“He murmers into my hair, "Forget what I said earlier, let's stick with this, I might not survive anything more." I laugh. Then he jumps up, finds my wrists, and pins them over my head. "Yeah, right. Totally joking, I want to do everything with you, whenever you're ready, I'm the one, promise?" He's above me, batting and grinning like a total hooplehead."I promise," I say."Good. Glad that's decided." He raises an eyebrow. "I'm going to deflower you, John Lennon.”

“I laughed as I twisted to face him and raised my arm to hit in one move. He caught my wrist and my laugh caught in my throat. A mischievous grin curved my mouth as I raised my other hand to hit him. He reached over me and caught that wrist too, gently pinning my arms above my head as he straddled my hips. The space between us boiled my blood.”

“I'm supposed to carry you over the threshold, right?"I laugh. "If that's what you're doing, I must've slept through something important," I say dryly. He quirks one eyebrow and shoots me a cocky grin. "Oh trust me, I won't let you sleep through any of the good stuff.”

“And yes, I came over here fully intending to seduce you." He lifted his head and whispered in my ear, "It's what I'm good at. Just like you're good at evading demons and kicking ass.""Kicking ass?" I questioned as he dropped his head back to the arm of the couch. His hand was exploring again, and I didn't want to move."Yeah," he said, and I jumped as he found a ticklish spot. "I like a woman who takes care of herself.""Not much of a white knight on a horse, huh?"He raised one eyebrow. "Oh, I could," he said. "But I'm a lazy son of a bitch.”

“I know your character. I know you're going to be a great guardian.”His confidence made that warm feeling return. "I'm glad someone does. Everyone else thinks I'm totally irresponsible.”"With the way you worry more about Lissa than yourself…" He shook his head. "No. You understand your responsibilities better than guardians twice your age. You'll do what you have to do to succeed.”I thought about that. "I don't know if I can do everything I have to do.”He did that cool one-eyebrow thing."I don't want to cut my hair," I explained.He looked puzzled. "You don't have to cut your hair. It's not required.”"All the other guardian women do. They show off their tattoos.”Unexpectedly, he released my hands and leaned forward. Slowly, he reached out and held a lock of my hair, twisting it around one finger thoughtfully. I froze, and for a moment, there was nothing going on in the world except him touching my hair. He let my hair go, looking a little surprised—andembarrassed—at what he'd done."Don't cut it," he said gruffly.Somehow, I remembered how to talk again. "But no one'll see my tattoos if I don't.”He moved toward the doorway, a small smile playing over his lips. "Wear it up.”

“I'd give anything to make things right for you." He caressed my cheek, my hair, my back. Everywhere he touched, the angry fires cooled. I wished he'd touch my heart. "But I can't. I can help, but the hard work is all up to you. If you don't feel real, no one else can do it for you. I promise, though you've always felt real to me. From the moment I saw you jump off the cliff.""Sometimes I feel like I'm still jumping off the cliff.”