“Depressed beyond what I'd previously thought possible, I stripped, showered, and slipped on a fresh pair of jeans and a tee shirt and headed for my mom's, trying to figure out why a bank would charge twenty dollars for insufficient funds when they know you don't have it.”

“I'm ruined beyond repair, is what I fear...And if so, in time we'd both be wretched and bitter." "I know people can be mended. Not all, and some more immediately than others. But some can be. I don't see why not you." "Why not me?”

“I should have told you. I guess I...wanted you to know. I wanted you to know what I needed, but maybe you couldn't understand that what I needed was you.""Do you need me?""I can survive without you, but it's only that. Surviving. I want to live.”

“I’m gonna hold on to my self-control as long as I fucking can. And when I can’t…”She held her breath until her lungs burned, but he didn’t elaborate. “When you can’t? What happens then?”His mouth brushed the sensitive spot where her neck joined her shoulder. Teeth grazed her skin. “Then Lord have mercy on you, Lexie love. Because I won’t.”

“She was sated and relaxed, which was quickly becoming his favourite look on her. Her sleep y smile wasn’t meant to charm or soothe him. It wasn’t a mask. This was Lex, stripped of all that bullshit she’d learned in Two. Not trying to be anyone’s fantasy.It made her his.”

“Well?”“Well, what” she asked.“Are we gonna do this or not?”… “Do what? Should I whine and complain like the little bitch I am so you can pat me on the head and buy me something pretty to shut me up?”

“Did you ever get exactly what you want and find out it's not what you wanted at all?”