“Yesterday is a cancelled check; tomorrow is a promissory note; today is the only cash you have - so spend it wisely.”

“Yesterday is a canceled check: Forget it. Tomorrow is a promissory note: Don't count on it. Today is ready cash: Use it!”

“With every detail about his home she noted, anticipation built inside her. His silence added to the feeling when the closing of the door and the latch of the lock shut out the moonlight and everything else.The last what-if niggles of doubts fled entirely, replaced one hundred percent by the awareness that she was with the man she was supposed to be with. Broken, bruised, guarded. Liam needed her. Even more than she needed and wanted him.”

“He sucked in a harsh breath when she pressed her mouth to his, and she was fascinated by the way his eyes darkened and glittered with sexual hunger when their tongues melded together. It was cold, the temperature dropping little by little. It didn’t matter. Not when she could press her bare breasts against his chest to warm them, when his hands slid up her back and his arms were so engulfing and so hot she was encased in perfect heat.”

“He suddenly understood in a way and on a level he never had before why Carly was so passionate about fostering. Why she was drawn to it.He understood, but it didn’t make it any easier. Carly had never been abused and she wasn’t sucked into hell at the sight of every mark on Riley.Not like him. Staring into Riley’s gaze Liam saw clear to the kid’s battered soul and it ripped Liam’s heart out because what he saw… What he saw was like reliving his past—and getting burned—all over again.”

“Before you tell me how we shouldn’t be doing this—” did she dare say what she was thinking? “—I want you to remember how it felt when we were together, because I know you’d like to feel that way again.”His hands tightened at her waist and his entire body hardened against hers. She drew back enough to see his face and caught her breath at his expression. Desire and want, need. Not sexual but…the need for closeness, for a connection. For her.”

“Liam tossed the top half of the sleeping bag aside and snagged the end of her shirt and jacket. Her jeans were next, the moonlight bright enough he could see the masses of freckles on her pale skin and the starkness of Carly’s matching black lace underwear. “Do you always wear things like that?”“They make me feel sexy.”She didn’t need anything to be sexy. “Any sexier and I’d keel over now.”