“You don't need to watch out for me, Clay."But I did, Hannah. And I wanted to. I could have helped you. But when I tried, you pushed me away.I can almost hear Hannah's voice speaking my next thought for me. "Then why didn't you try harder?”

“Why did Mother ask you to help me rescue Gelsi?” I asked Leif.“She thought I could assist you in some way. Instead, I had tried to—”“Kill me? You can join the ‘I Want to Kill Yelena Guild.’ I hear they have six members in good standing. Valek is president since he had wanted to kill me twice.”

“My cell rings. I answer it without looking at the caller ID."Hannah, I'm sorry." My voice is a moan."It's Ryan, actually.''"Oh. Hey, Ryan." I grin."What'd you do to Hannah?"I try to be evasive. "What are you talking about?""Uh-huh. Good try. What did you do?""She'll thank me for it one day.""Oh man! It was that bad?""Will you relax? It is not bad.""Is? Present tense? It's still going on?""Calm down, Ryan!""I have known you too long, Laurie Holbrook, to relax.”

“I don't know why I said what I did. Maybe I wanted Hannah to remember something, or maybe I wanted to test her, but when she asked me my name I didn't even pause. "My name is Aidan," I said. "It means fire.”

“When my husband died, people kept telling me not to cry. People kept trying to help me to forget. But I didn't want to forget... So I realize, that if it's hard for me, how much harder it must be for you.”

“This flirting is all well and good, but I mean it when I tell you, I cant have you leaving me again. It almost broke me."My ribs seemed to squeeze all of the air out of my lungs at the thought. "I don't think I could. I don't want to be away from you again either.""But you need to give me a chance to fix things when I screw up. You know I'm an ass sometimes.""Sometimes?"Growling, he whispered, "And I tear lingerie."I pushed a curl off his forehead, "And hoard it. Don't forget the creepy hoarding.”