“The minute I'm in a little pain ... your rough, tough, scary bad boy image totally falls apart.”

“If you don’t get out of my way right this minute, I’m going to . . .” She pictured bringing up her knee hard and watching him writhe in pain on the floor. The image in her mind was as vivid as his shark image had been. Aidan leapt away from her, laughing as he did so. “You have a nasty little temper, Alexandria.”

“I'm putting up a great front, then because I feel like I'm breaking apart inside.”

“They're spreading out. Look unaware and sweet and innocent.It's a little hard to look innocent when I'm as big as a house.”

“In her mind danced the image of a shark with Thomas Ivan’s white, practiced smile.Deliberately, Aidan teased her with the image until she was forced to laugh.”

“Nicholas wanted to believe in fairy tales. She'd read her share, hoping for miracles, but in the end, there was no hundred acre wood to play in with her little stuffed animals. There was pain and crushing disillusionment and betrayal.”

“Son of a bitch, you're scary," he informed Jackson. "Where the hell did you get that look? Practicing in the mirror every day?”