“Ivy wanted to do something for me, and if she couldn’t give me a hug without her blood lust tainting it, then by God I would let her put that gunk under my eye.”

“Just touching her makes me want to immerse myself, put my head completely under the surface of her. I want to drift, to let her carry me away, down her current.”

“The look in her eyes told me that under any other circumstances, I would either already be naked with her on top of me, or lying in a pool of my own blood on the rug.”

“Still I pulled her into a hug, because I knew she let me off the hook on purpose and yeah, I'm a guy and I love my mom. So shoot me. I'm man enough to hug her without feeling like a mama's boy.”

“Ivy turned. 'He bit you on the neck?' she said, deadpan serious but for her eyes. 'Oh, then it's got to be love. She won't let me bite her neck.”

“She unlocked her hands from my neck and pushed her body against my arms, but i wasn't ready to let her go-not yet. "Noah?" "Yeah?" "I'm kind of done hugging you." Reluctanly, i let go. One shot. One fucking shot. What the hell do i do now? What the hell do i want? Echo. To feel her body wrapped around mine, to smell her enticing scent, to let her deliver me to that place where i would forget everything but her.”