“I bent over her and kissed her lips. She embraced me, and we remained like that as the light from the candle sputtered then went out.”

“And the candle by the light of which she had been reading that book filled with anxieties, deceptions, grief and evil, flared up brighter than ever, lit up for her all that had once been darkness, sputtered, grew dim and went out for ever.”

“Why is it”—she shivered as he kissed the top of her spine, went lower—“that I always end up naked while you remain dressed?”A husky masculine chuckle, his lips moving over her shoulder, his hands on her hips. “Because I'm a smart man.”

“I kiss her. I kiss her and kiss her. I try not to bite her lip. She tastes like vodkahoney.”

“No matter how long I live, I will always remember the way the light went out of her eyes, like a candle flame caught in an unexpected wind.”

“She had two lips like strawberries, and the seeds gave her kisses texture. I preferred kissing her over two scoops of vanilla ice cream.”