“You never told me how the story ends, Gabe." She held her breath, waiting for his response.His expression held all the love and desire she knew he felt for her."It doesn't.”

“And still, even when he’d told her how he felt about her, and that he wanted their fake relationship to be real, she’d held herself back out of fear that their friends-to-lovers story was too good to be anything but fiction.”

“How she loved it when he sprinted right over the lines and reduced her boundaries to smithereens. Chloe no longer had any fears of being controlled and Chase no longer held back to make sure he didn't push her too far. All that remained was the sweet ecstasy of trust.And pure love.”

“And it was why he loved her. One of the reasons, anyway. Because he also loved her brattycomebacks. He loved the way she put her entire self behind whatever she was doing, even if she had noidea what she was doing and was getting it all wrong. He loved the way she danced as if she wasconnected to the clouds and the sun and the rainbows.And he loved that she’d stormed into his life and turned everything upside down before he ever hada chance to stop her.”

“Maybe it was simply that falling in love wasn’t something Lori would ever be able to turn away from, regardless of just how much pain she knew would be coming down the pike. And maybe, just maybe, as long as she never actually confessed to him how she felt, that would make it okay to give in to what she felt for Grayson for one night, beneath the moon, with the smell of wild grass and the ocean all around them...”

“You like doing that, don't you?''Yes, I like kissing you.''No,' she said, 'lifting me off my feet. Carrying me around. Pulling me down to kiss you whenever you get the urge.' She turned to him with a mock glare. 'I think it goes hand in hand with the telling me what to do stuff.'He didn't let go of her hand as he lifted his to run the back of one knuckle down her cheek. 'You like it, too.”

“Nicola had to move closer to Marcus, had to take his hands in hers and hold them over her heart as though she could give hers up for his if it meant she could take away all of the pain he'd had to deal with at such a terribly young age.”