“Dude," I said, making the word a disgusted sound. "Single guys everywhere hate you. Starting with me.”

“Never hire anyone who starts a sentence with the word "Dude!" and never work for a guy who doesn't know the difference between mute and moot”

“Tell me why, Been. Why would you trick us in the first place?" Ben stopped pacing. Looked directly at me. "Don't you know?'I shook my head,confused."To impress you, Victoria Brennan." His voice cracked. "I wanted you to think that I was special."The words rocked me.Oh, Ben."He'd started this madness... for me?'You were spending all that time with Jason," Ben said softly, staring at his shoes. "skipping around town with your new perfect guy. Cotillion this. fund-raiser that. I hated it. Hated him. When I finally told Rome, he said that I needed to amaze you. Said I needed to figure out a way to make you see me.”

“Because it's one of those things I never expected in my lifetime," he told me. "Like a comet. Or world peace. I'm just used to you being single."For some reason, that bothered me. "What, you don't think any guy would ever be interested in me?"Actually," said Adrian, sounding remarkably serious, "I can imagine lots of guys being interested in you.”

“Wow, you got a car!" she said, surveying the toy box. "it's so cute!"Cute. He was starting to hate that word."I think the word you're looking for is manly," he said.”

“Good guy. There was efficiency to male language. Those two words were what guys said about other guys that they really respected. Guys they could count on, that were solid, whose word you trusted...The language for the other kind of men-even more efficient. Cut down to a single word they deserved. Asshole.”