“He bent close to me, and suddenly kissed me, in a manner that seemed entirely childlike and also a bit European.”

“He saw mankind going through life in a childlike manner... which he loved but also despised.... He saw them toiling, saw them suffering, and becoming gray for the sake of things which seemed to him to be entirely unworthy of this price, for money, for little pleasures, for being slightly honoured....”

“He put the book down. “As you wish.” He rose and walked past me. I lowered my sword, expecting him to pass, but suddenly he stepped in dangerously close. “Welcome home. I’m glad you made it. There is coffee in the kitchen for you.”My mouth gaped open.He inhaled my scent, bent close, about to kiss me…I just stood there like an idiot.Curran smirked and whispered in my ear instead. “Psych.”And just like that, he was out the door and gone.Oh boy.”

“It suddenly occurred to me that, after all that frolicking in the meadows, he hadn't kissed me. Was it because of the mold that grew in my sinuses?”

“We were close enough to kiss, so close I could feel his warm breathon my mouth. I parted my lips, taking what he felt he could give me, inhailing the kiss he couldn't give me.”

“Cash or check?” he said cheekily. Even the dullest Ohio girls knew that bit of lingo: Kiss now or kiss later? “Bank’s closed, pal.”