“I have to know.”“Know what?” Jaden demanded.“Well, for starters, I have to know why you left without even saying goodbye.” Without thinking, he caressed the soft curve of her cheek with his thumb, stroking it affectionately as he stared into her green eyes. “But more importantly, I need to know why a woman I barely know has left such a gaping hole in my chest, why when I open my eyes in the morning I’m disappointed that you aren’t there, and why every song on the radio sounds like Frank Sinatra. Why is it that one night with you felt more like a thousand?”

“How did you even know I wasn't in my room?""I checked on you." Finn gave me a look like I was an idiot. "I check on you every morning.""You check on me when I'm sleeping?" I gaped at him. "Every morning?"He nodded."I didn't know that.""Why would you know that? You're sleeping," Finn pointed out.”

“Some girls have to go to college to discover what they are good at; some are born doing what they must without even truly knowing why. I felt a hole in my heart shaped like a dark door I needed to guard.”

“Why?" Why wouldn't he let her go? Why did he make her stay?She felt the brush of his lips over her hair."Because I need you.""You don't know me.""I know." His finger under her chin lifted her face. "But I've waited centuries for the chance.”

“I’ve been telling you that you should hire Warren.”“Nat, I’m not going to hire Warren.”“Why not?”I opened my mouth to tell her exactly why not, but as I stared at her too-bright blue eyes and the way her chin was quivering, I chickened out.“Because…because I promised Angus when he left that he could have his job back.”“Adrien, he was involved in a murder.”“But he was very good at alphabetizing.”

“Keenan was staring at her, too intently for comfort. "I don't know why certain people shine for others. I don't know why you and not someone else." He gently pulled her forward and whispered, "But it's you I think of when I wake each morning. It's your face in my dreams."Aislinn swallowed. That would seem odd even if he were normal. And he wasn't. What he was-unfotunately-was completely serious.”