“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. He was about to engage in some hellaciously naughty fornication.”

“In this nasty-ass strip club bathroom full of pissing dudes and possible rogue ejaculators, Shades is no longer some guy I love fucking. He’s some guy I fucking love.”

“In the weak light of the lonely lamp, he held onto her, for a solid minute, his head buried in her neck as if he needed her. Just like the night in the hotel room when he pressed his forehead to hers and damn near liquefied her heart.”

“The shadows outside tamed none of him. No, they cast him as stronger and more dangerous than ever before. He was bigger. Hungrier. Predatory.He said nothing as he crawled through the window, but his dark, flashing eyes and body stalking toward her spoke volumes.”

“Gavin swept the street again with his Dreamsense. As far as he could tell, no Fyre Elementals had snuck up while his brain evacuated it's cranial real estate in favor of warmer southern climes in Hardwood Heights.”

“Absorbing the rest of her shadow into his, he knuckled the wall on either side of her head, trapping her in the cage of his arms, but not touching. The cool, sweaty bricks ground into his skin. She shivered and flattened her hands as if clinging to the wall for protection. Fire flared low in his gut, spurring him on.”

“Their eyes locked and something deep rocked the space between them - like an earthquake shaking things up at the surface, redrawing boundaries in its wake, depositing new emotions to be catalogued.”