“Who was that?" Sam asked as we walked out of the photo hut."I work with him. It's cool," I said, rubbing my arm absentmindedly."He seems like an ass."Mercy laughed. "But a cute one. And he has a cute one too. You're lucky he's all into you, Amerie. I say go for it."I shot her a look. "You'd tell me to go for a psycho murderer, if he was cute.""Meh. Life's short.”

“Wow, you got a car!" she said, surveying the toy box. "it's so cute!"Cute. He was starting to hate that word."I think the word you're looking for is manly," he said.”

“It's that guy again," you'd say.Then: "He's cute, you know."No, I don't know. And you don't need to tell me.”

“You're cute, but..."He steps away from me, and I can breathe again. "Cute?" he spits. "For centuries women have wanted me, desired me. Royals requested me by name, and you think I am cute?”

“Hey, if you're going to say what I think you're going to say…wait, are you going to say it?” he asked, smiling down at me.“Yes, yes I think so.” I grinned shyly back.“Well, then I think we should say it at the same time, yes?” he suggested.“Count of three?” I asked. He nodded.“One…” I started.“Two…” he said, eyes twinkling.“Three,” we said together. We both paused, smiling hugely, and then I took a deep breath.“Jack, I love you.”“I know,” he said at the same time.Ass…“Ass!” I said, smacking him on the arm.“That was great!” he laughed.”

“That's you, right?' he asks me. 'Yeah.' 'Cute. Not that I, uh, think little kids are cute. Just that you were cute. I mean, you can see how you turned out to be so...oh.”