“Seems to be there’s advantage to be taken, son, and ain’t no one in a hundred mile radius would blame you for takin’ it.”

“Aw, naw, ain’t sayin that. You do what you need an ain’t try telling you no, but … takin you to bed, want you there, not just your body. An want you knowin it’s me. Love you, Chess. Dig?”

“You ain’t got no advantages when you’re small and contrary.”“I ain’t puny,” I said hotly. “And I ain’t contrary.”

“Bombs have kill-radiuses; churches should have love-radiuses--anyone within twenty miles of a church should know it.”

“You can’t walk around here half naked in Roman warrior costumes or every woman in a fifty-mile radius will be on you like flies on honey.”

“It didn't matter if Aria was hundreds of miles away, or whether she'd hurt him, or said goodbye, or anything else. Nothing would change the way he felt. The moment Aria had taken his hand on the roof at Marron's, she'd changed everything. No matter what happened, she'd always be the one.”