“Leaves in every shade of the autumn spectrum - red, yellow, orange, brown - littered the ground at my feet, crunching beneath my boots as I stepped out of the car and looked around.”

“What happened?" he asked brusquely, interrupting me. "What do you mean, what happened?""I sensed your fear, heard you call out my name.""I...no, I didn't." Stone Wall, I told myself. Great Wall of China, around my thoughts."The Great Wall of China isn't going to do it, Violet. Come on, tell me what happened.”

“After a moment or two, a strange awareness shot through me, and I looked up to see Aidan Gray slip into the seat directly across the room, facing me. Great. There went my concentration, especially since he sat there watching me, studying me like some interesting bug under a microscope.”

“My gosh, that voice... deep and soft, with the hint of an accent. British, maybe? I was definitely a sucker for accents.”

“Considering the hot pocket that you run around with.”

“I'm just glad you're okay," he said. "I heard you scream, and I ran right over."Well, that's one way to get a guy's attention, I thought.”

“He called me "love". I liked that. A lot.”