“Sex is natural.” He trailed one finger down the valley between her breasts to her navel, making her stomach muscles jitter in response. “And fucking beautiful.” His clear blue eyes held hers. “Now, forget everything else,” he said, “And Get. On. That. Bed.”

“He’s a fucking fool”Sophie shrugged and looked out of the window. “Maybe. He’s avoided having sex with me for more than six months now.”“I’ll say it again. He’s a fucking fool.”“Yes.”…“Would it help if we fucked?”

“Some time just after one and somewhere in between awake and asleep, Sophie moved beneath him again. Tangled limbs. Entwined fingers. Damp cheeks. Bruised hearts.”

“You deserve better. You deserve to be adored, and you deserved to be fucked until you can’t stand up.”

“This is the one thing I hope: that she never stopped. I hope when her body couldn't run any farther she left it behind like everything else that tried to hold her down, she floored the pedal and she went like wildfire, streamed down night freeways with both hands off the wheel and her head back screaming to the sky like a lynx, white lines and green lights whipping away into the dark, her tires inches off the ground and freedom crashing up her spine.”

“He lifted his head and looked into her eyes as he tugged at her shirt, pulling it from beneath her, pulling it over her head until she lay beneath him in her bra, and an insubstantial one at that. His nostrils flared as he took in the sight of her in the dim light, and he trailed his fingertips over the slope of her breast to touch her extended nipple. She held her breath in anticipation as he paused, then rolled it between his fingers. When he bent his head, she closed her eyes, and let the heat of his mouth become the focal point of her world.”

“What was war really like? What vast crack had buried Jeff down in the mud, had sent Andy off with cattle? What had changed her best friend so much he could barely look at her now?”