“She looked at him, watched the lights from the stage flicker over his expression, in the dark depths of his eyes. There was a whole other world in there, she thought and it was hers to explore forever if she would stop being so afraid.”

“Without a conscious thought to do so, he went down on his knees in front of her, grasping both her hands. If she wouldn’t look up at him, she couldlook down at him. Her tiny, surprised intake of breath caught in the air between them. He lifted her knuckles to his lips, aching so hard to touchsome part of her. “Being away from you has been…hell. I could wax poetic and tell you it’s been like being torn away from my own soul, or missing ashard of my heart, but in the end it’s been absolute torment. I’m missing all those things if I’m not with you.”

“Evan …” she murmured, wrapping her soft arms around his neck. Their position had her lips near his ear. She’d lost her headband somewhere. He could smell the strawberry of her shampoo, feel the tickle of her sluggish breath stirring his hair. “Evan.”“Kelsey. Move over here, lie down.”She pulled back slightly, her bleary eyes trying to focus on his. The weight of her head still seemed too much for her neck to support and her hair flowed over his arm. “Evan, I always liked you.”“I always liked you, too, honey.” The way she kept saying his name in that intoxicated purr, savoring the v between her teeth and her bottom lip, was unnerving. Unnerving, hell. It had his dick twitching in his pants. “Come on, girl, you need to sleep it off.”“I mean I like liked you.”[…] Her hands caught his face, surprising him. He should have moved away from her long ago, before she could get her hands on him. As it was, he felt like a fly caught in the sticky gossamer of a spider’s den. “Always wanted to fuck you, y’know that? Even when I was a virgin.”He drew in a breath, exhaled it shakily. So much for prudish.Note to self: Kelsey now gets unbelievably horny when drunk.”

“Sweetie. Look at me.”She did, but it was difficult now, when she could never remember a time she hadn’t wanted to look at his beloved face. She blinked, trying to forcethe fresh torrent of tears back where they belonged. It just wasn’t possible. No, there was no emptiness now. She was bursting at the seams, overflowing.“Don’t cry,” he said gently, swiping her cheeks with his thumbs. “You cry and I want to break something. Or someone. What is it?”

“He caught her wrist and pulled her until she was straddling him. His hand smoothed down the outside of her right thigh. "Thank you for wearing a skirt tonight. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”

“Somebody better be dead or dying."He froze mid-step when he saw her. It might have been wishful thinking but she could've sworn his face lit up."Or just sitting there looking pretty," he finished with a heart-stopping grin.”

“Are you all right, Macy? You looked a little flushed"Just as Macy began to nod quickly, Ghost swigged his beer and jerked his head in her direction. "She looks that way because I have my hand up her skirt.”