting for.”

“Do you think,” she said, “instead of having sex, we could make love?”“I’d love that,” Ken whispered.”

“Savannah, I’ve been talking my ass off for more than an hour now, telling you shit no one’s ever heard anything about, hoping that I’ll say something, Jesus God, anything that will convince you to have sex with me.”

“If you want, I can carry you—” “I’m fine,” she said shortly. “Let’s go.”He’d said that wrong. He should have said, “I want to carry you.”

“We are not, not now, not ever, talking about sex,” A.J. said flatly.I had to laugh. “We’re both grown men,” I pointed out. “I don’t see what the big deal—”“Do it,” he said, “and I will walk over to the church, wake up the priest, and demand that he perform an exorcism. On the spot.”“Well, now, that won’t work,” I scoffed. “I’m not a demon. Not even close.”“Yeah, well, I’m willing to try it,” he said. “So go on. Make my day.”

“I love quick,” Gina said. “And come on, I’m getting jealous here. Was it zero sex last year for you,too?”“Yes,” he admitted. “I love you, you weren’t there—what was I going to do?”“Are you actually embarrassed, ” she asked, “because you weren’t some kind of man-ho and—”“No,” Max said. “I’m embarrassed that it took me an entire fucking year and a half and the worst scareof my life to figure out that I can’t live without you.”