“I can't stop thinking about you," he whispers. He moves in, closer, lips pausing inches from mine. Wraps his arms around me, pulling me into him. I let out a quick gasp of air. "I dream about you," he murmurs, eyes grasping mine."You don't sleep," I choke, feeling a delirious passion coursing through my veins."I dream about your smile. About touching you. I dream about being with you. Like this.”

“Hi" he said"Hi""I'd like to kiss you" He waited a moment for my response, then added, "Or, if you rather, we can dance, as long as we can get you unstuck." "I think I'm in deep.""Me, too," he said, looking into my eyes.His head moved closer to mine. Then he lifted his hand, cupping my cheek ever so gently. His lips touched my lips, light as a butterfly, once, twice.The kisses were so lovely, so lovely I couldn't help it-I did a totally stupid, uncool thing. I sighed.I heard the laughter rumbling inside Nick and I started to pull away. But his arms wrapped around me. He held me close and pressed his lips against mine. A thrill went through me. I kissed him back-I didn't think about it, just kissed him with all that my heart felt.”

“I need to keep sharp. But when you're this damned close to me, all I think about is you. I think about your mouth, and I think about your breasts, and I think about your pink tongue and your legs wrapped around me. I think about touching you and you touching me--and then I look at you and you're giving me that look--yes, that one, just there, as if you want me to kiss you--please stop--" He exhaled on a hiss, tipping his head back against the wood and pressing two fingers to the bridge of his nose.”

“I remember you. You were like burning firelight in that cave, all shimmery, dancing color." I lean closer over the island, mesmerized by his words, his hand on my face. If he keeps talking this way, he's going to see me like that again. "Tell me you thought about me. That you think about me now." "I thought about you," I whisper, "I've never stopped thinking about you." Somehow I doubt I ever will.”

“His tone made me think that he wasn’t just talking about this date with Lena, but I didn’t have long to contemplate the thought. I was completely distracted by the fact that his arms had somehow found their way around my waist and were gently pulling me to him. My own body responded with a slight tremble, spilling over with tension as his mouth slowly sought out mine. “I wanted to do this all day,” he murmured huskily. His lips inched closer as I lifted mine to meet them.”

“What are you doing?” I tried to pull away, but his hand slipped from my hair to cup the nape of my neck.When he whispered, his warm breath brushed over my lips. “Just let me kiss you, Calla. You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to. No one has to know.”My lips parted as I drew a sudden, startled breath and in that instant his mouth was on mine, soft as velvet. I closed my eyes against the rush of a hundred wings that suddenly beat in my chest and soared through my body.His scent was all around me. Leather, sandalwood, bonfires in autumn. He pulled back, but only for the sake of moving his lips to trail over my neck.My blood was on fire and I was shaking. Is this really happening?I couldn’t stop thinking about Shay in the clearing. About asking him to kiss me. The electric touch of his lips on mine.But this is where I belong. I tried to push the memories back.Ren stroked my knee, his fingers wandering up my thigh, sliding beneath the hem of my dress.I grabbed his wrist. “Wait.”He didn’t free his arm from my grasp but continued kissing my collar bone.“Let’s skip the waiting part,” he murmured into my skin.”