“The aura of his soul. She’d seen them before when she’d guided the dead. But she’d never seen one quite like this, darkness and light blending to a color and texture that was both frightening and beautiful.”

“Yesterday in the restaurant, she’d seen his sex appeal and roughness. At her house, she’d seen his danger. This morning, at the river, she’d seen his beauty and teasing, and again that danger.Of all of them, the tenderness she saw now was the most compelling. And terrifying.”

“She would never tell him and was ashamed to admit it, even to herself, but she’d fallen in love with him the instant she’d seen him. She’d been taken at gunpoint to the alleyway outside a gallery showing her paintings and had seen a powerful man, not tall but immensely broad. He was facing three armed thugs and he hadn’t looked frightened at all.He’d looked dangerous.And she’d fallen.”

“She’d never seen such a thing back on Grave; a flower that bloomed only at night.”

“Even when she’d fantasized, what she’d come up with hadn’t ever matched this reality. She’d never envisioned a sexy, borderline grouchy guy with a glint in his eye and an erection this tempting.”

“And what was it about the dark that made her question things she’d never questioned before, in the day.”