“Me Jev, you Nora.”

“What does ‘hmm’ have to do with anything? Could you ever use more than five words? All this grunting and minced words make you come across—primal.”His smile tipped higher. “Primal.”“You’re impossible.”“Me Jev, you Nora.”

“Hmm?' I looked away, flustered automatically using irritation to cover my discomfort up. 'What does 'hmm' have to do with anything? Could you ever use more that five words? All this grunting and minced words make you come across-- primal.' His smile tipped higher. 'Primal.' 'You're impossible.' 'Me Jev, you Nora.”

“The sensible part of me wanted to dissect my emotions, overthinking and overcomplicating my reaction to Jev.”

“I’m not going to kill you, Nora. I don’t kill people who are important to me. And you top the list.”

“Patch reached for my hand and pushed my dad's ring off the tip of his finger and into my palm, curling my fingers around it. He kissed my knuckles. "I was going to give this back earlier, but it wasn't finished."I opened my palm and held the ring up. The same heart was engraved on the underside, but now there were two names carved on either side of it: NORA and JEV.I looked up. "Jev? That's your real name?""Nobody's called me that in a long time.”

“Jev stroked his chin. "Do I look like a summer fling?”