“I shot him a look. "That bouncer was really big."His lips quirked. "Oh, Kitten, see, I try not to say bad things.""What?"The grin spread. "I would say size doesn't matter but it does. I would know." he winked, and I let out a disgusted groan. He laughed.”

“Do you have a girlfriend?" I blurt out. Holy crap--I just said that out loud?His lips quirk up in a half-smile, and he looks down at me."No, Anastasia. I don't do the girlfriend thing," he says softly.”

“Luka, the king—""Hail the king!" he playfully interrupted."Why does everyone say 'hail the king' every time I mention Darius?""Tradition." He winked at me from over his shoulder. A grin stretched my lips."So, if I say king—""Hail the king!"I tried again. "King?""Hail the king!""King.""Hail the king!""K—""Stop it!”

“Patrick opens his arms about three feet wide and, with one finger pointing up on each hand, tries to show the scope of this thing. I notice that he doesn’t look at his hands as he does this, but at the wall behind me. It suddenly occurs to me that when people describe size this way, they’re relying on perspective to help them. He’s not saying ‘It’s this big.’ He’s saying ‘It would look this big from here if it was over there.”

“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.”

“The world is always ending for someone. It’s a good line. I give it to the father of the child. He says it to his wife. ‘The world is always ending for someone,’ he says. She is trying to quieten the baby, and does not hear him. I doubt that it would matter if she did.”