“You care about me. We're in a room together, with a hundred other people, and you know ehre I am, who I'm talking to. We enjoy each other. We're a bit alike, but different enough. You see things in me that you don't see in your wife and you know, deep down, that if we had met in another time, when it wasn't impossible for anything to happen between us, that we could have had something. And you think it might have been spetacular. And you know you might be a different person if you were with me, and that scares the hell out of you. And when youve had a few drinks, you fancy the arse off me." (...)He gave her a little sideways smile. "Nearly right."She raised an eyebrow. God, this felt good. (...)"Just to be sure we're both clear on this, I'm about to kiss you, Lucy.”

“I don't remember why it all went so wrong. I mean, I do remember. I remember what i did. I just don't remember why anymore. This - you and me - this feels so right. It just seems stupid - so stupid - that we had it before, and we let it go. We wasted so much time. I'm sorry.' She was close to tears.'Hey. Don't. There's no point in that. It's the past, and that's where it belongs. This is us now. We're here.'But where's here? We're hiding out. We're playing house. This isn't real life.''It feels real to me.''But it isn't.”

“I mean, I’ve always loved her, we’ve been best mates for years. When I started this thing, I thought that maybe, maybe there was something else – the germ of something else that could happen between us. But I don’t think I was entirely serious. It was speculative, you know. But, bloody hell, it’s bitten me in the arse. And now I love her. I think about her all the time. When I’m not with her, I’m just waiting for the next time I can be, and when I am, I’m just really happy. She’s funny, and smart, and.. gorgeous. I love her. Never felt like this before. Want-to-marry-her-and-be-with-her-all-the-rest-of-my-life kind of love her.”

“You've got the wrong criteria." Huh?" You need to make more intellectual decisions, fewer emotional ones..." 'Decisions' came out a bit slurred. What the hell are you talking about?" You need to go for someone who won't let you down." How are you supposed to know if someone's going to let you down or not?”

“If I met you last night, and brought you back to my place, or followed you to yours, and we had sex, that's what we asked for from each other. It's what I got, and what you got. I don't know you. You don't know me. Thanks for playing, and we're done. If by some fluke anything was said at some point during this entire exchange that made me curious enough to see you again, I would.Has that happened before? A couple of times. Did it last? Clearly, no.”

“I couldn't trust you with it. To do something with it. I don't want anybody talking about me. To say where I was or what I said when I was there. I mean, you could talk about me maybe. But nobody could say that it was me. I could be anybody. I think in times like these the less said the better. If something had happened and we were survivors and we met on the road then we'd have something to talk about. But we're not. So we don't.”

“I don't like you, Jack. You know that, right ?""Right. No more than I like you, Brigham.""And I'm not afraid of this thing. I'm not afraid of anything. You know that, too, right ?""I've never seen you scared. I can give you that."Till now, he thought, but he didn't say that part aloud, mostly because it would piss her off and he was dying to see where the hell she was going with it."Good, just so we're clear on it. I wouldn't want you to take it the wrong way when I ask you to spend the night with me.”