“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.”

“A flash of something—hope, excitement, disbelief— flickered over the boy’s face, shattering the remaining pieces of her heart. She’d known it would be a hard journey, and staring at Riley’s cast and bruises, she struggled to hold a smile on her face. Being a mother, especially a foster mother, took strength and courage, a backbone of steel and a loving heart.All the qualities her mother had lacked—and all the things Carly was slowly learning she possessed.”

“Liam stared at her, his gaze glittering hot with something she was afraid to identify because it made her knees weak and she couldn’t breathe from the intensity and pace of her heart pounding away in her chest.He wanted to kiss her.He didn’t want to want to kiss her—she could read that in his expression, as well—but she knew he did. And right, then. Cop or not—mistake that it would be— she wanted him to kiss her, too.”

“She turned her head and rubbed her cheek against the surprisingly velvety feel of his inner arm, the muscle tensing even more against her face when she pressed a kiss to his skin. In response, she felt him flex inside her.“Caroline.”She’d always hated her name. It was too old-fashioned, too hokey and very grandma-ish. But when Liam said it like that, she actually liked it. He made her name, he made her, feel like the sexiest, most beautiful woman on earth.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”