“Nick stood alone and watched her.A strange emotion bubbled up inside of him. Since he’d never experienced it before, he couldn’t seek out a name. There was little left in life that touched him, and he admitted he liked it that way.Tonight, something changed.”

“He’d never been shy, but he’d always been a little uncertain around girls. He just couldn’t believe they liked him.”

“She pressed the blade’s tip into her palm and cut. Not as deeply as he had, but enough to ensure a successful exchange. Her blood welled, mingling with the droplets he’d left behind. He liked that, liked knowing some part of him was now inside her.He reached out, clasped her hand against his, her wound against his. At the moment of contact, he felt a pop inside him, a tear on his soul, and though he’d never done anything like this before, he knew the vow had just made a place for itself inside him.”

“He smiled at her, and Sophie’s emotions went to war. She had always admired Banallt’s intellect and his easy manner with her. He never had condescended to her or made her feel unworthy or insignificant. But how could she forget him arriving at Rider Hall with Tommy, drunk and with a woman who was not respectable? All the times he’d watched her with his unsettling eyes andthen left with Tommy. The night he’d admitted he was unfaithful to his marriage and saw no reason to change.”

“His kiss was brutal, punishing, for making him feel like this. He wasdesperate. Out of control. Never had he experienced this kind of irrationalurgency. He needed her. Like a starving man needed food. Like a dying manneeded salvation. Now. Before everything went to hell. Before she could change her mind.”

“Yes, he knew he was falling in love, her way. And the worst part was, as disabling as he found the emotion to be he craved it all the more. To feel this way about a woman was amazing even if it was ‘temporary and fleeting’, as he’d put it. It was a natural high like he’d never felt before. One he couldn’t get enough of.”