Julie James

“You're tough when you need to be, and you can charm the pants off men who have three times your experience. Well, yes. Although I try not to take advantage of that too often. Very awkward negotiating with people who are sitting around in their underwear.”

“I heard this theory once that love means your subconscious is attracted to someone else’s subconscious.”

“You are not just a big-picture girl for me, Brooke Parker. You’re the only picture.”

“His eyes held hers. “Because I knew, ten seconds after walking into this office and meeting you, that we had this in the bag.”

“That is nice, Mr. Morgan. Because in response to your tough-guy speech, I, in turn, would’ve had to give you my tough-girl speech, about where, exactly, federal prosecutors who come to my office looking for assistance can stick their obstruction of justice threats”

“Jack's eyes widened, then he moved closer to Cameron and put his hand on her stomach. "Does it hurt?"She covered his hand with hers. "I'd say it's only about a point two."Jack smiled, tenderly touching her cheek. "I knew, when we were on that rooftop, that we'd be here someday.”

“I love you. On intense days. On good days. On long, exhausting work days. On really strange days when I find out that I have a long-lost brother. And most of all, on days when you make me smile, which happens to be every day I'm with you. You are not just a big-picture girl for me, Brooke Parker. You're the only picture.”

“In answer, she took his hand and placed it on her chest. Right over her heart. 'You're in, Cade Morgan. Only you.”

“If looks could kill right then, Jason had no doubt he would’ve been lying flat on the ground with an expression of wide-eyed shock on his face and a twelve-inch hatchet lodged deep in his forehead.”

“Cameron threw her hands up in frustration. “What is this so-called ‘look’?” Whatever it was, she was going to have to start taking extreme measures to guard against it.Amy grinned. “You know the Tom and Jerry cartoon where Tom hasn’t eaten for days and he imagines Jerry looking like a ham? Kind of like that.”

“Unfortunately, she did. “Do you think any of us will ever be normal again?”Rae considered this. “I’m told that somewhere around third year, we lose the urge to cite the Constitution in everyday conversation.”

“Thank you, I guess.It’s good to see they’ve replaced Silas Briggs withsomeone who’s a little more reasonable.” He grinned.“Not to mention, someone with a much prettier face.”Agent Pallas snapped the ankle monitor on, and Kyleyelled out in pain.“Son of a bitch, you got some skin there!” he said toPallas.Cameron threw the FBI agent a look. “Jack.”He shrugged. “It slipped.” He turned back to Kyle witha look that could wilt plants.”

“He liked the way her hand felt in his, liked the simple intimacy of the gesture and the way it said - without the need for words - that they were together.”

“She asked him the question she had been asking herself for the past few days. "Why are you being so nice to me now?" J.D. leaned forward in his chair. He gazed directly into her eyes, and Payton suddenly found herself wondering why it had taken him eight years to look at her that way."Because you're letting me," he said softly.”

“Yes, Taylor learned at a very young age that the only way to get boys to shut up and play fairly was to show them that you took crap from no one.”

“You know, Taylor, I told his manager that your reputation in this firm is that you can go head-to-head with any man. And win.”

“Good. Or instead, what if I just told you that I love you?” Payton gazedinto his eyes. “What would you say, J. D. Jameson, if I told you that?”J.D. smiled. He touched his forehead to Payton’s, closed his eyes, andanswered her with one word.“Finally.”

“Despite the fact that she was essentially comatose, she somehow made his whole house feel different just by being there. Before it had been just a house—a very impressive house no doubt, but a house nonetheless. But for some reason, with Taylor there it felt more like a home.”

“You are really starting to annoy me, Stanton.”Nick didn’t blink. “Good. By the end of the night I hope to finish the job.”

“First off, you should know that your daughter is going to be fine.” … “Jordan’s been through an ordeal but she is…” Incredible. Strong. Smart. Gorgeous. Hot as a firecracker in bed. Probably better to keep that part to himself. “… quite tough,” he finished.”

“And then when she takes him through the whole wine tasting process, finishing with a long, languid taste that she really enjoyed “she opened her eyes and saw Nick staring at her.“I feel like I need a cigarette and a shower after watching that.”

“Time for Wine Tasting 101. “So here’s how this works. When tasting a wine, as opposed to casual drinking, there are four basic steps you need to remember: sight, smell, taste, then spit or swallow.”Nick paused at that last part and cocked his head. “And your personal preference on the latter would be…?”“Only lightweights spit.”His right eye twitched.”

“Jordan couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “Yeah, I like this guy. He rescued me from a crazed man with a gun, he makes me laugh, and he calls his mother Ma. I’d say he’s a keeper.”

“If he'd expected to be pampered and coddled through his undercover assignments, he would have gone to work for the CIA.”

“Hey, how 'bout those Cubs'"-the bad male impersonation was back-" 'let's play some golf, smoke some cigars. Here's my penis, there's yours-yep, they appear to be about the same size-okay, lets's do some deals.”

“-“You know, if you’re trying to mark your territory, you could’ve just peed on me before I came over here and saved us both a lot of time!”On the other end, Jason burst out laughing.-“I always suspected you were into kinky shit.”

“Not at all sure that she was, Taylor eyed the jet warily as she crossed the tarmac and climbed the metal steps leading up to the passenger hold. When she got to the top, she stopped before Jason, going for an unimpressed look.“How original. Didn’t I see this in Pretty Woman?”Jason smiled pleasantly. “Let’s hope the evening ends as well for me as it did for Richard Gere.” He winked.”

“For a moment, Jason could only stand there in the hallway with his nose pressed up against the cold wood of her door. After a few seconds, he knocked politely. Taylor whipped open the door, unamused. Jason grinned at her. “I just gotta ask: Where did you get the whole ‘all the cute girls run around naked’ thing?”“I defend sexual harassment cases, Mr. Andrews,” she replied coolly. "I’ve seen and heard things even you haven’t thought of.”“Care to test out that theory?”She slammed the door in his face again.”

“Some jobs required a certain level of detachment; a turning off of emotions in order to do the things that needed to be done.”

“Nefarious. This is what we get when we hire a Yale boy.”“You missed sacrosanct earlier. And taciturn and glowering,” Jack said.“What’s glowering?”“Me, apparently.”Wilkins pointed. “Now that has to be a joke.” He turned to Davis. “You heard that, right?”Davis didn’t answer him, having spun his chair around to type something at his computer. “Let’s see what Google says… Ah – here it is. ‘Glowering: dark; showing a brooding ill humor.”

“The problem is, getting business is part of the business. It’s like a ritual with these guys: ‘Hey, how ‘bout those Club’ “ – the bad male impression was back – “ ‘let’s play some golf, smoke some cigars. Here’s my penis, there’s yours – yep, they appear to be about the same size – okay, let’s do some deals.’ “When the woman seated at the next table threw them a disapproving look over the foam of her jumbo-sized cappuccino, Laney leaned in toward Payton. “Let’s use our inside voices, please, when using the p-word,” she whispered chidingly.”

“Jack leaned over, “Ever get the impression that these women are way out of our league?”“I shot the last guy who said that to me.”

“So here’s the question,” Melinda led in. “Who’s Tall, Dark and Smoldering?”

“Wow. Clearly, I need to find myself an ex-con. Since prison is probably the only place in this city I haven’t looked for Mr. Right yet.”

“One of the few times I’ve ever wished for a penis,” she said to Rae when the bartender stepped up to take the order of yet another male customer. They’d been waiting to be served for over twenty minutes. She’d even worn the red magic boob dress tonight, but unfortunately, its mojo offered no help in this particular situation.“You haven’t had sex in six months,” Rae said. “If I were you, I’d be wishing for penises every night.”

“Listen and learn: you need fourteen characters, minimum. Use random letters, not words. Here’s a tip: think of a sentence, and use the first letter in each of those words. Mix it up between upper and lower case. Then pick two numbers that mean something to you – not dates – and stick them somewhere between the letters. Put a punctuation mark at the beginning of the password and then a symbol, like a dollar sign, at the end.”

“You are just as annoyingly cocky as you were nine years ago.”“Yes,” Kyle’s gaze fell to her lips. “And we both know how that turned out.”

“There are some things a girl never forgets, Ry. And one of those is a kiss from the right guy”

“Her body trembled as she finally caved. “Touch me, Kyle. Now,” she begged.Thank fucking God.”

“Then his gaze shifted to the wild bush sprouting from her head. “Wow. Did I do that to your hair?” He looked oddly pleased at the thought.Rylann made a mental note to throw a flat iron in her purse the next time she had sex in the shower with a billionaire ex-con. Not that there wasgoing to be a next time. “Not all of us are lucky enough to have freakishly perfect, shampoo-commercial hair. This is what happens when I get wet.”His expression turned wicked. “I know exactly what happens when you get wet, counselor.”Yep, she’d walked right into that one.”

“Once again, Rylann tried to catch the eye of the female bartender working Firelight’s main bar.“One of the few times I’ve ever wished for a penis,”

“AS IT TURNED out, Rylann wasn’t quite as good as she’d thought she was.Over the last five years she’d prosecuted cases, she’d become quite skilled at reading defendants and their lawyers at the initial courtappearance. Given Quinn’s obvious nervousness, she’d originally predicted that his lawyer would be calling her within two weeks to negotiate aplea agreement.Instead, it took him two weeks and three days to make that call.”

“Just because we haven’t met Mr. Right doesn’t mean we’re doing anything wrong. And by the way, you’re brilliant and awesome, too. If I were alesbian, I’d totally settle down with you and make lots of in vitro babies.”

“I saw you laughing with your friends, and your smile sucked me right in.”

“Please. Like a little hangover’s going to get in the way of a man in love.”“Aw. That’s very romantic,” Rylann said.“Plus, I haven’t gotten laid in two months, and the reunion sex is awesome.”“And there’s the Shane we know and love.”

“Ignore me. I don’t want to talk about my nonexistent love life today.”

“Jack wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. He whispered in her ear. “He’s not getting near you again, baby, I promise. No one’s laying a finger on you ever again.”

“Hopefully when he moved his things out of the apartment, he at least took his CDs. I mean, we might be gay, but… Enya? Really?”

“And as for you Agent Pallas – man-to-man, if you ever insult my girl on national television again, I’ll…” he stopped.Everyone in the room waited, hanging. Jack raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”Collin turned to Cameron with a look of astonishment. “I’ve got nothing. I had this whole exit speech going and I was gonna end with some big macho threat but when I got there, it was like – bleh – nothing. That’s a pisser.” He appeared disgusted with himself, then shrugged it off. “Oh well. Catch you guys later.”He strode out without a second glance.”

“But if it makes you feel better, I don’t give a fuck what comes through that door. They’re not getting to you.”