“Then his lips found mine and the room fell away. The whole world disappeared for those precious moments.”

“Time wounds all wholes. To exist in Time is to suffer through an endless exile, a successive severing from those precious few moments of feeling at home in the world.”

“There’s never been anyone but you, Bryn . . . ever. You’ve been that one shining star in the night sky, shining brighter than the others, until that’s all you can see in the surrounding darkness.” His lips rested over mine, for the shortest moment, before they fell away. “Your light is blinding.”

“I felt his other hand sear hot against my cheek. He bent his head, and in a voice that Jack couldn’t hear, said, “When you came down the stairs, and fell into me, that was the moment.” Then his lips pressed against mine.”

“The rain fell with such fervor that the world disappeared.”

“Then I bring my lips very gently to hers and--without biting--let the whole world disappear into the dark magic of her mouth.”