“Noah’s eyes fixed on his, and the vulnerability Cameron saw there tightened his chest until it was almost too hard to say it.”

“The woman trembled, eyes wide as she stared at the bluff. Her teeth pressed against her lower lip hard enough he wouldn’t have been surprised to see blood. Devyn recognized the building hysteria. His chest tightened; he’d seen like expressions all too often and it opened a raw, bleeding hurt in his chest.”

“His eyes lock on mine."Anna,I promise that I will never leave you."My heart pounds in response.And Étienne knows it,because he takes my hand and holds it against his chest,to show me how hard his heart is pounding,too.”

“I’m not leaving,” Sam said, his eyes fixed on the boy he was holding. “Not until Disney Princess here apologizes, or his head comes off, one of the two.”

“I gasped as he tightened his embrace around me.“I’m afraid I’ll never have the opportunity to hold you like this again.” His voice was soft and vulnerable. “You don’t have to let me go . . . ever." David shook his head in denial. “My mind refuses your words, yet my vacant chest welcomes them,” he argued, his face buried in my neck.”

“Would you believe me if I told you I was shot?” he finally asked with a mischievous glint in his black eyes. Cameron stared at him. “Shot? Like, shot? By a gun?” Julian tilted his head and nodded. “It’s hard to be shot with a knife.”