“He gave her his best smile. Hisbest I-almost-died-so-how-can-you-deny-me smile. Or at leastthat’s how he hoped it appeared. The truth was, he wasn’t a veryaccomplished flirt, and it might very well have come across as an Iam-mildly-deranged-so-it’s-in-all-of-our-best-interests-if-youpretend-to-agree-with-me smile.”

“I think I must be smiling at him because he's smiling at me, but he's smiling like he might be petrified; he's breathing like he's forgotten he's supposed to, looking at me like he's not sure how to do this, hesitating like he's unsure how to let me see him like this. Like he has no idea how to be so vulnerable.But here he is.And here I am.”

“I love you, Mallory," he said very quietly, very seriously. "So damn much."Warmth and affection and need and so much more rushed her. "I know.""You know?""Yes.""Well, hell," he said with a small smile and a shake of his head. "You might have told me and saved me a lot of time.""How about I tell you something else?" she said. "I love you, too.”

“But my favorite half-smile appeared on his mouth. I wanted to live in it. "How long do you want me?" he asked.How long can I have you? I thought.”

“I can think of something else that would make me feel even better.”She raised her eyebrows. “Oh?” With a nod he gave her a wicked smile. “Yeah. It’s warm…and it feels really good when I’m in it…and I love how it’s always wet for me…”“You think so, huh?” she smirked.“Well yeah. A shower is usually wet when I—”She slugged him in the shoulder and he laughed out loud."Van!”

“Does that mean you aren’t going to be so grumpy?” she teased. He gave her a crooked smile. “It depends on how nice you are to me.” Aimi laughed and threw a napkin at him.”